Wainwright's Grain Free Small Breed Adult Dry Food review

There is no drama behind this reading. Turkey at 35% and protein at 27.5% of dry matter are respectable numbers for a kibble, and carbohydrate at 49.5% sits a little above the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. The pillars run from Average at protein and processing and nutritional balance up to Good for value and Outstanding for transparency.

Add all of that up and the Good band is where it settles, in the same company as the bulk of the shelf. For a small dog that eats a small amount and enjoys every gram of it, that is a perfectly sound place for a food to be. The label gives you enough detail to check the reasoning yourself.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey (35%) (Turkey Meal 22.5%, Turkey Fat 5.5%, Freshly Prepared Turkey 5%, Turkey Digest 2%), Sweet Potato (30%), Potato Flake, Potato Protein, Whole Peas (5%), Beet Pulp (2.5%), 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, Yucca Extract (0.02%), Dried Spearmint.

The 35% turkey headline is the largest animal share in this recipe's own construction. It splits into four printed entries: 22.5% turkey meal, 5% freshly prepared turkey, 2% turkey digest and 5.5% turkey fat. The meal is the part that survives the oven with its protein intact, which is why it leads. The fat brings the energy a busy little dog burns through quickly, and the digest is a palatant, there to make the kibble taste worth crossing the kitchen for.

Protein converts to 27.5% of dry matter and fat to 12.1%, a sensible pairing for a small adult dog. Small breeds run their metabolisms fast and eat little, so the concentration in each piece matters more to them than it does to a big dog working through half a kilo a day.

There is no cereal anywhere. Sweet potato at 30% comes first on the plant side, then potato flake binding, then whole peas at 5%. Whole peas are the form worth having. An intact pea carries vitamins, antioxidants and fibre alongside its protein. A refined pea protein would leave you the protein figure and little else.

The omega 3 in this recipe is whole linseed at 2%. Plant omega 3 reaches the skin-active types by a slower road than fish does, so allow a coat a few weeks. Beet pulp at 2.5% supplies the fibre. Chicory root extract at 0.1% brings inulin. Lower down the gut, the bacteria feed on it.

Carrot and seaweed at 0.5% each supply vitamin A, with iodine among a spread of minerals. Broccoli, parsley, rosehip, thyme and spearmint follow at trace level, seasoning more than substance. Yucca extract at 0.02% takes the edge off the garden smell, something small-garden households tend to appreciate.

Every added vitamin and mineral carries a figure: vitamin E at 150mg, zinc at 100mg, iron at 60mg, manganese at 50mg, copper at 8.0mg, iodine at 2.5mg and selenium at 0.1mg. Mixed tocopherols do the preserving, which is the natural choice and a sensible one on a bag a single small dog will take a while to finish.

£6.00 a kilo, sold in a 2kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg dog in moderate condition would need about 248 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which comes to £1.49 a day. A small dog gets through only a fraction of that, so treat the figure as a yardstick. The bag's own table asks 85 to 170 grams for a dog of 5kg to 12kg, and the waistline settles the rest.