Prime100 SPD Air Dog Food Review
The meat in the Chicken & Brown Rice formula is listed Australian chicken meat. But is this inclusive of offal? Ground bone? Or just chicken mince?
Given most nutrients come from organs it would be useful to know if they are included? We can’t assume.
To compare, ZIWI Peak specifically lists chicken, chicken heart, chicken liver, chicken bone. Not just “chicken meat”.
We find the same lack of clarity with the second ingredient, which is carrot.
Did you expect brown rice as the second ingredient?
I did, given “Chicken & Brown Rice” is the recipe name.
Prime 100 SPD Air dog food review (Chicken & Brown Rice)
What the marketing says
The marketing states Prime100 SPD Air is “vet endorsed” and “scientifically formulated”, but I can’t find out which vet endorsed it, why they endorsed it, or why the food is scientifically formulated. Do you know?
Bondi Vet?
SPD stands for Single Protein Diet which will help if your dog suffers food sensitivities on a particular meat protein like chicken, lamb, or beef. If your dog doesn’t have sensitivities you’re probably better feeding a mix of meats, or rotating between recipes.
Prime100 SPD Air Dog Food Review
Feeding an unvaried single protein diet for a long period may lead to intolerances. There’s been lots of research with this in human nutrition studies.
There’s some other claims on the packaging of SPD Air, including “zero GI issues” and “zero gluten”, and a “palatability guarantee” which I assume means your dog will eat it.
What the ingredients say
I wish there was more clarity with Prime100 SPD Air in terms of labelling and marketing. Take ZIWI Peak – on the front of the bag they state “96% chicken, organs, & NZ green mussels”, and “Free Range” in the title.
Prime100 SPD Air Dog Food Review
This doesn’t seem to be the case with Prime100 SPD Air. They don’t say how much meat is in the food, but through the grapevine I’ve heard 90% meat and organs. I’m not sure if that’s wet weight or dry weight (yes, there’s a difference – I’ll tell you why later).
Prime100 SPD Air Dog Food Review
Why say DM rather than “Dry Matter”?
Isn’t it best to be clear?
It took me a bit of time to realise what they meant by DM, but listing dry matter rather than wet makes protein and fat appear higher.
Given the guaranteed analysis is dry matter, 33.8% protein and 27.9% fat would leave a remaining 38.3% for carbohydrates and ash content. Don’t worry if you’ve lost me with this, but it’s an interesting point which I’ll explain.
Remember I mentioned earlier meat ingredients were supposedly 90% of the product? My guess is that’s wet weight, so inclusive of the water which is then removed in freeze drying.
Nutra Gold
That would mean on a dry matter (or “DM”) basis there isn’t the same ratio of meat to other ingredients.
So saying 90% meat sounds like there aren’t many carbs, but based on dry matter it would suggest there are more carbs than we would think (a good chunk of that remaining 38.3%?).
Summary
Perhaps I shouldn’t have used ZIWI Peak as a comparison, as Prime100 SPD Air still comes across as a decent product.
The pros are clear – it’s air dried rather than kibble, the ingredients all seem good, and it comes across as a decent dog food. I would imagine your dog would do well on the product, and in that sense it’s worth paying a higher price – for the health of your dog.
But I still can’t ignore the price. It seems ZIWI Peak is better value for money, and so is Frontier Pets as a freeze dried food which specifically states the quality of ingredients with no ambiguity.
Without clarity, I would have to conclude those two other brands seem better, more open, and cheaper.
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