Pro Plan Small & Mini Adult Everyday Nutrition review

This one lands in our Average band, one step below the Good band where most adult dry food settles. The cereal load explains the bulk of it, since wheat comes second on the list with corn and wheat gluten following, and the chicken at the front is the only named meat in the recipe. Set against that, the analysis is respectable, with protein converting to 30.4% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 40.7%, comfortably under the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. Worth adding that the label omits moisture, so those dry matter conversions assume the 8% a kibble normally holds.

Ingredients, as declared: High quality chicken (including back and chest) (20%), Wheat, Dried poultry protein, Corn, Rice (7%), Animal fats, Soya meal, Dried beet pulp, Corn protein meal, Wheat gluten, Minerals, Dried egg, Fish oil, Digest, Yeast

Chicken at 20% is the biggest named meat share on this label and the parts are specified, back and chest. It is fresh chicken though, so most of that 20% is water before the kibble is even formed, which is why wheat can sit directly behind it in second place. Third on the list is dried poultry protein, and that entry carries much of the finished protein. Poultry names a family of birds, never one bird.

The plant side is cereal from top to bottom. Wheat comes second, corn fourth, rice at 7% fifth, and then corn protein meal and wheat gluten arrive to concentrate the protein figure. Corn protein meal and wheat gluten are both refined plant proteins, so the 28.0% on the analysis panel is not all of animal origin. Read the headline with that in mind.

Dried beet pulp does the fibre work, which finishes at 2.2% of dry matter, on the low side and about right for a small dog with a small daily portion. Fat is declared at 17%, or 18.5% of dry matter, so this is a satisfying kibble rather than a lean one.

Down at the tail, the list turns friendly. Dried egg is one of the most digestible proteins a recipe can carry, and fish oil brings marine omega 3s. Yeast finishes things off, valued as much for what it does to the taste as for anything else. Digest, the coating that makes kibble worth finishing, sits alongside them and names no animal.

The added micronutrients are dosed properly. Zinc is at 120 mg per kilo, iron at 130 mg, manganese at 50 mg, copper at 14 mg and iodine at 2.1 mg. Vitamin E is at 550 IU and vitamin C at 140 mg. Soya meal higher up is the one entry a cautious owner should note: an economical protein that the great majority of dogs handle without complaint and that a sensitive few do not.

Sold in 3kg and 7kg bags.

The label asks 35 grams a day for a 1kg dog, 105 grams at 5kg and 165 grams at 10kg, for dogs taking under an hour of exercise. Weigh rather than scoop, because a small dog notices an extra handful far faster than a big one does.