Harringtons Complete Chicken Adult Dry Dog Food - 1.7KG

The Harringtons Complete Chicken Adult Dry Dog Food is the one most people start with: the rice-based chicken recipe, with freshly prepared chicken first and a chicken gravy coating that makes it an easy sell to a fussy dog. In 1.7kg and 4kg bags.

Key Features

• Chicken First: Freshly prepared chicken heads the list, with rice as the carbohydrate
• Rich In Chicken With Rice: The straightforward recipe in the range, and the most palatable of them
• Meat First: Harringtons put freshly prepared meat at the top of the ingredient list on the Complete recipes
• Prebiotic FOS: Feeds the gut's own bacteria
• Seaweed: Included as a natural source of vitamins and minerals, and for oral hygiene
• Omega 3 And 6 From Salmon Oil: For skin and coat
• No Artificial Colours Or Flavours: And no dairy, no soya and no added wheat
• Made In Yorkshire: Produced in the UK by Inspired Pet Nutrition

Why An Adult Food Says From 8 Weeks

The Complete recipes are labelled suitable from eight weeks, which looks strange on a bag that says Adult. It means the recipe meets the requirements for growth as well as for maintenance -- what the industry calls all life stages. For a small or medium breed puppy that is a reasonable option. For a large or giant breed it is not the first choice, because growth recipes for big dogs control calcium and energy density more tightly than an all-life-stages food does. Raising a large-breed puppy, go to the Puppy or Superfoods Puppy recipes instead.

Chicken Gravy Is In Almost All Of Them

This is the thing most worth knowing before you buy, because it catches people out. Most Harringtons dry recipes are coated with what the brand calls homemade chicken gravy, whatever protein is named on the front of the bag. The Lamb & Rice, the Turkey & Veg, the Beef and the Superfoods Salmon all contain chicken. Chicken happens to be one of the most common food allergens in dogs, so if that is what you are avoiding, read the ingredient panel rather than the name. The exceptions are Just 6 Lamb and Just 6 Salmon, which use lamb gravy and salmon jus instead.

Every Recipe Contains Fish

Salmon oil is in the base of the whole range, which is where the omega 3 and 6 come from and which is genuinely good for skin and coat. It also means a bag labelled Beef, Lamb, Turkey or Chicken contains fish. Not usually a problem, and occasionally very much one -- worth knowing if fish is on your avoid list.

What Is Not In It

Harringtons build the range around exclusions, and these are the ones they list: no artificial colours, no artificial flavours, no dairy, no soya, no added wheat. Read the word added carefully. A food can be free from added wheat and still contain other cereals, which the Complete recipes do in the form of rice and maize. If you need a genuinely cereal-free food, that is the Just 6, Superfoods and Salmon & Potato recipes rather than Complete.

The Added Extras, Honestly

• Prebiotic FOS -- fructo-oligosaccharides, which feed the gut's own bacteria. A real mechanism, a modest effect, and now in most mid-market foods.
• Seaweed -- included for oral hygiene. Some seaweed-derived ingredients do have evidence behind them for slowing tartar, but no dry food cleans teeth the way brushing does. A bonus, not a dental plan.
• Omega 3 and 6 from salmon oil -- the best-supported addition in the list, and the one you are most likely to see the effect of, in the coat, over a couple of months.
• Vitamin E -- an antioxidant, and also what stops the fats in the food going rancid. The immune-support framing around it is a stretch.
• Botanicals and superfoods -- present in small amounts. Pleasant, unlikely to do harm, and not the reason to choose a food.

How Much To Feed

Treat the chart on the bag as a starting point, not an instruction -- the figures assume an average activity level and most pets are not average. The honest check is body condition rather than the number on the scales: you should be able to feel the ribs easily under a thin covering, see a waist from above and a tuck from the side. Weigh the food rather than scooping it, and count treats, because that is where the extra calories almost always come from. Fresh water with every meal.

Changing Food Gradually

Switch over a week to ten days rather than overnight. Start at roughly a quarter new food to three quarters old, move to half and half, then three quarters, holding each stage for two or three days. Loose stools during a change are normal. Loose stools still there a week after you finish mean the food does not suit. Cats are less forgiving than dogs about this and may simply refuse a sudden change.

Wet, Dry Or Both

Either can be a complete diet and mixing them is fine. Dry is cheaper per day, keeps once opened and is easy to measure. Wet is roughly eighty per cent water, which matters far more for cats than dogs. If you mix, split the daily allowance between the two rather than feeding a full portion of each -- that is the commonest way a pet quietly puts on weight.

Storing It In This Climate

• Keep dry food in its own bag inside an airtight container rather than tipping it loose into a bin. The bag has a fat barrier, and the batch code and best-before are printed on it.
• Heat and humidity turn the fat in kibble rancid faster than anything else does. Somewhere cool and dark, never a hot garage, balcony or car.
• Use a large bag within about six weeks of opening. A 15kg bag is only good value if your dog gets through it while it is still fresh.
• Opened wet food goes in the fridge covered and gets used within two days. In summer, anything left down for more than twenty minutes should go in the bin rather than back in the bowl.

When A Food Change Is Not The Answer

Diarrhoea lasting more than a couple of days, blood or black tarry stools, repeated vomiting, scratching to the point of broken skin, recurring ear infections, or any unexplained weight loss all need a vet rather than another bag of food. Switching foods repeatedly is one of the commonest ways an underlying problem goes undiagnosed for months, and it also makes a proper elimination diet harder to run later.

The Carbon Claim

Harringtons describe themselves as the UK's first carbon-negative pet food company and say more than 98 per cent of their packaging is recyclable. That is their claim rather than our measurement, and carbon negative in practice generally means emissions are offset rather than never produced. It is worth knowing because very few pet food brands publish anything on this at all -- and worth reading as marketing rather than as an audit.

Who Makes It

Harringtons is made by Inspired Pet Nutrition in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, which also makes Wagg and Butcher's. One thing worth untangling: the 1923 date you see attached to the brand belongs to the company, not to this range. It refers to the year the Harrington family started an animal feed mill in Tadcaster. The Harringtons pet food range itself launched in 2008.

Good To Know

• Mix it with a wet recipe if your dog is a reluctant eater, but split the daily allowance between the two rather than feeding a full portion of each.
• Kibble is not a dental plan. The seaweed helps a little; brushing helps properly.
• Keep the bag itself -- the batch code and best-before are printed on it, and you will want them if there is ever a question about a bag.