Wellness Core Adult Low Fat Small Breed review

This one finishes in the Excellent band, a step ahead of the Good band where the middle of the adult dry shelf settles. The declared moisture of 9.0% is a small thing that helps, because the dry matter figures are then calculated and not assumed. Protein comes out at 36.3%, fat at 12.1% and carbohydrate at 37.4%. That carbohydrate figure is a good way below the 46.2% usual in adult dry food. A light recipe that holds protein that high is doing the difficult version of the job, and that is what the band is recognising.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey 29% (Fresh Turkey 17%, Dehydrated Turkey 12%), Chicken 24% (Dehydrated Chicken 17%, Chicken Gravy 5%, Chicken Fat 2%), Dried Potatoes, Peas, Beet Pulp 4%, Potato Protein, Linseed 2%, Lignocellulose, Salmon Oil 1%, Carrots, Apples, Dried Chicory Root (source of Fructo-oligo-saccharides and Inulin) 0.5%, Yeast Extract (source of mannan-oligosaccharides) 0.5%, Broccoli, Spinach 0.01%, Tomatoes, Blueberries 0.01%, Cranberries, D-Glucosamine Hydrochloride 100 mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 100 mg/kg, Yucca Schidigera, Mixed Herbs (Dried Rosemary, Dried Turmeric, Dried Citrus, Dried Eugenia).

Turkey at 29% heads the list, 17% of it fresh and 12% dehydrated. Chicken follows at 24%, arriving as chicken gravy, chicken fat and dehydrated chicken. That split is genuinely useful to have. Fresh meat is largely water, so the dehydrated entries are the ones that survive into the kibble. The result is protein at 36.3% of dry matter, a strong figure for any adult food and an unusual one for a light adult food.

The lightness lives in the fat, 11.0% as fed and 12.1% of dry matter, and in the energy, 333 kcal per 100g against the 357 typical of an adult dry food. A small dog eats a small bowl, so the difference shows up gradually, which is exactly the pace at which you want a little dog to lose weight.

The starch job goes to dried potatoes and peas, with not a cereal in the recipe. Potato protein appears further down and does part of the protein job from a plant source, which is always worth spotting on a label. Beet pulp at 4% and lignocellulose supply the fibre, and it lands at 4.9% of dry matter. The lignocellulose in particular is a purified fibre powder, nothing you would recognise as a vegetable.

The support cast is the Core standard, and all of it is dosed in print. Glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate at 100 mg/kg each, taurine at 1500 mg per kilo, and salmon oil at 1% with linseed at 2% covering both kinds of omega 3. Feeding the gut bacteria are yeast extract and dried chicory root, 0.5% apiece. The trace elements follow the same pattern, with zinc and iron both at 100 mg per kilo.

At the end come broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, blueberries and cranberries, with spinach and blueberries printed at 0.01%. Those are token amounts, and nothing in the food leans on them. Natural preservation is handled by a herb mix of rosemary, turmeric, citrus and eugenia, with yucca schidigera the usual entry aimed at what happens in the garden afterwards.

Sold in 5kg bags with a smaller size alongside.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would work through about 252 grams a day, assuming roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). Most dogs eating from this particular bag will be a great deal smaller than that. Scale the portion down to your own dog's size and let the waistline confirm it after a few weeks.