McAdams Senior / Light: Free Range Chicken review

Our reading places this in the Good band, level with the middle of the adult dry shelf. A named 50% meat headline, a joint pack printed with actual figures and a trace mineral panel itemised element by element all push it up there. The counterweight is starch. Taking fat down to 8.0% leaves space in the recipe. Sweet potato and tapioca fill it, and carbohydrate finishes at 56.0% of dry matter. That is the compromise every light food makes, and this one at least makes it with a named meat in front.

Ingredients, as declared: Whole British Free Range Chicken (50%), Sweet Potato (26%), Tapioca, Pea Protein, Yeast, Chicken Gravy, Pea Fibre, Vitamins and Minerals, Lentils, Joint Care Pack (Glucosamine 2,134.5mg/kg, MSM 2,134.5mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 1,SOOmg/kg) Vegetable Fibre, Chicken Fat, Salmon Oil, Prebiotics (FOS (0.23%), MOS (0.15%)), Marigold, Yucca Extract, Hand Cut Irish Seaweed (0.03%), Dried Orange, New Zealand Green Lipped Mussel (0.02%), Camomile, Carrot (0.01%), Cranberries (0.01%), Rosemary, Spinach, Tomatoes, Lavender.

The recipe opens on whole British free range chicken at 50%, and the oven drives most of that fresh weight off as water. With no dried chicken behind it, protein settles at 21.2% of dry matter, modest by kibble standards and entirely in keeping with a food built to keep calories in check. Chicken digests easily, and few dogs turn it down, which counts for a lot when an older dog has become choosy.

Of everything on this label, the joint care pack repays reading first. Glucosamine and MSM are each printed at 2,134.5 mg per kilo, with chondroitin sulphate declared alongside them. Those are working amounts, not a sprinkle for the marketing department. Glucosamine and chondroitin are both cartilage components and MSM is used for its calming effect on inflammation. The evidence for supplements like these is mixed. Here they are in the food itself, with figures beside them, and no separate pot to buy.

L-carnitine at 96 mg per kilo is the light half of the recipe showing its hand. Its job is to move fatty acids into the cells where they get burned, and it is a standard inclusion in weight recipes. Fibre converts to 4.9% of dry matter, from pea fibre and vegetable fibre, which helps an older dog stay regular and helps a dog on a reduced portion feel less short changed.

The plant side opens with sweet potato at 26%, then tapioca, pea protein and lentils. Sweet potato is the pick of them, since it adds fibre and micronutrients to the starch. Tapioca brings starch alone. Pea protein raises the protein figure, though it does not carry meat's quality. Prebiotic FOS at 0.23% and MOS at 0.15% feed the gut flora, and yucca extract earns its place in a senior food by taking the edge off stool odour.

The trace minerals are named and dosed: zinc at 83 mg, iron at 48 mg, manganese at 34 mg, copper at 14 mg, iodine at 0.96 mg and selenium at 0.29 mg per kilo. Zinc runs higher here than in the brand's other adult recipes, which is welcome on a food for older skin and coat. The closing tail of marigold, seaweed at 0.03%, dried orange, green lipped mussel at 0.02%, camomile, carrot and cranberries at 0.01% each, rosemary, spinach, tomatoes and lavender is trace level throughout. Calcium is not declared on this label.

£12.50 a kilo, sold in 2kg, 5kg and 10kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 255 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £3.18 a day. The label is more sparing, asking 195 to 210 grams for a dog of the same weight. That is no surprise from a recipe with weight control in its name. Start where the bag says and trim to the shape of the dog.