Pero Low Calorie & Gluten Free review

Our scoring settles this in the Good band, the same one the typical adult dry food occupies. The lift comes from a properly declared fish share, a named grain, joint support given as figures and a mineral panel that reaches for organic selenium. No single fault holds it back. It is the shape of the recipe: brown rice at 40% heads the list, and estimated carbohydrate converts to 52.6% of dry matter against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food. Hydrolysed salmon also does some of the work the fish headline implies.

Ingredients, as declared: Brown Rice 40%, Fish 33% (Salmon Meal 14%, Fish Meal 8%, Hydrolysed Salmon 11%), Beet Pulp, Salmon Oil 5%, Sweet Potato, Flaked Potato, Chicken Gravy, Minerals, Krill, Glucosamine 175mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 80mg/kg, Cranberry 80mg/kg

The low calorie claim here is measured rather than dramatic. Fat is declared at 10% and energy at 339 kcal per 100g, against 357 for the typical adult dry food. That is a gentle reduction, and it lets the bowl still look full. Protein converts to 26.1% of dry matter, which is a sensible level for holding muscle while the weight comes off.

Fish at 33% is split three ways: salmon meal at 14%, fish meal at 8% and hydrolysed salmon at 11%. Salmon meal is the concentrated form and does most of the protein work. Fish meal names no species but is still a good source of marine amino acids and minerals. Hydrolysed salmon is pre-broken protein that mainly buys flavour. Salmon oil at 5% sits behind them as the omega 3 source, with krill adding a little more.

Brown rice at 40% is the biggest single entry and carries no gluten, which is the point of the name. Sweet potato and flaked potato sit behind it. The fibre comes from beet pulp, and it keeps digestion regular while the ration is trimmed.

Chicken gravy is the one entry that complicates the fish story. There is only a small quantity of it and it is there for taste. It still keeps the recipe from being chicken free. A dog going through a proper elimination trial needs something with a single animal and nothing else on it.

Joint support is printed with figures, glucosamine at 175 mg and chondroitin sulphate at 80 mg per kilo, with cranberry alongside at 80 mg. Selenium is supplied as organic selenium instead of sodium selenite, the form more readily used by the body and the less common of the two on this shelf. For a grown dog, calcium at 1.35% of dry matter is an undemanding level.

£4.43 a kilo. Bags are 2kg and 12kg, with a trial pack as well.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), works out at roughly 248 grams a day and £1.10. The whole point of this food is a slimmer dog, so feed to the shape you are aiming for. Treat the label's 150 to 310 gram window for a 10kg to 20kg dog as the outer edges.