Dr John Silver review

Both recipes read in our Average band while the typical adult dry food reads in our Good band, and the reason is the same in each case. Protein converts to 19.8% of dry matter in the poultry recipe and 19.6% in the beef, fat is held at 6.0% in both, and carbohydrate reaches 65.4% and 63.6% of dry matter respectively. The analysis describes a cereal led food with a meat contribution, not a meat led one. Nutritional balance reads Poor, with protein and processing and transparency both Average, the last of those held where it is because the meat terms stay general. For a small, steady, older dog on a light bowl this is still serviceable everyday food, and it is honest about being simple.

Ingredients, as declared: Wheat, poultry meal (11% chicken), maize, vegetables (4% peas), chicken gravy, chicken fat, minerals, linseed, yucca extract.

Wheat opens both lists, which sets the shape of everything that follows. It forms a biscuit well, and that is why it turns up at the front of so many everyday kibbles. When a dog proves intolerant of its food, wheat is usually the culprit. If yours has ever reacted to a kibble, wheat is the first thing to consider.

The animal entries are where the two recipes part company on paper and meet in practice. The poultry version uses poultry meal with 11% chicken named inside it, and the beef version uses meat meal with 11% beef named inside it. In both cases the meal is dried and concentrated, which is efficient, but the category term leaves the remaining animal content unidentified. The beef recipe then adds chicken fat and chicken gravy on top of it.

Peas at 4% arrive inside a vegetables heading in both recipes, bringing a little fibre, plant protein and a spread of micronutrients, with the rest of that heading left open. Linseed follows, and it is the most useful of the small entries, supplying plant omega 3 and fibre in one go.

Yucca extract closes both lists. It is not there for nutrition at all, but for what owners tend to notice in the garden, and on a high cereal food that is not a trivial contribution.

Energy is estimated at 322 kcal per 100g for the poultry and 319 for the beef, both below the 357 typical for adult dry food, so bowls run a little fuller. Fibre converts to 2.7% of dry matter in both, and ash from 5.5% in the poultry up to 7.6% in the beef.

Poultry meal with 11% chicken behind the wheat, with maize third and 4% peas inside a vegetables entry. Chicken gravy and chicken fat follow, so poultry runs through the whole recipe. Of the pair this one runs higher on carbohydrate, at 65.4% of dry matter, and lower on ash at 5.5%, with energy estimated at 322 kcal per 100g.

£1.23 a kilo for the poultry recipe and £1.13 a kilo for the beef. The poultry comes in 4kg and 15kg, the beef in 15kg only.

As a guide, take a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition on about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That is around 261 grams a day of the poultry or 263 of the beef. It comes to £0.32 and £0.30 a day. The labels put a dog of 10kg to 20kg on 200 to 370 grams, though condition tells you more than the chart does.