CSJ Old Champ review

This one lands in our Average band, a step below the Good band the middle of the adult dry food market occupies, and nutritional balance reads Poor. The arithmetic behind that is no mystery. Fat at 6% and protein at 20.0% of dry matter leave carbohydrate to fill 60.5%, and a general scale reads that as thin. What a general scale cannot see is intent. This is a light food for a dog that no longer burns much, and for that dog a lean recipe with a named meat, alfalfa and linseed in it is a reasonable everyday bowl. Read the band as a comment on density rather than on care.

Ingredients, as declared: Wheat, Beef meal, Barley, Maize, Beet pulp, Chicken gravy, Chicken meal, Chicken fat, Alfalfa, Linseed, Peas, Minerals, Yucca schidigera.

Nothing else on this label counts for as much as the wheat that opens the list. It binds a kibble well and cooks reliably, and the large majority of dogs eat it without a flicker. Of the cereals, wheat is the one most often behind a grain intolerance. A dog that does react to it usually shows it on the skin or in the digestion.

Beef meal follows immediately, and meal is the dense dried form, so its position near the top counts for more than a fresh meat in the same place would. Beef is highly palatable and easy enough for most dogs. Red meats do sit higher in purines, and if your dog has a urinary history that is one to raise with your vet.

Barley and maize come next, with beet pulp for fibre and alfalfa adding plant protein and a little more bulk. The omega 3 from linseed comes in its plant form. On a food this low in fat that is a thoughtful touch, since a lean recipe leaves less room for the fats that keep a coat in condition.

Three chicken entries sit in the middle of the list: gravy for palatability, meal for protein and fat for energy. They are present in small amounts, but they do mean the beef headline is not the whole animal story, which counts if you are keeping a dog off poultry.

The vitamin and mineral panel is complete and dosed in print, with zinc at 62.5 mg/kg and iron at 50 mg/kg among the figures, and selenium arriving as sodium selenite at 0.2 mg/kg. Calcium is not declared, so there is nothing to check on that front. The rest of the panel is unremarkable in the good sense, since everything a complete food is required to carry is there and printed.

£1.28 a kilo, sold as a 15 kg sack.

As a rough guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would take about 247 grams a day to reach around 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That lands the day rate near £0.32. CSJ's less active table asks 150 to 280 grams for a dog of 10kg to 20kg, and with a food this light the waistline is the better guide of the two.