Wolfworthy 80/20 Original review

Our scoring puts this recipe in the Excellent band, a level up from the middle of the adult dry category, which comes to rest in our Good band. Outstanding is the reading on transparency and on nutritional balance. The reasons sit in plain view on the label: every animal entry is named and given a percentage, and the offal appears as liver, heart and kidney instead of a vague meat term. Protein converts to 39.1% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 28.2%, comfortably under the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. Spreading 80% of a recipe across this many animals and still itemising each one is harder than building it from a single species, and the label does not take the shortcut.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Chicken (18%), Sweet Potato (16%), Dehydrated Chicken (15%), Freshly Prepared Salmon (12%), Dehydrated Turkey (7%), Freshly Prepared Beef Liver (5%), Freshly Prepared Trout (4%), Dehydrated Salmon (3.5%), Chicken Fat (3.5%), Salmon Oil (3%), Freshly Prepared Beef Hearts (2.5%), Freshly Prepared Beef Kidneys (2.5%), Freshly Prepared Free Range Eggs (2%), Chicken Gravy (2%), Broccoli (1%), Spinach (1%), Carrot (1%), Vitamins & Minerals (0.4%), Seaweed (0.2%), Fructooligosaccharides (1,925 mg/kg, 0.1%), Mannanoligosaccharides (170 mg/kg, 0.05%), Apple (0.03%), Cranberry (0.03%), Pear (0.03%), Bilberry (0.03%), Glucosamine (180 mg/kg), Methylsulphonylmethane (180 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg).

The name checks out once you add the entries up. Freshly prepared chicken at 18%, dehydrated chicken at 15%, freshly prepared salmon at 12%, dehydrated turkey at 7%, beef liver at 5% and trout at 4% take the top of the list. Behind them come dehydrated salmon and chicken fat at 3.5% each, salmon oil at 3%, beef hearts and kidneys at 2.5% each, free range eggs at 2% and chicken gravy at 2%. Most of the water in a fresh entry goes in the oven. That leaves the dehydrated chicken at 15% and the dehydrated turkey at 7% quietly carrying a lot of this recipe, and protein finishing at 39.1% of dry matter says the meat story holds up.

The offal is the part worth dwelling on. Liver at 5%, heart at 2.5% and kidney at 2.5% are named separately and measured, where most kibble either leaves offal out or buries it in a catch-all term. Liver carries more than almost anything else a dog eats, vitamin A, copper and B12 included. Heart counts as muscle in the nutritional sense, and it brings taurine along with it. A recipe that puts them on the label by name is telling you something about how it was built.

This is also a fish-carrying recipe despite the chicken on the front. Freshly prepared salmon at 12%, trout at 4%, dehydrated salmon at 3.5% and salmon oil at 3% together bring a serious amount of marine omega 3, in the long-chain form a dog uses directly. Skin and coat gain from that. Fish is in this bowl as well, worth knowing when your dog has to avoid it.

Sweet potato at 16% is the second entry on the whole list and does most of the binding. Broccoli, spinach and carrot at 1% each sit behind it as real vegetables, not powders. Carbohydrate still converts to only 28.2% of dry matter, which tells you how much room the meat is taking up.

The mineral panel is the tidiest of the brand's recipes. Amino acid chelate is the form a dog's gut generally absorbs best, and every trace element here is declared that way. Zinc comes in at 48 mg, iron at 48 mg, manganese at 34 mg, copper at 4 mg and iodine at 1 mg per kilo. Vitamin D3 comes in at 1,925 IU and vitamin A at 14,425 IU, and calcium works out at 1.41% of dry matter, which is a sound level for a bag that includes growing dogs.

The functional extras are printed with doses throughout. Fructooligosaccharides are declared at 1,925 mg/kg with mannanoligosaccharides at 170 mg/kg, so the prebiotic side is dosed on a different scale to most. The joint set of glucosamine, methylsulphonylmethane and chondroitin sulphate sits at 180, 180 and 125 mg/kg. Seaweed at 0.2% adds iodine and trace minerals, and apple, cranberry, pear and bilberry at 0.03% each are the flourish at the end rather than the substance.

£8.89 a kilo, in 1.5kg and 7.5kg bags, with a 60 g sample of the recipe sold separately.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 209 grams a day, which comes to £1.86, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). At 402 kcal per 100g this is dense stuff, so the daily scoop stays small and the label's own chart, which asks 134 to 178 grams for that dog, is a sensible place to begin.