WorkingHPRs Adult: Salmon & Potato review

All three recipes land in our Good band, which puts the whole line level with the middle of the dry adult category. The fish recipe reads strongest on our scoring, with the duck next and the salmon behind it. All three share the same band, so the choice belongs to your dog's palate rather than to our ordering. Transparency is the common strength: every label prints how much of its meat arrives fresh and how much arrives dried, which is more than most bags at this end of the shelf bother to do.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon 44% (Including Freshly Prepared Salmon 23%, Dried Salmon 13%, Salmon Oil 6% & Salmon Gravy 2%), Potato (24%), Oats, Maize (13%), Beet Pulp (4%), Minerals

Duck & Potato is the tidiest label of the three. The duck share comes to 36%, and all of it is duck: dried duck at 27%, duck fat at 7% and duck gravy at 2%. Dried meat brings no water with it into the mix. A 27% dried entry therefore does far more work in the finished kibble than a fresh entry of the same size, and protein at 28.3% of dry matter follows it.

The fish recipe is the busiest on the animal side, declaring 44% fish across salmon at 18%, salmon meal at 8%, blended fish meal at 8% and trout at 7%. Salmon oil and salmon gravy come in at 1.65% each. The salmon oil is a genuine marine omega 3 source rather than a token entry. Only the blended fish meal leaves its species unnamed. That matters when you are pinning a reaction down to one particular fish.

Salmon & Potato is the one recipe in the line built on cereal. It declares its 44% salmon as 23% freshly prepared and 13% dried, with 6% salmon oil on top. Oats and 13% maize sit behind 24% potato. That lifts its estimated carbohydrate to 53.7% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food, and leaves protein the gentlest of the three at 23.9%.

Potato does the binding across the line, at 31% in the duck recipe, 24% in the salmon and 36% in the fish one. That last figure splits evenly between dried potato and dried sweet potato at 18% each. Peas back it up in the duck recipe and pea starch at 7% in the fish, while beet pulp at 7% and 4% supplies the fibre that keeps digestion regular.

The smaller entries earn their place. Linseed in the duck recipe brings omega 3s in their plant form. Brewer's yeast sits alongside it, a good natural source of B vitamins, and a full spread of essential amino acids comes with them. The fish recipe adds lucerne and sunflower oil, the latter among the healthier plant oils and rich in vitamin E. Calcium runs from 1.63% of dry matter in the salmon to 2.07% in the duck, comfortable adult levels throughout.

Salmon at 44%, split 23% freshly prepared to 13% dried, with 6% salmon oil on top. It is also the one label here that uses cereal, with oats and 13% maize behind 24% potato. That makes it the highest of the three for estimated carbohydrate at 53.7% of dry matter and the gentlest for protein at 23.9%. Its 353 kcal per 100g is the most energy dense of the line.

Per kilo, Salmon & Potato is £3.51, Duck & Potato £3.81 and the Fish & Potato recipe £4.15. The duck and the salmon come in 13.5kg and 15kg bags, and the fish recipe in 15kg.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs roughly 840 kcal a day, using the standard maintenance estimate of 110 × bodyweight^0.75. That works out at 240g a day of the duck at £0.91, 247g of the fish at £1.03 and 238g of the salmon at £0.84. For a dog between 10kg and 20kg the duck label itself asks 160g to 265g. Any disagreement is best settled on the waistline.