Canine Choice Premium Senior review

Our Good band is where this food lands, level with the typical adult dry food and a good way clear of it on the label itself. What earns the gap is not glamour but declaration: percentages against the meats, doses against the extras, and a construction that matches its senior brief.

Ingredients, as declared: 40% Chicken (dried chicken 26%, freshly prepared chicken 14%), rice (30%), barley (19%), peas (3%), beet pulp (3%), chicken fat (2%), salmon oil (1%), linseed (1%), minerals, chicory (source of prebiotic fos) (1000mg/kg), mannanoligosaccharides (source of prebiotic mos) (1000mg/kg), glucosamine (500mg/kg), yucca (100mg/kg), chondroitin sulphate (100mg/kg).

Chicken at 40% is declared as 26% dried and 14% freshly prepared, and it is the dried entry doing the heavy lifting, since its water is already gone before the recipe is weighed. Protein lands at 28.3% of dry matter, a solid level for a senior who needs muscle maintained.

Rice at 30% and barley at 19% supply the energy, with beet pulp at 3% adding the gentle fibre older digestion tends to appreciate. Estimated carbohydrate comes to 49.9% of dry matter, above the 46.2% typical of adult dry food, which is the trade this recipe makes for its lower fat.

The senior additions are the point. Glucosamine comes in at 500 mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 100 mg/kg. The marine omega 3s arrive with salmon oil at 1%, and linseed sits alongside it. Prebiotic FOS and MOS at 1000 mg/kg each keep an older gut ticking over.

Fat is trimmed to 9.5%, or 10.3% of dry matter, with chicken fat at 2% the only added fat besides the oils. For a dog whose output has dropped faster than their appetite, that restraint is the kindest thing on the label.

£5.00 a kilo, in 2kg and 10kg bags.

A 15kg dog in moderate condition would need roughly 254 grams a day, which comes to £1.27, derived from the usual 840 kcal maintenance figure (110 × bodyweight^0.75). Older dogs often need less than the estimate suggests, so let condition lead the scoop.