Pedigree Tender Goodness Small Dog Dry review

Our scoring puts this in the Poor band, two bands under the Good band where the middle of the adult dry shelf settles. Most of that gap is about naming rather than about anything in the bowl. Cereals, derivatives of vegetable origin and oils and fats tell you the category and not the ingredient, and only part of the animal content is tied even to poultry. The analysis reads ordinary and holds nothing alarming. Protein converts to 25.3% of dry matter and estimated carbohydrate to 47.8%, against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food. Fed to the small adult dog it was designed around, it stays an easy, gentle bowl.

Ingredients, as declared: Cereals*, Meat and Animal Derivatives (25%, including Poultry 17%, of Which Fresh Poultry 4%*), Derivatives of Vegetable Origin (including Dried Beet Pulp 3%*), Oils and Fats, Minerals, Vegetables* (including Dried Carrots 0.5%, Equivalent to Carrots 4%), *Natural ingredients

Moisture is declared at 17%, which is high for a kibble and is the whole point of the name. More water left in means a softer piece that a small mouth can break down without effort. It also means each gram carries a little less dry nutrition than a crunchier biscuit would, and the energy figure follows at 331 kcal per 100g where the typical adult dry food runs at 357.

The animal side is declared as meat and animal derivatives at 25%, with poultry pinned at 17% and fresh poultry at 4%. That leaves part of the animal content unnamed, and poultry itself covers any domestic fowl. Read plainly, a quarter of the recipe is animal and a good deal of it comes from the bird family without saying which bird.

Cereals leads the list without saying which grain, and derivatives of vegetable origin sits behind it in the same broad style. Wording like that can cover good grain or plain grain, and the label does not settle the question either way. Dried beet pulp at 3% is the one named entry among them, included for fibre and for keeping digestion regular.

Vegetables get one specific mention, dried carrots at 0.5%, which the label helpfully translates as the equivalent of 4% fresh carrots. Carrots bring vitamin A, soluble fibre and antioxidants, and they cook down into a form a dog digests easily. At 0.5% they are a garnish on the label.

Each added mineral has its dose printed: zinc at 51 mg, manganese at 18 mg, copper at 6 mg, iodine at 1.5 mg and selenium at 0.15 mg per kilo. Vitamin D3 is at 1406 IU and vitamin E at 100 mg. Sulphates do the job here in place of chelates, the everyday choice on this part of the shelf. Selenium arrives as sodium selenite, like most of the category. At 1.69% of dry matter, calcium sits easily for a grown dog.

Sold in an 800g bag.

The label's own feeding guide is written around small dogs, asking 30 to 35 grams a day at 1kg, 95 to 105 grams at 5kg and 160 to 180 grams at 10kg. Let the waistline set the portion, and change it as your dog's shape asks you to.