Dr Clauders

Dr Clauders Special Diet: FSD Skin and Coat review

Name: Dr Clauders Special Diet: FSD Skin and Coat
Brand: Dr Clauders

37.1/100Average

DryAdult

Flavour

Four condition-shaped kibbles sold as complete foods, for skin and coat, the gut, the liver and the kidneys. Each holds something back on purpose, whether protein, fat or minerals. On a general reading that costs them points, and winning a nutrition contest was never the job.

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Our view

Likely to suit

A dog whose owner and vet have settled on a diet aimed at one organ or system
Dogs that need fat kept down; the intestinal recipe declares 7%
Cereal eaters. Rice runs through all four, with corn and barley beside it
Digestion that needs an easier ride, with hydrolysed protein on every label
Owners happy to open a fresh bag often, as only the smaller sizes are sold

Worth watching

Liver and kidney diets are a call to make with your vet, as the restriction that helps one dog can be wrong for another
Poultry throughout with no bird named, and the kidney recipe's animal fat names no animal at all
No calorie figure on any pack, so the energy here is our estimate

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

37.1/100Average

Protein and processingPoor

Nutritional balanceAverage

TransparencyPoor

ValueAverage

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adult dogs, with no size given. Choose the recipe by the condition your vet is managing, not by flavour.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Main protein

Poultry

The score, in context

LPD Liver 37.4
FSD Skin 37.1
IRD Intestinal 33.2
RSD Kidney 31.1

All four Average. Typical dry food: Good.

The low scores are the design showing through: a general adult reading marks down the very restrictions each recipe was built around.

What's in it

CornLeads the list.
Poultry meat mealConcentrated protein, but no bird named.
Rice, millet
LinseedThe first of three routes to the fatty acids a coat depends on.
Poultry fatUnnamed bird.
Protein hydrolysate, egg powderEgg is a complete protein.
Fish oil
ChicoryInulin for the gut bacteria.
Thistle oilThe third coat oil.
Monocalcium phosphate, sea salt, silica, potassium chloride, yuccaSilica is an anti-caking mineral.

Named ingredients

Corn, poultry meat meal, rice, millet, linseed, poultry fat, protein hydrolysate, egg powder, fish oil, chicory, monocalcium phosphate, thistle oil, sodium chloride sea salt, silica, potassium chloride, yucca shidigera.

Against the range

Fat, dry matter: 15.5%; Richest except the liver diet at 17.7%; the intestinal is 7.7%.
Protein, dry matter: 24.3%; The highest; the kidney diet is 15.5%.
Coat oils: Linseed, fish oil, thistle oil; Fish oil appears on the intestinal and liver labels too.

The least restricted of the four, and the one built around the coat.

Cereals lead all four: rice throughout, with corn, millet and barley alongside. They bring digestible energy with little protein or phosphorus, which is what a restricted diet wants. The animal side is written as poultry meat meal, poultry protein and poultry fat, never a named bird, and the kidney recipe adds animal fat with no species at all. Chicory and potassium chloride are on every label, and so is a protein hydrolysate.

What varies is the job. The skin recipe stacks three oils, the intestinal holds fat right down, the liver holds protein down and the kidney holds protein, ash and calcium lowest of all.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

360.1 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

22%

Fat

14%

Fibre

Ash

5.6%

Moisture

9.5%

Dry weight

Protein

24.3%

Fat

15.5%

Fibre

2.2%

Ash

6.2%

Carbs

51.8%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

26.6%

Carbs

64.6%

Veg

0.5%

Oils

Other

5.3%

Pricing & size