Beta Senior review

Scored, this lands in our Average band, a step under the typical adult dry food, which frames it fairly: an ordinary recipe with senior-minded adjustments rather than a specialist diet. Declared chicken meal, printed doses and the fish oil inclusion count in its favour, while unnamed fats and a grain-heavy build set its ceiling. Its pillars read Average, with transparency the one reading Good.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken meal (29%), Wheat*, Corn*, Wheat middlings*, Animal fats, Dried beet pulp, Minerals, Dried chicory root*1 (1%), Digest, Fish oil, Dried carrot* (0.07%), Dried spinach* (0.07%), Dried parsley* (0.07%), *Natural ingredients, 1Natural prebiotic

Chicken meal at 29% heads the list, a concentrated dried protein source that holds the declared protein at 26% even in a reduced-fat recipe. Keeping protein up while fat comes down is the right shape for a senior food, since older dogs lose muscle more easily than they lose appetite.

Wheat, maize and wheat middlings follow, which puts grain in charge of the energy; carbohydrate converts to an estimated 50.6% of dry matter. An older dog pottering rather than patrolling will burn that comfortably, though it is a starchier build than the typical adult dry food carries.

Fish oil is the most senior-specific entry, bringing marine omega 3 fatty acids that older skin, coats and joints put to work. It sits low on the list, so treat it as a helpful nudge.

Beet pulp and chicory root at 1% mind the gut, useful at a life stage where digestion grows less forgiving. The label's decoration is dried carrot with spinach and parsley, 0.07% apiece.

Additives come dosed in print, vitamin E at 95 IU and zinc at 110 mg/kg among them, with selenium supplied as sodium selenite. At 360 kcal per 100g the energy density stays close to the 357 typical of adult dry food, so portions stay ordinary even as the years advance.

Available in 2kg and 14kg bags.

On normal activity the label asks 180 grams a day at 10kg, 235 grams at 15kg and 335 grams at 25kg. Older dogs drift in both directions on the scales, so recheck the portion against the body under the coat every few months.