Yora Superfood Small Breed review

Our reading puts this in the Good band, level with the middle of the adult dry category. What separates this one is the analysis: protein at 27.2% of dry matter, fat at 16.3%, carbohydrate held to 42.0% against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. Nutritional balance still reads Average. The label backs that up by declaring the insect share in three parts and putting figures on the smallest entries, which is what the transparency pillar rewards. Yora does not print a moisture figure, so the conversions here rest on the 8% a kibble of this build normally holds.

Ingredients, as declared: *Insect 43% (Insect Meal 27.5%, Freshly Prepared Insect 8.5%, Insect Oil 7%), Potato (20%), Naked Oats (18%), Beet Pulp (5%), Vegetable Stock, Minerals, Brewer's Yeast, Linseed, Potato Protein, Seaweed Meal (0.5%), Chicory Root Extract (as a source of prebiotic FOS) (0.1%), Dried Carrot, Chondroitin (500mg/kg), Dried Spinach (0.05%), Dried Blueberry (0.05%), Dried Nettle, Dried Parsley, Dried Rosemary, Yucca Extract, Turmeric (0.005%). *Hermetia illucens larvae Source of Glucosamine.

The insect at 43% is the highest figure on this label by a long way. Insect meal makes up 27.5%, freshly prepared insect 8.5% and insect oil 7%. The meal enters the mix dry, so its full share ends up in the bowl. The generous oil share is why the fat reads as high as it does.

Potato at 20% and naked oats at 18% do the binding. Naked oats are hulless, which makes them one of the easier cereals on a dog's digestion and means more of each grain arrives as food rather than husk. Beet pulp at 5% is the fibre, gentle and fermentable, and a familiar sight on recipes written for smaller guts.

Just past the linseed comes potato protein, a plant entry whose job is to lift the total. As a supporting entry it is honest enough. For amino acid balance and digestibility it cannot touch the larvae, so the insect figure is the one that counts.

Linseed is the omega source, with not a scrap of fish on the list. That is what makes this workable as a one animal diet. Brewer's yeast brings B vitamins. Seaweed meal at 0.5% brings iodine and minerals, while chicory root extract at 0.1% is in for its prebiotic FOS.

Chondroitin is declared at 500mg/kg and the rest of the tail is small and honestly labelled, with dried spinach and blueberry at 0.05% each, turmeric at 0.005%, and carrot, nettle, parsley and rosemary alongside them. Yucca extract is the practical one, generally included to soften the smell of what a dog leaves behind. Zinc appears twice on the additive panel, once as an oxide and once as an amino acid chelate. Dogs take up the chelated version more easily than the oxide.

£8.33 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg and 6kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works through about 235 grams a day on an estimate of 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £1.95 a day. Yora's own table stops at 15kg on 230 grams, so the two land close enough to agree.