Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastrointestinal Dry review

Ingredients, as declared: Rice*, Corn, Pea protein*, Dried poultry protein*, Dried beet pulp, Digest, Soya protein, Coconut oil* (4%), Minerals, Pork fat, Mono and diglycerides, Soya oil, Fish oil, Chicory inulin, *Highly digestible ingredients

Rice heads the label with corn behind it, then pea protein and dried poultry protein. The asterisks dotted through the list are explained at the foot of the panel as marking the highly digestible ingredients. They land on four entries only: the rice, the pea protein, the poultry protein and the coconut oil. Poultry covers a group of birds, so the meat entry keeps its options open.

Coconut oil is declared at 4% and is the one fat on the list given a percentage. Pork fat, soya oil and fish oil follow it without figures, and mono and diglycerides sit among them as emulsifiers. That sort of entry appears where a recipe needs its fat held evenly through the kibble.

Chicory inulin closes the list as the prebiotic fibre, with dried beet pulp above it doing the bulkier work. Digest is the palatant, coating each piece so a dog coming off a rough few days will still clear the bowl. Soya shows up twice, as soya protein and as soya oil, so this reads as a gentle recipe without being a soya-free one.

Protein is declared at 24% and converts to 26.1% of dry matter, with fat kept to 10.5% as fed, or 11.4% dry. The carbohydrate estimate runs to 53.8% of dry matter, crude fibre is 2.2%, ash 6.5%, and energy comes in at 370 kcal per 100g. A diet in this category is engineered to deliver exactly that: low fat carried on a large, readily broken down starch share. How long your dog should stay on it is for the vet who started the course to say.

The added panel gives vitamin E at 56 IU per kilogram, with vitamins A and D3 dosed as well. Iron is next at 100 mg per kilogram, with zinc at 96, manganese at 38, copper at 11, iodine at 1.6 and selenium at 0.11, plus antioxidants declared without a figure. On the bag, a 15kg dog is matched with 230 grams a day and a 70kg dog with 645 grams, in a table that assumes the food is the whole ration.

It comes in 1.5kg, 5kg and 12kg bags, at £5.69 a kilo. Reading around 227 grams a day as the energy-based estimate for a 15kg dog, that lands close to £1.29 daily.