Orijen Large Breed Adult review

This one earns our Excellent band, and it earns it from a standing start above most of the shelf, since the typical adult dry food gets no further than our Good band. Nothing exotic is responsible. Animal ingredients fill the first ten places on the list, and estimated carbohydrate converts to 23.9% of dry matter against 46.2% for adult dry food generally. Every entry in the vitamin and mineral panel carries a printed figure.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh chicken (29%), fresh chicken giblets (liver, heart, gizzard)(6%), raw turkey (6%), raw salmon (5%), raw whole herring (5%), dehydrated chicken (5%), dehydrated pollock (5%), dehydrated sardine (5%), dehydrated turkey (5%), dehydrated herring (4.5%), whole red lentils, whole peas, lentil fibre, raw turkey liver (4%), fresh eggs (4%), whole green lentils, whole chickpeas, whole pinto beans, whole navy beans, dried apple fibre, whitefish oil (0.5%), chicken fat (0.5%), dehydrated chicken liver (0.5%), dried kelp, fresh whole pumpkin, fresh whole butternut squash, fresh whole carrots, fresh whole apples, fresh whole pears, fresh whole zucchini, dried chicory root, fresh kale, fresh spinach, fresh turnip greens, fresh beet greens, whole cranberries, whole blueberries, whole saskatoon berries, turmeric, milk thistle, burdock root, lavender, marshmallow root, rosehips.

Fresh chicken leads at 29%. Weigh fresh meat and most of it is water, and the heat takes that out, so the headline does less finished work than it looks. The recipe clearly knows it, which is why a full dried tier sits underneath: dehydrated chicken, pollock, sardine and turkey at 5% each, with dehydrated herring at 4.5%. Those come in with the water already gone. Protein ends up at 43.2% of dry matter, with estimated carbohydrate at 23.9%. The typical adult dry food runs at 46.2%.

Raw salmon and herring at 5% each give the recipe its marine half, with whitefish oil at 0.5% added on top of them. A large frame draws on the long-chain omega 3s for joints and coat, and this is a genuine source of them. It is also the honest reason the bag cannot be called fish free.

Every plant on the list is a legume: peas, chickpeas, whole red and green lentils, pinto beans and navy beans. Lentil fibre and dried apple fibre are there for texture. No grain is used at all. Pulses of this kind arrive with protein and fibre attached to their starch rather than refined away from it, which is part of why the carbohydrate figure settles where it does. Dried chicory root sits further down as the prebiotic, and its inulin is what the gut's friendly bacteria feed on.

The additive panel is where the large-breed thinking really shows. Taurine at 400 mg per kilo is an amino acid, and its best-known job is in heart muscle. On a food built for the biggest dogs, it is a nice touch to see it dosed in print. L-carnitine at 75 mg per kilo helps turn fat into energy the dog can use, and it is the usual choice when a maker wants a heavy dog to stay trim. Vitamin E is declared at 500 IU and zinc at 105 mg per kilo.

Calcium converts to 1.7% of dry matter. That is ample for a grown dog and comfortably more than a growing large breed should be given, which fits a bag that names adults and stops there. The tail end is garnish: pumpkin, butternut squash, carrots, apples, kale, cranberries, then a run of botanicals finishing with lavender and rosehips. The food stands perfectly well on the ten animal entries above it.

£9.21 a kilo, sold in a single 11.4kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 251 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £2.32 a day, worked from an estimated energy figure, since the label declares none. The dog this bag is actually written for is a good deal bigger: the label asks 244 to 303 grams a day for a less active dog of 30kg to 40kg.