My Pet Says Grain Free Senior: Trout with Salmon, Sweet Potato & Asparagus review

There is no score on this range, and the reason is straightforward. The turkey recipe declares its analysis but never publishes the ingredient list behind it, and half a label is not enough to judge a food on. Without the entries and their percentages there is no way to see what the protein is made of or how much of the recipe is animal. The trout recipe is declared in full, and rather than assess one half of a range and leave the other blank, we have held both until the turkey list appears.

Everything the two labels do declare is on this page, so you can still read the analysis, the energy figures and the feeding tables for both, and the complete ingredient list for the trout recipe. As soon as the turkey list is published, this page gets its assessment.

Ingredients, as declared: Trout & Salmon 50% (including Freshly Prepared Trout 30%, Dried Salmon 11%, Freshly Prepared Salmon 4%, Salmon Oil 3%, Salmon Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (24%), Potato, Peas (6%), Beet Pulp, Pea Protein, Linseed, Potato Protein, Minerals, Vitamins, Vegetable Stock, Asparagus (0.3%), Glucosamine (170 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), FOS (96 mg/kg), MOS (24 mg/kg). Vitamins: Vitamin A 15,000 IU, Vitamin D3 2,000 IU, Vitamin E 95 IU. Provitamin: L-Carnitine 480mg. Trace Elements: Zinc (Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate) 50mg, Iron (Iron (II) Sulphate Monohydrate) 50mg, Manganese (Manganous Sulphate Monohydrate) 35mg, Copper (Copper (II) Sulphate Pentahydrate) 5mg, Iodine (Calcium Iodate Anhydrous) 1mg.

The trout recipe declares 50% fish and prints how that divides. Freshly prepared trout is 30% of it, dried salmon 11% and freshly prepared salmon 4%. Salmon oil adds 3%, stock 2%. Cooking takes the water out of fresh fish, and the dried salmon then does more work than its spot on the list suggests. Protein lands at 27.2% of dry matter.

The plant entries are sweet potato at 24%, then potato and peas at 6%. No grain appears on the list. Carbohydrate is estimated at 51.6% of dry matter against 46.2% for a typical adult dry food, so the starch side works hard here. Fat, by contrast, is held to 8%. A food written for a dog who does not walk as far as they used to is built around exactly that.

The smaller print is where the senior thinking shows. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane are dosed at 170 mg/kg each, with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg. All three carry a figure, and a figure counts for more than a front-of-bag mention. L-Carnitine arrives at 480mg. It is the amino acid that helps a dog work through fat stores while keeping lean muscle. FOS at 96 mg/kg and MOS at 24 mg/kg are there for the bacteria living further down the gut, and beet pulp provides the bulk.

The honest limitation in the trout recipe is the pair of refined plant proteins. Pea protein and potato protein are perfectly safe, and both are easy ways to lift a protein figure, but neither brings what meat brings, so they deepen the number rather than the animal share. Linseed sits nearby as a plant omega source, alongside the salmon oil. Of the two, salmon oil does more for a coat.

For the turkey recipe there is a simple gap: the ingredient list is not published, so the entries, their order and their percentages are all unknown. What is declared reads 27% protein, 9% fat, 343 kcal per 100g and calcium at 1.63% of dry matter, and the feeding table is printed in full. If one specific ingredient must be avoided, the trout recipe is the one you can check properly today.

This is the fully declared recipe of the two. The 50% fish divides into 30% freshly prepared trout, 11% dried salmon and 4% fresh salmon. Salmon oil takes 3%, salmon stock 2%. Asparagus comes in at 0.3%, the joint trio is in print and L-Carnitine at 480mg. Protein is 25%, fat 8% and energy 340 kcal per 100g, the lighter of the two on both fat and calories, and calcium sits at 1.09% of dry matter.

£5.27 a kilo for the trout with salmon and £5.10 for the turkey, in 6kg and 12kg bags, with a 15kg working dog bag also listed.

Working from about 840 kcal a day for a 15kg adult in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the usual maintenance estimate), the trout recipe comes to roughly £1.30 a day and the turkey to £1.25. The trout label asks 150 to 250 grams a day for a 10kg to 20kg dog and the turkey 145 to 245. Start there and let the waistline settle it.