K9 Optimum Grain Free Dry Adult review

A Good band reading is where this ends up, level with the ordinary adult dry food. Three things carry it there. The meat is named and substantial, with the label's own footnote committing to a minimum of 55% chicken and salmon. Starch here is sweet potato and potato, not cereal, which holds estimated carbohydrate to 43.1% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. And the supporting cast is quantified, which is rarer on a label than it should be. It is the best reading anywhere in the K9 Optimum range, and the difference between it and the cereal-based recipes is mostly the base rather than the meat.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken* (20% freshly prepared, 19% dried), Sweet potato, Potato, Chicken fat*, Chicken gravy*, Salmon* (4% freshly prepared), Beet pulp, Egg powder, Brewer's yeast, Lucerne, Full fat linseed, Potato protein, Salmon oil* (1%), Turmeric (1,500mg/kg), Marigold (source of lutein), Mannan oligosaccharides (1,650mg/kg), Fructose oligosaccharides (400mg/kg), Glucosamine (200mg/kg), Methylsulphonylmethane (200mg/kg), Yucca schidigera (200mg/kg), Blackcurrant, NZ green lipped mussel (150mg/kg), Rosemary, Pomegranate (*min 55% chicken and salmon), Chicken Freshly Prepared (20%), Chicken Dried (19%), Sweet Potato, Potato, Chicken Fat, Chicken Gravy, Salmon Freshly Prepared (4%), Beet Pulp, Egg Powder, Brewer's Yeast, Full Fat Linseed, Potato Protein, Lucerne, Salmon Oil (1%), Turmeric (1500mg/Kg), Marigold (Source Of Lutein), Mannan Oligosaccharides (1650mg/Kg), Fructose Oligosaccharides (400mg/Kg), Glucosamine (200mg/Kg), Methylsulphonylmethane (200mg/Kg), Yucca Schidgera (200mg/Kg), Blackcurrant, Nz Green Lipped Mussel (150mg/Kg), Rosemary, Pomegranete

Chicken arrives as 20% freshly prepared and 19% dried. The dried share is the one that really counts, because fresh meat is largely water and gives it up during cooking. The footnote promising a minimum of 55% chicken and salmon is a commitment most labels avoid making. Protein converts to 28.6% of dry matter, and estimated carbohydrate to 43.1%.

Sweet potato and potato take second and third place and do everything the cereals do in the other recipes. Sweet potato is the slower burning of the two and brings its own fibre and antioxidants with it. Lucerne, better known as alfalfa, brings fibre with a little plant protein. Beet pulp behind it does most of the work that shows up as well-formed stools. Crude fibre lands on the generous side at 4.1% of dry matter.

Potato protein deserves a straight mention. It is what potato processing leaves behind, put in to lift a protein figure. For quality and digestibility, plant proteins do not match meat. It sits low on the list, well behind the chicken, so it supports the meat and does not stand in for it. It is still the one entry here doing arithmetic as much as nutrition.

Marine omega 3s come from salmon at 4% and salmon oil at 1%. Full fat linseed adds the plant form, and a dog converts that more slowly towards the same skin and coat effect. Egg powder is a small, complete protein. Brewer's yeast ranks high among natural sources of the B vitamin group.

The best thing about this label is that the extras come with numbers attached. Turmeric is at 1500 mg per kilo, mannan oligosaccharides at 1650 mg and fructose oligosaccharides at 400 mg. Glucosamine and methylsulphonylmethane are at 200 mg each, yucca schidigera at 200 mg and New Zealand green lipped mussel at 150 mg. Printing amounts beside each one turns a list of encouraging words into something an owner can actually weigh up. The two prebiotics in particular are dosed at levels you can see, not at a token sprinkle.

The added nutrients are dosed too. Taurine is at 850 mg per kilo and carnitine at 500 mg, with vitamin E at 300 mg to hold the fats stable. Zinc goes in as a sulphate at 100 mg with a further 30 mg as a glycine chelate. Selenium is sodium selenite at 0.1 mg per kilo, the permitted form at a modest standard dose. Calcium works out at 1.37% of dry matter, comfortably within the adult range.

£3.33 a kilo, in 2kg and 12kg bags.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75) puts the bowl at roughly 236 grams, or £0.79 a day. The label's low activity table asks 145 to 245 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg, so a 15kg dog sits in the middle of that range and the waistline can decide the rest.