Wainwright's Grain Free Large Breed Adult Dry Food review

This one earns our Good band, level with the middle of the adult dry category. Turkey at 34.5% and protein converting to 27.5% of dry matter do most of that work, with carbohydrate at 48.9% of dry matter finishing near the 46.2% that is typical.

The pillars spread out: protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Average, value sits in Good and transparency reaches Outstanding. The label holds nothing back, even if the recipe breaks no new ground. What you are buying is a competently built grain-free kibble that names its animal, prints its splits and adds the joint ingredients a big dog has a genuine use for.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey (34.5%) (Turkey Meal 22.5%, Turkey Fat 5%, Freshly Prepared Turkey 5%, Turkey Digest 2%), Sweet Potato (33%), Potato Flake, Potato Protein, Whole Peas (5%), Beet Pulp (3%), Whole Linseed (2%), Dried Carrot (0.5% equivalent to 4% Carrot), Seaweed Meal (0.5%), Chicory Root Extract (as a source of Prebiotic FOS) (0.1%), Dried Broccoli (0.05% equivalent to 0.39% Broccoli), Dried Parsley, Dried Rosehip, Dried Thyme, Glucosamine (0.02%), MSM (0.02%), Yucca Extract (0.02%), Chondroitin (0.014%), Dried Spearmint.

Turkey is declared in four parts: 22.5% turkey meal, 5% turkey fat, 5% freshly prepared turkey and 2% turkey digest. Protein comes mostly from the meal, since freshly prepared meat is largely water that the oven drives off. The fat brings the energy. The digest is a palatant that keeps a big dog interested in a bowl it has seen every day for years. Protein converts to 27.5% of dry matter, a solid figure for a kibble.

There is no cereal at all. Sweet potato at 33% is in front on the plant side, with potato flake binding and whole peas at 5% behind. Whole peas are the better form to see. They bring fibre and antioxidants and a spread of vitamins along with their protein, where a stripped pea protein brings only the last of those.

The joint ingredients are the reason this recipe exists as a separate bag, and all three are printed with figures: glucosamine and MSM at 0.02% each, chondroitin at 0.014%. Glucosamine and chondroitin occur naturally in animal cartilage and bone, so any meat-based food carries traces, and adding them deliberately is standard practice on large breed recipes. The clinical evidence for all three is mixed, not settled. Take them as sensible insurance for a heavy frame, not as treatment for a dog that is already sore.

Beet pulp at 3% supplies both soluble and insoluble fibre. Chicory root extract at 0.1% carries inulin. Gut bacteria in the large intestine make use of it. The omega 3 here is whole linseed at 2%. A dog is slower to turn plant omega 3 into the skin-active types than it is with fish, so a coat may take a few weeks to answer.

Carrot and seaweed at 0.5% each bring vitamin A, with iodine and a spread of other minerals. The tail of broccoli, parsley, rosehip, thyme and spearmint sits at trace level, where it does no harm and no heavy lifting. Yucca extract at 0.02% works on the smell of what the dog leaves behind, no small thing when the dog is a big one.

The added panel is dosed openly, with zinc at 100mg, iron at 60mg, manganese at 50mg, copper at 8.0mg, iodine at 2.5mg, selenium at 0.1mg and vitamin E at 150mg. Mixed tocopherols do the preserving, the natural option rather than a chemical one, which matters on a bag this size because it will be open for a while.

£3.67 a kilo, sold in a 15kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg dog in moderate condition would eat about 249 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That puts feeding at roughly £0.92 a day. A large breed adult eats a good deal more than that. Scale the guide up to suit your own dog, and let the waistline confirm you have it right.