Imby Insect-Based Adult Medium review

Our reading makes this a Good band food, and the typical adult dry food finishes in the same band. What separates it from the stronger scorers is how much of the bowl is plant. Insect at 16% is a real inclusion, but oats, sweet potatoes, peas and rice make up the body of the recipe. In its favour, carbohydrate converts to an estimated 43.4% of dry matter, under the 46.2% typical. Transparency is the standout at Outstanding, protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Average, and value is Good. It also reads a band stronger than the large-breed kibble in the same range, on the strength of that extra insect. Energy is our estimate rather than a declared figure, so portion by eye for the first few weeks.

Ingredients, as declared: Insect 16% (dried insect protein 12%, insect oil 4%), naked oats, sweet potatoes, green peas, white rice, maize gluten, rapeseed oil, dried beet pulp, dried brewer's yeast, pea protein, minerals, dried pumpkin, 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%).

Insect leads at 16%, broken out as 12% dried insect protein and 4% insect oil. Splitting it that way is helpful. Of the two, the dried protein is what reaches the finished kibble unchanged. Protein converts to 28.6% of dry matter and fat to 16.5%, which is a slightly livelier balance than the large-breed recipe in the range carries.

Naked oats come next, a hull-less oat that cooks down easily and brings fibre and micronutrients with it, then sweet potatoes and white rice. Sweet potato is the pick of that group nutritionally. It carries more fibre and more vitamin A than a standard potato, and green peas add antioxidants and a little extra protein of their own.

Halfway down the list comes maize gluten. It comes out of maize processing, and it raises a recipe's protein figure. Dogs do not handle it as comfortably as animal protein, and it is the line to note if your dog has a record of cereal sensitivity. Pea protein a little further down does a similar topping-up job, more gently.

Rapeseed oil and olive oil provide the fat. Rapeseed measures up well against other vegetable oils and olive oil brings antioxidants and vitamin E with it. Dried beet pulp and dried pumpkin handle the fibre, and dried brewer's yeast supplies natural B vitamins. Chicory and MOS work as a prebiotic pair, chicory for its inulin and MOS drawn from yeast cell walls.

The closing stretch of the label is a parade of small percentages: six herbs at 0.1% each, then broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, cranberries and blueberries at 0.05%. None of that is doing heavy lifting, and printing the figures is the label admitting as much. Glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate follow at 0.01% each.

The supplement side is properly declared. Taurine is dosed at 1500 mg/kg, vitamin E at 400 mg and vitamin C at 200 mg per kilo. Calcium works out at 0.99% of dry matter, comfortable for a grown dog.

£7.34 a kilo, in 1.5kg and 5kg bags.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, the maths lands on about 235 grams a day, assuming roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which is £1.73 a day.