Rude Dog Food Complete: Chicken review

Four of the five take our Excellent band, with the Turkey in Good behind them, while the middle of the raw field sits in Outstanding. That tells you what kind of company this range is keeping. Rude's five sit below that mark rather than level with it, and the reason is not a weakness on the label. It is that raw sets an unusually high bar to begin with, so fully itemised animal ingredients, organ meats in every tub and almost no carbohydrate are what the category expects as standard. The Pork finishes highest of the five and the Duck just behind it, with the Beef and Chicken close by and the Turkey the one sitting a band lower. Among the four at the top, the animals should decide it. Nutritional balance and transparency read Outstanding on every flavour. Protein and processing reads Excellent on four of them and Average on the Turkey, with value level to each tub's own band.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken with Bone - 70%, Beef Fat - 5%, Beef Tripe - 5%, Beef Kidney - 2.5%, Beef Liver - 2.5%, Salmon Oil - 0.5%, Butternut Squash - 5%, Carrot - 5%, Seasonal Greens - 3%, Raspberry & Blueberry - 1%, Kelp - 0.5%, Chicken with Bone 70%, Beef Fat 5%, Beef Tripe 5%, Beef Kidney 2.5%, Beef Liver 2.5%, Salmon Oil 0.5%, Butternut Squash 5%, Carrot 5%, Seasonal Greens 3%, Raspberry & Blueberry 1%, Kelp 0.5%, Stated total 100%

The blueprint repeats with small variations. A lead muscle meat and a bone in cut. Then two or three organ meats, with salmon oil at 0.5%. Then the same plant cast in a slightly different order: butternut squash, carrot, seasonal greens, raspberry and blueberry at 1% and kelp at 0.5%. The greens run at 3% on three of the tubs and 10% on the Duck and the Pork, with the squash trading places accordingly.

Organ meats are the part most raw ranges skimp on and this one does not. Liver appears throughout and it is genuinely nutrient dense. It carries B12 and vitamin A, along with copper and iron in a form dogs digest easily. Tripe, the stomach of ruminants, brings its own digestibility and richness. Heart and kidney fill out a set that looks like an animal rather than like a mince.

Calcium comes from the bone in the grind, which is how a raw recipe is meant to handle it, and there is no added vitamin or mineral premix anywhere in the range. A printed calcium figure is the one thing missing from all five, so the balance rests entirely on the grind and not on a declaration you can check. Crude ash runs between 9.0% and 12.3% of dry matter across the range, which is the bone showing up in the analysis.

Seasonal greens is the only entry given as a category, not as an ingredient. At 3% to 10% of the tub, that is a real share of the bowl and well beyond a garnish. The wording lets the mix follow whatever is actually in season, which is fair enough. On a strict exclusion diet, though, the vegetable needs a name.

The analysis reads exactly as the labels promise. Protein converts to between 33.8% and 53.8% of dry matter and fat to between 22.4% and 51.7%, while carbohydrate ranges from nothing at all to 9.6%, against a 5.0% category typical. With no starchy ingredient on any list, even the higher end of that range is a matter of method.

Salmon oil at 0.5% is the only entry that is not a meat, a vegetable or a berry, and it is there for omega 3 fats. It is also the reason fish sits on every allergen list in the range, which is the single caveat worth carrying to the checkout.

Chicken with bone at 70% carries the tub on its own, with beef fat, beef tripe, beef kidney and beef liver taking the remaining animal share. This is the lightest tub of the five at 111 kcal per 100g, so portions run largest here. Its crude ash reading of 12.3% of dry matter is the highest in the range, which follows the bone share.

Every flavour comes in a 500g tub. Per kilo, the Chicken is £6.32, the Beef and the Turkey are £6.76 each, the Pork is £6.80 and the Duck is £7.92.

Feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, which the standard maintenance estimate of 110 × bodyweight^0.75 puts at around 840 kcal a day, works out between £3.45 and £4.80 a day across the range. The order follows energy density, not the per kilo figure: the Chicken is the lightest tub, so it feeds in the biggest portions and works out highest per day despite being lowest per kilo.