Ingredients:
Rice, lamb, animal fat, rice protein, beet pulp, hydrolysed chicken protein, linseed, salmon meal, yeast, salmon oil, salt, fructo- oligosaccharides, lecithin, tagetes extract, sea algae, grape seed extract.
The ingredients list on the Portuguese web site appears to be somewhat different to the other Husse national sites - on the PT web site they specifiy "Lamb Meat Meal" and "Salmon Meal" whereas on their other European web-sites they show just "Lamb" and "Fish". I suggest that you check the actual ingredients list on the bag! The details on the Spanish web site are more specific <
Click Here> - they show "16% Lamb" which translates to only "4% Lamb Meal" after the water has been removed and even less Lamb Meat Meal! This also shows that Salt is added (to improve the flavour) - funny that the PT site doesn't show this.
Tagete appears to translate as sunflower (girassol) although none of the Husse sites I checked seem to have noticed.
You will also be interested to know that the Husse Chicken & Rice includes Wheat - none of our foods contain wheat because it is known to be fairly indigestible and a source of intolerances in dogs - that is why we have chosen the comparison to be with the Lamb & Rice.
Feeding Guide
The Husse guide for our imaginary 20Kg Adult dog is 220g per day.
Costings and Comparisons
On 10th September 2011 the price is 57€ for 15Kg.
The feeding cost for our 20Kg dog is therefore 0,84€ per day
To feed the Natural Dog Food Lamb and Rice (28% Lamb Meat Meal) would be 0,81€ and this has NO hydrolysed protein (used to provide some sort of flavour), no "animal fat" and no Salt added.
An equivalent 15Kg of the Husse would last the 20Kg dog 68 days but a 15Kg bag of Burns, Natural Dog Food, Fish 4 Dogs or Applaws would last around 70-75 days.
Delivery
Husse's main selling point is their home delivery service - well Paws 4 Pets also offer free home delivery on Portugal mainland for orders over 50€.
Star Rating
To be generous this could rate 1 although we are far from impressed.
Closing Note
The first ingredient is "Rice" but because it does not specify what type of rice this is most probably a mixture of powder and bits left over from the human food production chain - if it was "Whole Grain" or "Brown Rice" they certainly wouldn't miss the trick of saying so.
Whilst Lamb is shown as the second ingredient we are left wondering if this really is "Lamb Meat Meal" (as per the Portuguese web site) or simply "Lamb" as their other web sites proclaim. If it really is "Lamb Meat Meal" then we can add a single star to our rating - you will have to check the actual bag.
The second (or third) ingredient by dry weight is animal fat - this is produced by forcing all the rubbish parts of left over carcasses of who knows what animals through a fine mesh at very high pressure. Small quantities could be acceptable as it helps to bind the kibble together but for it to be so high in the ingredients list is horrifying. (Husse 14% fat, Natural Dog Food 8.5% fat, Burns 7.5% fat; Husse 10% moisture, Burns 8% moisture)
Hydrolysed chicken protein is made from carcasses and bone material of the chicken - after all the useable meat has been removed - and is mainly a flavour enhancer and can be a source of MSG (see
Novozymes,
USFDA and
Wikipedia)