Europa Senior / Low Calorie review

Our scoring lands this in the Average band, a step under the typical adult dry food. The reasons are all on the label. Cereals take four of the first five places, protein converts to 22.8% of dry matter, and no species is put to the fish anywhere on the label. What the scoring cannot weigh is intent, and the intent here is plain. This is deliberately lighter than a standard adult recipe, the joint dosing is real, and a settled older dog can do very well on it.

Ingredients, as declared: Brown Rice (22%), Dried Fish (20%), Barley, Oats, White Rice (10%), Chicken Fat, Beet Pulp (4%), Pea Fibre, Brewer's Yeast, Minerals, Yucca Schidigera Extract (190 mg/kg), Glucosamine (180 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (180 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg)

Brown rice at 22% leads, with barley, oats and white rice at 10% behind it, so four separate cereals share the base between them. Naming each of the four tells you far more than a single line reading cereals would. The total shows up in the analysis: estimated carbohydrate converts to 57.1% of dry matter, against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food.

Dried fish at 20% is the animal protein. Dried is the helpful word here. The water went before mixing, and 20% is roughly the weight it holds in the finished kibble. The gap is the species. Fish covers everything from white fish trimmings to salmon, and with no name on the label there is no way to tell which. A dog with a known fish problem cannot work out where they stand from this list.

Chicken fat is the added fat, a palatable animal fat that dogs take to readily, and worth spotting if you have been keeping chicken out of the bowl. Fat is held to 8%, converting to 8.7% of dry matter, and energy comes out at 341 kcal per 100g. A food with low calorie in its name should read exactly like that.

The older dog extras are dosed rather than dusted. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane arrive at 180 mg/kg each with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg, the trio most often reached for when joints begin to complain. L-carnitine at 480 mg has a long history in diets written around body condition. Yucca schidigera extract at 190 mg/kg is the traditional answer to a fragrant dog.

Beet pulp at 4%, pea fibre and brewer's yeast fill out the rest, with fibre landing at 4.3% of dry matter. Brewer's yeast is there for the B vitamins, and few natural sources are better. The vitamin and trace mineral panel is printed in full, including iron and zinc at 50 mg each and copper at 12 mg per kilo, supplied as sulphates rather than chelates.

£3.33 a kilo, sold in a 15kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 246 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), which comes to £0.82 a day. The label's own chart asks 195 to 330 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg. Between that and our own figure, let the waistline decide.