Husse Optimal review

Optimal finishes in our Average band. A step above it sits the middle of the adult dry shelf, so this food comes close to that standard without trying to leap past it. Protein converts to 28.3% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 44.5%, a touch under the 46.2% that is typical, which is a respectable showing for a recipe with wheat this high up. The ceiling comes from the ingredient list rather than the analysis: unnamed animal fats and a cereal in second place are what stop a food of this shape climbing.

Ingredients, as declared: chicken, wheat, rice, animal fat, vegetable fibres, linseed, hydrolysed animal protein, salmon, salmon oil, yeast, salt, fructo-oligosaccharides (0.3%), dried whole eggs, potassium chloride, lecithin, sea algae, rosemary.

Chicken leads, and as with the rest of the Husse dry recipes the percentage stays off the label. Chicken gets used more than any other meat in dog food, with good reason: it is palatable, digestible and consistent from batch to batch. That very popularity is also the reason chicken accounts for more reactions than any other meat. As fed, the analysis reads 26.0% protein and 16.0% fat; take out the declared 8.0% moisture and it becomes 28.3% and 17.4%.

Wheat in second place is the one to weigh up. Wheat binds a kibble beautifully. It is a perfectly good source of energy for the great majority of dogs. It is also the cereal blamed most often for an intolerance that shows as itchy skin or an unsettled gut. Rice sits behind it as the gentler of the two.

The extras are modest but sensible. Salmon and salmon oil bring marine omega 3s, linseed adds the plant form along with a little fibre, and dried whole eggs contribute a small amount of protein of very high quality. Fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.3% feed the gut's friendly bacteria, and the rosemary at the end is almost certainly the extract, an antioxidant that stops the fats turning.

Vegetable fibres, which usually means beet pulp, keep crude fibre down at 2.0%, a low figure for a dry food. Bulk is not what this recipe is built around. Calcium works out at 1.3% of dry matter, a comfortable adult level. Energy sits at 402 kcal per 100g against the 357 kcal typical of adult dry food, so the bowl does not need to be heaped to do its job.

The mineral panel is printed, not left vague, with iron at 201 mg/kg and zinc at 108 mg/kg plus a further 12 mg/kg from a second source. Manganese is at 63 mg/kg and selenium at 0.2 mg/kg. Clinoptilolite, a natural sedimentary clay, appears among the technological additives at 10 g/kg, where it works as an anti caking agent.

£4.06 a kilo, sold in a single 12kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 209 grams a day at roughly 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), putting the daily figure at £0.85. The label asks 110 to 360 grams for dogs between 11kg and 30kg. That is a wide span, so let your dog's waistline settle where in it they belong.