Scrumbles Adult & Senior Salmon review

This one finishes in our Good band, matching the typical adult dry food, and the placing is honestly earned. The fish does most of the work, because 28% salmon with another 17% dehydrated ocean fish behind it is a lot of animal content for a kibble this light in fat. Dosed joint support, a mineral panel where every entry carries a figure and a live gut culture all add to it. The starch is what holds it back, with sweet potato and potato between them pushing carbohydrate a little past the usual dry food level.

Ingredients, as declared: 28% Salmon (26% Freshly Prepared Salmon, 2% Salmon Oil) 22.5% Sweet Potato, 22% Potato, 17% Dehydrated Ocean Fish, Vegetable Digest, 2.5% Alfalfa, 1% Sunflower Oil, 1% Brewer's Yeast, Vitamins & Minerals, 0.8% Whole Linseed, 0.8% Dried Carrot, 0.2% Chicory Extract (source of Prebiotic FOS), 0.1% Yeasts (source of Prebiotic MOS), 0.04% Glucosamine, 0.04% MSM, 0.028% Chondroitin, 0.02% Yucca, Dried Spearmint.

The 28% salmon headline is mostly freshly prepared salmon at 26%. Water makes up much of fresh fish and the oven removes it, so the 17% dehydrated ocean fish behind it counts for more in the bowl than its position implies. Between them the protein converts to 28.3% of dry matter, a sensible adult level.

Only one entry leaves its species unnamed, and that is the ocean fish. It is a real fish ingredient and a concentrated one. On a strict single-fish diet, though, the bag will not tell you whether it is salmon, and that is worth knowing up front.

Two starches share the job, sweet potato at 22.5% and potato at 22%. No grain appears on the list. Carbohydrate comes out at 48.8% of dry matter against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food. The plant side is doing a little more than average, and that is part of how the fat stays down at 9%.

The joint entries are the kind we like seeing printed, with glucosamine at 0.04%, MSM at 0.04% and chondroitin at 0.028%, each carrying a figure rather than a vague mention. Yucca at 0.02% sits with them, a traditional choice with an eye on the garden afterwards.

Digestion gets a proper look in. Chicory extract at 0.2% supplies FOS and yeasts at 0.1% supply MOS. Both are prebiotic fibres, feeding the bacteria that already live in the gut. The additive panel adds a live Enterococcus faecium culture on top of them.

The small print reads sensibly rather than showily: sunflower oil and brewer's yeast at 1% each, whole linseed and dried carrot at 0.8%, alfalfa at 2.5% and a little spearmint at the end. Manganese and copper arrive as chelates, a form a dog's gut absorbs more readily. Every added trace mineral carries a quantity, from zinc at 100 mg down to iodine at 1 mg per kilo.

£4.83 a kilo. Bags run 2kg, 7.5kg, 12kg, 15kg and 24kg.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 243 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £1.17 a day. The label's own table asks 170 to 286 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg. Let the waistline settle which of the two to follow.