Vitalin

Vitalin Adult: Pork with Apple review

Name: Vitalin Adult: Pork with Apple
Brand: Vitalin

55.9/100Good

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

55.9/100Good

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balancePoor

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

Pork

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

Pork: dried, freshly prepared26% (14%, 12%)The smallest meat share in the range.
Whole barley
Potato flake, potato proteinPotato protein props up the protein figure.
Naked oats
Chicken oil, chicken gravyChicken, in a pork-led recipe.
Whole peas, sugar beet
Dried apple4.0%Gives the recipe its name.
Chicory root extract, citrus extracts, monosodium phosphate, MOS0.3% to 0.1%
Glucosamine, MSM, chondroitin340 and 240 mg/kg
Cider vinegar, spearmint, honey powder, nettle, thyme, yucca, Lactobacillus helveticus200 mg/kg and below

Chicken oil and chicken gravy are on the label, so this is pork-led and not pork only.

Named ingredients

Pork (26%, including Dried Pork 14%, Freshly Prepared Pork 12%) Whole Barley, Potato Flake, Potato Protein, Naked Oats. Chicken Oil, Whole Peas, Dried Apple (4.0%), Chicken Gravy, Sugar Beet, Chicory Root Extract (as a source of Prebiotic FOS) (0.3%), Citrus Extracts (0.2%), Monosodium Phosphate, 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: Pork 26%; Chicken 38%; dried chicken 26% plus beef 10%.
Protein, dry matter: 24.2%; 29.7% in both others.
Carbohydrate, dry matter: 50.6%; 45.1% to 45.6% in the others.
Starch base: Barley with potato flake and potato protein; Barley, potato and oats.

The lowest scorer of the three, for a dog that does better on pork than on the other meats.

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

331.5 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

22%

Fat

11%

Fibre

3.5%

Ash

8.5%

Moisture

Dry weight

Protein

24.2%

Fat

12.1%

Fibre

3.8%

Ash

9.3%

Carbs

50.6%

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

30.9%

Carbs

55.8%

Veg

4.6%

Oils

5.8%

Other

Pricing & size