BullyBillows Senior Dog Dry Food review

This recipe reaches our Excellent band, leaving the typical adult dry food a step behind it. The senior touches are real and the fish is named throughout, and the construction is sound enough to put it ahead of the pack rather than in it. For the older salmon eater it was written for, it does exactly what it promises.

Ingredients, as declared: 65% Salmon (Freshly Prepared Scottish Salmon (35%), Dried Salmon (24.5%), Salmon Oil (3%), Salmon Gravy (2.5%)), Sweet Potato, Beans, Beet Pulp, Dried Superfood Blend* (Including Dill, Spinach, Fennel, Asparagus, Tomato), Minerals, Omega 3 Supplement, Joint Pack (Glucosamine 178 mg/kg, Methylsulfonylmethane 178 mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 125 mg/kg), Fructooligosaccharides (175 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (50 mg/kg), Olive Extract (0.01%), *Each equivalent to 4% Fresh Ingredients

The 65% salmon is itemised the way we like to see. Freshly prepared Scottish salmon takes 35%, the dried salmon 24.5%, with salmon oil at 3% and gravy at 2.5%. The dried share is what survives the oven, and protein duly converts to a muscular 38.0% of dry matter, unusually high for a senior recipe, while fat is held at 12.0%.

Sweet potato, beans and beet pulp make up the plant side with no grain involved. The carbohydrate estimate comes out at 35.9% of dry matter, well under the 46.2% an adult dry food typically shows.

The senior kit is properly dosed: glucosamine and MSM at 178 mg/kg each, chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg, and L-carnitine at 240 mg/kg. L-carnitine is an amino acid that helps the body burn fat while sparing muscle.

Fructooligosaccharides at 175 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 50 mg/kg look after the gut, and the dried superfood blend of dill, spinach, fennel, asparagus and tomato is a garnish the recipe could live without.

Two things stop the label being perfectly transparent: the omega 3 supplement names no source, and the mineral side is assertive, ash converting to 10.3% of dry matter. Neither is a fault so much as a fact to weigh for your particular dog.

£6.67 a kilo, in 2kg, 6kg and 12kg bags.

Expect a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition to need around 239 grams a day, roughly £1.59, taking the usual 840 kcal maintenance figure as the basis (110 × bodyweight^0.75).