K9 Optimum Adult Mini review

This one reads Good under our scoring, the same reading that everyday adult dry food earns. Protein is the main reason it clears the bar, and 30.8% of dry matter is a genuinely meaty figure for a kibble that still has rice and maize in it. The animal side is named the whole way down, from the chicken fat to the salmon meal. Nutritional balance settles at Good, which is what a 42.8% dry matter starch load tends to do. For a small dog, though, the practical reading is a dense, well-labelled bowl with a marine omega supply most small breed foods leave out.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken Dried (19%), Chicken (18%), Rice, Maize, Chicken Gravy, Salmon (4%), Chicken Fat, Whole Oats, Prairie Meal, Salmon Meal, Brewers Yeast, Beet Pulp, Full Fat Linseed (1%), Salmon Oil (1%), Egg Powder, Marine Algae (Source Of Docosahexaenoic Acid (Dha)), Minerals, Marigold (Source Of Lutein), Mannan Oligosaccharides, Glucosamine, Nucleotides, Turmeric, Blackcurrant, Yucca Schidigera, Nz Green Lipped Mussel, Methylsulphonylmethane, Rosemary, Pomegranate

Putting dried chicken at 19% ahead of the 18% freshly prepared is the detail most worth spotting. A fresh meat entry sheds most of its weight as water while the kibble cooks. Lead with the dried form and more of the meat on the label reaches the finished kibble. Protein lands at 30.8% of dry matter and estimated carbohydrate at 42.8%, under the 46.2% typical of adult dry food.

Rice and maize still carry a fair share of the starch, with whole oats and beet pulp behind them for fibre. Chicken gravy sits high on the list as a palatant, which is no small thing on a food for small dogs. They are the ones most likely to turn their nose up at a bowl.

The marine side is the standout. Freshly prepared salmon at 4% and salmon meal give the recipe fish protein as well as fish oil, and salmon oil is declared at 1%. Marine algae is in there specifically as a source of docosahexaenoic acid. That is the long chain omega 3 the brain, eyes and nerves are built to use. Full fat linseed at 1% adds the plant form of omega 3, which a dog converts more slowly, so the two work at different speeds towards the same end.

Egg powder is a small but genuinely complete protein. Brewer's yeast brings the B vitamin group. Mannan oligosaccharides from yeast cell walls act as a prebiotic, and it is the large intestine's own bacteria they feed. Nucleotides appear further down. They are the building blocks of DNA, present in all foods and made by the body anyway, so treat them as a bonus and not a reason to choose the food.

Turmeric, marigold as a lutein source, yucca schidigera, blackcurrant and pomegranate close the list alongside the joint entries. The added nutrients are dosed. Taurine is at 250 mg per kilo, and zinc comes in two forms, a glycine chelate at 33 mg and a sulphate at 115 mg per kilo. Selenium is sodium selenite at 0.1 mg per kilo, the permitted form at the usual small dose. Calcium sits at 1.1% of dry matter, an unremarkable and appropriate adult level.

£3.17 a kilo, sold as a 12kg bag.

Working from the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day for a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75), the daily portion would come to roughly 238 grams and £0.75. This is a small dog food, though, so the maker's own table is the one to follow: 75 to 95 grams at 5kg, rising to 120 to 145 grams at 9kg.