Lakes Collection Lakes Legacy High Protein Small Breed: Angus Beef review

The Excellent band is where our scoring lands this one, a rung above the Good reading the typical adult dry food gets. Nothing exotic earns the gap. One named animal takes a large declared share, carbohydrate converts to 29.9% of dry matter against a 46.2% norm, and the joint and prebiotic entries all carry printed figures. It simply adds up. The transparency pillar reads Outstanding, helped by a label that splits the beef into fresh, dried and fat rather than hiding all three under one heading.

Ingredients, as declared: 65% Beef (35% Freshly Prepared Angus Beef, 25% Dried Beef, 5% Beef Fat), Sweet Potato, Beans, Beet Pulp, Dried Superfood Blend* (Including Carrot, Green Beans, Cauliflower, Tomato, Courgette), Omega 3 Supplement, Minerals, Glucosamine (178 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (178 mg/ kg), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 175 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 50 mg/kg), Olive Extract (0.01%), *Each equivalent to 4% Fresh Ingredients. Recipe formulated without grains.

The 65% beef headline is put together in the open: Angus beef at 35% freshly prepared, 25% dried, with beef fat at 5%. Fresh meat loses its water to the oven, which leaves the dried quarter to carry a good share of the finished kibble's protein. At 25%, it is well placed to do exactly that. The analysis agrees with the label, protein converting to 39.1% of dry matter.

Binding is down to sweet potato and beans. Beet pulp behind them supplies most of the 4% crude fibre. No grain of any kind appears on the ingredients list, and the label says as much in plain words.

Carrot, green beans and cauliflower head the dried superfood blend, with tomato and courgette behind, each marked on the label as equivalent to 4% fresh ingredients. Carrot is the useful one of the group, easy to digest after cooking and a decent source of vitamin A. None of these entries is why the recipe works, though. The beef is.

The joint and gut extras all arrive with numbers attached, which is what separates a working addition from a marketing one. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane are both printed at 178 mg/kg, with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg. FOS at 175 mg/kg and MOS at 50 mg/kg are the prebiotic pair sitting alongside them. Olive extract at 0.01% is a trace antioxidant rather than a working ingredient.

Only one entry stays vague, the omega 3 supplement, and it never names its origin. Marine oil is the usual choice in a recipe of this shape, so a dog being kept strictly clear of fish is not on solid ground here. For every other dog it simply reads as the fat side of the recipe doing its job quietly.

£8.99 a kilo, sold in a 2kg bag.

As a guide, a moderate 15kg adult would eat about 215 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £1.93 a day. For a dog between 13kg and 15kg the label's own table tops out at 165 to 180 grams. Where the two differ, the waistline decides.