Calibra Premium Line Senior & Light: Chicken review

Our scoring lands on the Good band for both versions, level with where the typical adult dry food settles. A light recipe often pays for its restraint in scoring terms, so holding Good here is a quiet compliment: the protein stays respectable while the calories drop, and the extras are dosed rather than sprinkled.

Ingredients, as declared: chicken protein 32 %, corn, oats 20 %, dried apple pulp 4 %, lignocellulose 2 %, poultry fat 2 %, brewer's yeast, hydrolysed chicken liver 2 %, salmon oil 1 %, carrots 1 %, peas 1 %, dried parsley 0.5 %, dried kelp 0.4 % (Ascophyllum nodosum), glucosamine (260 mg/kg), chondroitine sulphate (160 mg/kg), mannan-oligosaccharides (150 mg/kg), fructo-oligosaccharides (80 mg/kg), Mojave yucca (80 mg/kg), β-glucans (40 mg/kg).

The named animal leads at 32% in protein-concentrate form, a dried, condensed ingredient that keeps the protein up while the fat comes down. Protein converts to 26.4% of dry matter in the beef version and 24.2% in the chicken, against fat at just 11.0% and 9.9% respectively.

Corn and oats at 20% do the bulk of the carrying, and in a food like this that is by design. Estimated carbohydrate reaches 52.2% of dry matter in the beef version and 54.4% in the chicken, above the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. Starch and fibre are standing in for the fat that has been removed.

Lignocellulose at 2% and dried apple pulp at 4% supply the extra bulk, taking crude fibre to 4.0% in both versions. Lignocellulose is a processed plant fibre with essentially no calories, exactly what a light recipe wants from a filler. Some label readers frown at it because it is refined and does not come from whole vegetables.

Glucosamine at 260 mg/kg, chondroitin sulphate at 160 mg/kg, mannan-oligosaccharides at 150 mg/kg, fructo-oligosaccharides at 80 mg/kg and beta-glucans at 40 mg/kg are the same support package the rest of the range gets. Brewer's yeast, kelp and parsley sit in the tail. Salmon oil at 1% keeps a small marine omega 3 supply in place despite the low overall fat.

Chicken protein at 32% plus hydrolysed chicken liver at 2% for flavour. The leaner reading of the two at 344 kcal per 100g, a natural pick where the waistline needs the firmer hand.

The beef version comes out at £3.00 a kilo and the chicken at £2.37, both sold in 3kg and 12kg bags.

Take around 840 kcal a day as the maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75). On that basis a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 240 grams a day of the beef version or 244 grams of the chicken. That is £0.72 and £0.58 a day. The label's own guide asks 210 grams for the beef at that weight, so let condition be the referee.