Concept For Life Medium Breed Sensitive review

Our reading gives this recipe an Average band result, one rung under the Good band that most adult dry food occupies. The arithmetic is straightforward. Rice leads the list, rice protein appears again a few places later, and carbohydrate finishes at 51.0% of dry matter, which leaves protein at 24.5% of dry matter, gentle for a kibble. Two of the animal entries also name no species. That is a fair description of a sensitive recipe, not a criticism of one. Keeping the ingredient list short and the meat down to a single named species is exactly the trade these foods make. The dog it is aimed at is usually better off for it.

Ingredients, as declared: Rice, 19.5% Lamb Protein (Dried), Poultry Fat, Rice Protein, Dried Beet Pulp (Desugared), Liver Hydrolysate, Brewer's Yeast (Dried), Linseed, Egg (Dried), 0.6% Sunflower Oil, Lignocellulose, Sodium Chloride, 0.2% Yeast Extract (Rich in Beta-Glucans and Mannan-Oligosaccharides), 0.1% Chicory Inulin, 0.01% Green Tea Extract (Dried, Rich in Flavonoids), Antioxidants.

Lamb protein at 19.5% is the named meat, declared in the dried form. Dried meat carries no water into the mix, so the same figure counts for more than it would fresh. Lamb is a red meat that dogs digest well and rarely have a history with, which is the whole point of putting it in a recipe like this one. Protein converts to 24.5% of dry matter, at the gentler end for a dry food.

Rice does the starch work and does a lot of it, opening the list in whole form and returning as rice protein in fourth place. Whole rice is one of the easier cereals on a dog's digestion, and sensitive recipes use it often for that reason. Rice protein is a different thing, a refined plant protein that raises the analysis figure without contributing animal protein, so it is worth reading the protein number with that in mind.

This is not a single animal food, and two entries are the reason. The added fat is poultry fat, a decent enough ingredient that still leaves the bird unnamed, and liver hydrolysate names no species either. The hydrolysate is doing an honest job: liver is nutrient dense and highly palatable, and breaking it down chemically turns it into a flavour carrier that keeps a hesitant eater coming back to the bowl. If you are running a true elimination trial, though, those two entries are the ones that need accounting for.

The digestive support is modest and well chosen. Desugared beet pulp brings the fermentable fibre that gut bacteria feed on, and chicory inulin at 0.1% adds a prebiotic in soluble form. The yeast extract at 0.2% supplies the beta-glucans and mannan-oligosaccharides named on the label. Crude fibre itself is low at 2.2% of dry matter, so this is a recipe built around gentleness rather than bulk.

The remaining entries fill in the detail. Linseed is the plant omega 3 source, sunflower oil at 0.6% adds omega 6 along with natural vitamin E, and green tea extract at 0.01% brings flavonoids. Brewer's yeast is a natural source of B vitamins and dried egg adds a small amount of very digestible protein. The added mineral panel is dosed in full, with zinc at 100 mg per kilo as the sulphate and another 60 mg as a glycine chelate. Choline chloride comes in at 2000 mg per kilo and vitamin C at 200 mg per kilo.

Offered in 1.5kg, 6kg and 12kg bags.

Taken as a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat somewhere near 231 grams a day, assuming a requirement of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). A dog moving onto a sensitive recipe is best changed over slowly, so build to that figure across a week or so.