Paw-Cura Adult Medium Large Breed review

Our bands place this alongside the middle of the adult dry market rather than above or below it, with Good the reading for this food and for the typical bag on the shelf. Average is where protein and processing lands, and nutritional balance with it, held there by the plant load behind the protein and by trace minerals in their plainer sulphate forms. What lifts the food is candour: percentages are printed where they matter, every additive carries a dose, and no unnamed animal or unnamed oil appears anywhere on the list. Transparency is the pillar that reads Outstanding.

Ingredients, as declared: Dried insect protein (28%), Dried potato flakes, Naked oats, Green peas, Extra virgin olive oil, Dried brewer's yeast, Dried beet pulp, Flaxseed, Minerals, Dried apples, Dried yeast extract (a natural source of MOS (mannan-oligosaccharides) & beta glucans) (0.5%), Dried carrots, Dried chicory (a natural source of FOS and inulin), Dried chamomile (0.1%), Algae oil, Yucca schidigera.

At 28%, dried insect protein does all the animal work here. Nothing shelters behind it: no meat meal, no second species, no unnamed fat. Insect protein is highly digestible, and more useful still for an itchy dog, almost nothing has met it before. That is the whole logic of a novel protein: an immune system cannot object to something it has never been introduced to.

Dried potato flakes, naked oats and green peas do the carrying. Naked oats are a hulless variety, easier on a digestion than most cereals and generous with fibre, and peas bring antioxidants along with a little extra plant protein. The panel lands in the middle of the market as a result. Protein is 27.5% of dry matter, fat 12.1% and estimated carbohydrate 46.7%, almost exactly the 46.2% that adult dry foods typically run.

The fats are a striking choice for a kibble. Extra virgin olive oil is far more often found in a kitchen than in a dog food, and it brings vitamin E and antioxidants with its energy. Algae oil sits near the bottom of the list to supply the long chain omega 3s directly. Algae is where fish acquire theirs in the first place. This recipe reaches the same destination without a fish ingredient.

The small print earns its space. The prebiotic set is aimed squarely at stool quality. Dried yeast extract at 0.5% brings MOS and beta glucans, dried chicory adds inulin, and beet pulp feeds the gut bacteria. Chamomile at 0.1% and yucca schidigera close the list, yucca being the entry that tends to soften what the garden smells like. Taurine and L-carnitine are both printed with a dose. Taurine is the amino acid that keeps the heart working, and L-carnitine turns fat into usable energy.

The trace minerals are in sulphate form, the plainer of the two options next to chelates. Each is declared with a figure: zinc at 60 mg, iron at 50 mg, copper at 10 mg and manganese at 10 mg per kilo. Iodine at 1 mg and selenium at 0.2 mg sit beneath them. Vitamin E is dosed at 120 mg. Calcium works out at 0.77% of dry matter, a settled adult maintenance level.

£12.22 a kilo, sold as a 1.8kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 255 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which comes to £3.11 a day. A medium or large dog will weigh more than that reference dog, so scale both figures to the animal you actually feed.