Wainwright's Working Dog Dry Food review

This finishes in our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food. It gets there without a single fashionable ingredient. The meat is named, the fresh and the dried each get their own figure, and every plant entry carries a percentage. Carbohydrate works out at 44.0% of dry matter, a shade under the 46.2% normal for a kibble. Transparency reads Outstanding, with value and protein and processing both at Good and nutritional balance at Average, so the label tells you plenty and the recipe behind it does honest everyday work.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey (37%) (Dried Turkey 32%, Freshly Prepared Turkey 5%), Rice (26%), Whole Grain Barley (15%), Rapeseed Oil, Whole Ground Oats (4.5%), Beet Pulp (3.5%), Dried Peas (3% equivalent to 12.5% Peas), Linseed (2%), Dried Carrots (1% equivalent to 8% Carrots), Salmon Oil (0.5%), Seaweed (0.2%), Glucosamine (0.05%), Yucca Extract (0.02%), Chondroitin (0.015%)

Turkey at 37% is the largest meat share in this brand's grain inclusive line, printed as 32% dried and 5% freshly prepared. The dried portion has already been through the drier, so the figure on the pack is close to what the kibble actually holds. A big fresh headline does not always work out that way. Protein comes out at 29.3% of dry matter and fat at 14.7%, the sort of pairing that keeps a busy dog fuelled without tipping into a rich food.

Rice at 26% does most of the energy work, with whole grain barley at 15% behind it and whole ground oats at 4.5% after that. Each one is named on the label, not tucked under a category term. Carbohydrate is estimated at 44.0% of dry matter, slightly below the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. The pack leaves moisture undeclared, so that piece of maths assumes the 8% a kibble normally carries.

Rapeseed oil sits high on the list as the main added fat. Linseed at 2% and salmon oil at 0.5% follow, one a plant source of omega 3 and one marine. A dog uses the marine form straight off, so the pairing is a sensible one.

Beet pulp at 3.5% is the fibre. Dried peas go in at 3%, printed as the equivalent of 12.5% fresh, with dried carrots at 1% standing for 8%. None of it is doing headline work, but writing the fresh equivalents alongside the dried weights is a good sign on any label.

The bottom of the list carries seaweed at 0.2% for iodine, glucosamine at 0.05% and chondroitin at 0.015% for joints under load, and yucca extract at 0.02%. The minerals are dosed in print, with zinc at 50mg and iron at 40mg declared, so you can see what the dog is getting instead of guessing at it.

£2.72 a kilo, sold in an 18kg bag.

A 15kg adult in moderate condition would eat roughly 225 grams a day on this recipe, taking around 840 kcal a day as the basis (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That lands at £0.61 a day. A dog genuinely in work will want more than that, and the pack's table asks 325 to 505 grams for one between 25kg and 45kg.