Skipper's Ocean Feast review

Ocean Feast comes out in our Good band, level with the middle of the adult dry category. The named fish share and the printed fresh, dried and stock split do most of the lifting, and transparency reads Outstanding with value Good behind it. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Average, held there by protein converting to 28.3% of dry matter and carbohydrate to an estimated 48.2%. That is a fair-sized plant contribution for a food with this much fish in front of it.

Ingredients, as declared: 50% Salmon & Trout (Including 36% Freshly Prepared Salmon & Trout, 12% Dried Salmon & 2% Fish Stock), 26% Sweet Potato, Peas, Potato, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Vitamins & Minerals, Vegetable Stock, Omega 3 Supplement, Asparagus

Salmon and trout are half the bag. The split is printed honestly: 2% fish stock, 12% dried salmon and 36% fresh. Water makes up most of fresh fish before cooking, so the 12% dried portion carries a good share of the finished protein. On a dry matter basis the analysis is 28.3% protein and 12.0% fat, a moderate and easy-going balance.

Sweet potato at 26% takes the plant side, with peas and potato following, and no cereal turns up at any point. Estimated carbohydrate converts to 48.2% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical for adult dry food, so the starch does a real job here.

Linseed and the added omega 3 supplement cover the fats. Linseed brings plant-form omega 3 along with a useful amount of fibre, and the fish already in the recipe supplies the marine forms, which is a sensible pairing on a fish-led food. The supplement itself is named only by what it does, and the label never says which oil sits behind it.

Beet pulp is the fibre entry, a steady source of both soluble and insoluble fibre that helps keep stools firm. Asparagus and the vegetable stock sit right at the tail end where the quantities are small, and neither carries much of the food.

The added trace elements are dosed in print at zinc 50mg, iron 50mg, manganese 35mg and iodine 1mg per kilo. They come in the sulphate and iodate forms that are standard on a kibble like this, with no chelates. Calcium works out at 1.52% of dry matter, a comfortable level for an adult dog.

£6.33 a kilo, sold in 2kg and 12kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 234 grams a day. That assumes around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), and it works out at £1.48 a day. For a dog between 10kg and 20kg the label's own table asks 145 to 245 grams, and if the two figures differ it is the waistline that settles it.