Imby Insect-Based Senior review

The Average band is where our scoring puts this recipe, and it is worth being plain about why. Our reading rewards animal protein, insect at 3% is a flourish rather than a foundation, and protein and processing comes out Poor as a result, with nutritional balance Average. Carbohydrate at an estimated 51.6% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food pushes in the same direction. That is a description of a plant-forward senior recipe, not a warning about it. The food is complete, taurine is dosed at 1500 mg/kg, calcium lands at 0.99% of dry matter, and transparency reads Excellent with declared percentages down most of the list. For an older dog already doing well on very little meat, it does the job it was written to do.

Ingredients, as declared: Naked oats, sweet potato, garden peas, white rice, maize gluten, pea protein, dried pumpkin, canola oil, olive oil, insects 3% (dried insect protein 2%, insect oil 1%), dried brewer's yeast, minerals, dried beet pulp, dried chicory, MOS (mannan-oligosaccharides), dried thyme (0.1%), dried marjoram (0.1%), dried oregano (0.1%), dried parsley (0.1%), dried sage (0.1%), dried nettle (0.1%), dried broccoli (0.05%), dried spinach (0.05%), dried tomatoes (0.05%), dried cranberries (0.05%), dried blueberries (0.05%), glucosamine hydrochloride (0.02%), chondroitin sulfate (0.02%).

Naked oats lead, and that ordering is most of the story. Insect appears tenth on the list at 3%, split into 2% dried insect protein and 1% insect oil, which puts it there for character alone. Protein still converts to 25.3% of dry matter, and the plants are supplying most of it.

Sweet potato, garden peas and white rice fill out the base, with dried pumpkin behind them. That is a reasonable set of carbohydrate sources, sweet potato in particular being one of the better ones a kibble can use, and whole peas bring antioxidants and fibre along with their protein.

Maize gluten and pea protein do the work of lifting the protein figure. Keep an eye on the maize gluten. Maize processing throws it off as a by-product, and dogs digest it less comfortably than animal protein. Pea protein is a milder version of the same idea. Neither is unusual in a plant-forward food, and both are the reason the protein reads lower in quality than the raw percentage suggests.

The smaller entries are where the senior thinking lives. Fat is deliberately restrained at 11.0% of dry matter, and fibre is lifted to 4.4% with dried beet pulp behind it. The joint pair is doubled against the adult recipes, glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate at 0.02% each. Taurine is dosed at 1500 mg/kg, which is the entry an ageing heart appreciates most.

Canola and olive oils supply the fat, dried brewer's yeast the B vitamins, and chicory and MOS the prebiotic side. The long closing tail of herbs at 0.1% and vegetables and berries at 0.05% is seasoning, printed honestly enough that you can see how little of it there is.

£7.34 a kilo, in bags of 1.5kg and 5kg.

Taking a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition as the yardstick, that is about 255 grams a day at roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), or £1.87 a day. An older dog moving less may well need less again.