James Wellbeloved Senior Dry: Chicken and Rice review

The chicken, the fish and the lamb come in inside our Average band, a step below the Good band where the midpoint of the adult dry shelf sits, and both turkeys join that midpoint in our Good band. The labels explain the gap plainly enough. Brown rice at 26% opens the big bags, the dried meat protein runs between 16% and 19.5%, and estimated carbohydrate reaches 58.7% of dry matter in the chicken. That is a deliberate senior build, lighter in fat and protein for a dog taking life more slowly, and a long way from a failing food. The small breed bag reads higher for the simple reason that it leads with dried turkey protein at 26.5% instead, and the full size turkey bag lands with it a step above the other three.

Ingredients, as declared: brown rice* (26%), dried chicken protein* (16.5%), naked oats*, barley*, white rice* (10%), whole linseed* (3.5%), poultry fat*, chicken gravy, sugar beet pulp*, alfalfa meal*, pea fibre*, seaweed* (0.5%), minerals, fish oil, nettles*, parsley*, chicory extract* (0.1%), glucosamine (0.045%), yucca extract* (0.02%), chondroitin (0.005%). *Natural ingredient.

The four full size recipes share a skeleton. Brown rice at 26% leads, with a dried meat protein behind it at 16.5% for chicken, 16% for fish, 19.5% for lamb and 17.5% for turkey. Naked oats, barley and white rice at 10% fill in after that. Rice is easily digested once cooked, which is part of the thinking on a senior food, though it does mean cereal is the largest part of the bowl.

The senior touches are real and they are printed. Glucosamine at 0.045% and chondroitin at 0.005% appear on all four full size labels. Whole linseed runs from 3.5% in the chicken to 4.5% in the fish, supplying plant omega 3. Fish oil brings the marine forms, which older joints and coats take up more readily. Vitamin E is declared at 460 mg on the chicken and fish bags, a generous antioxidant level. The lamb label adds taurine at 1000 mg, an amino acid the heart makes good use of.

Fat and protein are both restrained. The chicken declares 9.4% fat and 20.1% protein, the fish 9.8% and 20.4%, the lamb 10.0% and 18.5%, which is a gentle bowl by any dry food standard. That suits an older dog who is carrying a little extra weight. For a lean old dog with a fading appetite it can mean feeding a slightly larger bowl to get the protein in.

The fibre and gut entries are the brand's usual set: sugar beet pulp with its sugar already extracted, alfalfa meal, pea fibre, chicory extract at 0.1% for inulin and seaweed at 0.5% for iodine. Nettles and parsley sit at trace level and do little beyond seasoning. Meat gravy is what makes the kibble taste of the animal named on the front. That counts for something with an appetite that has grown choosy.

The small breed turkey is a different animal on paper. Dried turkey protein leads at 26.5%, the rices drop back to 13% each, and carbohydrate falls to an estimated 45.2% of dry matter against 58.7% in the full size chicken. It leaves out the glucosamine, chondroitin, nettles and parsley the others carry, so it is meatier but plainer.

Brown rice at 26% sits ahead of dried chicken protein at 16.5%. It shows 20.1% protein and 9.4% fat, with carbohydrate estimated at 58.7% of dry matter, the highest in the range, at 353 kcal in every 100g. Vitamin E is declared at 460 mg. It is the one variety sold without a 12kg option.

Per kilo, the fish is £6.25, the chicken £7.00, the lamb and full size turkey £8.00 each, and the small breed turkey £10.66. The chicken comes in 2kg, 8kg and 15kg. The fish, the lamb and the full size turkey come in 2kg, 8kg, 12kg and 15kg, and the small breed turkey in 1.5kg, 4.5kg and 7.5kg.

Start with a 15kg dog in moderate condition needing about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The fish comes to roughly £1.49 a day, the chicken £1.67, the full size turkey £1.93, the lamb £1.94 and the small breed bag £2.45. The full size labels ask 205 to 225 grams a day for a dog of that weight, a little under our own estimate, so let condition decide between them.