Sneyd's Wonderdog Wonderdog Special review

Our scoring reads this at the Poor end of the scale. Ordinary adult dry food gathers a fair way above it, in the Good band. Nearly all of that gap is naming rather than nutrition. Cereals, meat and animal derivatives, oils and fats, various sugars: every one is a category term. A category term can cover something decent or something ordinary without the label ever telling you which. The declared analysis is not the trouble: protein converts to 26.4% of dry matter, a perfectly reasonable adult level, and fat to 11.0%, which sits on the lean side. The recipe simply keeps its detail to itself, and our scoring rewards labels that do the opposite.

Ingredients, as declared: Cereals, Meat and Animal Derivatives (Beef, Chicken, Lamb & Pork), Various Sugars, Oils and Fats (0.4% fish oil), Minerals (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)

Cereals opens the list and stays undefined. The term covers everything from good whole grains to the plainest milling fractions, and because no grain is named the mix can move between batches without the wording changing. That is not a sign of a poor ingredient in itself. It does mean that a known grain sensitivity has nothing here to match against.

Meat and animal derivatives is the second entry, and credit where it is due, the bracket after it names beef, chicken, lamb and pork. That is more than the category term alone would give you and it tells you which animals are involved. The parts used and the weighting of the four stay unsaid, so a dog that reacts to one of the four cannot be untangled from a bag of this.

The entry that stands out most is various sugars. Kibble gets sugar for the same reason our food does: it makes the bowl more tempting, and dogs respond to it. With no figure printed there is no way to judge the amount, and a dog that runs hot or carries extra weight will feel it most.

The fat is described as oils and fats, another umbrella, with a single exception: 0.4% fish oil is drawn out and named, and that is where the omega 3 in this recipe comes from. Fat lands at 11.0% of dry matter overall, so the bowl is a lean one. Fibre at 4.4% of dry matter is on the generous side for a dry food.

The herb blend listed under minerals is the most interesting part of the label. Seaweed leads it as a broad mineral and iodine source, carrot powder brings vitamin A, and limestone granules are a straightforward calcium source. Glucosamine and chondroitin are in there too, more than a category-led label usually bothers with. Neither carries a dose, so treat them as a bonus and not a joint programme. Turmeric, ginger, dandelion root, fennel, peppermint and the rest are seasoning in the amounts involved.

Each of the trace minerals carries a dose in print. Ferrous sulphate is at 200 mg, zinc oxide at 139 mg, manganous oxide at 81 mg and cupric sulphate at 32 mg per kilo. Calcium iodate is at 4 mg and sodium selenite at 0.2 mg. The oxide forms are the least readily absorbed of the options available. The antioxidants and preservatives at the top of the additives panel are not named, a small piece of the same story the ingredients list tells.

£2.20 a kilo, sold in 15kg and 2.5kg bags with a sample pack alongside.

As a rough guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works through about 253 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes out at £0.56 a day. The label's own chart asks 175 to 240 grams for a dog between 11kg and 20kg. Between the two, trust the waistline.