Webbox Dog Mixer

Mixer biscuit is one of the few things in a pet shop bought for what it does to the rest of the bowl rather than for itself. Its whole job is turning one tin of meat into a meal instead of two, and it has been doing that in British kitchens for longer than most of the brands standing next to it on the shelf.

It is a crunchy medium-sized biscuit made with whole wheat, and the ingredient list is short and in the usual order: cereals first, then derivatives of vegetable origin, limestone, meat and animal derivatives at 4% beef, oils and fats, and minerals. Typical analysis is protein 11%, oil 3%, fibre 2% and ash 10%. Vitamin A is declared at 8,000 iu/kg, vitamin D3 at 2,000 iu/kg and vitamin E at 100 mg/kg, and the limestone is where the calcium comes from. Webbox's own instruction is to mix it with an equal quantity of meaty food.

• 2kg bag of crunchy medium-sized biscuit, made with whole wheat
• Protein 11%, oil 3%, fibre 2%, ash 10%
• Beef declared at 4% within meat and animal derivatives
• Vitamin A 8,000 iu/kg, vitamin D3 2,000 iu/kg, vitamin E 100 mg/kg
• Complementary — Webbox say mix with an equal quantity of meaty food
• Contains permitted antioxidants BHA and BHT

Read the ingredient list before the front of the bag. Cereals come first, beef is 4%, and 11% protein tells you plainly that this is a bulking biscuit rather than a food. It also carries BHA and BHT, permitted antioxidants that a good number of owners now avoid deliberately — if you are one of them, this is not your mixer. Webbox publish a daily figure by dog size (small 200g, medium 400g, large 600g, giant 800g) but no calorie figure at all, so how much of the day's energy the mixer is taking is not something the label lets you work out.

Who it's for: owners already feeding tinned or chub meat who want the bowl to go further, and anyone whose dog eats a wet food too quickly to notice it.