Arden Grange Senior review

Senior sits in the same Good band as the typical adult dry food. What holds it there is construction, a cereal-first list and a carbohydrate estimate on the high side, neither unusual in a recipe that trades richness for gentleness. What lifts it is the supplement work, and for the dog it is aimed at, that is the part that counts.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (chicken meat meal 22%, fresh chicken 5%), rice (22%), maize, beet pulp, refined chicken oil, whole linseed, chicken digest, whole dried egg, yeast, krill, minerals, prebiotic FOS, prebiotic MOS, glucosamine (740mg/kg), MSM (740mg/kg), chondroitin (520mg/kg), cranberries, yucca extract, nucleotides.

Chicken meat meal at 22% with fresh chicken at 5% supplies the meat, and protein settles at 22% as fed, 23.9% of dry matter, a deliberately gentle level for dogs whose engines have slowed.

Rice at 22% and maize follow close behind, and carbohydrate converts to an estimated 52.8% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. That is the trade for keeping the recipe mild, and for most older dogs mild is exactly the brief.

The joint programme is the standout, and the label prints every dose: glucosamine and MSM at 740mg/kg apiece and chondroitin at 520mg/kg.

Fat at 12% with 366 kcal per 100g takes the pressure off an older waistline, while whole linseed and krill keep omega fats in the mix and whole dried egg supports protein quality.

Digestion is looked after by beet pulp and the prebiotic pair of FOS and MOS, useful in a life stage where guts get opinionated. Yucca extract, cranberries and nucleotides close the list at trace level.

Bags come in 2kg, 6kg and 14kg sizes, with 4 x 2kg and 2 x 14kg multipacks.

Expect about 230 grams a day for a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, assuming roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label asks 145 to 200 grams for dogs between 10kg and 15kg; an old dog's waistline is the honest referee between the two.