Yarrah Adult Grain Free review

This recipe lands in our Good band, alongside where the broad middle of the dry adult category finishes. On the analysis it is the pick of Yarrah's adult dry range, with protein at 30.4% of dry matter, fat at 16.0% and estimated carbohydrate down at 40.7% against a 46.2% typical. What holds it where it is, is the animal share behind those figures. Behind the 18% dried chicken sit hydrolysed liver, chicken fat and fish, so the legumes end up supplying a real part of the protein. As an everyday bowl for a healthy adult it does the job comfortably, and the organic and MSC credentials are what set it apart from the shelf around it.

Ingredients, as declared: Dried chicken* (18%), tapioca*, green peas*, sunflower seed husks*, soy husks*, chicken fat*, lupine*, soy beans*, dried MSC herring¹, baobab*, hydrolised liver*, brewers yeast, minerals, MSC fish oil¹. * = organic. ¹From an MSC certified sustainable fishery, www.msc.org. 95.9% of agricultural resources is sourced from organic agriculture.

Dried chicken at 18% opens the list, and being dried, all of that share carries through into the finished kibble. Hydrolysed liver, dried MSC herring and chicken fat complete the animal side, with MSC fish oil closing the list.

Tapioca is the main binder. It is a starch pressed from the cassava root and it brings little beyond that starch, which is a fair enough trade in a grain free food where something has to hold a kibble together. Green peas sit next to it, and a whole pea is genuinely useful: fibre and antioxidants come with the protein, plus a spread of vitamins.

Lupine and soy beans are the more distinctive choices, and they explain a good deal of the analysis. Both are legumes used here for protein, and both are why a food declaring 18% meat reads at 30.4% protein on a dry matter basis. For digestibility, meat protein has the edge on plant protein, so read that figure with its sources in mind.

Sunflower seed husks and soy husks are there for fibre. Between them they put crude fibre at 5.5% of dry matter, the highest of Yarrah's adult recipes, which suits a dog whose digestion likes something to work on. Baobab adds a little fruit fibre and antioxidant content further down, and brewer's yeast supplies B vitamins.

MSC fish oil is the marine omega 3 source, the form that reaches a dog's skin and coat most directly, and it carries the same certification as the herring above it. Calcium reads 1.41% of dry matter, comfortable for an adult. As on the rest of the range, no units appear beside the vitamin and trace element figures. That is a shame on a label so forthcoming about where its ingredients came from.

£5.06 a kilo, sold in 2kg and 10kg bags.

Taking a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition at about 840 kcal a day, which is the standard 110 × bodyweight^0.75 maintenance estimate, that comes to roughly 242g a day, or £1.23. Adjust to what the waistline tells you rather than to the guide on the bag.