Specific CXD-XL Adult large & giant breed review

This one comes out in our Average band while the everyday adult dry shelf holds the Good band, and the gap is written into the first two ingredients rather than into anything worrying. Cereal and a concentrated maize protein sitting ahead of the fish meal leaves a model that weighs named meat heavily with very little to reward, and protein and processing reads Poor as a result. Look past that first line and the rest is doing sensible things for a big dog: transparency reads Good and the trace elements are chelated. The taurine and carnitine pairing is a considerate touch on a food that never once claims to be a heart diet.

Ingredients, as declared: Wheat, maize protein, fish meal, beet pulp, pork fat, maize, animal protein hydrolysate, minerals, fish oil, vitamins and trace elements (including chelated trace elements), egg powder, lysine, psyllium husk, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, taurine, L-carnitine, rosemary extract. With natural antioxidants (tocopherols and vitamin C).

Wheat leads and maize protein follows, with maize itself turning up again a few places later. Maize protein is the protein fraction left when the starch is stripped out, and it is a reliable way to lift a declared figure without adding meat. That means the 23.6% on the panel is a blend of animal and plant, and the amino acid top-ups further down the list, lysine, methionine, threonine and tryptophan, are the maker acknowledging as much.

Fish meal is the animal backbone and a good one. Because rendering drives most of the water off, fish meal arrives in the mixer as a concentrated powder of protein, fat and minerals, so its contribution outweighs its position on the list. Egg powder near the tail adds a small amount of about the highest quality protein a dog can be given.

Pork fat carries the energy and it is at least named, unlike the generic animal fats that appear on many labels at this level. Fish oil sits above it and supplies the long-chain omega 3s. Between them they hold total fat to 10.9%, which is a restrained figure and a sensible one for a breed that gains weight faster than its joints would like.

Beet pulp and psyllium husk share the fibre work, and psyllium in particular is a thoughtful inclusion for a big dog, since it holds water and gives a large digestive tract something predictable to move. Crude fibre finishes at 2.8%, which is modest but active enough to matter.

The food earns its keep in the last stretch of the list. Taurine supports the heart muscle, and it matters more in the giant breeds than in any other group. L-carnitine has a role in how fat is used for fuel. The trace elements are chelated, a form a dog generally absorbs better than plain mineral salts. Rosemary extract, tocopherols and vitamin C keep everything fresh without resorting to synthetic preservatives.

£4.95 a kilo. Bags come in 4kg and 12kg.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 229 grams a day, taking around 840 kcal a day as the target (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £1.13 a day. The label itself is written for much bigger dogs, asking 260 grams a day at 20kg, 515 grams at 50kg and 835 grams at 95kg.