Terra Canis Canireo Dry: Chicken review

The chicken finishes in our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food. A step below sit the beef and the game in our Average band, both reading Poor for protein and processing, while transparency reads Outstanding across all three. The distance comes down to construction, not flourish. Roughly two thirds of every recipe is fresh muscle meat from one animal, the starch load stays under what is normal for a kibble, and nearly everything on the list is both named and weighted.

The chicken reads the strongest of the three on paper, and the other two are there for the dogs it does not suit. Choose on the animal, not on the arithmetic.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh Chicken Muscle Meat (64%), Potato Flakes (12%), Coconut Flour (4%), Sweet LupinE, Apricot (1.5%), Carrot (1.4%), Courgette (1.4%), Celery (1.1%), Fresh Chicken Liver (1%), Brewers Yeast (1%), Linseed (1%), Apple (0.8%), Pumpkin (0.7%), Parsnip (0.7%), Eggshell Powder (0.7 %), Beetroot (0.5 %), Mineral Clay (0.5%), Parsley Root (0.4%), Fenugreek (0.4%), Rapeseed Flour (0.4%), Dandelion (0.3%), Rosehip (0.3%), Camomile (0.2%), Aronia (0.2%), Spinach (0.2%), Seaweed (0.1%), Rosemary (0.1%), Thyme (0.1%), Minerals.

Fresh muscle meat at 64.0% is the headline in all three, and muscle meat is a more specific promise than most labels make: it is the flesh rather than an unnamed mix of parts. The caveat is water. Fresh meat holds plenty of it. The oven takes it out. What is left in the finished kibble is a good deal less meat than 64.0% reads. The analysis shows where it settles, with protein converting to between 30.1% and 32.7% of dry matter and carbohydrate to between 42.6% and 44.2%, against 46.2% typical for adult dry food. That is a genuinely meat forward result for a dry food.

The binding is potato flakes, 15.0% of the beef recipe and 12.0% of the other two, with coconut flour and sweet lupine behind them. Sweet lupine is a legume grown for its protein, standing in for cereal here. The grain free promise holds right to the bottom of the list.

The vegetable and fruit tail is where this range shows its personality. Carrot, courgette, celery, parsnip, pumpkin and spinach all appear at declared percentages. Apple or apricot joins them, along with a run of herbs from parsley root and fenugreek to rosemary and thyme. At those weights none of it is doing heavy nutritional lifting. The recipe does not ask it to. It does show a maker willing to print a number next to everything. Not many labels go that far.

Fresh liver at 1.0% is the entry worth spotting. For sheer nutrition per gram, liver has few rivals in a dog's bowl. It brings vitamin A, B12 and copper, it is highly palatable, and a small share does useful work. Eggshell powder and mineral clay supply calcium and minerals, and linseed adds plant omega 3s. There is no fish oil anywhere, which keeps the whole range fish free.

The published additive list is the one thin spot. The panel declares vitamins A, D3 and E, then copper at 4 mg, iodine at 1.6 mg and zinc at 40 mg per kilo. After that it stops. Manganese and selenium carry no dose, and no calcium figure is declared, so a large breed puppy owner would not find the number they most want. For an adult or senior dog eating a complete food, none of that changes the day to day.

Protein reads 30.1% declared, which converts to 32.7% of dry matter, the highest of the three, and ash is the lowest at 5.5% of dry matter. Coconut flour rises to 4% and apricot, beetroot and aronia join the fruit list. The label declares no energy figure, so ours is an estimate. Treat the portion table as the better guide.

Sold in 1kg, 2.5kg and 5kg bags, with the chicken listed in 1kg only.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition the standard maintenance estimate is around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). That comes to about 231 grams a day of the beef, 236 of the chicken and 230 of the game. The label's own table asks 175 to 280 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg. If that and your eye disagree, trust the waistline.