Acana Senior Recipe review

This recipe finishes in our Excellent band; the typical adult dry food settles a step lower, in Good. A senior label can coast on soft marketing, and this one instead keeps the construction that earns marks: named meats leading the list, legumes over cereal, and a declared analysis with nothing hidden. Two pillars reach Outstanding here, nutritional balance and transparency, while protein and processing reads Good and value keeps step with the overall in Excellent.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh chicken (19%), chicken meal (18%), whole red lentils, whole green peas, turkey meal (6%), whole chickpeas, fresh chicken giblets (liver, heart) (5%), lentil fibre, fresh eggs (4%), raw hake (4%), fish oil (4%), herring meal (3%), whole green lentils, whole yellow peas, pea starch, chicken fat (1%), raw turkey livers (1%), dried kelp, fresh whole pumpkin, fresh whole butternut squash, fresh whole carrots, fresh whole apples, fresh whole pears, fresh whole zucchini, dried chicory root, fresh kale, fresh spinach, fresh turnip greens, fresh beet greens, whole cranberries, whole blueberries, whole saskatoon berries, turmeric, milk thistle, burdock root, lavender, marshmallow root, rosehips

Older dogs tend to lose muscle before they lose appetite, which is why the most interesting figure here is protein converting to 37.5% of dry matter, higher than many adult foods manage. The chicken pairing of 19% fresh and 18% meal, backed by turkey meal, giblets, eggs and raw hake, is what pays for it.

Fat eases back to 14% as fed and energy to 332 kcal per 100g, a gentle downshift for slowing metabolisms rather than a crash diet. Chicken fat drops to 1% while fish oil rises to 4%, tilting the fat profile towards the marine omega 3s an older body puts to good use.

Lentil fibre moves up the list and overall fibre reads 6% as fed, a digestive kindness for older guts. The starch stays entirely legume, with estimated carbohydrate converting to 31.8% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical.

Calcium works out at 1.7% of dry matter, the minerals and vitamins are dosed in print, and a live probiotic strain is declared. The fresh produce and botanicals bringing up the rear are trace-level garnish; the work is done higher up the list.

£6.49 a kilo across 2kg, 6kg and 11.4kg bags.

A 15kg adult in moderate condition works out at about 253 grams and £1.64 a day, derived from 110 × bodyweight^0.75 kcal, the standard maintenance calculation. Older and slower dogs will often need less, so let the waistline arbitrate.