Imby Plant-Based review

Our scoring finishes this in our Average band, and the reason is simple enough to state. A large part of what we measure is named animal content, and this recipe contains none of it by design. Read the pillars instead and the picture opens out. Transparency reads Excellent, while nutritional balance is Average and protein and processing Poor. The label declares its vitamins and minerals in full, doses taurine at 1,500 mg/kg, and prints a percentage against everything from the herbs to the joint supplements. The typical adult dry food finishes one step up in our Good band, and almost the whole of that gap is meat. If a meat-free bowl is what you are looking for, the band is describing how we measure. It says little about this food.

Ingredients, as declared: Sweet potato, Naked oats, white rice, peas, vegetable protein extract, pea protein, pumpkin, olive oil, rapeseed oil, beet pulp, minerals, brewer's yeast, potato protein, yeast extract, chicory, MOS (mannan oligosaccharides), thyme (0.1%) marjoram (0.1%), oregano (0.1%), parsley (0.1%), sage (0.1%), nettle (0.1%), broccoli (0.05%), spinach (0.05%), tomatoes (0.05%), cranberries (0.05%), blueberries (0.05%), glucosamine hydrochloride (0.01%), chondroitin sulphate (0.01%)

Sweet potato leads, which is a good start for a plant recipe. It carries more fibre and far more vitamin A than an ordinary potato and is generally regarded as one of the better carbohydrate sources available to a kibble. Naked oats and white rice follow, then peas. Protein converts to 26.4% of dry matter, respectable for a food with no meat in it. Carbohydrate is estimated at 47.8%, against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food.

We would like the vegetable protein extract named. Neither the plant nor the extraction method appears on the label, and soya, maize and wheat are the usual sources. It is not a reason to walk past the bag. For a dog with a known soya problem it is the one line on the label you cannot check, so it is worth a question to the maker.

Pea protein and potato protein sit further down doing the same job of lifting the protein figure. Both are by-products of processing rather than whole foods, and plant proteins are less complete in their amino acids than animal ones, which is precisely why the taurine dose matters here. Most dogs make their own taurine. On a meat-free diet a declared supply is the reassurance you want.

Olive oil and rapeseed oil supply the fat, both sound choices, olive oil bringing antioxidants and vitamin E with it. Neither is a strong omega 3 source in the way linseed or fish oil would be, so a dog whose coat needs help may benefit from a top-up alongside the food.

The digestive side is well covered. Beet pulp brings soluble and insoluble fibre, brewer's yeast and yeast extract add B vitamins and savour, and chicory and MOS work as a prebiotic pair aimed at the useful bacteria further down. Fibre lands at 4.4% of dry matter.

The closing tail runs six herbs at 0.1% each and five fruits and vegetables at 0.05%, with glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate at 0.01%. Those figures are printed, not hidden, which is the label telling you how much weight to give them. Calcium works out at 1.1% of dry matter, vitamin E is dosed at 400 mg and vitamin C at 200 mg per kilo.

£6.99 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg and 5kg bags.

As a rough guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats around 248 grams a day, based on about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £1.74 a day.