Husse Senior Mini review

This one lands in our Average band, one step under the Good band that most adult dry foods share, and the gap is narrow rather than dramatic. What holds it back is construction. The cereals take up a lot of room, carbohydrate is estimated at 56.5% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical, protein comes out at 23.9% and several entries name no species. Value reads Good and the other three pillars read Average. For the dog on the front of the bag, a small senior who eats happily and needs a hand with stiff joints, none of that stops the food doing its job.

Ingredients, as declared: chicken, wheat, wheat meal, maize, rice flour, rice, vegetable fibres, linseed, animal fat, hydrolysed animal protein, salmon, salmon oil, yeast, dried whole eggs, salt, fructo-oligosaccharides (0.3%), potassium chloride, lecithin, sea algae, glucosamine (500 mg/kg), rosemary.

Chicken heads the list in its plain form, which means a good part of that weight is water headed for the oven. What reaches the bowl is 23.9% protein and 9.8% fat on a dry matter basis, a lean set of figures suited to an older dog with a slower daily round.

Wheat, wheat meal, maize, rice flour and rice make up the starch side, and there is plenty of it: carbohydrate is estimated at 56.5% of dry matter where 46.2% is the adult dry norm. Wheat carries gluten, and although the vast majority of dogs eat it happily their whole lives, it is the entry to note if yours has ever had an itch nobody could explain.

The interesting half of this label is the lower half. Marine omega 3 arrives with the salmon and the salmon oil, and linseed adds the plant version. Dried whole eggs contribute quality protein and sea algae supplies trace minerals. Glucosamine arrives at 500 mg per kilo, a dose specific enough to hold the maker to, and fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.3% are there to feed the gut bacteria.

The vitamin and mineral panel is thorough. Zinc is declared in two forms at 108 mg and 12 mg per kilo, iron at 201 mg, vitamin E at 500 mg and vitamin C at 200 mg, with beta-carotene at 1 mg. Calcium works out at 1.09% of dry matter, comfortably where an adult dog wants it.

Two of the small entries are worth a straight comment. Salt is added for palatability, and a kibble's own ingredients usually carry the sodium a dog needs, so it matters most in a dog with a heart history. Clinoptilolite at 10 g per kilo is a mineral clay used during manufacturing and does nothing nutritionally. Neither should change your mind, but both are worth reading.

£6.14 a kilo, sold in a 7 kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 250 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That puts the figure at £1.54 a day. This is a small-breed food, so a more realistic 8kg dog would sit nearer the label's own guide of 72 to 150 grams.