Nulo Limited+ Adult review

The Good band is where this one comes out, the same band that marks the middle of the adult dry shelf. Two salmon entries at the very top do most of that work, with protein converting to 32.6% of dry matter and estimated carbohydrate to 35.3% where adult dry food usually runs 46.2%. Both conversions assume 8% moisture, since the label leaves that figure out. A restricted recipe often pays for its simplicity in the scoring, and this one largely does not.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh salmon (23%), dehydrated salmon proteins (22%), sweet potato, chickpeas, sunflower oil,inactivated yeasts, hydrolysed salmon protein, chicory inulin, pea fibre, autolysed inactivated yeasts, minerals, pea protein.

One animal, and the list keeps to it from top to bottom. Fresh salmon at 23% goes into the oven and comes out much lighter. Dehydrated salmon proteins at 22% are what survives that oven intact. The hydrolysed salmon protein further down is salmon again, with no new species creeping in. That last point matters, because hydrolysed proteins are exactly where a supposedly limited recipe usually springs a leak.

The added fat is sunflower oil, and it is named. Plenty of labels never get that far. It is light on saturated fat and carries vitamin E naturally, and choosing it over an animal fat is what allows the recipe to stay on one species. The omega 3 in the bowl therefore comes from the salmon itself, with no separate oil on the list.

Sweet potato and chickpeas are the only real carbohydrate sources, which keeps the plant side as short as the animal side. Pea fibre and pea protein sit lower down, the fibre for bulk and the protein as a way of lifting the panel without adding more fish. A recipe this focused would read better still without the pea protein.

The gut gets deliberate attention. Inactivated yeasts and autolysed inactivated yeasts are the source of the mannan-oligosaccharides that feed friendly bacteria, and chicory inulin does similar work as a soluble fibre. Declared beside them is a live Enterococcus faecium culture, put there to steady the gut flora. For a dog whose digestion is part of the reason you are reading a limited label at all, that is a thoughtful trio to find.

The added nutrients are all declared. Taurine is dosed at 1,200 mg per kilo and DL-methionine at 2,400 mg. Each trace mineral is listed twice in two different forms. The preservative is a tocopherol extract, the natural vitamin E route. There is nothing decorative on this label at all, which is unusual and rather refreshing.

Sold in 2kg, 4kg and 8kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition gets through about 224 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label asks 162 to 272 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg. Where that and the guide above disagree, the waistline decides.