Primal Spirit Complete Rebel Farm review

Rebel Farm lands in our Good band, the same band the typical cold-pressed food occupies, finishing a whisker under the midpoint of the category. What holds it up there is a chicken-led animal share of roughly two thirds of the recipe. Carbohydrate converts to 37.0% of dry matter against the 43.2% typical for the format, and the list is short enough that nothing is hiding on it. What stops it going further is the absence of any declared vitamin and mineral addition and no calcium figure beside the ash. Protein and processing, nutritional balance and value all read Good, with transparency Excellent behind them, which is a food with a solid centre.

Ingredients, as declared: 45.4% fresh chicken, 20.4% fresh fish, 20.4% rice, 5% beta vulgaris pulp, 3.5% brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), 3.5% carrot, 1.2% apple, 0.25% chicory, 0.125% rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), 0.125% turmeric (Curcuma longa)

The pellet is pressed, not baked, and that is the reason to be looking at this shelf in the first place. Low-temperature compression keeps the ingredients closer to their starting state than high-heat extrusion does. The finished pellet disintegrates in water, and that matters if your dog treats mealtimes as a race.

Fresh chicken at 45.4% leads and fresh fish at 20.4% supports it, and the word fresh is doing quiet work in both cases. Fresh meat arrives with most of its water still in it, so what ends up in the pressed pellet is a fraction of the raw percentage. The honest figure to judge by is the finished analysis, where protein converts to 32.1% of dry matter and fat to 17.3%. Two animal sources also means two things to check against your dog's history rather than one.

The only cereal here is rice at 20.4%, and it is a mild one, free of gluten. As starches go, it is about as easy on a digestive system as they come. Beta vulgaris pulp at 5% is the botanical name for beet pulp, a fermentable fibre that helps hold stools together. Chicory at 0.25% adds inulin, a prebiotic the good gut bacteria feed on. Brewer's yeast at 3.5% supplies B vitamins and a savoury edge.

The produce is where Rebel Farm is the most generous recipe Primal Spirit prints. Carrot at 3.5% is a proper inclusion that carries beta carotene and soluble fibre. It brings antioxidants with it as well, and apple at 1.2% follows. Rosemary and turmeric at 0.125% each close the list, the rosemary as much a natural antioxidant guarding the fats as a flavour.

What is missing matters as much as what is there. No vitamin and mineral premix is declared, no individual nutrient doses are printed, and the crude ash figure of 9.0% arrives without a calcium declaration to explain it. Chicken, fish and brewer's yeast will bring a good deal of the micronutrition between them, and yeast in particular is a strong natural source of the B group. The label leaves you taking that on trust, with no panel to read it off.

£3.91 a kilo, in a 1kg bag, a 12kg sack or a 2 x 12kg option.

Working from the standard maintenance estimate, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). At 340 kcal per 100g this food supplies that in about 247g, which comes to £0.96 a day.