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1.2k 
9
4
Barnsley, UK Suitable for all breeds of dogs
Click here for more info.
In general, unless your dog has health issues, you probably won't have to worry about these figures. Click here for more information
Mixing bowl composition
This is the ingredients list as printed on the packaging or manufacturer's website.
Think of the 'mixing bowl' composition like a recipe - all the ingredients you would need to put in a 'mixing bowl' in order to make the food.
Ingredients have to be listed in descending order of their weight so the higher it appears, the more there is.
Highlighted ingredients
Ingredients that we believe to be controversial or inferior are highlighted in yellow with particularly low grade, highly contentious or excessively vague ingredients in red.
As fed composition
While the 'mixing bowl' composition is useful for knowing what went into the food, it doesn't always reflect what your dog is actually eating. This is because the processes that turn the ingredients into the finished pet food can significantly alter the relative weights of the ingredients.
For this reason we've calculated the approximate 'as fed' percentages for the main ingredient categories in the finished product.
Please note that these figures are very approximate. They are estimates based on the information provided by the manufacturer in the ingredients list so the clearer the terminology and the more percentages they provide, the more accurate our estimates will be. Wherever information is lacking, we always assume the worst.
Ingredient categories
◉ Meat ingredients: includes all meat and fish ingredients except isolated fats/oils.
◉Added oils and fats: includes all isolated oil and fat ingredients.
◉ Carb-rich ingredients: includes all ingredients derived from grains, pseudo-grains, potatoes and other starchy root vegetables, sweet potato and legumes (except whole peas which are categorised under fruit and veg) except for isolated protein and extracted oils. Also includes fibre supplements.
◉ Fruit and veg: includes all whole vegetables and fruits.
◉ Other: all other ingredients. Mostly made up by nutritional supplements and additives.
For more information on any ingredient, please take a look at our Dog Food Ingredient Glossary
The dry matter level of a nutrient is the percentage there would be in the food if all of the water was removed.
With water taken out of the equation, these figures allow the nutrient levels of foods of different types (like wet and dry) to be compared on an even playing field.
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87 out of 100 - Excellent
Our unique product ratings are calculated based on a number of characteristics including the quality and quantity of the stated ingredients, certain nutritional and technological additives and the processing methods used to create the food. They are designed to indicate how beneficial we think a food is likely to be for the majority of dogs when fed on a daily basis for an extended period. Click here for more information
Country of origin: United Kingdom
A technological additive is any substance added to a pet food "for a technological purpose and which favourably affects the characteristics of feed".
The most common categories of technological additives include preservatives and antioxidants, gelling agents and thickeners and probiotics.
While the primary effects of technoloical additives are certainly 'favourable' (increased shelf life in the case of preservatives & antioxidants, better food texture and consistency in the case of gelling agents and thickeners etc.) some have been linked to health problems in pets and should be treated with caution.
Unfortunately, many technological additives do not have to be declared by the manufacturer so just because they do not appear on the label does not necessarily mean they are not in the food. If in doubt, ask the manufacturer directly exactly what technological additives their foods contain.
Hayley Armstrong• 2 months ago
The feeding guide seems way off, I ended up having to tripple the daily amount which significantly increased the cost per day
Sammi Le Hegarat• 2 months ago
Just to add to this, Walker and Drake add 30mg of carrageenan as a gelling agent. This is not stated in the ingredients lists on their website but is on the back of the box.
walkerdrake
Sammi Le Hegarat• 2 months ago
Good afternoon Sammi, I hope you’re well.
I hadn’t realised that it wasn’t listed on the website so I’ll amend this week, I did notice that you’ve also posted on AADF but you’ve stated we use 30mg which is actually the Zinc ingredient, Carrageenan is only used as a trace ingredient in our vitamin blend.
Walker & Drake take all of our customer feedback seriously. We value the need for honesty and integrity, and above all we put canine health at the very heart of what we do. I can confirm that we have a very small trace of this in our vitamin and mineral blend.
Carrageenan is an ingredient that is widely used within the food industry - across human and animal foods. It is used as a gelling or thickening agent in everything from yoghurt to toothpaste. It bonds water molecules and enables the ingredients to emulsify, turning the food from a liquid soup to a solid pate.
Carrageenan is extracted from red edible seaweeds and has been used within the food industry for hundreds of years. It has been deemed safe and not hazardous to health by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and WHO (the World Health Organization) through a joint expert committee on Food Additives (JECFA).
There has been a vast amount of research carried out since the 1960's on "carrageenan". Much of this research does not make a clear distinction between food-grade carrageenan, undegraded carrageenan, degraded carrageenan or poligeenan. Poligeenan, or prior to 1988, degraded carrageenan, is produced when carrageenan is processed with acid. This is not approved as a food additive. In addition, many of the experiments used carrageenan in testing environments which were not accurate to the way in which the ingredient is consumed, again skewing results and findings.
"Extensive research has been unable to reliably connect carrageenan to any of the “carrageenan dangers” suggested by Tobacman or Cornucopia. Instead, reliable science continues to demonstrate that ingested carrageenan poses no threat whatsoever." There is a really good Q and A section on the International Food Additives Council website that should alleviate any further worries or queries:https://www.foodingredientfacts.org/facts-on-food-ingredients/sources-of-food-ingredients/carrageenan/
Walker & Drake are committed to providing healthy dog food for our canine companions, and we would not, under any circumstances, include an ingredient within our foods that would be deemed harmful in anyway. Our nutritional experts and quality control advisors ensure that they keep abreast of any developments and research within the pet food industry to maintain the high quality and service that our customers should expect.
Sammi Le Hegarat
Sammi Le Hegarat• 2 months ago
I need to amend my comment - Walker & Drake have got back to me re. the carrageenan amount - I misread the box and posted the amount for Zinc (apologies)! They use trace amounts of carrageenan in the wet food. They are also going to be updating their website to see that it is included.