Husse Hypoallergenic Flexcare Adult review

Good is where our banding puts this, the same rung the typical adult dry food reaches, and the placing is earned quietly rather than loudly. Estimated carbohydrate comes in at 44.6% of dry matter where the typical adult dry food runs to 46.2%, protein converts to 29.3%, and crude ash stays down at 6.5%. That is a tidy set of numbers for a kibble at this weight of meat. The label also names its bird, prints percentages against the working extras and doses its vitamins and minerals properly. Two things hold it down: the pair of unnamed animal entries, and the joint pair going undosed.

Ingredients, as declared: dried turkey, rice, sweet potato, animal fat, fava beans, dried apple, linseed (3%), hydrolysed animal protein, salmon oil (1%), krill (0.5%), fructo-oligosaccharides (0.3%), minerals, yeast hydrolysate (0.2%, a natural source of mannan-oligosaccharides and beta-glucans), brewer's yeast, dried algae, glucosamine, chondroitin sulphate, dried bilberry (0.01%), dried carrot, dried tomato, dried alfalfa, dried rosehip (0.01%), dried nettle, dried marigold (0.01%), yucca schidigera, dried cranberry, dried pear, dried orange.

Dried turkey heads the list, and dried is the version that keeps its weight through the oven, so first place here means more than it would for a fresh meat. Turkey is leaner than chicken, and it is a good deal less likely to be the bird a sensitive dog has already reacted to. Recipes written like this one turn to it for exactly that reason. Protein finishes at 29.3% of dry matter, a decent showing without pretending to be a working dog's ration.

Rice and sweet potato share the starch, with fava beans behind them adding fibre and a little plant protein. Estimated carbohydrate settles at 44.6% of dry matter, just under the 46.2% the typical adult dry food carries. The plant side is doing its job without taking over the bowl. Dried apple counts as a real fibre source here, not decoration, given where it sits on the list.

The joint pair is the reason for the name. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate are both cartilage building blocks and both are standard on foods for stiffening dogs, though the trial evidence has never been clean. Here they are named but not measured, and they sit below the smallest declared botanical on the list, which points to modest amounts. Krill at 0.5% brings marine omega 3s alongside them, and that pairing is the thoughtful part of the design.

The long tail is where the label gets enthusiastic. Bilberry, rosehip and marigold are each declared at 0.01%, with carrot, tomato, alfalfa, nettle, cranberry, pear and orange keeping them company, and yucca schidigera in there for stool odour. None of it does any harm and some of it brings antioxidants along, but the food stands on its turkey, its krill and its analysis rather than on the fruit basket.

Yeast hydrolysate at 0.2% supplies mannan-oligosaccharides, prebiotic sugars that the gut's good bacteria live on. Fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.3% work the same seam. Linseed at 3% is a generous helping of the plant form of omega 3, and brewer's yeast adds the B vitamins. The mineral panel is dosed in full, zinc at 62.5 mg and copper at 10 mg per kilo among the entries.

£6.85 a kilo, in 7kg and 12kg bags.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75) works out at roughly 230 grams a day, or £1.57. The label asks 140 to 235 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg, so the two agree closely and your dog's shape can settle the remainder.