Clinivet Adult Small review

Our Average band is where this one lands, a step under the typical adult dry food. Protein and processing sits at Average, nutritional balance the same, transparency Excellent and value at Average alongside the overall reading. It gets there honestly: more declared meat than many foods at this level and a carbohydrate load a touch below typical, held back by the unnamed poultry and a plain cereal base.

Ingredients, as declared: Poultry Meal (min. 32%), Brown Rice (min. 17%), Maize, Oats, Poultry Fat (min. 7%), Sugar Beet Pulp, Brewers Yeast, Poultry Digest, Minerals, Vitamins, Fish Meal, Egg Powder, Linseeds, Salmon Oil, DL-Methionine, Mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS), Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), Glucosamine (min. 0.02%), Methylsulfonylmethane (min. 0.02%), Yucca Extract, Chondroitin sulphate (0.02%).

Poultry meal at 32% is a genuinely meaty opening for a small-breed kibble, and because meal is already dried, that figure carries straight through to the finished food. Protein converts to 28.3% of dry matter, with estimated carbohydrate at 44.5%, a shade under the 46.2% typical for adult dry food.

Brown rice at 17%, maize and oats share the cereal work. Sugar beet pulp adds soluble fibre for digestion, and brewers yeast brings B vitamins along with a flavour most dogs approve of.

What the label never says is which bird. Poultry meal keeps the family name and so do the fat and the digest, so chicken, turkey or duck could each turn up from batch to batch. Most dogs will never notice. Names are what an elimination plan needs, not families.

The extras are thoughtful for a food of this kind. DL-methionine supports coat and urinary health. The gut flora has FOS and MOS to look after it. Glucosamine and MSM are declared at 0.02% each, and chondroitin at the same. The zinc, iron and copper arrive partly as chelates, with the totals printed: 148mg of zinc, 92mg of iron and 15mg of copper per kilo.

£3.29 per kilo, sold in 4kg and 12kg bags alongside a 14kg breeder pack.

A 15kg adult in moderate condition would get through about 238 grams a day, or £0.78, taking the standard maintenance estimate of 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75) as the yardstick. Most small breed dogs weigh far less and eat correspondingly less; the label asks just 100 to 200 grams for dogs between 5kg and 9kg.