
K9 Optimum K9 Adult Grain Free Chicken Dry Dog Food
Good points
- No ingredient deductions
Worth knowing
- Added plant protein, starch or fibre
First ingredients: Chicken freshly prepared (20%), Chicken dried (19%), sweet potato, potato, Chicken fat… All ingredients
Retailer’s own label, fully checked- Meat
- 43%
- Protein, dry weight
- 29%
- Carbs, dry weight
- ~43%
- kcal/100 g
- 352
Ingredients
Listed first: Chicken freshly prepared. 43% of the recipe is declared meat.
- Meat 43%
- Other 1%
- No amount given 56%
Chicken freshly prepared (20%), Chicken dried (19%), sweet potato, potato, Chicken fat, chicken gravy, salmon freshly prepared (4%), beet pulp, egg powder, brewer's yeast, Full fat linseed, potato protein, lucerne, salmon oil (1%), turmeric (1500mg/kg), marigold (source of lutein), mannan oligosaccharides (1650mg/kg), fructose oligosaccharides (400mg/kg), glucosamine (200mg/kg), methylsulphonylmethane (200mg/kg), yucca schidgera (200mg/kg), blackcurrant, NZ green lipped mussel (150mg/kg), rosemary, pomegranete
Meat named animal protein
Additives
Vitamin A (retinyl acetate, 3a672a), vitamin D (cholecalciferol 38671), Vitamin E (alpha tocopherol, 38700), Camitine (3a910), Taurine (3a370), Iron (iron (II) sulphate monohydrate, 3b103), lodine (calcium iodate anhydrous, 3b202), Copper (copper (II) sulphate pentahydrate, 3b405), Manganese (manganese (II) oxide, 3b502), Zinc (zinc sulphate monohydrate, 3b605), Zinc (zinc chelate of glycine hydrate, 3b607), Selenium (sodium selenite, 3b801), Turmeric, Mannan oligosaccharides, Fructose oligosaccharides, Glucosamine, Methylsulphonylmethane, Yucca schidigera, NZ green lipped mussel
How we read this label
First ingredient: “Chicken freshly prepared”. It names the animal.
| On the label | We read it as | Share on the label |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken freshly prepared (20%) | Named meat | 20% |
| Chicken dried (19%) | Named meat | 19% |
| sweet potato | Vegetable, fruit or plant | Not given |
| potato | Vegetable, fruit or plant | Not given |
| Chicken fat | Fat, stock, extract or other processed ingredient | Not given |
| chicken gravy | Fat, stock, extract or other processed ingredient | Not given |
| salmon freshly prepared (4%) | Named meat | 4% |
| beet pulp | Vegetable, fruit or plant | Not given |
| egg powder | Other | Not given |
| brewer's yeast | Other | Not given |
| Full fat linseed | Vegetable, fruit or plant | Not given |
| potato protein | Vegetable, fruit or plant | Not given |
| lucerne | Other | Not given |
| salmon oil (1%) | Fat, stock, extract or other processed ingredient | 1% |
| turmeric (1500mg/kg) | Vegetable, fruit or plant | Not given |
| marigold (source of lutein) | Other | Not given |
| mannan oligosaccharides (1650mg/kg) | Other | Not given |
| fructose oligosaccharides (400mg/kg) | Other | Not given |
| glucosamine (200mg/kg) | Other | Not given |
| methylsulphonylmethane (200mg/kg) | Other | Not given |
Read automatically from the label. Spotted a misreading? Tell us
Nutrition
Protein 29% and carbs about 43%, with the water taken out.
| Nutrient | As sold | Dry weight |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 26% | 29% |
| within the usual 26 to 32% for dry foods | ||
| Fat | 15% | 17% |
| Carbohydrate | ~38% | ~43% |
| within the usual 39 to 50% for dry foods | ||
| Fibre | 3.8% | 4.2% |
| Ash | 7% | 7.8% |
| Moisturenot on label, 10% assumed | 10% | taken out |
Carbohydrate is our estimate: what is left after the other shares. The usual range is the middle half of the dry foods we rate.
Why it scores 37
The kind of meat scored best (10.4 of 15). How it’s made scored lowest (5 of 20).
How much meat?
16.6 / 45 points- Meat on the label15.1 / 35 points
43% declared meat, as weighed before cooking; full marks at 100%.
- Protein level1.5 / 10 points
Protein is 28.9% of the food with the water taken out. Nothing at 20% or less, full marks at 80%.
How much starch?
5.8 / 20 pointsEstimated carbohydrate: About 42.5% carbohydrate with the water taken out (our estimate). Full marks with no carbohydrate, none at 60% or more.
How processed?
5 / 20 pointsHow it’s made: Extruded kibble: 6 of 20. Minus 1 for added plant protein, starch or fibre.
What kind of meat?
10.4 / 15 points- How the meat is listed10.4 / 12 points
The label lists the meat as fresh and dried, which earns 87% of these points. Fresh or raw named meat earns all of them, dried 70%, meal half, hydrolysed a quarter, an unnamed category none.
- Organ meat0 / 3 points
No organ meat named.
No ingredient deductions.
Each bar is as long as the points it is worth, out of 100 in all.
