Launched in 2013, Gentle is amongst the new kids on the dog food block. It's one of just a handful of cold-pressed foods available in the UK and it is the only one to be made by a British company (although it is manufactured in Germany since there aren't any cold-pressing facilities in the UK).
Cold-pressing is arguably the best way to prepare a dry pet food as it means the food isn't exposed to the potentially damaging high temperatures normally associated with dry pet food production and should, therefore, leave the food with much more of its natural nutrients. Unfortunately, carbohydrates like grains need to be properly cooked to make them digestible for dogs so the rice in Gentle is pre-cooked in advance.
Gentle is built around a respectable 37% dried, ground meats. The combination of chicken and duck with nutritious herring oil strikes a good balance between meat diversity (which helps to increase the range of nutrients in the food) and simplicity (which is best for very sensitive dogs).
All dry foods need a certain amount of carbohydrate to allow the biscuits to form and Gentle have opted for brown rice. Despite the recent anti-grain sentiment that has been sweeping the nation, I have always found brown rice to be one of the most dependable ingredients around - nutritious, easily digested (when properly cooked), and very unlikely to cause any problems, even in the most sensitive of dogs.
Even more contrary to popular grain-scepticism, rice germ and maize germ are extremely nutrient dense and do not contain any of the carbs or gluten that cereal-intolerant dogs find problematic.
Gentle also contains an excellent range of nutritious oils, vegetables (including beetroot - not sugar beet!), herbs and supplements. Green lipped muscle extract also makes Gentle a good choice for dogs with joint issues.
Gentle is about as natural as dry dog food gets which means that its shelf-life is just 6 months - half that of most pet foods.
Price wise, Gentle scores well. The price of a bag is fairly competitive but, as is the case with all high-end foods, since you don't have to feed that much, the price per day of Gentle works out to be relatively inexpensive.
Conclusion: Convenient and natural, Gentle is the best of both worlds.
