Leader Adult Supreme Small Breed review

The Good band is where this lands, and it shares that band with the average adult dry food. Look at why and the picture is steady rather than exciting. The chicken is named and given in its dried form, and every line of the mineral panel carries a dose. Carbohydrate at an estimated 46.4% of dry matter is exactly where a dry food usually sits. Against that, the recipe leans on cereal for its starch and leaves one animal entry unnamed. Average is the mark for protein and processing and for nutritional balance, while transparency reads Excellent and value Good. That is about right for a food that keeps its promises without making a fuss of them.

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated Chicken (29%), 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 leads at 29%, and because the drying has already happened, that figure carries into the baked kibble rather than evaporating inside it. Protein finishes at 26.7% of dry matter with fat at 17.8%, a combination with real fuel in it, which suits the rate at which small dogs burn through energy relative to their size.

Two rices and dehulled oats form the carbohydrate base. White rice is quick and easy to digest, brown rice keeps its bran and therefore more of its fibre and minerals, and oats bring soluble fibre of their own. The estimate puts carbohydrate at 46.4% of dry matter, effectively level with the 46.2% typical of an adult dry food.

Chicken fat is the main fat source and it is named, which is worth more than it sounds. Unnamed animal fat is a common shortcut on labels, and having the species attached tells you exactly what your dog is eating. Behind it comes whole linseed, the omega 3 source here. A dog converts that plant form slowly, so patience pays when you are waiting on coat changes.

Alfalfa, chicory inulin, dried cranberries and dried beetroot make up the plant tail. Chicory inulin is the standout of those. As a prebiotic fibre it gives the gut's friendly bacteria something to work on. A natural sweetness comes with it, and that does palatability no harm at all. Ginger and turmeric are present in the sort of quantities that flavour the kibble without treating anything.

Yeast extract and hydrolysed liver protein are the palatants, and on a small dog with opinions they earn their keep. Liver is genuinely nutrient dense, carrying vitamin B12, vitamin A and copper, and no dog needs persuading to eat it. Which animal it came from, the label does not say.

Glucosamine hydrochloride, chondroitin sulphate and yucca schidigera close out the list. The first two are the joint pair, present but with no quantity printed. Yucca is in there to soften what the garden has to put up with. The trace minerals ahead of them are properly declared. Zinc is split between 97.2 mg of the oxide and 200 mg of an amino acid chelate per kilo, with copper sulphate at 28 mg, iron at 250 mg and manganese at 65 mg.

£5.00 a kilo, in 2kg and 6kg bags.

Working from a daily need of about 840 kcal for a 15kg adult in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance sum), a bowl comes to roughly 229 grams and £1.15 a day. Most dogs on this food are a lot lighter than that. The label's chart asks 132 grams for a 10kg dog taking life gently, so scale from there.