Leader Adult Slimline Medium Breed review

Our reading places this in the Good band, where the typical adult dry food sits as well. A dog moving onto it is not stepping down in quality to lose weight. Transparency leads the pillars at Excellent with value level at Good behind it, while protein and processing reads Average and nutritional balance Poor. The trade a slimming kibble makes is visible right there in the analysis: fat comes out and starch goes in. Protein and energy soften as a result. That is the design working, not the recipe failing, and for a medium dog that needs to drop a kilo or two it is the right sort of compromise.

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated Turkey (21%), Brown Rice, White Rice, Pea Starch, Potato Starch, Dehulled Oats, Chicken Fat, Whole Linseed, Minerals, Alfalfa, Hydrolysed Liver Protein, Yeast Extract, Chicory Inulin, Dried Cranberries, Dried Beetroot, Rosemary, Ginger, Turmeric, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Yucca Schidigera, Chondroitin Sulphate.

Dehydrated turkey at 21% opens the label, dried before it goes in so the number survives the cooking. Turkey is naturally lean, and lighter recipes reach for it often. The chicken fat further down the list is the reminder that this is a turkey-led food rather than a turkey-only one.

Pea and potato starch are the working parts of any slimming kibble. They fill the bowl and bind the biscuit without carrying much fat with them, which is how the portion stays a decent size while energy drops to an estimated 321 kcal per 100g. The consequence shows up in the carbohydrate line, at 59.6% of dry matter against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food.

Behind the starches come the two rices and dehulled oats, with alfalfa and crude fibre at 2.4% helping a hungry dog feel fuller for longer. Chicory inulin is the prebiotic in the mix, feeding the gut's own bacteria, with yeast extract keeping it company.

Fat is declared at 7.5%, which converts to 8.3% of dry matter, and protein at 20.0%. L-lysine is added at 2,630 mg per kilo to shore up the amino acid side while the total protein sits lower than a maintenance food would carry, and whole linseed supplies the plant omega 3.

Glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate are on the list without declared amounts, useful background for joints that have been carrying extra weight and not a measured dose. The tail of cranberry, beetroot, ginger, turmeric and rosemary is the label's flourish, though rosemary does real work as a natural antioxidant that slows the fats going rancid.

£3.33 a kilo, with 2kg and 12kg bags.

For the standard comparison, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 261 grams a day, which comes to £0.87 a day. That 261 grams assumes around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The pack's own guide runs from 89 grams at 6kg up to 293 grams at 30kg for a less active dog. A dog on a reducing diet should be portioned for the weight you want it to reach.