Nulo Raw Medley Adult: Salmon, Sweet Potato & Turkey review

The two land in our Excellent band, a step clear of the Good band where the typical adult dry food finishes. The chicken recipe converts protein to 33.7% of dry matter and the salmon one to 33.2%, with estimated carbohydrate at 36.0% and 34.8%, where 46.2% is usual for adult dry food. Those conversions assume 8% moisture because neither label prints a figure. The gap between the two varieties is narrow enough that the meat you choose matters more than the placing does.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh salmon (15%), dehydrated chicken proteins (13%), sweet potatoes (11.5%), dehulled oats, dehydrated turkey proteins (10.5%), lentils, chickpeas, fresh turkey (4%), chicken fat, linseed, fresh chicken (3%), hydrolysed chicken protein, minerals, fresh chicken (42% in the freeze-dried pieces*), chicken heart (30% in the freeze-dried pieces*), pea fibre (0.5%), autolysed inactivated yeasts, chicken liver (10% in the freeze-dried pieces*), chicory inulin (0.2%), fresh pumpkin*, fresh kale*, fresh broccoli*, fresh blueberry*. *freeze-dried pieces typically 3% of the product.

The two textures are the idea here. A conventionally baked kibble does the bulk of the feeding, and freeze-dried raw pieces are mixed in on top, typically making up 3% of the product. The percentages printed beside those pieces describe what the pieces are made of, and that is easy to misread on a shelf. Inside them, fresh chicken makes up 42%, chicken heart 30% and chicken liver 10%. Liver and heart in particular are dense in vitamin A, B vitamins and iron, and both are about as palatable as dog food gets.

Named meats do the real work underneath. Fresh meat comes with its water still in it, and the oven sees that off. The dehydrated chicken and turkey proteins in the middle of each list therefore carry more finished protein than their position implies. Chicken fat and hydrolysed chicken protein appear in both recipes as well, the second of those as a palatant, which is worth knowing before you read either bag as a way around chicken.

Dehulled oats are the distinctive choice. Removing the hull leaves a cereal that a dog digests comfortably once cooked, and oats bring their own fibre along with manganese, selenium and B vitamins. It does mean neither recipe can be sold as grain free, and the brand does not try to. Sweet potatoes, lentils and chickpeas fill in behind, with pea fibre and a small amount of pea protein lower down.

The functional entries are declared outright. Chicory inulin at 0.2% is a prebiotic soluble fibre, with a live Enterococcus faecium culture named as the gut flora stabiliser. Linseed supplies plant omega 3. Taurine is dosed at 1,230 mg per kilo in the chicken recipe and 1,180 mg in the salmon one. Each trace mineral is declared twice over in two forms, zinc the largest at 98 mg and 42 mg per kilo.

The pumpkin, kale, broccoli and blueberry are freeze-dried inside those raw pieces, so they are a very small share of a very small share. They look good on a label and they do no harm, but the meat and the oats are what feed the dog.

Fresh salmon opens this one at 15%, with sweet potatoes declared at 11.5%, dehydrated chicken proteins at 13% and dehydrated turkey proteins at 10.5% following. The chicken entries together outweigh the salmon, so read it as a mixed poultry recipe with a salmon top, and not as a fish food. It is the richest of the pair at 17.5% fat and the most calorie dense at 383 kcal per 100g, which suits a dog that empties the bowl and asks for more.

Both recipes are sold in 1.8kg and 9kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats between 219 and 227 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label's table asks 164 to 275 grams for a dog of 10kg to 20kg, so trust the waistline ahead of the printed range.