Omni Senior review

Two forces put this in our Average band, and only one of them is about the recipe. The first is our protein and processing reading, which is built around named animal protein this food has chosen not to use, so it collects nothing there and comes out Poor. The second is print: with ash and moisture left off the panel, part of the analysis has to be taken as declared rather than converted, and a label that shows less gets less credit. Transparency still reads Good, and the typical adult dry food sits a step up from this one in our Good band. For a household that wants a meat-free bowl for an older dog, none of that changes what the recipe was built to do.

Ingredients, as declared: Potato, Pea Starch, Potato Protein, Brown Rice, Hi-Pro Soya, Dried Yeasts, Oats, Peas, Pea Protein, Minerals, Carrot, Hydrolysed Vegetables, Lentils, Rapeseed Oil, Sunflower Oil, Micro Algae, Blueberries, Prebiotic FOS, Cranberries, Pumpkin.

Whole potato leading is the detail that separates this from a general adult recipe. What it brings is starch and not protein, and that is part of why the panel comes in gentler. It is a whole ingredient too, not a byproduct fraction. Pea starch behind it does the same job.

The protein comes from potato protein, Hi-Pro soya, pea protein and dried yeasts working together, and it lands at a declared 26.0%. Those are refined plant fractions, and a dog takes less from them than from meat, so the number on the panel goes further on paper than it does in the bowl. Methionine at 2,500 mg per kilo is added because plant proteins run short of it, and that correction matters more, not less, in an older dog.

Taurine and L-carnitine are the two dosed entries that show this is a senior recipe, not a relabelled adult one. Both come mostly from meat in an ordinary diet, taurine has a long association with heart support, and carnitine is the one usually chosen where an older body needs help turning fat into energy.

Rapeseed and sunflower oil supply the fats at a declared 7.5%, and micro algae is the marine omega 3 source, which is where fish get theirs before we do. Prebiotic FOS, lentils, peas and carrot handle the gut side, with blueberries, cranberries and pumpkin at trace level behind them.

One entry stays vague. Hydrolysed vegetables names no vegetable, and a broad term like that leaves room for the mix to change between batches. It sits well down the list and is there for flavour, not nutrition. On an otherwise specific label, this is the one line a careful reader cannot pin down.

The bigger gap is the analysis itself. Ash and moisture are not declared, so protein, fat and fibre can only be read as fed. Everything else is dosed properly, from vitamin A and D3 through to selenium at 0.2 mg per kilo, so the omission reads as a labelling habit rather than anything the recipe is hiding.

Sold in 2kg, 6kg and 10kg bags, at £6.60 a kilo.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, around 260 grams a day covers roughly 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), and that puts the daily figure at £1.72. The label's own table asks 180 to 235 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg, so let condition settle the difference.