CSJ CP18 (Less Active) review

Our scoring puts this one in the Average band, below the Good band that marks the middle of the adult dry shelf. Protein and processing reads Poor with nutritional balance alongside it, and that is essentially the whole story. Protein at 18% and fat at 8% are low for a dry food, and with the cereals filling the gap the carbohydrate estimate reaches 62.4% of dry matter. Read that as design rather than as a fault. A less active ration is meant to be light, transparency reads Good, and for the dog named on the sack it feeds perfectly sensibly.

Ingredients, as declared: Rice, Maize, Lamb, Oats, Salmon gravy, Chicken fat, Beet pulp, Salmon, Linseed, Whole Eggs, Minerals, Dried fruits & herbs (Total herbs 1000mg/kg; Blackcurrant, Rosemary, Pomegranate, Milk thistle, Seaweed, Fenugreek, Spearmint, Parsley, Marshmallow root, Marjoram, Oregano), Glucosamine (400mg/kg), MSM (400mg/kg), Chondroitin (300mg/kg), Yucca schidigera

Rice and maize lead, and that order tells you the recipe's priorities: steady, digestible energy first, with lamb third. Lamb is a good red meat for dogs, palatable and easily digested, though the label does not say whether it goes in fresh or dried. Protein finishes at 19.6% of dry matter and fat at 8.7%, both light by dry food standards and both entirely intentional on a food named for less active dogs.

The label prints no moisture figure, so the dry matter conversions here work from the 8% that is usual in a dry food. That puts the carbohydrate estimate at 62.4% of dry matter, a good deal of the bowl. Beet pulp supplies the fermentable fibre that keeps stools firm and oats bring a gentler starch alongside the rice.

Salmon gravy, salmon and whole eggs sit behind the lamb and they are doing real work. Egg is as complete a protein as you will find in a bowl. The salmon brings marine omega 3s in the form a dog uses directly, and the linseed further down cannot quite match that. The recipe therefore carries fish and egg as well as lamb. Isolating one protein is the only plan that has to account for it.

Chicken fat is the main added fat. It is a good quality fat and dogs love the taste of it. Chicken is chicken, though, so a sensitive dog is not clear of the issue here.

There are printed doses on the joint supplements: glucosamine and MSM at 400mg/kg with chondroitin at 300mg/kg. That is thoughtful on a food aimed at dogs slowing down. Every plant in the herb and fruit blend is named, and it totals 1000mg/kg. The trace minerals come as a sulphate and an amino acid chelate together, and a dog absorbs the chelated half more easily.

£1.78 a kilo, sold as a 15kg sack.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 253 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £0.45 a day. The label's own table is lighter, at 140 to 240 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg. That fits a food written for dogs doing less, so start there and let the waistline correct you.