Millies Wolfheart Utility Mix review

Utility Mix comes in at our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food. Fish taking the first, fourth and seventh places on the list is what earns it, helped by a fully dosed mineral panel and a joint pack with real figures against it. The starch is what stops it going higher. Estimated carbohydrate converts to 46.7% of dry matter, level with the 46.2% typical for adult dry food, and protein finishes at 29.3% of dry matter, a respectable figure.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared White Fish (24.5%), Sweet Potato (18%), Potato, Dried Fish (11.5%), Chickpeas, Tapioca, Dried Herring (7.5%), Salmon Oil (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 carry this recipe. Freshly prepared white fish at 24.5% heads the list, dried fish at 11.5% sits in fourth place and dried herring at 7.5% follows further down. Before cooking, that fresh entry is mostly water. So the two dried entries carry the protein further than their places on the label suggest.

Herring is the one species named outright, and it is an oily fish, so it brings omega 3s along with its protein. Salmon oil at 5% adds a good deal more of the same, which is why this recipe reads well for a dog whose skin and coat need help. White fish and dried fish are both categories, so if you need to know precisely which fish is in the bowl, this label will not tell you.

The plant side pulls real weight here. Sweet potato heads it at 18%, potato comes next, and estimated carbohydrate converts to 46.7% of dry matter. Fibre and a little plant protein come from the chickpeas. Tapioca is starch and not much else. Tomato pomace, the pressed remains left after juicing, adds a touch more fibre. No grain appears at any point.

Joint support comes declared rather than implied, at 177.5 mg/kg each of glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane plus 125 mg/kg of chondroitin sulphate. Every mineral carries a printed dose too: zinc and iron at 48 mg, manganese at 34 mg, copper at 14 mg and iodine at 0.96 mg per kilo. Calcium works out at 1.52% of dry matter, which sits inside the range a growing large breed needs.

The tail end of the label, from apple and cranberry through burdock root, camomile, dandelion, seaweed and peppermint to yucca extract, is trace level throughout. The mixed herbs heading, meanwhile, never says which herbs. None of it changes the food much, and that is fine, because the fish and the fish oil are what this recipe rests on.

Bag sizes are 700g, 4kg and 12kg, at £4.92 a kilo.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 240 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), putting the daily figure at £1.18. The label's own chart asks 150 to 175 grams for a dog of 10kg to 15kg, and the dog's waistline should have the final word.