Burgess Supadog Finest Senior/Mature review

On our scale it comes out in the Average band; for comparison, the typical adult dry food earns our Good band. The distance is explained by the label rather than hidden in it. The named meat share is small, soya and cereal by-products fill several slots, and estimated carbohydrate stands at 56.0% of dry matter where 46.2% is typical. For an older dog that holds condition easily and has no sensitivities, none of this stops it being a serviceable everyday bowl.

Ingredients, as declared: Wholegrain Wheat, Wholegrain Maize, Poultry Meal (7.5% inc Chicken 6%), Dried Peas, Dried Beet Pulp, Fish Meal, Soya Bean Hulls*, Wheat Feed, Poultry Fat, Minerals, Whole Linseed, Yeast (Brewer's Yeast and Grains), Poultry Gravy, Soya Bean Meal Feed, Dehulled*, Chicory Root Extract (as a source of Fructo-oligosaccharides (Prebiotic FOS 0.2%), Oatfeed, Yeast (as a source of Mannan-oligosaccharides (Prebiotic MOS 0.1%)), Yucca Schidgera (0.012%), Glucosamine (0.007%). *Produced from genetically modified soya.

Wholegrain wheat and maize form the base, with dried peas and beet pulp adding plant protein and fibre. The animal contribution is poultry meal at 7.5%, of which 6% is chicken, plus fish meal a few places down. Both meals are dried, concentrated proteins, so they work harder than their positions suggest, but the unnamed share of the poultry could be any farmed bird.

Soya arrives twice on the label, as hulls and as dehulled meal feed, both marked as coming from genetically modified soya. It is a plant protein often used in place of meat, one that some dogs handle without any trouble and others do not, and it sits among the more commonly reported triggers in sensitive dogs.

The senior touches are real, if lightly dosed. Whole linseed brings plant omega 3s for skin and coat, biotin is added at 0.18 mg/kg with the same aim, and glucosamine appears at 0.007%. The prebiotic pair of FOS at 0.2% and MOS at 0.1% supports the gut, and yucca is included with stool odour in mind.

Calcium is generous at 1.96% of dry matter. That is only worth a thought where a vet has already asked you to watch mineral intake in an older dog. Part of the zinc is supplied as a chelate at 12.5 mg/kg for easier absorption.

The bag is 12.5kg. As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would take about 267 grams a day, assuming in the region of 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The printed guide runs lower, 85 to 175 grams across dogs from 5kg to 15kg, sized for the slower metabolism of an older dog, so start from your dog's current condition and portion from there.