Autarky Senior Grain Free: Tantalising Turkey review

Good is where this recipe lands on our scale, the same band that marks the middle of the adult dry market. Value keeps step with the overall reading at Good, transparency reads the same, and the label helps its own case by naming its joint additions rather than hiding them in a blend. What keeps it from climbing higher is construction: nutritional balance reads Average, with the potatoes doing a generous share of the recipe's work.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey (min 18% turkey meal and 13% freshly prepared turkey), Potato, Sweet potato, Pea starch, Turkey fat, Peas, Unmolassed beet pulp, Brewer's yeast (source of postbiotics, 0.45%), Alfalfa, Pea protein, Salmon oil, Minerals, Marine algae (source of omega 3 fatty acid DHA), Glucosamine, Green lipped mussel, Carob pod meal, Seaweed, Blackcurrant, Milk thistle, Turmeric, Marigold, Nettle, Mint, Rosemary, Pomegranate, Rosehip, Fenugreek, Thyme, Olive extract, Aniseed, Dandelion, Ginger, Oregano.

The turkey arrives two ways, 18% as turkey meal and 13% freshly prepared. Because meal goes into the cooker already dried, its weight holds steady, and it ends up supplying most of the finished kibble's animal protein. Turkey itself is a lean, easily digested meat, a sensible anchor for a senior recipe. Protein converts to 25.0% of dry matter and fat to 13.0%, both at the gentler end of the dry food spectrum.

Potato and sweet potato head the plant side, with pea starch and peas behind them. No grain appears on the label at all. The estimated carbohydrate share works out at 50.3% of dry matter, a little above the 46.2% typical for an adult dry food, so the starch is doing real work here. Pea protein further down the list quietly tops up the protein total from the plant side.

The senior touches are the most interesting part of the label. Glucosamine and green lipped mussel appear together, the mussel a shellfish with a long joint-support reputation. Marine algae brings the omega 3 fatty acid DHA, and brewer's yeast at 0.45% is included as a postbiotic alongside its natural B vitamins. Unmolassed beet pulp supplies the fibre.

The herbal procession from milk thistle to ginger is the label's decoration rather than its argument. Everything from the carob pod meal down sits at trace level, and the recipe would stand or fall on its turkey either way. One honest footnote: the salmon oil and algae that supply the omegas mean the food carries fish, so the single-meat construction helps a turkey lover but cannot serve a fish-avoiding dog.

£4.48 a kilo, with 2kg and 12kg bags to choose between.

Fed to a 15kg adult in moderate condition, that comes to roughly £1.09 a day on 244 grams, using the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day for that size (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The label's own guide suggests 150 to 300 grams for dogs between 10kg and 25kg, so treat the bag and the waistline as joint referees.