Purizon Senior Chicken with Fish review

This lands in our Excellent band, one rung above the Good band the typical adult dry food occupies. Most of the lift comes from the plant side being kept short. Carbohydrate converts to 24.0% of dry matter against 46.2% in a typical bag. Protein comes in at 44.6% of dry matter, generous for a food written with older dogs in mind.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh chicken (26%), peas, chicken protein (18%), hydrolysed poultry protein (7%), poultry fat (6%), dried apple pomace (6%), fish protein (4%), pea protein, lignocellulose (2%), hydrolysed poultry liver (%), salmon oil (2%), potassium chloride, sodium chloride, pea meal, glucosamine (0.026%), chondroitin sulphate (0.018%), inulin (0.016%), mannan-oligosaccharides (0.013%), mojave yucca, dried herbs [camomile, thyme, marigold, mint, oregano].

Fresh chicken leads at 26%, and fresh is the operative word. Most of that weight is water, which the oven removes. The dried chicken protein behind it at 18% is what reaches the finished kibble. The analysis agrees that the pair are doing their job, with protein converting to 44.6% of dry matter.

Peas sit second on the list and come back later as pea protein and as pea meal, which is a fair amount of legume across one recipe. Dried apple pomace at 6% and lignocellulose at 2% handle the fibre. Lignocellulose is a purified plant fibre, in there for bulk. At that level it does a small, quiet job.

Look to the small print for the senior thinking. Glucosamine is declared at 0.026% and chondroitin sulphate at 0.018%, and inulin and mannan-oligosaccharides go in as prebiotics to feed the gut's own bacteria. Salmon oil at 2% supplies marine omega 3, the form a dog can use without converting it first.

Fish protein at 4% is a real entry rather than a garnish, so the name on the bag is honest about what is inside. It does mean this recipe will not suit an older dog kept clear of fish.

The one honest limitation is species naming. Hydrolysed poultry protein at 7%, poultry fat at 6% and hydrolysed poultry liver all say poultry, with no bird named. The liver entry prints an empty bracket where its percentage should sit. Most dogs will never notice. The hydrolysed liver works as a palatant, keeping an older appetite engaged. The question only turns live when you are trying to rule one particular bird in or out.

£4.37 a kilo. Bags come in 1kg and 12kg, with multipacks of four 1kg bags and two 12kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs around 230 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at about £1.00 a day. The label's own table asks 190 to 260 grams for a dog that size. Where the two differ, your dog's waistline decides.