Skipper's Chicken with Sweet Potato & Herbs review

Our scoring puts this in the Good band, home to the typical adult dry food as well, and construction is what gets it there, not a long ingredient list. Chicken at 55% is declared in three parts, so a reader can see for themselves how much of it survives the oven, and every animal entry names its species. Carbohydrate estimates at 43.0% of dry matter against the 46.2% usual for the category. The supplement side is thin, and that is what holds it back: no chelated minerals, no joint support, and an omega 3 supplement given without a source. For a plainly built chicken kibble that is still a strong showing, and the label reads more honestly than many that finish alongside it.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 55% (including Freshly Prepared Chicken 31%, Dried Chicken 21% & Chicken Stock 3%), Sweet Potato (26%), Peas (6%), Potato, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Omega 3 Supplement, Minerals, Herbs (0.3% including Marjoram, Basil, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Parsley), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 96 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 24 mg/kg)

The best thing on this label is how the chicken is declared. In total that is 55% chicken: 31% fresh, 21% dried and 3% stock. Fresh meat is mostly water and leaves most of it behind in the oven. In the finished kibble the 21% dried does most of the work, and at that level it does the job properly. Protein converts to 29.3% of dry matter.

Sweet potato at 26% is the main starch with potato behind it and peas at 6% in between. Sweet potato is the gentler of the two starches and brings fibre and antioxidants along with it. Whole peas at that level stay a vegetable, adding some plant protein to the total.

Linseed is the whole-seed omega 3 source, and an omega 3 supplement is then listed separately. That supplement is the one vague entry on an otherwise specific list, since it names nothing. Put a question to the maker if your house keeps fish out of the bowl. Beet pulp provides the fibre, which reads 4.3% of dry matter.

The herb blend at 0.3% is spelled out: marjoram, basil and oregano, then sage, thyme and parsley. That is more candour than the usual unspecified herbs on a label. At that dose it is seasoning, and the recipe stands perfectly well on its chicken without leaning on it.

FOS at 96mg/kg and MOS at 24mg/kg are the prebiotics, both at modest doses. In the large intestine, friendly bacteria feed on them. The mineral panel is dosed in print, with zinc and iron at 50mg each, manganese at 35mg, copper at 15mg and iodine at 1mg per kilo, all in sulphate form and no chelates. Calcium works out at 1.52% of dry matter, a settled adult level.

£6.25 a kilo, sold in 2kg and 12kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 230 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which comes to £1.43 a day. The label's own table asks 145 to 245 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg, so let the waistline decide between the two.