Riverwood Adult Dry: Salmon & Whitefish with Herring review

The reindeer and the salmon reach our Excellent band, with the venison a step below in Good, level there with the typical adult dry food. Very little separates the three, so let your dog's best meat decide it. The dehydrated meats are what lift them. The drying happens before the weighing, so the share on the label and the share in the bowl are much the same. Protein converts to between 31.1% and 41.1% of dry matter. Carbohydrate runs from 27.8% to 37.2% of dry matter, under the 46.2% a typical bag carries. The fat entry, which never names its bird, is what holds the range back from climbing higher.

Ingredients, as declared: Scottish salmon dehydrated (26%), whitefish dehydrated (16%), yellow peas (16%), yellow pea starch (12%), herring dehydrated (10%), poultry fat (preserved with tocopherols, 9%), dried apple pulp (4%), pea protein (2%), hydrolysed protein (2%), spinach (1%), evening primrose oil (0.5%), carrots (0.5%), glucosamine sulfate (220 mg/kg), mannan-oligosaccharides (150 mg/kg), chondroitin sulphate (130 mg/kg), fructo-oligosaccharides (100 mg/kg), Yucca schidigera (90 mg/kg), marigold (80 mg/kg), nettle (80 mg/kg) kg), spirulina (35 mg/kg), turmeric (30 mg/kg), citrus pulp (30 mg/kg), cranberries (30 mg/kg), chamomile (25 mg/kg), cinnamon (25 mg/kg).

A dehydrated meat leading a label is a better read than a fresh one. Fresh meat is mostly water and gives up nearly all of it in the oven. A dehydrated meat comes in with the water already gone, so the 26% at the top of each list is close to what your dog actually eats.

Yellow peas and yellow pea starch do the binding, with pea protein behind them. Whole peas bring useful fibre, and some protein of their own. Plant protein does a dog less good than animal protein, so it is worth noticing how far down the list the refined pea protein sits.

The supplement tail is unusually specific. Glucosamine sulphate at 220 mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 130 mg/kg are working amounts, not a nod at the category. Mannan-oligosaccharides at 150 mg/kg and fructo-oligosaccharides at 100 mg/kg go in as prebiotics for the gut. Evening primrose oil at 0.5% supplies gamma linolenic acid, an oil usually chosen with skin and joints in mind.

Below those, the botanicals are seasoning. Yucca at 90 mg/kg, marigold and nettle at 80 mg/kg, spirulina at 35 mg/kg and turmeric, citrus pulp and cranberries at 30 mg/kg are all trace level. No recipe stands or falls on a pinch of cinnamon. The range does not need them to make its case, because the named meats and the joint pair already do.

Poultry fat at 8% to 9% is the one entry out of step with the rest of the label. Everything else names its animal and this does not, which is a pity on a range aimed squarely at dogs that have run into trouble with common proteins. It is a good fat and most dogs will do perfectly well on it, but if you are keeping a bird out of the bowl altogether, it is the line to know about.

Scottish salmon at 26%, whitefish at 16% and herring at 10%, which makes this the only recipe whose named animals are all fish. The fat is still poultry fat, so this is not a fish only bowl. It is the closest the range comes for a dog steered away from land meat.

The reindeer recipe is £6.88 a kilo, the venison £6.48 and the salmon £6.19, each sold in 2kg and 12kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats around 219 to 227 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). Depending on the recipe, the daily figure sits between £1.38 and £1.50.