Pooch & Mutt Superfoods Senior Dry Food review

Gentle recipes often pay for their gentleness on our scale. This one does not. It holds our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food, for reasons that are plain enough. The meat is declared in dried form and heads the list, nearly everything below it carries a percentage, and the extras an older dog actually benefits from are dosed rather than hinted at. Its protein and processing reads Good and its transparency Outstanding. The starch share runs above what is typical for a dry food, and that is what holds it back from climbing higher.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken Protein (30 %), Sweet Potatoes (23 %), Potatoes, Chickpeas (4 %), Hydrolysed Chicken Liver (4 %), Dried Pumpkin (4 %), Dried Apple Pulp (4 %), Lignocellulose (3 %), Chicken Fat (2 %), Linseed (2 %), Salmon Oil (2 %), Hydrolysed Yeasts (1 % - a source of inositol and amino acids), Potassium Chloride (0.4 %), Microalgae Oil (0.3 %), Carrots (0.3 %), Dried Chamomile (0.2 %), Dried Cranberries (0.2 %), Dried Seaweed (0.2 %), Mannan-oligosaccharides (0.15 %), Fructo-oligosaccharides (0.1 %), Glucosamine (0.1 %), Dried Blackcurrant (0.05 %), Dried Spinach (0.05 %), Dried Rosehips (0.05 %), Dried Pomegranate (0.05 %), Dried Kale (0.05 %), Mojave Yucca (0.01 %).

Chicken protein at 30% is a dried concentrate, so the figure has already been through the oven and will not shrink further in it. Protein converts to 27.8% of dry matter, a little softer than a working adult food, which suits a dog whose day is mostly gentle and whose appetite is smaller than it used to be.

The clearest senior decision on this label is the fat. Chicken fat drops to 2% and total fat converts to 9.4% of dry matter, which brings energy down to 335 kcal per 100 grams against the 357 typical for a dry adult food. An older dog on shorter walks needs fewer calories in the same volume of dinner, and this is how you achieve that without shrinking the bowl in front of them.

Sweet potato is promoted to 23% and sits ahead of potatoes, with chickpeas at 4% behind. That is a sensible order, since sweet potato carries more fibre and vitamin A than an ordinary potato does. Estimated carbohydrate still converts to 51.1% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical, so the plant side is doing real work here.

Of everything here, lignocellulose at 3% is the name least likely to be familiar. It is a purified plant fibre made from agricultural and timber by-products, indigestible by design, and it is used to add bulk and fibre without adding energy. Whole vegetables are the nicer way to reach the same place, and there are plenty of those on this list too. The refined version gives a precise dose that a lower calorie recipe can be built around. Crude fibre lands at 5.0% of dry matter, well up on a standard adult food.

Below that comes the thoughtful run of small print this range uses everywhere. Hydrolysed chicken liver at 4% keeps an older appetite interested and hydrolysed yeasts at 1% supply inositol and amino acids. The prebiotic pair are mannan-oligosaccharides at 0.15% alongside fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.1%, and they feed the bacteria you want to encourage. Omega 3 arrives from both directions: linseed at 2% for the plant form, salmon oil at 2% for the marine, and microalgae oil at 0.3% alongside.

Read the superfood tail for what it is. Pumpkin and apple pulp at 4% each are genuine inclusions. Chamomile, cranberries and seaweed at 0.2%, then the berry and leaf run at 0.05%, are finishing touches. Glucosamine at 0.1% is the entry most senior owners will care about, and the label prints the figure. A printed figure is the whole difference between a claim and a fact.

£5.20 a kilo, in 1.5kg and 7.5kg bags.

Feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition comes to about 251 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), or £1.30 a day. For a dog of 10kg to 25kg the bag asks 185 to 370 grams, and with an older dog the waistline is the better arbiter of the two.