Platinum Vetactive Dry Senior review

The senior recipe finishes in our Good band. The typical adult dry food keeps it company there. What stops this one climbing is straightforward: 70% of the meat goes in fresh, and most of that weight is water until the oven takes it out. The dried chicken protein behind it recovers a good deal of that, so protein still converts to 31.5% of dry matter, a solid figure for an older dog. Estimated carbohydrate is 40.6% of dry matter against 46.2% for adult dry food generally, and fibre lands at 6.0%. Average is the protein and processing reading, with Good for nutritional balance. For the dog this is aimed at, that Average marks a food built to be easy and not one built to impress a scoring system.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh chicken meat 70 %, broken rice, chicken protein*, peas*, brewer's yeast*, vegetable fibre*, apple pulp*, lentils*, coconut oil (with 60 % lauric acid), canola oil, flaxseed oil (omega-3), salmon oil (omega-3), green-lipped mussel extract, rosemary extract. (*dried, cold-pressed, virgin)

The meat is chicken and only chicken, twice over. Fresh chicken at 70% carries the flavour and dried chicken protein carries the substance, and the pairing is why the analysis declares 25.8% protein rather than something thinner. Protein matters more in later life, not less, so keeping it up while easing the fat back to 12% is the right way round.

Broken rice does the binding with peas, lentils and apple pulp behind it. Rice sits among the gentler cereals for an older digestion. The pulses put in a little fibre and plant protein besides. Estimated carbohydrate finishes at 33.3% as fed.

Fibre is declared at 4.9%, higher than an everyday adult recipe, with vegetable fibre named as the source. It is the one loose term on the label and it usually means sugar beet pulp, which is a genuinely useful fibre for keeping an older gut regular.

The oils are picked for older bodies. The declaration on coconut oil is 60% lauric acid, and canola oil sits with it. Flaxseed oil covers the plant side of omega 3 and salmon oil the marine. For stiff dogs there is green-lipped mussel extract, long used for exactly that. Brewer's yeast adds a natural spread of B vitamins. Rosemary extract keeps the fats from turning.

Minerals are dosed in print, with zinc at 150 mg, iron at 75 mg, manganese at 40 mg, copper at 19 mg, iodine at 3 mg and selenium at 0.2 mg per kilo of food. Calcium works out at 1.83% of dry matter and ash at 7.3%, which is a light mineral load by kibble standards and no bad thing in an older dog.

Bag sizes are 1.5kg, 5kg, 10kg, 15kg, 20kg, 25kg and 30kg, with everything from 10kg upwards arriving as separate 5kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 288 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label asks 165 to 190 grams for a dog of 12kg to 15kg, and an older dog that has slowed right down will usually settle nearer the label's figure than the maintenance estimate.