Millies Wolfheart Tracker Mix review

Tracker Mix lands in our Good band, which is where adult dry food as a whole tends to settle. The lift comes from the animal side, which fills the first, fourth and fifth places on the list and takes protein to 29.9% of dry matter. The trade off shows up in the same table. With fat held down at 8.7% of dry matter, estimated carbohydrate rises to 47.8%, a shade above the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. That is the deliberate shape of a lean recipe rather than a corner quietly cut.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Trout (28%), Sweet Potato (16%), Potato, Freshly Prepared White Fish (13%), Dried Fish (12%), Chickpeas, Freshly Prepared Beef Tripe (4%), Tapioca, Salmon Oil (1.5%), Salmon Gravy (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, Burdock Root, Dried Camomile, Dried Carrot, Dried Cranberry, Dried Dandelion, Aniseed & Fenugreek, Dried Seaweed, Dried Peppermint, Yucca Extract

Three fish entries open this recipe. Freshly prepared trout leads at 28%, freshly prepared white fish follows at 13% and dried fish sits behind them at 12%. Cooking strips the two fresh entries of most of their weight, so the dried fish quietly carries much of the finished kibble's protein.

Trout is a named species and a good one, oily enough to bring omega 3s of its own, with salmon oil at 1.5% topping that up. White fish and dried fish are named only as categories, and that is the label's one real gap in detail. That says nothing bad about the ingredients themselves. It matters only when a dog is on a strict elimination plan and every item in the bowl has to be known.

Freshly prepared beef tripe at 4% is the odd one out, and it is there for appetite as much as anything else. Tripe is the lining of a grazing animal's stomach, and it is rich and strongly scented, so a dog that picks at dinner will usually change its mind. It does also mean the recipe is not fish only.

The plants start with sweet potato at 16%, then potato, chickpeas and tapioca, with no grain appearing on the list at all. Tomato pomace adds fibre. With fat declared at 8.0%, the starch has more work to do here than it would in a richer food, and that is simply how a lean recipe is built rather than a shortcut.

The joint pack is fully declared, at 177.5 mg/kg apiece for glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane and 125 mg/kg for chondroitin sulphate. Minerals are dosed in print too, with zinc and iron at 48 mg, manganese at 34 mg, copper at 10 mg and iodine at 0.96 mg per kilo. Calcium works out at 1.47% of dry matter, a figure a large breed puppy can grow on safely as well as a comfortable adult level.

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

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 248 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That lands at £1.30 a day. Because there is less fat in every mouthful, the daily weight sits a little higher than a richer kibble would ask for.