Arden Grange Grain Free Light/Senior Superfoods: Chicken review

On our scale this recipe reads Good, level with the finish posted by the typical adult dry food. It gets there the unglamorous way: a solid declared meat share, printed doses where other labels stay vague, and a nutrition profile genuinely shaped for lighter feeding rather than just a smaller scoop.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 41% (chicken meat meal 21%, fresh chicken 20%), sweet potato (17%), tapioca, peas, beet pulp, refined chicken oil, linseed, pumpkin, chicken digest, krill, pea fibre, whole egg, coconut oil (1%), yeast, minerals, prebiotic FOS, prebiotic MOS, spirulina (0.1%), chia seeds (0.1%), glucosamine (888mg/kg), MSM (888mg/kg), chondroitin (624mg/kg), cranberry extract (500 mg/kg), pomegranate extract (500 mg/kg), dried blueberries (500mg/kg), dried mulberries (500mg/kg), dried lingonberries (500mg/kg), dried rosehips (500mg/kg), yucca extract, nucleotides.

Chicken at 41% splits almost evenly between meat meal at 21% and fresh chicken at 20%. The meal fraction carries its protein through the oven intact, and the finished analysis holds 26% protein, or 28.3% of dry matter, unusually firm for a light recipe. Fat drops to 12%, or 13.0% of dry matter, which is where the calorie saving lives.

Fibre rises to 4.5%, with beet pulp, pea fibre and pumpkin sharing the work. On a light food that is a feature rather than a filler: bulk that helps a dieting dog feel properly fed. The label skips a moisture figure, so the dry matter sums here assume the standard 8%, putting estimated carbohydrate at 45.6% of dry matter, close to the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.

The joint support is dosed and in print: glucosamine at 888 mg/kg, MSM at 888 mg/kg and chondroitin at 624 mg/kg, sensible priorities for the older or heavier dogs this recipe expects to feed. A gram of taurine per kilo of food and L-carnitine at 50 mg round out the working supplements, the carnitine a nod to fat metabolism.

Sweet potato at 17% and tapioca bind the kibble without grain; tapioca brings structure and no real nourishment, and here it is doing exactly that job. Six berry entries are each pinned at 500 mg/kg: extracts of cranberry and pomegranate, then dried blueberries, mulberries, lingonberries and rosehips. That is honest labelling for what is ultimately a garnish, and spirulina and chia seeds sit alongside at 0.1%.

£5.42 a kilo, in 2kg bags, a 4 x 2kg multipack and 14kg sacks sold singly or as a pair.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition comes out at roughly 238 grams and £1.29 a day on our standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The label suggests 150 to 200 grams for a 10 to 15kg dog, so start conservatively and adjust to the waistline.