Imby Insect-Based Adult Maxi review

Our scoring puts this in the Average band, and the arithmetic behind it is plain enough. With insect at 12%, most of the recipe is cereal and pulse. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 46.7% of dry matter against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food, which lands a band higher in Good. What the label does well is tell you things. Calcium at 0.99% of dry matter, taurine at 1500 mg/kg, a percentage against every herb and berry and a fully dosed trace mineral panel all count in its favour. Transparency reads Outstanding, with nutritional balance Average and protein and processing Poor. The energy figure is our own estimate, not a declared one, so the feeding guide is an opening position and nothing firmer.

Ingredients, as declared: Insect 12% (dried insect protein 9%, insect oil 3%), Naked oats, sweet potato, green peas, white rice, maize gluten, canola oil, pea protein, dried brewer's yeast, dried beet pulp, dried pumpkin, minerals, olive oil, dried chicory, MOS (mannan-oligosaccharides), dried thyme (0.1%), dried marjoram (0.1%), dried oregano (0.1%), dried parsley (0.1%), dried sage (0.1%), dried nettle (0.1%), dried broccoli (0.05%), dried spinach (0.05%), dried tomatoes (0.05%), dried cranberries (0.05%), dried blueberries (0.05%), glucosamine hydrochloride (0.01%), chondroitin sulfate (0.01%).

The insect entry is declared at 12% and then broken down, 9% dried insect protein and 3% insect oil, which is more detail than most novel-protein labels offer. Dried insect protein has no water left to lose in the oven, so that 9% counts in full towards the finished kibble. Protein converts to 27.5% of dry matter and fat to 14.3%, both comfortable adult levels.

Naked oats lead the plant side. They are the hull-less kind of oat, and cooked they digest easily. Fibre comes with them, along with manganese and B vitamins. Sweet potato behind them is one of the better carbohydrate sources a kibble can use. It is richer in fibre and in vitamin A than an ordinary potato. Green peas and white rice complete the base.

Maize gluten is the one entry that reads as a shortcut. It is left over from maize processing, and it is used to lift a recipe's protein figure at less outlay than meat. Dogs deal with it less easily than they do animal protein. It sits below the four main carbohydrate sources and is not carrying the recipe. Watch a dog that has had trouble with cereal proteins before.

The fat comes from canola and olive oils, olive oil being a genuinely good inclusion for coat and heart and a source of vitamin E on top. Dried brewer's yeast brings the natural B vitamins. Fibre is handled by dried beet pulp with dried pumpkin. The prebiotic pair is chicory and MOS, MOS drawn from yeast cell walls and chicory rich in inulin.

The tail is long and honestly labelled. Thyme, marjoram, oregano, parsley, sage and nettle each sit at 0.1%. At 0.05% come broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, cranberries and blueberries. It is all seasoning, and the recipe leans on none of it. The same goes for the joint pair: glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate at 0.01% each, a light touch and well below the doses a dedicated joint food would print.

The added vitamins are generous, with vitamin E at 400 mg and vitamin C at 200 mg per kilo. Taurine is dosed at 1500 mg/kg, an amino acid usually given for heart support. Zinc arrives at 60 mg and manganese at 40 mg, each with its additive code beside it.

£7.34 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg and 5kg bags.

As a guide, feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition comes to roughly 242 grams a day, or £1.78 a day. That uses the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75).