Calibra Life Senior Medium & Large Breed review

A Good band result, level with the adult dry typical. On the pillar breakdown transparency reads Outstanding, nutritional balance Average, and Good covers both protein and processing and value. That fits an honest, well declared recipe whose analysis stays conventional: modest fat, moderate protein, standard carbohydrate.

Ingredients, as declared: chicken protein (40 %), rice (28 %), brewer's rice (8 %), apple pulp dried (6 %), dried beet pulp, hydrolysed poultry protein (3 %), poultry fat (3 %, preserved with tocopherols), yeasts, hydrolysed chicken liver (2 %), salmon oil, (2 %), prebiotics (mannan-oligosaccharides 120 mg/kg, β-glucans 100 mg/kg, fructo-oligosaccharides 70 mg/kg), glucosamine (260 mg/kg), dried rosemary & thyme (200 mg/kg), chondroitine sulphate (160 mg/kg), Mojave yucca (80 mg/kg), Lactobacillus acidophilus HA - 122 inactivated (15 × 109 cells/kg).

Chicken protein at 40% is the dried form, so its headline share translates into real protein in the finished food rather than cooking away; protein lands at 28.6% of dry matter. There is no fresh meat here, which keeps the label simple.

The binding is rice at 28% with brewer's rice at 8% behind it, and estimated carbohydrate reaches 49.8% of dry matter against a market typical of 46.2%. Paired with fat at just 11.0% of dry matter and 354 kcal per 100g, the shape is deliberately gentle, built for older dogs doing less.

The functional layer is thorough. The prebiotics are MOS at 120 mg/kg, beta glucans at 100 mg/kg and FOS at 70 mg/kg. Behind them come glucosamine at 260 mg/kg with chondroitin sulphate at 160 mg/kg, Mojave yucca at 80 mg/kg and an inactivated Lactobacillus acidophilus culture.

Two entries stay vague where the rest are precise. Poultry fat at 3% and hydrolysed poultry protein at 3% name a family, not a bird. Most dogs will never notice. For anyone tracking a specific poultry intolerance it blurs the picture. Hydrolysed chicken liver at 2% is the palatant, and it does name its species.

The fibre comes from beet pulp and dried apple pulp. Salmon oil at 2% adds the long-chain omega 3s. The trace minerals come as organic chelates, with each dose printed per kilo.

£3.33 a kilo, in 100g, 2.5kg and 12kg packs.

On the standard maintenance estimate of around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75), a 15kg adult in moderate condition needs about 237 grams, costing roughly £0.79 a day. The bag's own chart runs from 140 grams for a 10kg dog up to 700 grams at 90kg.