Natural & Delicious N&D Prime Adult Mini Dry Food: Lamb & Blueberry review

There is nothing between the two here: both read in our Excellent band, a step clear of the Good band where a typical adult dry food comes to rest. Both recipes declare identical protein and fat, and their estimated carbohydrate lands within half a point of each other on a dry matter basis, so neither is a compromise. Choose on the animal, then let the bag size and your dog's appetite settle the rest.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh boneless lamb (26%), dehydrated lamb meat (25%), sweet potatoes, dried whole eggs, fresh herrings, dehydrated herrings, chicken fat, fish oil(from herring), fiber vegetable of peas, dried carrots, dried alfalfa, inulin, fructooligosaccharides, yeast extract (source of mannan-oligosaccharides), dried blueberry (0.5%), dried apple, dried pomegranate, dried sweet orange, dried spinach, psyllium (0.3%), sodium chloride, dried brewer's yeast, turmeric root (0.2%), glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate.

Two entries carry this recipe and they are the first two. Fresh boneless meat at 26% is the palatable, high quality form, and dehydrated meat at 25% is the same animal with the water already removed, which is the entry that survives cooking intact. With both declared, you know the meat in the bowl is the meat named on the bag. On a dry matter basis that arrives as 37.4% protein and 19.8% fat.

Herring appears fresh and dehydrated, with herring oil below it, which is where the ready-formed marine omega 3s come from. Small dogs tend to show their coat condition quickly, so a proper marine oil rather than a plant substitute is a sensible thing to find on this list. Dried whole eggs sit alongside, adding a very complete protein for very little weight.

On the plant side there is sweet potato and not a great deal else, with pea fibre for bulk and no cereal at all. The chicken recipe finishes at 31.3% of dry matter on estimated carbohydrate and the lamb at 30.8%. A typical adult dry food runs at 46.2%, so that figure is the one telling you how much of this bowl is animal.

Digestive support comes from inulin, fructooligosaccharides and the mannan-oligosaccharides drawn from yeast extract, with psyllium at 0.3% for soluble fibre. Carrot, alfalfa and spinach handle the vegetable nutrients. The fruit that names each bag, blueberry or pomegranate, is declared at 0.5%, and turmeric at 0.2%, so read those as signature touches.

The declared additives are unusually thorough. Every trace mineral is supplied in chelated form, which a dog's gut generally handles more efficiently, and selenium comes from selenised yeast. The amino acid additions include DL-methionine at 4000 mg per kilo, taurine at 1000 mg and L-carnitine at 300 mg. Aloe vera at 1000 mg and green tea extract at 100 mg sit among the sensory entries. Glucosamine and chondroitin come at the end of the ingredients list with no figure attached, so they are a gentle nod to joint comfort.

Lamb takes both meat positions here, fresh boneless at 26% and dehydrated at 25%, and dried whole eggs climb above the chicken fat in the order. Dried blueberry at 0.5% gives the bag its name. Ash reads 8.3%, calcium 1.21% of dry matter and energy 398 kcal per 100g. This is the obvious choice for a small dog that has never taken to poultry.

£8.57 a kilo across both recipes. The chicken and pomegranate is sold in 800g, 2,5kg and 7kg bags as the label writes them, and the lamb and blueberry in 2,5kg and 7kg.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, assume 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The chicken works out at around 210 grams a day and £1.80, the lamb at 211 grams and £1.81. Scale that daily figure to the dog you actually have; a 5kg dog eats a fraction of it.