Dr Clauders Adult Medium Breed review

This one lands in our Average band, and the honest reason is a label that works in categories, not in names. Poultry protein, poultry fat and a protein hydrolysate all leave the species open, and once that is true of the whole animal side the reading can only climb so far. Nutritionally the food is ordinary, not short. Protein converts to 27.2% of dry matter and fat to 16.3%, unremarkable for a cereal-based kibble, with carbohydrate close to the 46.2% typical of the shelf, where the average bag reaches our Good band.

Ingredients, as declared: Poultry protein dried (27%), maize, millet, rice, poultry fat, beet pulp, protein hydrolysate (from poultry), linseed, fish oil (1%), chicory powder (1%), yeast (dried, incl. 0.05% glucans) whole egg powder (dried), ginseng root (dried, 0.1%), spirulina dried (0.1%), potassium chloride.

The 27% dried poultry protein is a concentrated entry. Its water is already gone, so it puts more into the kibble than fresh meat at that weight would. The gap in it is the species, and that same gap runs on through the poultry fat and the hydrolysate further down the list.

Maize heads the plant side with millet and rice behind it. Millet earns its place, gluten free and a reliable source of B vitamins, iron and potassium, and rice is the standard gentle carbohydrate of the kibble world. Beet pulp follows as the fermentable fibre.

The bottom of the list is where the thought went. Fish oil at 1% is the direct source of long chain omega 3 for skin and joints. Linseed adds the plant form alongside it, and chicory powder at 1% supplies inulin for the gut bacteria. Spirulina and ginseng root at 0.1% each are trace additions and should be read as exactly that.

Whole egg powder is a quietly good inclusion, a complete protein that fills in amino acids the cereals cannot supply. Calcium works out at 1.2% of dry matter, a normal adult level. The pack prints no energy figure of its own, so the 367 kcal per 100 grams here is an estimate.

£4.15 a kilo, in a single 12.5 kg bag.

On the standard estimate, a 15kg adult in moderate condition eats about 229 grams a day and needs roughly 840 kcal. That is 110 × bodyweight^0.75, the maintenance figure used throughout, and it puts the bowl at £0.95 a day. Scale up or down from there and let the waistline settle the portion.