Pro Plan Medium Adult Sensitive Skin OptiDerma review

Our scoring puts this in the Average band while the middle of the adult dry category sits a step up in Good. Two things drive the gap. Once the water has gone from the fresh salmon the named fish share is modest. Several working entries give no species at all, the animal fats and the digest among them. On nutrition it actually reads better than the band suggests. Carbohydrate converts to 38.0% of dry matter against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food, and protein lands at 31.5%. Read it as a food that keeps its cards close rather than one that skimps on the bowl.

Ingredients, as declared: High quality salmon* (including head, bone, meat) (17%), Rice* (14%), Dried salmon protein*, Corn protein meal*, Animal fats, Soya meal*, Corn*, Corn grits*, Dried beet pulp*, Corn starch, Digest, Dried vegetable fiber, Minerals, Dried egg*, Soyabean oil, Fish oil

Salmon leads at 17% and the label is refreshingly literal about what that covers, listing head, bone and meat rather than implying fillet. Most of the water in fresh fish leaves in the oven. Third on the list, the dried salmon protein takes on a good share of the finished kibble's protein work. The analysis comes out at 29.0% protein as fed, or 31.5% once the moisture is taken out.

Rice at 14% opens the plant side, with corn, corn grits and corn starch behind it and corn protein meal lifting the protein figure. Corn protein meal is a concentrated form of plant protein, and it earns its place. It is still plant protein though, so the headline protein number is not entirely animal in origin.

Soya meal is the entry a sensitive-skin buyer will want to notice. It is a straightforward way to add protein and most dogs handle it without comment. Soya does have a long history with dietary intolerance, so on a recipe wearing this name it earns a second read.

The coat brief is answered by the oils and the micronutrients working together. Fish oil closes out the list and brings the omega 3. Soyabean oil and dried egg add fat and protein behind it. The added minerals come with printed doses: zinc at 110 mg per kilo, vitamin E at 550 IU and vitamin C at 140 mg. Zinc and vitamin E are the two a coat leans on hardest, so seeing them named and numbered is the right shape for a food like this.

The honest limitation is the unnamed pair. Both animal fats and digest carry a family name and no species. The digest is the palatant that makes a kibble worth finishing for a fussy dog. For an exclusion diet the pair leaves a gap the label cannot close. Most owners will never need to know which animal either came from.

Sold in 3kg and 14kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult in moderate condition would work through roughly 213 grams a day, taking about 840 kcal as the daily target (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). For a dog of that weight with an hour of activity the label's own table asks 215 grams. The two sit close together, and your dog's waistline can settle the rest.