Pero Fussy Eater review

Our scoring lands this in the Average band, with the typical adult dry food a band higher in our Good band. The distance is easy to account for. The list opens on wheat, the animal entries never name an animal, and sugar arrives as syrup ahead of the pasta and barley. The analysis follows the shape of the recipe. Protein converts to 20.7% of dry matter, fat to 8.7% and estimated carbohydrate to 58.6%, where the typical adult dry food runs at 46.2%. None of it stops the food doing what it was built for, so judge it on whether the bowl actually gets cleared.

Ingredients, as declared: Wheat, Meat and Bone Meal, Syrup, Pasta 6%, Barley, Poultry Fat, Poultry Meat Meal, Minerals, Yucca Extract

Wheat opens the list, and it is the most argued-over grain on the shelf for good reason. It is inexpensive and it binds a kibble beautifully. It is also the grain behind more dietary intolerances than any other. Plenty of dogs eat wheat happily their whole lives with no trouble at all. If yours has ever reacted to a wheat-based food, this is not the recipe to test that on again.

Meat and bone meal is the animal backbone, with poultry meat meal and poultry fat behind it. Meal goes in already dry. That is why the same weight of it delivers more protein than fresh meat once the kibble is baked. The catch is that bone meal names no species and poultry names only the family, so the animal side stays open. For a dog with no history it hardly matters. For one you are still working out it matters a great deal.

Syrup in third place is the fussy-eater mechanism in plain sight. Sugar makes a biscuit taste better, and paired with the fat it is what turns a picky dog into one that clears the dish. That is a fair trade when the alternative is a dog who will not eat, and it is honest of the label to print it rather than bury it inside a flavouring.

Pasta at 6% and barley fill out the rest of the biscuit. Cooked barley brings fibre along with a spread of micronutrients. Gluten is in both of them, worth knowing in a household that avoids it. Yucca extract closes the list, included for what comes out of the dog rather than for what goes in.

Sulphates supply the added minerals, and each one carries a printed dose: zinc at 236 mg, iron at 141 mg, manganese at 106 mg and copper at 41 mg per kilo. Vitamin A is at 15,850 IU, vitamin D3 at 1,550 IU and vitamin E at 90 mg. Selenium comes as sodium selenite, the standard choice across most of the category. Calcium converts to 1.91% of dry matter, a comfortable level for the adult and senior dogs this is written for.

£2.62 a kilo, sold as a trial pack, a 2kg bag or a 12kg bag.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at roughly 260 grams and £0.68 a day, taking about 840 kcal a day as the maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The label's own guide asks 150 to 310 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg, so start in the middle and let the waistline decide.