Sneyd's Wonderdog Wonderdog Premium Hypoallergenic Salmon & Rice review

Sitting in our Good band puts this level with the broad middle of the adult dry category, and how it gets there is worth a moment. Salmon meal is a concentrated dried protein, where a fresh weight would mostly cook away in the oven. The 26% on the label is close to what ends up in the finished kibble, and protein settles at 25.3% of dry matter. The plant side and the naming are what keep it from going higher. Rice and maize between them carry a good deal of the bag, and carbohydrate works out at 50.0% of dry matter against a typical 46.2% for adult dry food. The added fat is described by bird family, with no species named.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon Meal (26.0%), White Rice (26.0%), Whole Maize, Poultry Oil, Sugar Beet Pellets, Whole Peas, Brewers Yeast, Sunflower Oil, Dried Mixed Herbs (Rosemary, Parsley, Thyme, Basil, Fennel & Oregano) (0.5%), Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) (0.1%), Mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS) (0.1%), Joint Care (Glucosamine, Chondroitin & MSM) (0.08%), Extract of Yucca Schidigera.

Every scrap of animal protein here is salmon meal, declared at 26%. Meal is the concentrated form, only around 5 to 7% water, where a fresh fillet is three quarters water. The declared share and the finished share therefore stay close together. A meat-first label cannot always say the same. Protein converts to 25.3% of dry matter and fat to 14.3%, an ordinary everyday adult balance.

White rice matches the fish at 26%, with whole maize behind it and sugar beet pellets after that. Rice is the gentler of the two grains for most dogs, and maize brings structure and energy. Beet pulp is a genuine fibre source, supplying both the soluble and insoluble kinds, whatever its reputation as a filler. Crude fibre finishes at 2.7% of dry matter, a modest level that suits a dog with settled digestion.

The hypoallergenic name is doing narrower work than it first sounds. It rests on keeping the animal protein to one named fish, which is genuinely useful when you are trying to rule proteins in or out. Poultry oil complicates that. The fat comes from birds without saying which, so this list on its own cannot clear a dog you suspect of a chicken problem. Worth knowing if you are buying it as an exclusion food and not just as an everyday one.

The gut and joint extras are small but they are in print. FOS and MOS sit at 0.1% each, prebiotics that feed what lives further down the gut. Brewers yeast behind them is a traditional B vitamin source. Glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM are declared together as a single 0.08% joint entry, with no dose for each one, so you know they are present without knowing how each is weighted.

The mineral panel is dosed in print, with zinc at 100 mg/kg leading it and selenium at 0.10 mg/kg closing it. These are sulphate forms, not chelates. A dog's gut takes them up a little less readily, and they still do the job properly. The dried herb mix of rosemary, parsley, thyme, basil, fennel and oregano is declared at 0.5%. Yucca extract closes the list, and stool odour is the usual reason for it.

£3.07 a kilo, sold in 15kg and 2.5kg bags with a sample pack listed alongside them.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 240 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £0.74 a day. The label's own chart asks 142 to 227 grams for a dog between 11kg and 20kg. Let the waistline break the tie.