Wolfworthy 80/20 Oily Fish review

Our Excellent band is where this recipe comes to rest, a rung above the Good band that holds the typical adult dry food, and protein and processing reads Excellent. The case is one you can audit on the label rather than take on trust. The named fish entries account for the entire 80% claim, and protein converts to 40.2% of dry matter with carbohydrate at 29.3%, well under the 46.2% typical for the category. There is no generic fish meal on the list, no unnamed oil and no unnamed fat. For a food sold on a single protein family, that consistency is the whole point, and it is delivered.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Salmon (40%), Dehydrated Salmon (19%), Sweet Potato (9.5%), Dehydrated Herring (9%), Tapioca, Freshly Prepared Trout (5%), Freshly Prepared Haddock (5%), Salmon Gravy (2%), Flaxseed, Beta Vulgaris, Lentils, Garbanzo Beans, Minerals, Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 260 mg/kg), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 260 mg/kg), Glucosamine (178 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (178 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Yucca Extract, Dried Carrot, Dried Spinach, Dried Pumpkin, Dried Apple, Dried Seaweed, Dried Calendula, Dried Cranberries, Dried Camomile, Burdock Root, Aniseed, Fenugreek, Dried Peppermint, Green Tea Extract, Dried Dandelion, Dried Bilberries, Ginseng, Thyme, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley, Sage

Every part of the name is itemised on the label. Salmon arrives freshly prepared at 40% and dehydrated at 19%, then dehydrated herring at 9%, freshly prepared trout at 5%, freshly prepared haddock at 5% and salmon gravy at 2%. Fresh fish comes in wet and leaves the oven dry. That is why the dehydrated salmon at 19% and the dehydrated herring at 9% matter so much; they are what actually survives into the kibble. Protein finishes at 40.2% of dry matter, which is a strong figure by any dry food standard.

Salmon and herring are both oily fish in the proper sense, and that changes what the recipe delivers. Marine omega 3 arrives in the long-chain form a dog's body can use straight away, where the plant forms have to be converted first and a dog does that slowly. Flaxseed sits further down the list adding the plant version behind them. For a dog whose coat has gone dull or whose skin has been grumbling, this is the sort of construction that gives a few weeks of feeding something to work with.

The exclusivity here is real, which is worth saying plainly because it so often is not. There is no chicken fat propping up the fat figure, no unnamed animal fat, no hydrolysate of mystery origin, and the allergen picture comes back as fish alone. Anyone running a proper elimination plan gets an animal side that stays inside one family, first ingredient to last.

On the plant side sweet potato at 9.5% comes first, followed by tapioca, lentils, garbanzo beans and beta vulgaris. Tapioca deserves the honest note it usually gets: it is cassava starch and brings little other than the starch itself, so read it as the thing binding the biscuit. With carbohydrate estimated at 29.3% of dry matter, it is not being asked to do much more than that.

The working extras all carry doses. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane are declared at 178 mg/kg each with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg, while MOS and FOS are both printed at 260 mg/kg to feed the friendly end of the gut. Yucca extract is there for the smell of the garden, a job it does in plenty of kibble recipes. Green tea, cranberries and bilberries add antioxidants in the tail.

Iodine is declared at 4.16 mg per kilo and dried seaweed appears further down as a natural source of the same mineral, which fits a fish recipe and matters for thyroid function. Zinc runs to 77 mg, iron to 48 mg and manganese to 18 mg per kilo, with methionine at 1,106 mg and L-carnitine at 48 mg alongside. Calcium works out at 1.52% of dry matter, a level that comfortably covers the puppies the label includes.

What remains is a long list of dried plants, from carrot and spinach through calendula, burdock root, dandelion and ginseng to the kitchen herbs at the very end. No percentages are given for any of it, and none are needed, since these are decoration on a recipe its fish already carries.

£8.89 a kilo, in 1.5kg and 7.5kg bags, and a 60 g sample of this recipe is sold on its own.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats around 211 grams a day, coming to £1.87, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The bag's own chart puts the same dog between 134 and 178 grams, so treat our figure as the upper end of the range and settle it on the ribs.