Pooch & Mutt Superfoods Adult Dry Food review

Our scale puts this in the Good band, up at the stronger end of the same band the middle of the adult dry shelf occupies. Ordinary things done properly are what open the gap. The meat is declared dried, so the headline percentage counts at face value and does not shrink in the oven. The carbohydrate estimate comes in a shade under what is typical for a dry adult food. Almost every minor ingredient carries its own figure, which is why the transparency pillar reads Outstanding.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken Protein (30 %), Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes (17 %), Chicken Fat (6 %), Chickpeas (6 %), Hydrolysed Chicken Liver (4 %), Dried Pumpkin (4 %), Dried Apple Pulp (4 %), Linseed (2 %), Salmon Oil (2 %), Hydrolysed Yeasts (1 % - a source of inositol and amino acids), Carrots (0.4 %), Potassium Chloride (0.4 %), Microalgae Oil (0.3 %), Dried Chamomile (0.2 %), Dried Cranberries (0.2 %), Dried Seaweed (0.2 %), Mannan-oligosaccharides (0.15 %), Fructo-oligosaccharides (0.1 %), Glucosamine (0.1 %), Dried Blackcurrant (0.05 %), Dried Spinach (0.05 %), Dried Rosehips (0.05 %), Dried Pomegranate (0.05 %), Dried Kale (0.05 %), Mojave Yucca (0.01 %).

Chicken protein at 30% is a dried, concentrated meat. That word dried matters more than the number beside it. Cooking takes nearly all the water out of fresh meat. A fresh 30% would be a long way smaller by the time the kibble is finished. This 30% has already been through that process. The analysis agrees, with protein converting to 30.0% of dry matter and fat to 13.3%.

Potatoes sit second without a percentage, sweet potatoes are declared at 17% and chickpeas at 6%. Sweet potato is the best of that group for a dog, since it carries fibre and vitamin A along with its starch. Estimated carbohydrate converts to 46.0% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. Wheat, maize and rice are absent from the list.

Chicken fat at 6% names its species, which plenty of labels never bother to do. It sits alongside linseed at 2% and salmon oil at 2%, with microalgae oil at 0.3% the most interesting entry of the three, a marine omega source that is grown and not caught. Between them they cover omega 3 from the plant side and the marine side. Fish is therefore in the bag, with no fish named on the front.

The working extras are dosed in print. Hydrolysed chicken liver at 4% is the palatability entry and hydrolysed yeasts at 1% bring inositol and amino acids. Feeding the useful gut bacteria are mannan-oligosaccharides at 0.15% along with fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.1%, and glucosamine at 0.1% covers the joints. Printing a figure against each one lets you judge them for yourself.

The superfood name rests on a long tail, and it repays reading in proportion. Dried pumpkin and dried apple pulp at 4% each are substantial enough to matter. Chamomile, cranberries and seaweed at 0.2%, then blackcurrant, spinach, rosehips, pomegranate and kale at 0.05% apiece, are flourishes on top of the foundations. That is not a complaint. The recipe stands up on its chicken and its starch choices, and the tail is a pleasant extra on top.

£5.20 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg and 7.5kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 233 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £1.21 a day. The label's own table asks 170 to 340 grams for dogs between 10kg and 25kg. Where those two disagree, go by the waistline.