Pedigree Senior Dry review

The typical adult dry food occupies our Good band; this one reads Poor, and the reasons sit on the ingredients list rather than in the analysis. Protein at 26.1% of dry matter with fat at only 8.7% is a sensible pairing for an older dog, and nothing in the panel is out of place. What holds the reading down is naming, because cereals, meat and animal derivatives, oils and fats and derivatives of vegetable origin between them account for most of the bag. An owner who wants a soft landing for an older dog, and is not chasing a named-ingredient label, gets exactly that here.

Ingredients, as declared: Cereals* (including Rice 4%), Meat and Animal Derivatives (including Poultry 4%), Derivatives of Vegetable origin (including Dried Beet Pulp 3%*), Oils and Fats (including Fish Oil 0.25%), Minerals, Vegetables* (including Dried Peas and Carrots Mix 0.7%, equivalent to Peas and Carrots Mix 4%), Yeast (including Brewer's Yeast 0.4%), *Natural Ingredients

The senior thinking shows up in small, specific places. Rice is named at 4% within the cereal block. Of the common grains it is the kindest to an older digestion. Fish oil is declared at 0.25% inside the oils and fats, and that is the source of the long chain omega 3s here. Neither is a large inclusion. Both are printed with a figure though, and a number on the panel tells you more than a front-of-pack claim does.

The bulk of the recipe stays as it is elsewhere in the range. Cereals lead without further naming, meat and animal derivatives follow with poultry pinned at 4%, and derivatives of vegetable origin carries dried beet pulp at 3%. As a fermentable fibre, beet pulp keeps a stool holding its shape. That matters more with every passing year.

The declared analysis is the part of this label doing the real senior work. Protein converts to 26.1% of dry matter with fat at 8.7%, so an older dog takes in the amino acids it needs to hold muscle without the calories that settle on a slowing frame. Fibre reads 3.8% and energy is declared at 344 kcal per 100g, a deliberately unexciting picture that on a senior food counts as a compliment.

The vegetable share is a dried mix of peas and carrots at 0.7%. The pack puts that at the equivalent of 4% before drying. Brewer's yeast at 0.4% supplies B vitamins. Both are flourishes on the label. Nothing important in the recipe leans on them.

The added nutrition is dosed line by line: vitamin B1 at 16 mg, vitamin D3 at 1687 IU, vitamin E at 100 mg and biotin at 0.22 mg per kilo. The minerals follow, with zinc at 63.7 mg, manganese at 22.5 mg, copper at 8.1 mg and iodine at 2 mg. Calcium works out at 1.41% of dry matter, comfortable for a grown or elderly dog. Antioxidants and preservatives are the exception, declared by category and not by name.

Sold as a 1.4kg bag. No price had been checked for this range at the time of writing. There is no per-kilo or per-day cost figure here as a result.

The standard maintenance estimate, around 840 kcal a day for a 15kg adult in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75), puts the daily amount near 244 grams. The label itself asks 125 to 135 grams at 10kg and 210 to 230 grams at 20kg, a shade leaner than our estimate. Your dog's waistline is the better guide to the difference.