Lukullus Classic Adult Dry: Pork & Lamb review

All three finish in our Good band, the same place the broad middle of the dry adult shelf lands. The range keeps pace with the crowd and does not pull away from it. The template explains why: a single named meat protein at 26%, an equal share of maize, and peas filling out most of the rest of the base. Estimated carbohydrate runs from 44.5% to 46.1% of dry matter, right around the 46.2% typical for a dry food, and the meat all arrives as dried protein rather than fresh. For a dog that simply needs a dependable everyday bowl, that is a perfectly workable recipe.

Ingredients, as declared: Pork protein (26%), maize (26%), peas (19%), poultry fat (10%), poultry protein (5%), dried apple pulp (4.3%), lamb protein (4%), hydrolysed liver (2%), eggshells (1%), salmon oil (1%), potassium chloride (0.4%), pea meal, dried parsley (0.1%), mannan-oligosaccharides (0.0198%), fructo-oligosaccharides (0.015%), mojave yucca (0.015%).

Each recipe opens the same way, with a named meat protein at 26% and maize at 26%, and peas filling out the base between 19% and 25%. Meat protein here means the dried, rendered form. The water is already out of it, so the same weight delivers more protein to the kibble than fresh meat could.

Maize is the cereal doing the carrying. Once cooked it is digestible for most dogs and an efficient way to bring energy into a kibble. It is a grain and a common one, so note it if you are avoiding cereal. The fibre comes from dried apple pulp at 4.3% and from pea meal, and estimated carbohydrate lands between 44.5% and 46.1% of dry matter across the range.

Poultry fat is the added fat in every bag, at 9% or 10%. It does the same job any named animal fat would and dogs like the taste of it. The label names the family and never the bird, and that is the one transparency gap in an otherwise plain list. Every bag has salmon oil at 1% for the marine omega 3s.

Hydrolysed liver at 2% is the palatant. Hydrolysing breaks the protein into smaller pieces, which is exactly what makes it so appealing in the bowl. Liver on its own is about as nutrient-dense as a dog's dinner gets. Two of the three bags leave the species off it, naming only the family or nothing at all.

The bottom of every list is a small, sensible cluster. The prebiotic pair is mannan-oligosaccharides and fructo-oligosaccharides, then mojave yucca for odour, potassium chloride at 0.4% as a mineral top-up and dried parsley at 0.1%. None of that cluster is doing heavy lifting, and to the label's credit it does not pretend to.

Pork protein at 26% with lamb protein at 4%, the one red meat pairing in the range. Poultry protein at 5% and eggshells at 1% also appear, the eggshells as a straightforward natural calcium source, and calcium works out at 1.33% of dry matter. Pork turns up rarely in British recipes, which makes it a properly novel animal for a lot of dogs.

Chicken & Salmon is £2.75 a kilo, with Pork & Lamb and Turkey & Duck both at £3.49. Bag sizes run 1kg, a five pack of 1kg, 12kg and a pair of 12kg, though not every size is listed against every recipe.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, a day comes to about 233 grams of the Chicken & Salmon at £0.64. The Pork & Lamb is the same 233 grams at £0.81, and the Turkey & Duck 227 grams at £0.79. Those rest on an energy need of around 840 kcal a day, the usual 110 × bodyweight^0.75 maintenance estimate, and the waistline should always have the last word over a table.