Hill's Prescription Diet i/d Stress Mini Stew for Dogs review

Ingredients, as declared: Meat and animal derivatives (chicken 3%), cereals, various sugars, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, vegetables (0.9%), eggs and egg derivatives, oils and fats, seeds, fruit, milk and milk derivatives. Highly digestible ingredients: Pork, chicken, rice, dried eggs, vegetable oil. ActivBiome+ prebiotic blend (1.2%): Ground pecan shell, flaxseed, dried beet pulp, dried citrus pulp, dried cranberries.

Meat and animal derivatives take the first place with chicken declared at 3%, and cereals and various sugars come straight after, so the sauce is written into the recipe early. Vegetables are given as 0.9%, and milk and milk derivatives close the list. The names turn up only in Hill's second list of highly digestible ingredients: pork, chicken, rice, dried eggs and vegetable oil.

In that list pork comes ahead of chicken. The front of the pack names chicken as the meat, but a good part of the meat fraction is likely pork. Egg and dairy are in the recipe too, so a dog being kept off any of those is meeting more than one of them here.

Potassium alginate at 5g is named as a technological additive. Alginates are drawn from seaweed and set into a soft gel with water, which is how the gravy gets its body and how the chunks stay suspended in it instead of sitting in liquid.

The ActivBiome+ prebiotic blend is declared at 1.2%, ground pecan shell first, then flaxseed, dried beet pulp, dried citrus pulp and dried cranberries, fibre included to feed gut bacteria rather than to feed the dog.

Protein converts to 23.6% of dry matter and fat to 8.8%, the carbohydrate estimate reaches 59.3% and energy reads 79 kcal per 100g, with moisture declared at 78.4%. Low fat alongside high carbohydrate is the usual construction of a gentle stew of this type, and reading it as anything other than the intended shape of the food would be reading it wrong. Calcium comes out at 0.88% of dry matter.

Iron at 9.5mg and zinc at 30.3mg lead the added mineral panel, with iodine, copper and manganese dosed alongside them. The feeding guide opens at 93 grams a day for a 1kg dog, reaches 231 grams at 5kg and finishes at 492 grams for a 15kg dog. That is as far up the scale as a small dog food needs to go. What your own dog gets, and whether this stew is the right thing to give, is for the vet who prescribed it to decide.

The only size listed is a 156g portion pack.