Orijen Fit & Trim review

This one finishes in our Excellent band, one step up from the Good band that holds the typical adult dry food. The label carries all the reasons, and none of them come from the marketing. Animal ingredients occupy the first thirteen places before a plant appears, and estimated carbohydrate converts to 21.5% of dry matter against a 46.2% typical for adult dry food. The analysis then puts 40% protein next to 13% fat, the combination a weight recipe wants and the one most weight recipes miss.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh chicken (25%), raw whole herring (6%), raw turkey (6%), fresh chicken giblets (liver, heart) (6%), raw whole hake (5%), raw whole mackerel (5%), fresh eggs (5%), dehydrated chicken (4%), dehydrated mackerel (4%), dehydrated sardine (4%), dehydrated herring (4%), dehydrated turkey (4%), dehydrated whitefish (4%), lentil fibre, whole pinto beans, whole navy beans, whole chickpeas, whole red lentils, whole green lentils, whole peas, pea starch, raw turkey liver (1.5%), chicken fat (1.5%), apple fibre, algae (source of DHA), dried kelp, fresh whole pumpkin, fresh whole butternut squash, fresh whole zucchini, fresh whole carrots, fresh whole apples, fresh whole pears, dried chicory root, fresh kale, fresh spinach, fresh beet greens, fresh turnip greens, whole cranberries, whole blueberries, whole saskatoon berries, turmeric, milk thistle, burdock root, lavender, marshmallow root, rosehips.

Fresh chicken opens at 25%. That word fresh needs care, since most of the weight it names is water, and water leaves in the oven. What holds the finished protein up is the dried tier underneath, with dehydrated chicken, mackerel, sardine, herring, turkey and whitefish at 4% each. Those arrive already dry and stay that way, so they carry far more into the kibble than their position suggests. The analysis backs the construction up: protein converts to 45.5% of dry matter and estimated carbohydrate to only 21.5%.

Fat is the lever this recipe pulls. At 13% it is restrained by the standards of the rest of the brand, while protein stays at 40%. What comes out of the bowl is the energy a chunky dog least needs, and what stays in is the protein that keeps muscle on the frame. Energy works out at 353 kcal per 100g. That is a shade under the 357 a typical adult dry food carries. A normal-looking scoop therefore lands slightly lighter than usual.

The plant side is all pulse and no cereal. Whole pinto beans, navy beans, chickpeas, red and green lentils and peas do the binding, with lentil fibre, pea starch and apple fibre behind them. Whole pulses come with protein and fibre of their own, not stripped down to the starch, and the 8% crude fibre figure is largely where that shows up. Dried chicory root further along is the prebiotic, an inulin source that feeds the gut's useful bacteria and happens to taste faintly sweet.

Four sea fish are named outright, herring, hake, mackerel and sardine, in raw and dried form. Algae is listed specifically as a DHA source, a neat way to top up the marine omega 3s without leaning on a single oil. Worth thinking about first if your dog reacts to fish, because there is no version of this bag that is fish free.

The small print is short and dosed. Zinc comes in at 105 mg and copper at 11 mg per kilo. Tocopherols and rosemary extract keep the fats sweet, with no synthetic preservative on the list, and Enterococcus faecium is named as the live culture doing gut duty. Calcium works out at 1.59% of dry matter, comfortable for an adult dog. That long tail, from pumpkin and butternut squash through courgette to kale, cranberries, lavender and rosehips, is flourish, and the recipe never needed it to stand up.

£8.86 a kilo, sold in 2kg, 6kg and 11.4kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 238 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £2.11 a day. The label's own weight-maintenance table asks 120 to 180 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg, and since the point of the food is a dog getting lighter, let the waistline settle the difference.