Wellness Core Adult Small Breed: Lamb review

The turkey and the salmon come out in our Excellent band and the lamb in our Good band, though the animal still matters more here than the ranking. The typical adult dry food sits in our Good band, level with the lamb, and the other two put distance between themselves and it on a few plain things. A named animal heads every list, the fresh and dried shares are given separately, and estimated carbohydrate runs between 29.6% and 36.4% of dry matter where the adult dry norm is 46.2%. The joint pair and the taurine are declared with figures across the range, which is what lets you compare these bags with anything else on the shelf.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb 38% (Fresh Lamb 20%, Dehydrated Lamb 18%), Peas 20%, Potato Protein, Potatoes, Rapeseed Oil, Dried Beet Pulp 3%, Brewer's Dried Yeast 3%, Linseed 3%, Lignocellulose, Minerals, Dried Apples, Dried Carrots 0.5%, Yeast Extract (source of mannan-oligosaccharides) 0.5%, Dried Chicory Root (source of Fructo- oligo-saccharides and Inulin) 0.5%, Dried Broccoli, Dried Spinach 0.01%, Dried Tomatoes, Dried Blueberries, Dried Cranberries, Glucosamine Hydrochloride 100 mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 100 mg/kg, Yucca Schidigera, Mixed Herbs (Dried Rosemary, Dried Turmeric, Dried Citrus, Dried Eugenia).

Each recipe opens with its animal and shows the split. Lamb is 38%, 20% fresh and 18% dehydrated. Salmon is 32%, half fresh and half dehydrated, with dehydrated tuna at 13% behind it. Turkey is 32%, again split evenly, with chicken at 30% alongside. Baking removes the water from fresh meat, which leaves the dehydrated entries to carry protein into the finished kibble. Printing both shares is what lets you see that for yourself.

Peas are a big entry right across the range, at 20% in the lamb and the turkey and 16% in the salmon, with potato appearing as dried potato and again as potato protein. Whole peas bring fibre and antioxidants and are a reasonable ingredient, though at that level they are also a structural choice. Potato protein is the one to notice, being a plant protein contributing to the headline figure on the analysis.

The three analyses are strong. Protein converts to between 32.6% and 39.6% of dry matter and carbohydrate to between 29.6% and 36.4%, so even the starchiest of the three sits a long way under the adult dry average. Fat runs at 15.0% or 16.0% as fed, which keeps a small kibble tasty for a dog with a small appetite and a short attention span at the bowl.

The supplement work is consistent across the range. Glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate at 100 mg/kg each, and taurine at 1500 mg per kilo in all three. Zinc and iron come at 100 mg, with the whole set of trace elements carrying a printed figure. Linseed at 3% supplies plant omega 3 in every recipe, beet pulp at 3% or 4% is the fermentable fibre, and lignocellulose adds bulk without calories.

The last few entries, broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, blueberries and cranberries, are small enough that some are printed at 0.01%. Read them as a flourish, not as a course. Preserving falls to rosemary, turmeric, citrus and eugenia, and yucca schidigera is the standard entry aimed at stool odour. What these recipes actually stand on is the meat at the top and the low starch load underneath it.

Lamb at 38%, 20% fresh and 18% dehydrated. Nothing else on the list is an animal. No fish oil, no unnamed flavouring, no second meat anywhere on it. So this is the only recipe here that can genuinely anchor an elimination trial. Rapeseed oil supplies the added oil, brewer's dried yeast at 3% sits alongside the yeast extract, and vitamin E is dosed at 400 mg per kilo, far above the other two. Protein converts to 32.6% of dry matter and fat to 16.3%, and moisture is not declared on this label.

The lamb is £6.66 a kilo. All three varieties come in 5kg bags with a smaller size alongside.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat between 234 and 239 grams a day depending on the recipe. The working figure is about 840 kcal a day, taken from the standard maintenance estimate of 110 × bodyweight^0.75. On the lamb it comes to roughly £1.58 a day. These recipes are cut for much smaller dogs than that, though, and the labels ask 85 to 90 grams at 5kg and 145 to 150 grams at 10kg.