My Pet Says Impact+ Hydrolysed: Dental Care — Turkey & Salmon review

Four of the five recipes reach our Good band and cluster tightly, which is what five variations on a single idea will do. The weight control white fish sits a step behind in Average. The dry adult median lands in that same Good band, so the gap this range opens is in what it prints rather than in where it finishes. Hydrolysis is not what earns the gap, since we read the label and not the processing. What earns it is a substantial named animal share in every recipe, a mineral panel dosed to the milligram and carbohydrate that stays between 41.9% and 46.8% of dry matter against 46.2% for the category.

Within the five, the weight control white fish reads furthest behind on protein and processing. Lignocellulose, pea fibre and beet pulp take up room that a meat first recipe would give to the animal. It still does the job the front of the bag promises. For a dog who needs to eat a little lighter, that matters more than the order of finish.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Hydrolysed Turkey (29.5%), Sweet Potato, Potato, Hydrolysed Dried Salmon (12.5%), Turkey Fat (8%), Beet Pulp, Cellulose (2.5%), Hydrolysed Turkey Gravy (2%), Plaque Defence™ 2% (Sodium Hexametaphosphate 6,150 mg/kg, Seaweed 0.6%, Peppermint 0.4%, Cranberry 0.2%, Green Tea Extract 0.2%), Minerals, Dried Marigold (Source of Lutin), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 175 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 50 mg/kg), Vitamins: Vitamin A 14,423 IU, Vitamin D3 2,000 IU, Vitamin E 96 IU. Trace Elements: Zinc (Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate) 48 mg, Iron (Iron II Sulphate Monohydrate) 48 mg, Manganese (Manganeous Sulphate Monohydrate) 34 mg, Copper (Copper II Sulphate Pentahydrate) 14 mg, Iodine (Calcium Iodate Anhydrous) 0.96 mg, Selenium (Sodium Selenite) 0.29 mg. Amino Acids: Methionine 1,809 mg.

The whole range is built around hydrolysis. The protein is put through an enzyme process that chops it into fragments. Below a certain size those fragments no longer trigger the immune response that whole proteins can. That is why hydrolysed diets are the standard tool for working out what a dog is reacting to. The catch is that a hydrolysate no longer announces itself the way intact meat does. On an elimination trial the recipe still has to keep to one animal to be worth anything. Here the Sensitive Stomach turkey and the Healthy Living salmon are the two that manage it from top to bottom.

The meat shares are declared and split between fresh and dried, which is the reading that matters. The Skin and Coat recipe runs 35% freshly prepared hydrolysed salmon with 14% hydrolysed dried white fish, and the Healthy Living 32.5% and 15.5% salmon. The Dental Care has 29.5% turkey with 12.5% dried salmon, while the Sensitive Stomach turkey and the Weight Control white fish both run 26% fresh with 11.5% dried. Fresh means wet, and in every case the dried entry ends up bigger in the finished kibble than its size on the list suggests.

Potato and sweet potato are the starch base throughout and no cereal appears anywhere. Protein converts to between 22.8% and 31.5% of dry matter across the five and carbohydrate to between 41.9% and 46.8%. These are moderate recipes, with the Weight Control white fish at the meatiest end of that spread.

The fibre choices are the least glamorous part of the range and deserve a plain reading. Cellulose at 2.5% in the Dental Care recipe, and lignocellulose at 2.5% in the Sensitive Stomach and 5.5% in the Weight Control, are purified plant fibres. They are useful for bulking out a smaller portion and keeping a dog regular, but they bring nothing nutritionally and they take up space on the list. The Weight Control recipe is the clearest case, with fibre at 9.2% of dry matter and energy down at 315 kcal per 100g. That is exactly what a food for a dog on a diet is meant to do.

Each recipe then carries its own working extras, all with a dose printed against them. The Dental Care blend has sodium hexametaphosphate at 6,150 mg/kg with seaweed, peppermint and green tea, and methionine at 1,809 mg in the same recipe. L-Carnitine comes in at 721 mg in the Healthy Living and 1,442 mg in the Weight Control. Green lipped mussel at 0.3% covers joints, and dried yeast sits at 0.7% in the Sensitive Stomach. Dried marigold runs across the range as a lutein source, and the trace minerals are printed to the milligram on every label.

Hydrolysed turkey at 29.5% freshly prepared, with hydrolysed dried salmon at 12.5% behind it and turkey fat at 8%. A Plaque Defence blend at 2% is built around sodium hexametaphosphate at 6,150 mg/kg, the ingredient that softens tartar before it sets. Seaweed at 0.6%, peppermint at 0.4%, cranberry at 0.2% and green tea extract at 0.2% go in with it. Cellulose at 2.5% lifts fibre to 5.4% of dry matter, protein is the gentlest in the range at 21%, and methionine is dosed at 1,809 mg. This is the one recipe that combines turkey and salmon, and a single animal trial needs one of the others.

£9.00 a kilo across all five recipes, each sold in a 10kg bag.

Start from about 840 kcal a day for a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). On four of the recipes that is 220 to 236 grams a day, working out between £1.98 and £2.12. The Weight Control white fish is lighter on calories, so the same dog takes 267 grams at £2.40 a day. The labels ask between 140 and 255 grams a day for a 10kg to 20kg dog depending on the recipe. Begin there and adjust to the waistline.