Chudleys Senior review

Chudleys Senior lands in our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food, on pillars that read Average for protein and processing and for transparency, Poor for nutritional balance and Good for value. Two things drive that. The build is heavily cereal led, with carbohydrate estimated at 59.0% of dry matter. The label also declares less than we would like: no moisture figure is printed, so our dry-matter sums assume a standard 8%, and the herbal extras go undosed. A low mark for declaration is not the same as a fault in the bowl, and for an easy-keeping senior this remains gentle, familiar feeding.

Ingredients, as declared: Whole grain wheat, Poultry meal, Whole grain maize, Whole grain oats, Hydrolysed chicken (min 26% poultry), Rice, Unmolassed beet pulp, Wheatfeed, Chicken fat, Yeast (source of mannan oligosaccharides), Full fat linseed, Prairie meal, Salmon oil, Milk thistle, Seaweed, Green lipped mussel, Blackcurrant, Dandelion leaves, Celery seed, Nettle leaves, Devil's claw root, Burdock root, Rosemary, Pomegranate, Rosehips, Yucca schidigera, Beetroot

The poultry is declared as a group at a minimum of 26%, spread across poultry meal near the top and hydrolysed chicken behind it, with no species pinned down beyond that chicken entry. Protein converts to 22.8% of dry matter. For a dog no longer working for a living, that is a comfortable level.

Wheat leads the list with maize, oats and rice behind it and wheatfeed, a milling by-product, in support. That is the source of the estimated 59.0% of dry matter carbohydrate, and the main reason the analysis reads gentle.

The senior dressing is generous: milk thistle, seaweed, green lipped mussel, dandelion, nettle, celery seed, devil's claw and burdock all appear. None carries a dose, so they are best read as a nod towards the concerns of age rather than a therapeutic layer.

Full fat linseed and salmon oil supply the omega 3s in plant and marine form, unmolassed beet pulp brings kindly fibre, and yeast contributes mannan oligosaccharides, a prebiotic aimed at gut balance.

One bookkeeping note: the label prints no moisture figure, so the dry-matter numbers here assume the 8% usual for kibble. The declared analysis itself is complete on protein, fat, fibre and ash.

£2.75 a kilo, sold in a 14kg sack or a 2.3kg bucket.

On the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day for a 15kg adult in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75), daily feeding comes to around 233 grams at about £0.64. The label's own range for dogs of 10kg to 25kg runs 180 to 360 grams, and an older dog holding weight well is best kept toward the leaner end.