Millies Wolfheart Ranger Mix review

Our scoring puts Ranger Mix in the Excellent band, a clear step above the Good band where the typical adult dry food settles. The reasons are unglamorous ones. Meat entries take the first, third and sixth places on the list. Protein converts to 32.1% of dry matter and estimated carbohydrate to 39.6%, against the 46.2% the typical adult dry food carries. The joint and mineral additions arrive with figures rather than adjectives attached.

Ingredients, as declared: Dried Turkey (20%), Sweet Potato (16%), Freshly Prepared Turkey (16%), Tapioca, Chickpeas, Dried Lamb (8%), Turkey Fat (5%), Freshly Prepared Beef Tripe (5%), Freshly Prepared Lamb (4%), Turkey Gravy (2%), Tomato Pomace, Minerals, Joint Pack (Glucosamine 177.5 mg/kg, Methylsulfonylmethane 177.5 mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 125 mg/kg), Mixed Herbs, Dried Apple, Burdock Root, Dried Camomile, Dried Carrot, Dried Cranberry, Dried Dandelion, Aniseed & Fenugreek, Dried Seaweed, Dried Peppermint, Yucca Extract

At the top of the list turkey shows up twice over, dried at 20% and freshly prepared at 16%. That order is the useful part. Fresh meat is water more than anything else, and the oven takes that off. A recipe that leads with the dried form is telling you the protein genuinely survives into the finished kibble. Turkey itself is easy on the digestion and leaner than chicken. Gentler recipes lean on it for exactly that reason.

A red meat layer sits underneath: dried lamb at 8% with freshly prepared lamb at 4%. Freshly prepared beef tripe at 5% is next, and it is the entry most dogs will notice first. Tripe is stomach lining from grazing animals. It is rich and strongly scented, and it earns its place as much for appetite as for nutrition.

On the plant side sweet potato leads at 16%, with tapioca and chickpeas behind it, and no grain appears anywhere. Tapioca does the binding here, and there is not much to it beyond starch. Sweet potato and chickpeas at least carry fibre and minerals with their carbohydrate. Tomato pomace, the skins and seeds left after pressing, adds a little more fibre.

The joint pack is printed in full: glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 177.5 mg/kg each, with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg. The trace minerals come dosed in print too, with zinc and iron at 48 mg, manganese at 34 mg, copper at 7 mg, iodine at 0.96 mg and selenium at 0.19 mg per kilo.

After the minerals come apple, burdock root and camomile, carrot, cranberry and dandelion, then seaweed, peppermint and yucca extract, every one at trace level. That tail is decoration, and dandelion does not make a recipe any better. This food stands on its meat, which is exactly where the weight should sit.

£5.25 a kilo, sold in 700g, 4kg and 12kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 237 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which comes to £1.24 a day. The label's own table puts a dog of 10kg to 15kg on 150 to 175 grams. If the two disagree, believe the waistline.