Royal Canin Labrador Retriever Adult review

1. Royal Canin Labrador Retriever Adult 46.1

All one Average. Typical dry food: Good.

The analysis is perfectly respectable, and the gap opens on a list where maize comes first and several working entries name no animal.

• Maize, riceBoth cook down into a firm, consistent kibble. By weight, the first thing in the bag is not meat.
• Dehydrated beef and pork proteinBetter identified than most of this maker's adult shelf, and meats plenty of dogs rarely meet.
• Dehydrated poultry proteinA family, never a bird.
• Hydrolysed animal proteins, animal fatsNeither names an animal.
• Vegetable fibres, beet pulpBeet pulp is the workhorse behind stool quality.
• Maize gluten, wheatMaize gluten lifts protein without meat; wheat is the cereal most often named in an intolerance.
• Yeasts, fish oil, minerals, soya oilFish oil is the main omega supply.
• Psyllium husks and seeds, fructo-oligo-saccharidesA soluble fibre that holds water in the gut, and food for the gut bacteria.
• Hydrolysed crustaceans, hydrolysed cartilageSources of glucosamine and chondroitin for a heavy, enthusiastic dog's joints.
• Borage oil, marigold extract0.1% borageGamma-linolenic acid, and lutein for the eye.

Vitamins A and D3 with iron, iodine, copper, manganese, zinc and selenium, each dosed per kilo, plus tea extract for polyphenols; the preservatives and antioxidants go unnamed.

A cereal-led breed kibble: maize and rice open the list, beef and pork are named ahead of an unnamed poultry protein, and a heavy fibre package and a joint pairing follow. Every added nutrient carries a printed dose.

Price per kilo

£5.42 (RRP)

Pack

3 kg, 12 kg

A 15kg dog eats (our estimate)

200 to 245 g a day, 225 in the middle

Cost per day, 15kg dog

£1.22

This is a breed food for a much larger dog than 15kg, so the real daily amount runs well above that guide.

Middle of the market for a dry food, and a little dear on our scoring for what the analysis shows.