Against other dry foods
What the score means
One scale for every food: meat (45 points), starch (20), how it’s made (20) and kind of meat (15), minus points for a few listed ingredients. It rates the recipe, not your dog.
75 and over is excellent, 60 to 74 good, 45 to 59 fair and under 45 weak.
How we rate foods →Less starch in the bowl
Half and half by calories with Happy Dog Pure Goat Dog Food (Sardinia) (scores 83): carbs fall from 43% to 27% by dry weight, and protein is about 41%.
Worked out from both labels, for half the day’s calories from each food. The feeding guides on the packs still set the amounts.
Best wet foods →Ingredient notes
1 noted, no points taken: yucca extract. 32 flagged nothing.
- 1 noted
- 32 nothing flagged
- 3 not in our ingredient database yet
- Yucca extractNoted, no points takenFeed material (flavouring)
Why it’s noted and sources
Added to reduce stool odour. The ASPCA lists the yucca plant as toxic to dogs, and in a dog study the extract raised a liver enzyme at 750 mg/kg of food, though not at 500. Labels rarely give the amount. We note it, but take no points off.
32 ingredients with nothing flagged
Alfalfa, beet pulp, blackcurrant, broth (meat stock), chicken, egg, fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), glucosamine, green-lipped mussel, linseed (flaxseed), mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS), marigold meal, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), potato, poultry fat, rosemary, salmon, salmon oil, sweet potato, taurine, tocopherols (vitamin E), turmeric, vegetable protein extracts, yeast
We couldn’t read an amount we can check on the label, so no points were taken: copper, iodine, iron, manganese, selenium, vitamin A (retinyl acetate), vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), zinc
Checked against the EU Catalogue of Feed Materials and FEDIAF guidelines.
Sources for these ingredients
- Reg (EU) No 68/2013 - EU Catalogue of Feed Materials (EUR-Lex)Alfalfa, beet pulp, blackcurrant, broth (meat stock), chicken, egg, fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), green-lipped mussel, linseed (flaxseed), mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS), marigold meal, potato, poultry fat, rosemary, salmon, salmon oil, sweet potato, turmeric, vegetable protein extracts, yeast
- FEDIAF Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs (2025)Alfalfa, blackcurrant, fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), glucosamine, green-lipped mussel, mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS), marigold meal, MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), poultry fat, taurine, turmeric, vegetable protein extracts, yeast, manganese, selenium, vitamin A (retinyl acetate), zinc
- ASPCA Animal Poison ControlRosemary
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1152Tocopherols (vitamin E)
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1095 (EUR-Lex)Zinc
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1490 (EUR-Lex)Manganese
- Directive 2002/32/EC Annex I (as amended) (EUR-Lex)Selenium
- EFSA 2020 (PMC7448085)Turmeric
- FDA Animal Health Literacy - Vitamin D toxicity in dogsVitamin D3 (cholecalciferol)
- Fieten 2016 Int J Mol Sci 17(2):196 doi:10.3390/ijms17020196Copper
- FSA register of feed additives (GB)Rosemary
- Regulation (EU) 2017/1492 (EUR-Lex)Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol)
- Regulation (EU) 2018/1039 (EUR-Lex)Copper
3 not in our ingredient database yet
Camitine (3a910), lodine (calcium iodate anhydrous, 3b202), pomegranete
Not in our ingredient database yet, so no judgement either way.
Notes come from published sources about each ingredient, not about this food. How we decide
Your dog
Grams a day for your dog
Alternatives
4 dry foods score 22 to 41 points higher.

- Meat
- 100% this food 43%
+41 pointsCompare

- Meat
- 78.5% this food 43%
- Carbs
- about 22% this food about 43%
+26 pointsCompare

- Meat
- 78% this food 43%
- Carbs
- about 8% this food about 43%
+23 pointsCompare

- Meat
- 79.5% this food 43%
- Carbs
- about 33% this food about 43%
+22 pointsCompare
Carbs are a share of the dry food, with the water taken out.
Sources
Own-label food: checked against the retailer’s label.
Retailer-verified. This is the retailer’s own-label food, so there is no separate maker’s website to check it against. We publish it because the retailer’s label is complete and passes our consistency checks.
Page we read, saved 10 Aug 2026: Jollyes.
Score method v6.1.0 · ingredient notes v2.4.0
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