PitPat Adult Dry review

Scoring this one is an exercise in balance. The species-level naming, the dosed extras and a carbohydrate share of 43.4% of dry matter where 46.2% is typical all pull upwards. Rice in first place, poultry fat with no bird attached, and potato protein propping up the protein figure all pull the other way. The two sides cancel out into our Good band. The middle of the adult dry market lies there too, and it is no mark against the food.

The practical reading is that this is a well-built everyday kibble with a couple of shortcuts in the middle of it, and that the dog it fits best is a busy one.

Ingredients, as declared: Rice, poultry protein (dried) (chicken 21.0%, duck 4.0%), poultry fat, potato protein, salmon (dried) 4.0%, poultry protein (hydrolysed), beet fibre, plant fibre, carob (crushed), minerals, yeast, chicory root (ground) (natural source of inulin), psyllium husks, New Zealand green-lipped mussel meat (Perna canaliculus) (dried).

Rice heads the list, so grain is the largest single part of this kibble. Rice is one of the easier grains for a dog to digest and one of the least likely to cause bother, so it is a sensible choice for the job. Its position at the top does tell you that the meat here supports the recipe and does not lead it.

The meat is where the label is more forthcoming than most. The dried poultry protein is split into chicken at 21.0% and duck at 4.0%, with dried salmon declared at 4.0% below them. Dried is the operative word, and here it helps. The water comes out in the drying, so the label's percentage is not far off what reaches the finished kibble. Protein comes out at 27.2% of dry matter with fat at 20.7%.

Two entries stop short of naming their bird. Poultry fat and hydrolysed poultry protein both settle for the family name, which could mean chicken, duck, turkey or goose. The hydrolysed protein is there for palatability, broken into fragments dogs find hard to refuse, and the fat is the recipe's main energy carrier. Neither troubles most dogs. Both matter when one particular bird must be kept out of the bowl.

Fourth on the list is potato protein, the one entry we would rather see further down. Potato processing throws it off, and its job here is to raise the protein total. For digestibility and amino acid balance, plant protein trails meat protein. With 25.0% protein declared on the analysis, a little more of that coming from the birds would read better.

The thinking went into the tail of the list. Beet fibre and plant fibre keep things firm, inulin from the ground chicory root does the prebiotic work, and psyllium husks add the soluble kind of fibre. Last comes New Zealand green-lipped mussel, dried, the shellfish dog food most often reaches for when joints are the concern. The dosed panel is generous alongside it, with taurine at 1000 mg/kg, L-carnitine at 250 mg/kg, vitamin C at 200 mg/kg and vitamin E at 220 mg/kg. Both zinc and copper are supplied as glycine chelates, a form dogs take up well.

There is no moisture figure, so the dry matter here runs on the 8% a kibble normally holds.

£5.88 a kilo, sold in 4.25kg bags that can be bought singly or three at a time.

Take roughly 840 kcal a day as the maintenance target for a 15kg adult in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard estimate). A food this energy dense supplies that in about 208 grams a day, which comes to about £1.22 a day. The richer the food, the smaller the scoop, so weigh the portion out and trust the scale over your eye.