Calibra

Calibra Verve Senior Medium & Large Breed review

Name: Calibra Verve Senior Medium & Large Breed
Brand: Calibra

70.6/100Excellent

DryAdultSenior

The range's chicken and duck recipe, grown up for ageing hips and elbows. Fat is eased back, fibre raised, and the joint doses are the headline: a full gram of glucosamine per kilo. Milk thistle makes a thoughtful cameo, and the result sits in our Excellent band.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Medium and large seniors, whose joints carry the most and wear the soonest
Stiff or slowing dogs, with chondroitin at 600 mg/kg, Boswellia and green-lipped mussel alongside the glucosamine
A thickening waistline. Less fat and more fibre keep meals filling
Grain-avoiding homes, potatoes and pumpkin carrying the starch

Worth watching

Salmon oil and unnamed poultry fat, so neither fish free nor strictly chicken and duck
A still-athletic older dog in real work may need more than the table

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

70.6/100Excellent

Protein and processingGood

Nutritional balanceGood

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueExcellent

The details

Dog fit

Listed for medium and large adults and seniors. The label suggests 180 grams a day for a 15kg dog; let the waistline arbitrate from there.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult, Senior

Breed size

Medium, Large

Main protein

Chicken

The score, in context

Calibra Verve Senior Medium & Large Breed 70.6

All one Excellent. Typical dry food: Good.

Few senior recipes reach this band; it gets there on named animals, moderate starch and a supplement bill most brands would spread across three products.

What's in it

Fresh deboned chicken30%
Duck protein26%Protein converts to 31.1% of dry matter.
Potatoes16%The starch, with no grain.
Dried apple pulp, peas, pumpkin7%, 5%, 4%Push crude fibre to 5.0%, so an older dog feels fed on fewer calories.
Poultry fatNo species named.
Yeasts, hydrolysed chicken liver2% liverThe liver keeps flavour high for older appetites.
Salmon oil2%Marine omega 3.
Milk thistle seed, dried pineapple0.1% eachMilk thistle is a liver-minded plant seed, not dairy.
Glucosamine, chondroitin sulphate1,000 mg/kg, 600 mg/kgThe headline doses.
Prebiotics, yucca, Boswellia serrata, green-lipped mussel extractAll dosed on the label.

A full vitamin panel including C and the B group, chelated zinc, iron, manganese and copper, organic selenium, and tocopherol and rosemary antioxidants.

Salmon oil and unnamed poultry fat rule out a strict chicken and duck, or fish-free, plan.

Named ingredients

Fresh deboned chicken (30 %), duck protein (26 %), potatoes (16 %), apple pulp dried (7 %), peas (5 %), poultry fat, pumpkin (4 %), yeasts, hydrolysed chicken liver (2 %), salmon oil (2 %), milk thistle seed (0.1 %), pineapple dried (0.1 %), glucosamine (1,000 mg/kg), chondroitine sulphate (600 mg/kg), prebiotics (mannan-oligosaccharides 150 mg/kg, β-glucans 120 mg/kg, fructo-oligosaccharides 100 mg/kg), Mojave yucca (100 mg/kg), Boswellia serrata dried (80 mg/kg), green-lipped mussels extract (Perna canaliculus, 50 mg/kg).

Against the range

One grain-free senior recipe: fresh chicken at 30% and duck protein at 26%, potatoes and pumpkin for starch, apple pulp and peas raising the fibre, and a long, fully dosed joint and prebiotic tail.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

348 kcal/100g

Protein

28%

Fat

13%

Fibre

Ash

8.2%

Moisture

10%

Dry weight

Protein

31.1%

Fat

14.4%

Fibre

5.6%

Ash

9.1%

Carbs

39.8%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

58.3%

Carbs

21%

Veg

11%

Oils

4.8%

Other

Pricing & size