Vitalin

Vitalin Adult: Chicken review

Name: Vitalin Adult: Chicken
Brand: Vitalin

69.6/100Good

DryAdult

Flavour

A conventional British kibble that prints what it uses, with all three recipes in our Good band and the Chicken at the head. The thing that marks it out is the joint and gut layer, dosed in print on every label.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Owners who want joint support with the doses shown: glucosamine and MSM at 340 mg/kg each, chondroitin at 240 mg/kg
Dogs whose digestion likes a steady hand. Chicory root FOS and MOS work behind the meat
Rotating flavours without changing brand, as the base and additive package stay the same
A dog that does well on chicken. The Chicken recipe keeps every animal ingredient on one bird
Adults of any size, from toy to giant

Worth watching

Chicken in the Farmhouse Beef and the Pork with Apple, so neither moves a dog off poultry
Barley and oats carry the starch in all three, and barley has gluten

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

69.6/100Good

Protein and processingGood

Nutritional balanceGood

TransparencyExcellent

ValueGood

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adult dogs of every size. The bag's table puts a 15kg dog between 150 and 250 grams a day, so let the waistline settle the amount.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Chicken

The score, in context

Chicken 69.6
Farmhouse Beef 61.0
Pork 55.9

All three Good. Typical dry food: Good.

The Chicken leads on the largest meat share and the lowest estimated carbohydrate, and the Pork with Apple trails on a weaker nutritional balance.

What's in it

Chicken: dried, freshly prepared, gravy38% (27%, 10%, 1%)The dried 27% is what survives into the kibble and does the real work.
Whole barley, potato, oatsThe binders. Barley brings fibre once cooked, and carries gluten.
Whole peas
Chicken oilSame bird as the meat.
Sugar beet, dried carrot, dried parsnipBeet pulp is the working fibre, with the sugar already gone.
Whole linseedPlant omega 3, and only this recipe has it.
Chicory root extract, citrus extracts, MOS0.3% to 0.1%Two prebiotics feeding the gut bacteria.
Glucosamine, MSM, chondroitin340 and 240 mg/kgSensible amounts for a general adult food.
Cider vinegar, spearmint, honey powder, nettle, thyme200 mg/kg eachSeasoning at this level. Honey powder is a sweetener in all but name, and a rounding error here.
Yucca extract, Lactobacillus helveticus0.005%

Named ingredients

Chicken (38%, including Dried Chicken 27%, Freshly Prepared Chicken 10%, Chicken Gravy 1%), Whole Barley, Potato, Oats, Whole Peas, Chicken Oil, Sugar Beet, Dried Carrot, Dried Parsnip, Whole Linseed, Chicory Root Extract (as a source of Prebiotic FOS) (0.3%), Citrus Extracts (0.2%), Mannan-oligosaccharides (Prebiotic MOS) (0.1%), Glucosamine (340mg/kg), MSM (340mg/kg), Chondroitin (240mg/kg), Apple Cider Vinegar Powder (200mg/kg), Dried Spearmint (200mg/kg), Honey Powder (200mg/kg), Dried Nettle (200mg/kg), Dried Thyme (200mg/kg), Extract of Yucca Schidigera, Tyndallised Lactobacillus Helveticus HA-122 (0.005%).

Against the range

Meat: Chicken 38%; Dried chicken 26% plus beef 10% in the Farmhouse Beef; pork 26% in the Pork.
Other animals on the label: None, all chicken; Both others carry chicken oil and gravy alongside their named meat.
Carbohydrate, dry matter: 45.1%; 45.6% Farmhouse Beef, 50.6% Pork.
Linseed: Whole linseed; Not on the other two.

The cleanest single-species choice of the three and the leader on our scoring.

All three share one base: a named meat at the front, whole barley and a potato ingredient behind it, oats or naked oats, chicken oil and sugar beet. The foot of every label matches. Glucosamine and MSM at 340 mg/kg each, chondroitin at 240 mg/kg. Chicory root FOS sits at 0.3%, MOS at 0.1% and a run of herbs at 200 mg/kg.

What varies is the meat. Chicken leads at 38%, the Farmhouse Beef puts dried chicken ahead of its beef, and the Pork with Apple sits at 26% pork on potato flake and potato protein. Chicken oil and chicken gravy turn up in the beef and pork recipes too.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

340 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

27%

Fat

12%

Fibre

3.5%

Ash

7.5%

Moisture

Dry weight

Protein

29.7%

Fat

13.2%

Fibre

3.8%

Ash

8.2%

Carbs

45.1%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

37%

Added water

Carbs

56.6%

Veg

2.1%

Oils

2.1%

Other

1.3%

Pricing & size