Pro Plan All Size Adult Performance OptiPower review

The band gap here is worth explaining, because it is not about the nutrition on the day. Our reading comes out Average while the typical adult dry food lands in our Good band, and the difference is almost entirely one of naming. Protein and processing is held to Average, and nutritional balance reads Good. Energy and protein are genuinely strong for a dry food, with protein converting to 33.7% of dry matter and carbohydrate down at 33.1% where the shelf typically runs 46.2%.

What holds the reading back is that a large share of the animal content arrives as dried poultry protein and animal fats with no species attached. Soya meal and corn protein meal do protein duty alongside them. For a dog in real work, this is still a food that puts the calories exactly where they are wanted.

Ingredients, as declared: High quality chicken (including back and chest) (20.5%), Dried poultry protein, Wheat, Animal fats, Rice (8%), Soya meal, Corn protein meal, Digest, Dried beet pulp, Corn, Minerals, Fish oil, Dried egg

Chicken leads at 20.5%, and the label says which parts it means by naming back and chest, which is more candour than most kibbles offer. Being fresh meat, much of that 20.5% is water before the kibble ever forms. Dried poultry protein in second place is what carries the protein through the oven intact.

Animal fats at fourth on the list are the engine of this recipe. That position is why fat reaches 21.0% as fed and 22.8% of dry matter, and it is also the label's biggest omission, because the fat is never pinned to an animal. Fish oil further down adds the omega 3s.

Because so much of the bowl is fat and protein, there is simply less room for starch, and it shows. Carbohydrate converts to 33.1% of dry matter, a long way under the 46.2% typical of adult dry food, with wheat, rice at 8% and corn sharing what is left. Fibre is light at 2.0%, which suits a dog you would rather not be picking up after twice on a working morning.

The palatant here is digest, a hydrolysed animal protein sprayed over the kibble so that a dog who has run itself tired still wants dinner. Dried egg brings a small amount of very well digested protein along with it.

Calcium works out at 1.73% of dry matter. That is a healthy adult figure and a clear signal that this is an adult food, since a growing large breed needs its calcium held to a much narrower window. The rest of the panel is dosed in print, with zinc at 130 mg, iron at 140 mg and manganese at 52 mg per kilo, plus vitamin E at 800 IU. That is a generous level, and with this much fat in the recipe it makes sense.

Sold in one size, a 14kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult in moderate condition would eat about 202 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label speaks to harder-working dogs than that, asking 330 grams a day for a 25kg dog and 660 grams for a 70kg dog at one to three hours of activity. Let the actual workload and the waistline decide.