Yora Support review

The Good band takes this one, and the middle of the adult dry shelf is there too. Openness is a large part of why. The joint pair carries doses in print, the ingredient percentages run all the way down to the turmeric, and the energy figure is declared on the label. The plant half of the recipe is what stops it climbing higher. Protein converts to 26.1% of dry matter, modest for a kibble, and carbohydrate to 46.7%, near enough the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. The starch load is ordinary, even if the protein source is anything but.

Ingredients, as declared: *Insect 37.5% (Insect Meal 25%, Freshly Prepared Insect 8.5%, Insect Oil 4%), Potato (21.7%), Naked Oats (19.1%), Beet Pulp (7.5%), Minerals, Brewer's Yeast, Vegetable Stock, Linseed, Potato Protein, Seaweed Meal (0.5%), Chicory Root Extract (as a source of prebiotic FOS) (0.1%), Dried Algae (as a source of DHA) (0.1%), Dried Carrot, MSM (1000mg/kg), 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.

Insect content is declared at 37.5% and the label shows its working: insect meal at 25%, freshly prepared insect at 8.5% and insect oil at 4%. Most of the heavy lifting falls to the meal, because the freshly prepared larvae come in wet and lose that water in the oven. The species is named too, Hermetia illucens, the black soldier fly, which is the larva the whole insect protein sector has settled on. Almost nothing else on the shelf uses it, so most dogs meet this recipe with no history behind them.

Potato at 21.7% and naked oats at 19.1% carry the starch between them. Naked oats are a hull-less oat, easily digested once cooked and a genuinely useful source of fibre and micronutrients, but they remain a cereal, so grain free this is not. Carbohydrate works out at 46.7% of dry matter against a 46.2% typical for adult dry food, and protein converts to 26.1%.

Beet pulp at 7.5% is the fibre engine. Behind it, chicory root extract at 0.1% works as a prebiotic and gives the gut's helpful bacteria something to live on. Fibre converts to 6.5% of dry matter, above where most dry foods sit, and that usually shows up in the garden as smaller, firmer stools.

The joint work is written in figures. MSM appears at 1000 mg/kg and chondroitin at 500 mg/kg, both long-standing choices for easing stiff, older joints, and seeing the milligrams on the bag is the part that counts. Glucosamine comes from the larvae themselves rather than from a supplement line, which is why no dose is printed against it.

Omega 3 arrives from linseed and from dried algae at 0.1%, declared specifically as a DHA source. Linseed supplies the plant form, and converting that is slow work for a dog. The algae is the entry handing over DHA ready made. Between them they keep the whole recipe free of fish, which is unusual on a food making a joint and skin case.

Zinc is added twice, 90 mg as the oxide and 45 mg as an amino acid chelate. Of the two, the chelate is the one absorbed most readily. Copper follows at 10 mg, iodine at 2 mg and selenium at 0.2 mg, with seaweed meal at 0.5% bringing iodine of its own. Vitamin E is dosed at 150 mg, and natural mixed tocopherols do the preserving.

Potato protein and brewer's yeast sit mid list, and both lift the protein figure without adding animal. The yeast earns its place, being rich in B vitamins and complete in its amino acids. Potato protein is the more workmanlike of the two and is really there to prop up the panel. The tail that follows, from dried spinach and blueberry through to nettle, parsley, rosemary and turmeric at 0.005%, is seasoning, and this recipe does not lean on it.

£7.67 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg and 12kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats around 244 grams a day on about 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That is £1.87 a day. Yora's own table is more sparing at 130 grams for a 10kg dog and 220 grams for a 20kg one. Trust your dog's shape over either table if they disagree.