Leader Senior Medium Breed review

Our Good band is where this comes out, and so does the great majority of adult dry food on the shelf. There is nothing dramatic behind that placement. The meat is named and dried, the trace elements and vitamins are all given amounts, and the joint pair is on the list, which all counts for something. Then the deliberately low fat takes the energy out, protein sits at 23.3% of dry matter and carbohydrate climbs to an estimated 56.7%. The pillars split, with nutritional balance reading Poor and protein and processing Average, while transparency reads Excellent and value comes back Good. For a senior recipe those numbers are a design decision, not a shortfall, and the dog it was written for will do perfectly well on it.

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated Chicken (26%), Brown Rice, White Rice, Chicken Fat, Dehulled Oats, Whole Linseed, Minerals, Alfalfa, Hydrolysed Liver Protein, Yeast Extract, Chicory Inulin, Dried Cranberries, Dried Beetroot, Rosemary, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Ginger, Turmeric, Chondroitin Sulphate, Yucca schidigera.

Dehydrated chicken at 26% is the only named animal on the list. Because it goes in dried, that percentage holds through baking where a fresh meat figure would fall away. Protein works out at 23.3% of dry matter, which is gentle, and gentleness is the whole idea on a recipe for a dog that has stopped burning through energy the way it once did.

Fat at 10.0% as declared, or 11.1% of dry matter, is the biggest lever the recipe pulls. Fat carries more than twice the calories of protein or starch, so trimming it is the quickest way to lighten a bowl without making it look any smaller. Volume is what an older dog notices.

Brown rice and white rice head the plant side with dehulled oats behind them. Together they push estimated carbohydrate to 56.7% of dry matter, against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food. Take the fat out and the space needs filling. Here that something is cereal. All three are easy on a dog's digestion once cooked, which counts for a lot as the years go on.

The thought went into the tail of the label. Whole linseed is the plant form of omega 3, and alfalfa adds fibre and minerals. Chicory inulin is the prebiotic, and its job is the useful bacteria lower down. Dried cranberries and dried beetroot supply antioxidants, while yeast extract works alongside the hydrolysed liver protein to keep the flavour up on an appetite that may be fading.

Glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate both make the list, along with ginger and turmeric, the two kitchen ingredients owners most often reach for when movement is on their mind. None of the four carries an amount, so take it as a nudge in a helpful direction and not a measured intervention. A nudge is still worth having on a dog whose mornings have got slower.

The added vitamins and minerals are all dosed in print, not simply named. Iron sits at 250.0 mg per kilo, manganese at 65.0 mg, copper sulphate at 28.0 mg and iodine at 2.4 mg. Zinc appears twice, 97.2 mg as the oxide and 200.0 mg as an amino acid chelate. The chelated portion is the one a dog's gut absorbs most readily. Selenium is sodium selenite at 0.3 mg, the industry's usual choice instead of the yeast grown form. Vitamins A, D3 and E carry figures of their own too.

£3.33 a kilo, in 2kg and 12kg bags.

A 15kg adult in moderate condition, assumed to need about 840 kcal a day on the standard maintenance sum of 110 × bodyweight^0.75, would eat roughly 249 grams and £0.83 a day. Older dogs are often less active than that assumption allows, so start below the estimate and let the waistline decide.