Leader Adult Supreme Large Breed review

Our scoring brings this out in the Good band. Most adult dry food sits there too, so this is a steady result and nothing to be disappointed by. Value comes back Good in line with the overall placing and transparency Excellent, with protein and processing and nutritional balance both Average. The meat share is declared and reasonable, and the rice base lifts carbohydrate above the level a dry food usually carries. The label stops short of saying where the chicken was raised or how it was handled. For a large dog on a simple, repeatable diet, none of that stands in the way.

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated Chicken (26%), Brown Rice, White Rice, Chicken Fat, Dehulled Oats, Whole Linseed, Minerals, Alfalfa, Hydrolysed Liver Protein, Yeast Extract, Chicory Inulin, Dried Cranberries, Dried Beetroot, Rosemary, Ginger, Turmeric, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Schidigera, Chondroitin Sulphate.

Dehydrated chicken is declared at 26%. Dehydrated meat has already lost its moisture before it reaches the mixer, so unlike a fresh meat percentage it does not shrink in the oven. Bag and bowl end up carrying much the same share. The chicken fat later on is named to its species as well, and plenty of kibble labels never go that far.

The base is a familiar, low-drama set of cereals for a dog with no grain issue: two rices and dehulled oats. Carbohydrate converts to 51.8% of dry matter against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food, so plant material is carrying a decent slice of the load. Protein lands at 24.4% of dry matter and fat at 14.4%.

Whole linseed is the omega source here. Its omega 3 arrives in the plant form. Turning that into the versions a coat actually uses is slow work for a dog, so read linseed as a steady contributor and not a quick fix for a dull jacket.

The plant tail is alfalfa, dried cranberry, dried beetroot, ginger and turmeric, and rosemary sits in there as a natural antioxidant to stop the fats turning. Yucca schidigera is the one most owners notice, because its reputation is for softening what a big dog leaves behind on the grass. None of these entries is doing structural work. The recipe never asked them to.

Glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate close the ingredients list. Neither has a figure printed against it, so on a heavy dog with real mileage on its joints they are a supportive touch rather than a stand-in for a measured supplement. The mineral panel is more forthcoming, with zinc split between 91 mg of the oxide and 187.5 mg of an amino acid chelate per kilo, and iron declared at 229.2 mg.

£3.33 a kilo, in 2kg and 12kg bags.

Our standard reference dog is a 15kg adult in moderate condition, which lands at roughly 240 grams and £0.80 a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). A real large breed eats a good deal more, and the pack asks 225 grams at 20kg, 306 grams at 30kg and 408 grams at 45kg for a less active dog.