Sneyd's Wonderdog Wonderdog Original Classic review

The Poor band is where our scoring lands this, and the shortfall is about description rather than danger. Four of the leading entries are umbrella terms, the additive panel declares colourants, and the joint ingredients arrive inside a blend with no figures against them. Protein and processing and transparency both come back Poor. Set against that, the analysis is respectable. Protein reaches 26.1% of dry matter, fat 13.0%, and carbohydrate is estimated at 45.1%, which is under the 46.2% usual for an adult dry food, working from an assumed 8% moisture. Most everyday dry foods land in our Good band, and a dog thriving on this one has no reason at all to be moved off it.

Ingredients, as declared: Cereals, Meat and Animal Derivatives (Beef, Chicken, Lamb & Pork), Derivatives of Vegetable Origin, Oils and Fats (0.25% fish oil), Various Sugars, Vegetable Protein Extracts, Minerals Dried Beef Pieces, (PNP Herb Blend (Seaweed Coarse, Ground Micronized Maize, Carrot Powder, Thyme, Fennel, Peppermint Powder, Limestone Granules, Glucosamine HCL, Carob Powder 5, Biopets Yucca Powder, Turmeric Powder, Dandelion Root Power Organic, Ginger Powder, Aniseed Fenugreek Extra, Oregano Herb, Chondroitin Sulphate Avian, Ecological Paprika)

The first half of the list is written in families. Cereals could be any grain, derivatives of vegetable origin could be almost any plant fraction, and oils and fats names only the 0.25% fish oil inside it. None of those terms guarantees a poor ingredient, and some good makers use them to keep a formula to themselves. What they do is make the contents of a bag unknowable from the outside, and let a recipe shift with supply.

Meat and animal derivatives comes second, with beef, chicken, lamb and pork named in the bracket. Naming the species is a genuine courtesy, given that the term itself reaches from good muscle meat to the leftovers of a carcass. Dried beef pieces then appear further down as an entry of their own, the visible difference between this recipe and the plain Original, and the reason there is something recognisable in the bowl.

The PNP herb blend is the most interesting thing on this label and the least quantified. Inside it are glucosamine HCL and avian chondroitin sulphate for the joints, then turmeric, ginger, fennel, peppermint, dandelion root, thyme, oregano, carrot powder, seaweed and yucca. Ground micronized maize and limestone granules act as carriers. Most owners will care most about the joint pair. Honestly read, a blend sitting at the bottom of a list without a percentage of its own is a nod towards joint support, not a measured dose of it.

Various sugars is declared, and so are colourants at the head of the additive panel. Sugar is in a dog food because dogs like it, and colour is there for the shopper, since a dog neither notices the shade of its dinner nor gains anything from it. Neither is dangerous at these levels, and both are entries that pull an ingredient reading down.

The mineral panel is fully printed. Iron is at 200mg, zinc oxide at 139mg, manganous oxide at 81mg, copper at 32mg, iodine at 4mg and selenium at 0.2mg per kilo. Vitamin E is at 70mg, with dosed entries for vitamins A and D. Ash at 12.0% of dry matter suggests a decent bone content in the meat, and the bone is carrying much of the mineral load.

£2.60 a kilo, sold in 2.5kg and 15kg bags, with a sample pack if you want to try it first.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at roughly 254 grams a day, on an estimate of about 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance calculation). The day rate lands at £0.66. Portion to the waistline and adjust over the first fortnight.