Pro Plan Medium & Large Adult 7+ OptiAge review

The Average band is where this finishes, a step under the Good band that the middle of the adult dry category occupies. The reasons are structural rather than worrying. Named chicken accounts for 16%, and that is before the oven takes its water. The next protein entry says only poultry, and wheat, rice and corn between them carry a good deal of the bowl. What the label does well is print its detail, and the analysis is not extreme in either direction. Protein converts to 31.5% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 41.8%, actually under the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. Give it to a settled older dog with no cereal trouble and it does exactly what is asked.

Ingredients, as declared: High quality chicken (including back and chest) (16%), Dried poultry protein, Wheat, Rice (12%), Corn, Corn protein meal, Vegetable oil fractions (5.5%), Dried beet pulp, Soya meal, Minerals, Wheat gluten, Animal fats, Digest, Fish oil

Chicken opens at 16%, and the label goes as far as naming the parts, back and chest. Most labels are not that candid. The chicken is fresh, though, and the water goes off in the oven. Behind it, dried poultry protein carries much of the finished protein. Transparency stops at that second entry. The recipe never says which bird, and poultry covers goose and duck as much as chicken or turkey.

Wheat comes third and rice at 12% fourth, with corn, corn protein meal and wheat gluten filling in behind them. That is a cereal-led construction. Wheat is worth weighing up first, since more dogs grumble at it than at any other grain. Dried beet pulp supplies the fibre, a modest 2.2% of dry matter.

Vegetable oil fractions at 5.5% is the entry that marks this range out from the brand's other adult recipes, and it is placed high on the list, ahead of the beet pulp and the soya. Fractionated plant oils are used for the particular fats they hold rather than for bulk energy, which is a deliberate piece of recipe design. The label does not say which plant it came from, so we can tell you where it sits and what it is for, not what it is made of.

The small print does a lot of work here. The trace minerals are dosed individually. Zinc is at 130 mg per kilo, manganese at 54 mg, iron at 140 mg, copper at 15 mg and iodine at 2.3 mg, alongside vitamin C at 165 mg. Calcium works out at 1.49% of dry matter, comfortable for an adult dog. Fish oil closing the list brings the marine omega 3s an older joint benefits from.

Soya meal and animal fats are the two entries that keep this recipe from reading as clearly as it might. Soya is an economical protein and most dogs never notice it. It is also one of the ingredients most often named where a dog proves reactive. The animal fats carry no species whatsoever. That is fine for everyday feeding, and unhelpful when you want to pin down what a sensitive dog is responding to.

Sold in one bag size, 14kg.

Our standard estimate puts a 15kg adult in moderate condition at about 218 grams a day, working from a daily need of around 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The pack's own table asks 145 grams at 10kg and 270 grams at 25kg, so a mid sized dog sits comfortably between the two and the waistline decides the rest.