Black Hawk Air Dried Dog Food Review
The Black Hawk dry dog foods have been popular in Australia for many years, and I see the reason being a good balance of affordability and quality – i.e. it’s better than most kibbles, yet still relatively affordable for average Aussies (like myself) who don’t earn big oil and gas bucks.
Let’s talk air-dried, and why it’s so much better than kibble.
We know cooking food at high temperatures kills nutrients, but that’s what the kibble making process is (it’s called extrusion). Some ingredients, like meat meals are actually cooked twice at high temperatures, and usually vitamins and minerals are dusted on post-processing.
Air-dried is much better, because it doesn’t blast the nutrients with all that heat – and I’m sure you’ll see the benefit in that!
It has to be said the Black Hawk Air Dried recipe isn’t as good as the world renowned and highly reputable ZIWI Peak air dried, or Australia’s premium air dried brand Eureka, but it’s also cheaper, and still a better option than kibble.
I’ll explain more below…
Black Hawk Air Dried Review
The downside before the upside
Keeping in mind air-dried is better than kibble, it’s worth discussing the elephant in the room before we talk about the clear benefits.
Firstly, at present there are only small bags (450g), which work out more per kilo than the larger bags from ZIWI and Eureka. I expect that will change as the brand takes off (it’s still early days). If you have a small breed or simply want some tasty training treats, I doubt it will be a problem.
Secondly, it’s not so much the recipe is more basic than other air-dried dog foods, it’s the use of glycerin, maltodextrin, and lecithin.
To cover those quickly, glycerin (or glycerol) is a sugar alcohol, used as a sweetener, but also makes an air-dried pet food more moist and appealing. I see people complain about other air-dried food being “too dry”, which can become more of an issue if a dog doesn’t take to it over their regular kibble. But I expect from reading that, you’ll realise it’s not exactly a nutritious addition, and it’s the third ingredient in the recipe.
Lecithin shouldn’t cause any harm unless your dog suffers dietary sensitivities. I expect it’s added as an emulsifier, so purely functional rather than nutritional.
There isn’t much maltodextrin in the recipe, but it’s a highly processed high-GI starch, and not ideal for dogs who suffer pancreatitis, obesity, diabetes, and so forth, and not great (or necessary) for dogs in general. So why is it used? Likely to bind the food and give it texture.
That’s the bad bits covered. It may have put you off, but I expect your dog won’t suffer any real issues. It’s a good example of why feeding a variety of dog foods is a good idea – it balances a diet – and it’s also a good indicator why ZIWI Peak and Eureka cost more.
Now for the good bits!
We’ve covered how air-dried dog food is better than kibble, which makes me a fan of this style of feeding our dogs. It’s also really convenient compared to feeding raw or fresh foods which take up your entire freezer.
The main ingredients are meat and organs, which your dog will benefit from the most (and far more than the starchy carbs which dominate kibble recipes).
There’s a small amount of green-lipped mussel in the recipe, which is always a great addition to a dog food. Kelp is a benefit too, which looks to be a fairly insignificant inclusion, and flaxseed and inulin are beneficial in small amounts.
But that’s about it, really. Vitamins and minerals looks to be a bog standard pack or premix, and natural antioxidants – although stating the word natural – is still ambiguous. I like to know what exactly these things are, and I expect you do too?
Ingredients
The ingredients of Black Hawk Air Dried Dog Food (Air Dried Chicken Recipe) are:
Chicken, chicken liver, glycerine, essential vitamins, minerals & amino acids, lecithin, flaxseed, green-lipped mussel, inulin, sweet potato, maltodextrin, kelp, natural antioxidants.
