Burns Senior: Chicken & Brown Rice review

An Average band finish places this food just under the typical adult dry food, and for a senior recipe that reads as steady. The shape of the label explains the ceiling. Rice leads by a distance, so protein settles at the gentle end once converted to dry matter, and the senior extras live in fractions of a percent where scoring gives them little weight. For the dog it is written for, an older medium or large breed wanting a mild and consistent bowl, steady is rather the point.

Ingredients, as declared: Brown Rice (67%), Dried Chicken (20%), Oats, Peas, Salmon Oil (1%), Seaweed, Minerals, Chicken Oil, Sunflower Oil, Glucosamine (0.05%), MSM -Methylsulfonylmethane (0.05%), Chondroitin Sulphate (0.036%), Green Tea Extract (0.01%), Blueberry Extract (0.01%).

The base is classic Burns: brown rice at 67% with dried chicken at 20%, the meat arriving with its water already removed so its share converts to finished protein directly. Even so, protein lands at 19.6% of dry matter and carbohydrate at an estimated 63.5%, against a category norm of 46.2%. The label does not declare moisture, so the dry matter figures assume the typical 8% for a kibble.

This bag exists for its joint package. Glucosamine and MSM each appear at 0.05% with chondroitin sulphate at 0.036%, the three supplements most often reached for around stiffening joints. The honest position is that the clinical evidence for all three is mixed, but here they are declared with percentages rather than merely implied, which is how supplements should be sold.

Salmon oil at 1% supplies marine omega 3 alongside the chicken oil and sunflower oil, and it is the ingredient that takes fish free off the table. Green tea and blueberry extracts at 0.01% each add antioxidants at trace level, a senior-shelf flourish.

Vitamin C joins the vitamins at 50mg per kilo, with vitamin E at a raised 200IU and taurine dosed at 1000mg. The trace minerals are chelated and each one is printed, down to copper at 12mg and iodine at 1mg. Calcium converts to 1.3% of dry matter, a comfortable figure for an older frame.

£5.58 a kilo, available in 2kg and 12kg bags.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would need about 257 grams a day, around £1.43, taking the standard maintenance estimate of roughly 840 kcal daily (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The pack's own guide lists 280 grams for a 20kg dog and 420 grams at 30kg.