Natures Deli Senior review

This one comes out in our Good band, level with the bulk of adult dry foods, and the shape of it is easy enough to read. Turkey at 33.3% is a fair declaration and turkey meal at 25.8% carries most of it into the finished kibble. A substantial share then goes to brown rice at 28.5%, plus another 10% of white rice. Estimated carbohydrate lands at 46.2% of dry matter, matching the typical adult dry food exactly. Protein converts to 27.5% and fat to 12.1%. Transparency reads Outstanding and protein and processing Good, with nutritional balance the one reading Average. That is where the whole shortfall sits. For an older dog that gets on with turkey, this stays an easy, unfussy bowl.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey (33.3%; including turkey meal (25.8%), turkey (5.6%), turkey gravy (1.9%)), brown rice (28.5%), white rice (10%), dried beet pulp, turkey fat, dried peas (2.8%), dried chick peas (2.8%), dried sweet potato (2.8%), brewers' yeast, dried pumpkin (1.9%), minerals, vegetable stock, linseed oil, dried carrot (0.5%), yeast (as a source of mannan-oligosaccharides (prebiotic MOS; 0.14%)), chicory root extract (as a source of fructo-oligosaccharides (prebiotic FOS; 0.14%)), glucosamine (0.033%), dried rosemary, yucca schidigera (0.023%), chondroitin sulphate (0.019%), dried cranberry, dried dandelion root, dried pomegranate

Turkey at 33.3% arrives in three parts: turkey meal at 25.8%, fresh turkey at 5.6%, turkey gravy at 1.9%. Meal matters most in a kibble, being turkey already dried, and it is good to see the three shares printed rather than folded into one number. Turkey is naturally lean, part of why it suits a dog whose weight is easier to put on than to shift.

Rice does the rest. Brown rice at 28.5% leads, white rice at 10% follows and dried beet pulp sits behind them for fibre. More of the bran and minerals stay on the brown rice than on the white, and both are gentle grains that most older dogs digest without complaint.

The joint entries are where this recipe differs from an everyday adult one. Glucosamine at 0.033% and chondroitin sulphate at 0.019% are declared with their percentages and sit several times above the token amounts these supplements often get. They will not rebuild a worn joint, but as daily background support on an older dog they are worth having in the bowl.

L-carnitine is declared too. It plays a part in fat metabolism, which is why light and senior labels alike reach for it. Fat itself is 11%, converting to 12.1% of dry matter, a comfortable level for a dog whose exercise has eased back. Linseed oil carries the omega 3, which puts it in the plant form and not the marine one.

Yeast supplies mannan-oligosaccharides and chicory root extract supplies fructo-oligosaccharides, both at 0.14%. The gut bacteria are what they feed, not the dog itself. Peas, chick peas and sweet potato, all dried, appear at 2.8% each, with pumpkin at 1.9%. Cranberry, dandelion root and pomegranate round things off as decoration.

Zinc is given twice over, 70 mg as the oxide and 50 mg as a chelate. Of the two, the chelate is the one absorbed more readily. Calcium lands at 1.76% of dry matter, an adult figure, and crude ash at 10.4% of dry matter is on the higher side without being unusual for a kibble built on meat meal.

Sold in 2kg and 12kg bags.

Our estimate for a 15kg adult in moderate condition is around 256 grams a day, built on an 840 kcal allowance (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance calculation). That calorie figure is itself an estimate, so start there and let your dog's shape do the fine tuning.