Husse Optimal Giant review

Giant places in our Average band, a step below the wider adult dry category, which has its midpoint in Good. The shape of the recipe explains why it does not climb higher. Protein converts to 25.5% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 50.6%, above the 46.2% that is typical, which is the trade you accept when four cereals sit near the top of a list. Judged against its own brief, a lean and filling everyday food with joint support built in for a large dog, it delivers.

Ingredients, as declared: chicken, wheat, wheat meal, rice, maize, animal fat, linseed, vegetable fibres, hydrolysed animal protein, salmon, salmon oil, yeast, salt, dried whole eggs, fructo-oligosaccharides (0.3%), potassium chloride, lecithin, sea algae, glucosamine (500 mg/kg), rosemary.

Chicken opens without a declared percentage, and then the cereals arrive in a run: wheat, wheat meal, rice and maize. That is a lot of plant material near the front, and it is the main reason carbohydrate estimates out at 50.6% of dry matter. Energy still lands at 395 kcal per 100g, above the 357 kcal typical of adult dry food, so a big dog is not being asked to eat an unreasonable volume.

Protein at 23.5% and fat at 13.0% as fed are deliberately restrained. A heavy frame does not want extra weight to carry, so a bowl that fills without loading on calories suits a giant breed adult. The leaner setting here is a design choice.

Glucosamine is printed at 500 mg/kg, which is a real amount rather than a nod on the front of the bag. Whether it does everything its reputation promises is still argued over in the research. It is the supplement owners of big dogs reach for most, and seeing the figure in print means you know precisely what your dog is getting.

Vitamin C at 300 mg/kg is the other thing the standard recipe does without. Dogs make their own vitamin C, so it is not a required nutrient for them in the way it is for us. As an antioxidant it helps the fats in the bag hold their condition, and vitamin E is dosed at 500 mg/kg alongside it.

The supporting cast is short and sensible: linseed and salmon oil for omega 3s, vegetable fibres for the gut, and dried whole eggs. A prebiotic dose of fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.3% follows, with sea algae for iodine and rosemary to keep the fats fresh. The animal fat gives a family name, not a species, and the hydrolysed animal protein does the same. That is standard for a kibble built this way and no reflection on quality, but it does mean the label cannot rule a particular meat in or out.

Calcium converts to 1.2% of dry matter, an easy level for a grown dog. The trace minerals get their own figures: iron at 201 mg/kg, zinc at 108 mg/kg plus 12 mg/kg from a second source and manganese at 63 mg/kg. Clinoptilolite at 10 g/kg sits among the technological additives as a flow agent.

£4.06 a kilo, sold in a 12kg bag and a 2 x 12kg pack.

As a guide, feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at about £0.86 a day for roughly 213 grams, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). This is a large breed food, so the label's own figures are the ones to plan around: 300 to 420 grams for a dog between 25kg and 35kg, which is a considerably bigger daily amount.