Lakes Collection Lakes Pioneer Sensitive: Chicken with Rice review

Both recipes come out Good on our scoring, and so does the broad middle of the adult dry food shelf, which makes this a food that keeps pace rather than pulls ahead. The reasons are easy enough to see. Named meat covers a little under a third of each bag, the starch side does more than half the work by dry matter, and the mineral panel is present without being itemised. Transparency reads Outstanding on both labels, with protein and processing at Average. Nutritional balance is Average on the chicken and Poor on the lamb, and that fairly describes a recipe built to be undemanding. For a dog that has struggled on richer bowls, undemanding is very often the whole point.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 29% (including Dried Chicken 26% & Chicken Fat 3%), Rice (26%), Barley, Oats, Beet Pulp (2%), Brewers Yeast, Minerals, Yucca Extract (190 mg/kg). Yucca Extract from natural sources, this plant extract is thought to help reduce stool odour. No Added Artificial Colours & Preservatives Naturally preserved using rosemary extract. Formulated without wheat gluten.

Both labels put their meat in the concentrated form. The chicken recipe declares chicken at 29%, of which 26% is dried chicken and 3% is chicken fat, and the lamb declares 28%, made up of 26% dried lamb and 2% lamb gravy. Because the water has already gone from dried meat, those figures are near enough what lands in the bowl. Protein finishes at 26.1% of dry matter in the chicken, 23.9% in the lamb. That is modest for a kibble, and deliberately so on a recipe written around easy digestion.

The plant side of both starts with rice at 26%, then barley and oats behind it. Barley and oats are unremarkable in the best way. Cooked, they are straightforward for most dogs, and oats add useful fibre plus a spread of micronutrients. For a gluten free bowl, barley is the wrong grain, and that is worth knowing. The label does state that both recipes are formulated without wheat gluten, and no wheat appears on either list.

Beet pulp at 2% supplies the fibre that keeps stools firm. Brewer's yeast sits next to it as a strong natural source of the B vitamins, with a useful amino acid profile behind it. Yucca extract at 190 mg/kg is aimed at stool odour, a modest promise honestly made.

Preservation is handled by rosemary extract and nothing synthetic, and the label states there are no added artificial colours or preservatives.

What you do not get here is a long tail of extras. There is no joint set, no botanical parade and no vitamin figures printed alongside the minerals. On a recipe written for sensitive stomachs that restraint is arguably the whole idea, though it does leave the label with less to weigh up than a busier bag would offer.

Chicken at 29%, split as 26% dried chicken and 3% chicken fat, sitting alongside rice at 26%. Protein is the higher of the pair here at 24.0% declared, fat the leaner of the two at 8.0%, and calcium works out at 1.63% of dry matter.

Both varieties come in 1.5kg and 12kg bags.

On a portion basis, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 241 grams a day on the chicken, or 243 grams on the lamb. Both figures assume around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). For dogs between 10kg and 20kg the label asks 150 to 255 grams, so the two guides sit close together. The waistline can settle the rest.