Arden Grange VetCare Renal Dry review

Ingredients, as declared: Sweet potato 25%, hydrolysed chicken 19% (hydrolysed fresh chicken 15%, hydrolysed chicken meat meal 4%), potato, peas, chicken fat 6%, potato protein, pumpkin, potato starch, fish oil, chicken gravy 2%, algae (high DHA*), minerals, lucerne, potassium citrate (urine alkaliser) 0.5%, nettle 0.18%, dandelion, cranberries 0.1%, dried blackberries, dried raspberries 0.1%, dried blueberries 0.1%, dried blackcurrants, dried elderberries, dried chokeberries, mannan-oligosaccharides (prebiotic MOS) 0.1%, fructo-oligosaccharides (prebiotic FOS) 0.1%.

Sweet potato leads at 25%, with hydrolysed chicken behind it at 19%, itself split into 15% hydrolysed fresh chicken and 4% hydrolysed chicken meat meal. Potato, peas, potato protein and potato starch fill in around them. Meat sitting second rather than first is deliberate in a recipe built to hold protein down, not something the maker has overlooked.

Protein is declared at 18% as fed, which converts to 19.6% of dry matter, and fat at 12.5% converts to 13.6%. The carbohydrate estimate reaches 55.9% of dry matter and energy is 365 kcal per 100g. Keeping protein at that level is the point of a renal formulation.

Potassium citrate is named at 0.5% and the maker labels it as a urine alkaliser. Chicken fat at 6% and fish oil supply most of the fat, and chicken gravy at 2% is there to keep the kibble tempting for a dog whose appetite may have dropped away. DL-methionine is dosed at 3000mg among the additives.

Chicken is the only meat named, though the fish oil does put fish in the recipe. If a one-animal diet is part of your dog's picture, that entry matters. Nettle at 0.18%, dandelion, cranberries at 0.1% and a run of dried berries close the list, with the two prebiotics printed at 0.1% each.

The label's guide starts at 25 to 90 grams a day for the smallest dogs and tops out at 460 grams, with roughly 230 grams landing at 15kg. On a kidney diet the amount fed, and what else is being done alongside it, gets settled in the consulting room rather than off the bag.

It is packed as 2kg and 14kg bags, plus 4 x 2 kg and 2 x 14 kg cases.