Millies Wolfheart Hunter Mix review

Hunter Mix takes our Excellent band, a step above the Good band where the typical adult dry food settles. Protein converts to 43.5% of dry matter while estimated carbohydrate stops at 22.2%, against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food, and that split is genuinely unusual for something that comes out of an extruder. Protein and processing reads Good on its own account. Nutritional balance reads Excellent and transparency Outstanding, with ash at 12.0% of dry matter pointing to a fair helping of bone arriving with the dried meats and one fish entry keeping its species to itself.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Duck (14%), Sweet Potato (11%), Dried Duck (11%), Freshly Prepared Salmon (8.5%), Dried Herring (8%), Dried Salmon (7.5%), Freshly Prepared White Fish (7%), Freshly Prepared Lamb (7%), Dried Rabbit (6.5%), Tapioca, Chickpeas, Duck Fat (4%), Freshly Prepared Venison (3%), Salmon Oil (2%), Duck Stock (1.5%), Tomato Pomace, Minerals, Joint Pack (Glucosamine 177.5 mg/kg, Methylsulfonylmethane 177.5 mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 125 mg/kg), Mixed Herbs, Dried Apple, Dried Carrot, Dried Cranberry, Aniseed & Fenugreek, Dried Seaweed, Burdock Root, Dried Camomile, Dried Dandelion, Dried Peppermint Nutritional Constituents per kg: Vitamins: Vitamin A 14,423 IU, Vitamin D3 1,346 IU, Vitamin E 96 IU Trace Elements : Zinc (Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate) 48 mg, Iron (Iron (II) Sulphate Monohydrate) 48 mg, Manganese (Manganous Sulphate Monohydrate) 34 mg, Iodine (Calcium Iodate Anhydrous) 0.96 mg

Nine animal entries share the top of this list, and the useful ones to read are the dried entries, because freshly prepared meat arrives mostly as water and shrinks in the oven. Dried duck at 11%, dried herring at 8% and dried salmon at 7.5% are the concentrated protein. On top of them come fresh duck at 14%, fresh salmon at 8.5%, white fish at 7%, lamb at 7% and venison at 3%. Dried rabbit at 6.5% rounds it off. The result is protein at 43.5% of dry matter and fat at 19.0%.

The starch side is short and comes late. Tapioca and chickpeas are the only carriers, both sitting below the meats, and estimated carbohydrate finishes at 22.2% of dry matter. Very few dry foods manage that. Nothing else explains so much of how this recipe reads.

The fats are named rather than generic. Most of the energy comes from duck fat at 4%, the marine omega 3s from salmon oil at 2%, and duck stock at 1.5% is there for smell and appetite. Tomato pomace supplies fibre. At trace level below it sit apple and carrot, cranberry and burdock root, then camomile, dandelion, peppermint and seaweed, all of them seasoning.

Rabbit and venison are the names worth pausing on. Both are lean, both are rare in everyday dog food and both are the sort of protein an owner usually goes hunting for on purpose. Here they arrive as part of a crowd, which is wonderful for a dog that simply enjoys variety and unhelpful for one being tested against a single meat.

Glucosamine and MSM are each declared at 177.5 mg/kg with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg, which is a real helping for a dog doing real work rather than a line of decorative small print. The trace minerals come as the traditional sulphates with figures attached: zinc at 48 mg, iron at 48 mg, manganese at 34 mg and iodine at 0.96 mg per kilo.

One honest consequence of building a kibble this meaty is ash at 12.0% of dry matter and calcium at 2.61%. Both follow from the bone that comes with dried meat, and neither troubles a healthy adult dog. They are the reason this reads as an adult and working dog food first, and why a large breed is best started on it once the growing is behind them.

£5.61 a kilo, in 700g, 5kg and 14kg bags.

Because it is so dense, the scoop stays small. A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 220 grams a day, which lands at £1.24, using around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate).