Vitalin Adult Grain Free: Chicken With Thyme review

Our reading separates these two by a whisker. Chicken with Thyme and Lamb with Mint both take our Good band, the territory the middle of the adult dry category occupies. Protein is what divides them, at 28.6% of dry matter on the chicken against 24.2% on the lamb, with the lamb also carrying more ash. Both print their meat shares in full, which is the part of a label most ranges skate over, and both read as honest conventional cooking with the cereal left out.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (39%, including Dried Chicken 28%, Freshly Prepared Chicken 10%, Chicken Gravy 1%), Potato, Sugar Beet, Whole Peas (5.0%), Sweet Potato, Chicken Oil, Dried Carrot (4.0%), Dried Parsnip (4.0%), 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%).

The meat headlines are broken down properly on both bags. Chicken at 39% is 28% dried, 10% freshly prepared and 1% gravy, while lamb at 36.5% is 25% dried, 10% fresh and 1.5% gravy. The useful part is that split. Freshly prepared meat is largely water before cooking, and the dried portion is what actually reaches the bowl.

Potato and sweet potato do the job cereal usually does, with whole peas at 5.0% on the chicken recipe and sugar beet supplying fibre. The chicken recipe still converts to 46.1% carbohydrate as dry matter and the lamb to 49.4%, either side of the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. What changes here is the type of starch, not the amount of it.

Dried carrot and parsnip at 4.0% each lift the chicken recipe above garnish level. Both bags get the plant form of omega 3 from whole linseed. Chicory root extract at 0.3% and MOS at 0.1% make up the prebiotic pair, with a tyndallised Lactobacillus culture at 0.005% closing the gut section.

Joint support arrives with its numbers attached on both labels. Glucosamine and MSM sit at 340 mg/kg with chondroitin at 240 mg/kg, a working adult dose and not a line for the front of the pack.

The oils are what really separate the recipes. The chicken uses chicken oil, keeping the entire bag on one bird, while the lamb uses rapeseed and stays clear of poultry altogether. The vinegar and herb entries at 200 mg/kg apiece are seasoning. Yucca schidigera extract closes the list, and stool odour is what it is there for.

Chicken at 39%, the larger meat declaration of the two, with chicken oil as the fat so the whole bag stays on one bird. Dried carrot and parsnip come in at 4.0% each, protein reads 28.6% of dry matter, and its transparency pillar reads Outstanding.

£5.67 a kilo for both recipes, in 2kg and 12kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition gets through about 247 grams a day of the chicken. The lamb comes to 250 grams. That assumes around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), and lands at £1.40 and £1.42. The chicken label asks 150 to 250 grams at that weight and the lamb label 175 to 290, so the waistline has the final word.