Imby Insect-Based Adult Mini review

Our scoring puts this recipe in the Good band, level with the typical adult dry food. The insect figure is the reason. At 23% it is meaningfully more than the other adult recipes carry, protein converts to 29.7% of dry matter and carbohydrate falls to an estimated 40.1%, comfortably under the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. Transparency is the strongest pillar here and reads Outstanding, helped by percentages against almost every entry from the herbs down to the joint supplements. Nutritional balance and value read Good, protein and processing Average. Energy is our estimate rather than a declared figure, so use the feeding guide as an opening bid.

Ingredients, as declared: Insect 23% (dried insect protein 18%, insect oil 5%), sweet potato, naked oats, white rice, green peas, corn gluten, rapeseed oil, dried beet pulp, minerals, dried brewer's yeast, pea protein, 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 23%, split into 18% dried insect protein and 5% insect oil. That 18% is the number that matters, since dried protein arrives with its water gone and carries straight through into the finished kibble. Protein lands at 29.7% of dry matter and fat at 18.7%. That is the richest balance in the range, and it makes sense for a small dog whose metabolism runs fast.

Sweet potato comes second, ahead of the cereals, which is the ordering you want to see. It brings more fibre and far more vitamin A than a common potato, and studies on its effect on blood sugar have been encouraging. Naked oats, white rice and green peas follow to complete the base.

Corn gluten is the one line here that looks like a shortcut. It is what is left when maize is processed, and it pushes the protein figure of a recipe up. A dog's gut does not take to it as readily as it does to animal protein. It sits below the main carbohydrate sources here, so it is not carrying the recipe, but it is the ingredient to watch on a dog with a cereal history.

Rapeseed oil supplies the fat, dried beet pulp the fibre, and dried brewer's yeast a spread of natural B vitamins along with a complete protein of its own. The prebiotic work goes to chicory and MOS, with inulin from the chicory and yeast cell walls behind the MOS. Both are pointed at the bacteria that do good work in the large intestine.

The label closes with six herbs at 0.1% each, five fruits and vegetables at 0.05%, and glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate at 0.01%. Printing those figures is honest, and it tells you exactly how much weight to give them, which is very little. The recipe stands on its insect, not its parsley.

The declared extras are solid. Taurine is dosed at 1,500 mg/kg, vitamin E at 400 mg and vitamin C at 200 mg per kilo, with zinc at 60 mg. Calcium works out at 1.1% of dry matter, a sound level for an adult dog.

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

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would take about 229 grams a day on the standard maintenance estimate of around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75), working out at £1.68 a day. Small dogs eat proportionally more per kilo of bodyweight, so read that as a benchmark and not a portion.