Canagan Petite: Chicken & Duck (dry) review

Both recipes read Excellent, a band above the Good the typical adult dry food manages, with Chicken & Duck the stronger of the two on nutritional balance. The gap between the two siblings is slight, so let fish, or the absence of it, make the choice.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Free Range Chicken (31%), Freshly Prepared Duck (20.5%), Sweet Potato, Dried Chicken (12%), Potato, Dried Duck (3.7%), Peas, Dried Egg (1.5%), Alfalfa, Duck Gravy (1.2%), Chicken Gravy (0.6%), Glucosamine (1,000 mg/kg), MSM (1,000 mg/kg), Apple, Carrot, Psyllium, Seaweed, Fructooligosaccharides, Spinach, Chondroitin Sulfate (700 mg/kg), Cranberry, Camomile, Peppermint, Marigold, Aniseed & Fenugreek.

Both recipes run two named animals at the front with the fresh forms leading and dried forms in support, and every animal entry carries its percentage. Meat accounts for well over half of each list, and the analysis agrees: protein converts to 35.9% of dry matter in the Chicken & Duck and 34.8% in the Chicken & Salmon.

Grain stays off both lists. The starch is sweet potato and potato, with peas behind them. The carbohydrate estimates convert to 33.7% and 35.9% of dry matter respectively, against the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.

The most interesting line in the small print is taurine at 1,500 mg/kg. It is an amino acid with a reputation for looking after the heart, and a thoughtful inclusion in a food built for long-lived small companions.

Each label also doses a joint trio of glucosamine, MSM and chondroitin sulphate, with the exact figures differing by variety, and the trace minerals are declared with amounts, zinc arriving partly in chelated form.

Dried egg and alfalfa complete both lists, along with a trace-level tail of cranberry, camomile, peppermint, marigold, aniseed and fenugreek, seasoning rather than substance.

Freshly prepared chicken at 31% and duck at 20.5% lead, with dried chicken at 12% and dried duck at 3.7% behind. Nothing from the sea appears anywhere on the list, making this the variety for a fish-avoiding dog, and its joint trio is the lighter dosed of the two, with chondroitin sulphate at 700 mg/kg.

Both varieties are £11.99 a kilo, in 750g and 1.5kg bags.

Taken on the standard 15kg reference dog at about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75), feeding runs to roughly 212 to 216 grams and £2.54 to £2.59 daily. A true Petite candidate eats far less. The label starts at 25 to 40 grams a day for a 1kg dog and tops out at 90 to 150 grams at 10kg.