Nood Dry Small to Medium Breed: Cage-Free Chicken review

This food sits in our Good band and so does the typical adult dry food, so it keeps step with the everyday mark. The pillar picture explains its shape: transparency reads Good, while protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Average, largely a story of how much of the recipe cereals and peas account for. For a food built to serve every age in a small-breed household, that is a steady, creditable showing.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh Chicken (14%), Dehydrated Pork Protein, Maize, Barley, Whole Peas (10%), Split Peas, Hydrolyzed Poultry Protein, Pork Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Dried Beet Pulp, Dehydrated Chicken Protein, Salmon Oil (0.5%), Dried Chicory Root (a natural source of FOS and Inulin), Sodium Hexametaphosphate (0.35%), Linseed (0.25%), Dried Brewer's Yeast, Blueberry (0.01%), Sweet Potato (0.01%), Carrot (0.01%), Spinach (0.01%), Green Peas (0.01%), Apple (0.01%), Turmeric (0.01%), Althea, Peppermint (0.01%). Additives (per kg): Vitamins: Vitamin A 3a672a: 15000 IU, Vitamin D3 3a671: 1500 IU, Vitamin E 3a700: 101 mg. Trace Elements: Iron (Iron sulphate monohydrate) 3b103: 50 mg, Iodine (Calcium iodate anhydrous) 3b202: 1.5 mg, Copper (Copper sulphate pentahydrate) 3b405: 10.0 mg, Manganese (Manganese sulphate monohydrate) 3b503:10.0 mg, Zinc (Zinc sulphate monohydrate) 3b605: 62.5 mg, Selenium (Sodium selenite) 3b801: 0.20 mg. Binders: Sepiolite 350 mg. Gut Flora Stabilizer: Enterococcus faecium NCIMB 10415 109 cfu. Antioxidants: (Natural) tocopherol extracts from vegetable oil.

The headline is chicken, but the list deserves reading as a whole. Fresh chicken opens at 14%. Fresh meat loses the bulk of its water in the oven. That leaves much of the heavy lifting to the dehydrated pork protein in second place and the dehydrated chicken protein further down. On our estimate the animal share of the recipe comes to 47.3%, and protein converts to 29.1% of dry matter, a perfectly healthy figure for an everyday kibble.

The starch comes from maize and barley. Whole peas are declared at 10%, with split peas after them. Carbohydrate converts to 40.9% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. The cereals are a real presence without taking over the recipe.

The digestive package is thoughtful for a food at this level. Dried beet pulp brings gentle fibre, and dried chicory root is declared as a source of FOS and inulin, the prebiotics that feed the good bacteria. A live probiotic, Enterococcus faecium, is added as a gut flora stabiliser. The hydrolysed poultry protein fits the same brief, protein broken down small enough to be easy on digestion. The label never says which bird it started as.

Sodium hexametaphosphate at 0.35% is the quiet standout. It is a tartar-control additive that binds the minerals in saliva before they can harden onto the teeth, and it earns its place here because small breeds are the ones most prone to dental trouble.

From blueberry to peppermint, the fruit and vegetable roll call sits at 0.01% apiece, and those figures are printed. Treat them as decoration. This food stands on its animal proteins and its gut and dental extras, not on a hundredth of a percent of spinach.

It is sold in a 1.42kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition gets through about 231 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). On the label's own guide, dogs of 2 to 4kg take 68 to 134 grams a day and dogs of 10 to 19kg take 226 to 380 grams. Let the waistline arbitrate between the bands on the bag.