Husse Senior review

Our scoring leaves this one in the Average band, just under the Good band most adult dry foods share, so the honest read is a solid everyday option rather than a standout. Chicken at the front is the strong point. Behind it, wheat in two forms plus maize and two rices push carbohydrate to 56.5% of dry matter, protein settles at 23.9% and fat at 9.8%, and several working entries name no species. Protein and processing and nutritional balance each read Average, with transparency a notch up at Good, which is a fair summary: nothing here is badly done.

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

Chicken sits at the head of the list in the plain, undried form. A good share of that declared weight is water, and it goes in the oven. Protein still arrives at 23.9% of dry matter with fat at 9.8%, a lean profile that suits a dog doing rather less than it used to. Energy is declared at 373 kcal per 100g against the 357 typical.

The cereal block is the defining feature. Wheat and wheat meal come straight after the chicken, with maize, rice flour and rice behind them. Wheat carries gluten, and among grains it is the usual suspect when dinner disagrees with a dog. Most dogs handle it without a murmur for a lifetime, but if yours has form, wheat is where to start looking. Carbohydrate lands at 56.5% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical. The moisture figure of 8.0% is declared on this label, not assumed, and that counts in its favour.

Marine omega 3 comes from the salmon and the salmon oil, with linseed adding the plant form. Dried whole eggs bring a little very digestible protein. Yeast supplies B vitamins and sea algae is there for iodine and other trace minerals.

Glucosamine at 500 mg per kilo is the joint entry, printed at a dose you can hold the maker to, though there is no chondroitin standing beside it. Fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.3% are prebiotic fibre for the gut bacteria, and lecithin helps the fats disperse evenly through the kibble.

A couple of entries deserve a plain word. Salt is added as a flavour enhancer, and most kibbles already carry the sodium a dog needs without it. Clinoptilolite at 10 g per kilo is a natural mineral used in manufacturing, not a nutrient. The panel itself is well filled by contrast, with zinc declared twice at 108 mg and 12 mg per kilo, iron at 201 mg and vitamin E at 500 mg. Calcium itself works out at 1.09% of dry matter.

£3.59 a kilo, sold in a 12 kg bag and a 2 x 12 kg double.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats around 225 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which comes to £0.81 a day. The label's own table asks 99 to 360 grams for a dog between 11kg and 30kg. Where those two differ, let the waistline decide.