Lakes Collection Lakes Heritage Small Breed: Chicken with Herbs review

Both flavours reach our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food, and they get there by the same route. Over half of each recipe is declared as a named animal, and the split between fresh and dried is printed so you can judge it yourself. Carbohydrate converts to 39.2% on the chicken and 42.4% on the salmon, against the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. Protein lands at 31.5% and 29.3% of dry matter respectively. Transparency reads Outstanding on both recipes, with every other pillar at Good. The two finish level, so pick whichever animal your dog does better on.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 55% (including Freshly Prepared Chicken 27%, Dried Chicken 26% & Chicken Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (26%), Peas (7%), Beet Pulp, Potato, Linseed, Omega 3 Supplement, Minerals, Herbs (0.3% including Marjoram, Basil, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Parsley), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 96 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 24 mg/kg). No Added Artificial Colours & Preservatives Naturally preserved using rosemary extract.

Both recipes print their fresh and dried shares, and both lean harder on the dried form than the standard range does. That is worth understanding. Water makes up much of fresh meat and stays behind in the oven, while dried meat arrives concentrated. A bigger dried figure therefore means more of the declared animal survives into the kibble in front of your dog. It shows up on the analysis, where protein reaches 31.5% and 29.3% of dry matter.

Sweet potato tops the plants at 26% on the chicken, 22% on the salmon, with peas at 7% and 9% and potato behind. Neither recipe carries wheat, maize, rice or barley. Fibre is beet pulp's job, and the omega 3 arrives in plant form from linseed. The brand builds all its grain-free bags this way.

Fat at 15% in both is the number that separates these from the standard range. It does two useful things for a small dog. It makes the food more appealing to a picky eater, and it packs more energy into the small bowl a little stomach can hold. The flip side is that portions want measuring, because the difference between right and too much is a matter of a few grams at this size.

The prebiotics are printed with doses in both recipes, fructooligosaccharides at 96 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 24 mg/kg. Neither is a large inclusion. Both go to work on the gut bacteria in the large intestine, and both are named with a dose, not left to a marketing phrase.

The named garnish on each bag sits at 0.3%, which the label prints rather than hides. Preservation is by rosemary extract, a natural antioxidant, and neither recipe adds artificial colours or preservatives. Minerals are declared as a group without individual doses, the one place either label could say more.

Chicken makes up 55% of the recipe: 27% freshly prepared, 26% dried and 2% chicken stock. The dried figure is the striking part, with almost as much concentrated chicken as fresh. Protein comes out higher on this one at 29%, and carbohydrate lower at 36%. A herb blend at 0.3% lists all six of its plants, from marjoram and basil to thyme and parsley. No animal but chicken is named anywhere on the list.

£7.75 a kilo in both flavours, sold in 2kg bags.

For a 15kg adult in moderate shape, the chicken works out at £1.75 a day and the salmon at £1.73. That comes from daily portions of 226 and 223 grams and an assumed 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). These are small-breed recipes, so the label's own table stops at 15kg and asks 170 to 190 grams there, and a genuinely small dog will be eating well under half of that.