SavourLife

SavourLife holds the highest value score in our index: 78 of 100, ahead of Meals for Mutts on 75 and Black Hawk on 74. The arithmetic behind it is the Original Adult Chicken 18kg bag at an estimated $145 AUD, which works out at $8.06 per kg and roughly $2.00 a day for a 15kg adult dog. No dry food rating 80 or better in our index feeds cheaper per day; Black Hawk's 20kg Adult Chicken and Rice is next at about $2.10.

Its ownership line reads simply SavourLife (Australia), and the plainness is the point. Two of the three brands we list as its alternatives sit inside larger portfolios: Black Hawk under EBOS Group (Masterpet), Ivory Coat under Real Pet Food Company, where recipes have shifted with ownership. SavourLife is made in Australia and gives 50 per cent of profits to rescue. Transparency scores 76 of 100, clearing Black Hawk on 74 and Ivory Coat on 71 but trailing Prime100 on 81 and Scratch on 95.

Both bags we price open with a named meat. The 18kg Original leads on Chicken at 26 per cent protein and 15 per cent fat; the 15kg Grain Free Adult leads on Lamb at 28 and 16. Those earn product ratings of 83 and 84 of 100. What they do not earn is a class-leading panel: ingredient quality scores 74 of 100, a shade under Black Hawk on 76 and well behind ZIWI Peak on 88 and Frontier Pets on 95.

The clearest fit is everyday adult feeding on a fixed budget. On the 18kg Original we hold two seller estimates: Pet Circle at $138, or $131 on subscription, and Petbarn at $159, or $145 with member pricing. That $28 spread on a single bag moves the per-kg figure from $7.28 to $8.83, a $1.55 swing, real money, though still narrower than the $1.87 per kg between SavourLife's two recipes. Where you buy matters almost as much to the yearly bill as which bag you take home.

Grain-free feeders get the sharper case. The Grain Free Adult Lamb 15kg is an estimated $149, so $9.93 per kg and about $2.30 a day, rating 84 of 100. Against the grain-free bags from the two other kibble brands in its alternatives list it is the cheapest per kg: Ivory Coat's Grain Free Adult Lamb 13kg runs $10.38 at a rating of 80, and Black Hawk's Grain Free Adult Chicken 15kg runs $10.60 at 84. Black Hawk's grain-inclusive Adult Chicken & Rice 20kg is cheaper again at $8.45 per kg. Budget Pet Products lists the SavourLife grain-free bag at $144. All figures are editorial estimates.

Skip it if you need a prescription or breed-specific diet, because the range does not run to one: the only vet diet we price in the index is Royal Canin's Gastrointestinal 15kg at an estimated $14.60 per kg. Skip it too if you want the top of the table, since 75 of 100 overall places SavourLife eighth of the 20 brands we score, below Lyka on 87 and Scratch on 86. It is also not a supermarket buy: no Coles, Woolworths, Aldi or IGA. Any diet change is a conversation for your vet, and this is not veterinary advice.