Natural Greatness Veterinary Dry: Joint & Mobility review

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated Salmon 14%, Peas, Pea Protein, Fresh Salmon 10%, Apple Pulp, Salmon Oil 8.5%, Tapioca, Beet Pulp, Flaxseed, Hydrolysed Salmon 2.5%, Lentils 2%, Quinoa 2%, Minerals, Yeasts, Vegetable Fibres, Fruit Mix 0.3% (plum and pear), Vegetable Mix 0.3% (spinach, pumpkin, broccoli and dog rose), MSM 1.200 mg/kg, Inulin (FOS), Hydrolysed Yeast Cell Wall (source of MOS), Glucosamine 900 mg/ kg, Yucca Schidigera, Chondroitin Sulphate 300 mg/kg, Fenugreek, Ginger, Turmeric.

The six share an architecture. A dehydrated meat opens most of them, with a fresh meat of the same species behind it. The starch is some arrangement of potato, tapioca, peas, lentils and quinoa depending on which recipe you have. Apple pulp and beet pulp carry fibre in several of them, and carob turns up in four.

Every one of the six declares inulin as a source of FOS and hydrolysed yeast cell wall as a source of MOS, both prebiotic fibres. Every one also carries glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate. Four print the milligram per kilogram doses beside them; the gastrointestinal and renal recipes name the pair without figures. Manufactured glucosamine is usually drawn from shellfish shells, so a shellfish reaction on file is worth mentioning to the vet.

Hydrolysed fractions run right through the line, and which animal they come from depends on the recipe: chicken, salmon, turkey liver, or turkey and chicken liver together. The urinary one adds hydrolysed milk protein at 0.1%. Breaking a protein into fragments does not put the animal it came from outside the bowl, which is the thing to hold on to when the point of the diet is exclusion.

None of the six is a fish-free option: a fish oil is in all of them, salmon in five and blue fish in the renal recipe. Chicken oil appears in four, which puts chicken into recipes whose meat is otherwise turkey. The label style makes that easy to check, since every animal entry is named.

None of the six declares its moisture, so the dry matter columns rest on a standard assumption, and none prints a vitamin or trace mineral panel, so those doses are not there to read. Energy is given recipe by recipe and runs from 303 to 384 kcal per 100g, and four of the six write their feeding tables for a lightly exercised dog. Which of the six belongs in your dog's bowl is a choice to make with the vet who knows the diagnosis.

This is the salmon recipe and it holds to salmon throughout: dehydrated salmon at 14%, fresh salmon at 10% and hydrolysed salmon at 2.5%, plus salmon oil at 8.5%. No other animal meat appears anywhere on the statement. Peas, pea protein, tapioca, lentils at 2% and quinoa at 2% make up the rest, and yucca, fenugreek, ginger and turmeric finish it.

MSM is declared at 1,200 mg per kilogram, glucosamine at 900 mg and chondroitin sulphate at 300 mg. Protein converts to 28.3% of dry matter, fat to 16.3% and crude fibre to 7.6%, with carbohydrate estimated at 39.1% and energy at 345 kcal per 100g. The table gives 199 grams a day at 15kg.

All six are listed in the same two bag sizes, 2kg and 6kg.