Nature's Way 80% Recipes review

This one comes out in our Average band, a step behind the Good band that most adult dry foods occupy. Fish carries all of the protein, and nothing on the list looks chosen to bulk the bag out. The potato it leans on is a starch with something to offer, not a plain bulking agent.

The ceiling is set by the balance. Protein finishes at 25.0% of dry matter and carbohydrate at 49.5%, a little above the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. That makes it a moderate bowl. For a fish fed dog with a settled routine, that is no bad thing.

Ingredients, as declared: 45% Fish consisting: Salmon (18%), Dried Blended Fish (8%), Trout (7%), Salmon Oil (2%), Samon Gravy (2%), 36% Potato consisting: Dried Potato (18%), Dried Sweet Potato (18%), Pea Starch, Beet Pulp, Lucerne, Sunflower Oil, Minerals, Skin Soothe

Salmon leads the fish block at 18%. A dried blended fish at 8% and trout at 7% come behind it, then salmon oil and salmon gravy at 2% each. Fresh fish is mostly water and gives nearly all of it up in the oven. The dried entry is therefore the one that turns into finished protein, and here it sits third on the list. That is why the analysis reads a moderate 23.0% protein as fed, 25.0% of dry matter, from a label that opens with a big fish number.

Dried potato and dried sweet potato at 18% each provide the starch, and pea starch and beet pulp follow them. Sweet potato brings a slower release and a little more in the way of vitamins than white potato, and running the two together is a reasonable way to build a grain free kibble. Near the end of the list comes lucerne, better known as alfalfa, and it brings fibre and minerals.

The omega figures are the most attractive thing on this label. Omega 3 is declared at 1.3% and omega 6 at 1.4%, which is a far closer ratio than most dry foods manage, and it is fish rather than a supplement doing it. Marine omega 3 is ready for a dog to use at once, and a dull coat has a fair chance of answering within a few weeks.

Biotin at 145 mcg is a coat and claw nutrient, and it is a deliberate looking inclusion on a food sold on skin and condition. Zinc at 50 mg, iron at 50 mg, manganese at 35 mg and iodine at 1 mg per kilo round out the trace minerals. Calcium works out at 1.59% of dry matter, a comfortable adult level.

The one entry that gives nothing away is the last on the list, Skin Soothe, which is a name rather than a description. Everything else here is exactly what it says it is, so this is a small blank spot on an otherwise plain speaking label. The maker will tell you what sits behind it if you ask.

£5.50 a kilo, sold in a 12kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition gets through roughly 246 grams a day of this, working from around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to about £1.35 a day. The label's own table asks 150 to 250 grams for a dog of that size, so the two readings sit neatly on top of each other.