Kronch Basic review

In our scoring this finishes in the Average band, so on paper it sits a band short of the typical bag of adult dry food rather than keeping step with it. Nothing about it is hidden. One fresh fish figure has the meal share unstated, protein converts to 22.8% of dry matter, and the carbohydrate estimate is 50.6% where 46.2% is typical for adult dry food. Transparency reads Excellent, with protein and processing and nutritional balance at Poor behind it, which is the honest description of a recipe designed to be steady rather than special. Fed to a settled adult dog that enjoys fish, it does precisely the job it set out to do.

Ingredients, as declared: Fish (16% fresh salmon, fish meal), rice, maize, barley, lard (food grade), blood meal, brewer's yeast, beet pulp, lecithin, garlic, vitamins and minerals.

The fish entry combines 16% fresh salmon with fish meal, and the two behave very differently once the kibble is baked. Fresh salmon carries a lot of water that the oven removes, while fish meal is already dry, so the meal is quietly the bigger contributor to the protein you end up feeding. Because the label gives one combined figure, the split between them is not published. What is measured is the result: protein at 22.8% of dry matter, fat at 14.1% and energy at 350 kcal per 100g.

Rice, maize and barley provide the energy and the structure, and they push the estimated carbohydrate to 50.6% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. Cooked barley earns its place ahead of the other two, bringing fibre along with selenium and copper. It carries gluten too, which a gluten-avoiding home should note. Beet pulp comes next, doing the fermentable fibre job that helps keep things firm at the other end.

Lard does the fat work. It is a simple and energy-dense choice, and it is pork fat, worth knowing on a bag whose front says salmon. Blood meal is the other animal entry without a species attached, and lecithin holds the mixture together.

Brewer's yeast earns its spot near the end of the list. For B vitamins it is among the better natural sources, and dogs tend to like the taste. That helps a plain recipe stay interesting in the bowl. Garlic sits alongside it at the same seasoning level, a Nordic habit and not a health claim, and its position on the list tells you the quantity is small.

The published panels are more detailed than the recipe itself. They run from calcium and phosphorus through to cobalt and selenium, with the vitamins listed individually. Milligrams appear against B12 on one vitamin line, where micrograms are the normal unit. That is a unit slip in the source panel, and not something in the bag.

£4.29 a kilo, sold in 5kg and 13.5kg bags.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs roughly 240 grams a day at around 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which lands at £1.03 a day. The label asks 170 to 260 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg. The two agree closely enough, and where your dog sits inside that is a matter for the waistline.