Royal Canin Medium Sterilised Care review

The Average band is where this one lands for us, with the typical adult dry food a tier higher in our Good band. Most of the gap is down to what the label omits. The animal entries name a family rather than a species, a vegetable protein isolate and maize gluten both help carry the protein figure, and moisture is left undeclared. What the analysis does show is well matched to the job it is doing. Protein converts to 30.4% of dry matter, fat to 14.1%, and estimated carbohydrate to 43.2% against the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. A neutered dog eating less than they would like will not notice the band. They will notice the fibre.

Ingredients, as declared: maize, dehydrated poultry protein, wheat, vegetable fibres, hydrolysed animal proteins, animal fats, maize gluten, vegetable protein isolate*, beet pulp, yeasts and parts thereof, fish oil, soya oil, minerals, psyllium husks and seeds, fructo-oligo-saccharides, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), borage oil, marigold extract (source of lutein).

With maize first and dehydrated poultry protein second, the plant side and the animal side sit close to level here. Dehydrated protein has already had its water removed, so it keeps its place all the way to the finished kibble without shrinking in the oven. A panel protein of 28% is a respectable result for a food built to keep calories down.

The fibre is doing deliberate work. Crude fibre is lifted to 6.4% by beet pulp, psyllium husks and vegetable fibres together, well above a standard adult kibble. That bulk is what makes a smaller portion still feel like a proper meal. Further down, hydrolysed yeast supplying manno-oligo-saccharides and fructo-oligo-saccharides work as prebiotics for the gut.

L-carnitine at 200 mg per kilo is the one supplement here with a figure against it. The amino acid's central role is carrying fat into the cells that use it as fuel. It is a standard inclusion on recipes written around a dog whose energy needs have dropped.

Fish oil and borage oil handle the omega side, borage being where the gamma linolenic acid comes from, and marigold extract closes the list for lutein. All of these come in small amounts, so treat them as useful finishing touches on a bag you are choosing for other reasons.

The honest limitation is naming. Poultry might be chicken, turkey, duck or goose. The animal fats say nothing, and the hydrolysed animal proteins say no more. Maize gluten raises the protein figure, and so does a vegetable protein isolate, neither of them bringing meat with it. Most dogs will never care about any of that. It only matters when you are hunting down a sensitivity.

£5.26 a kilo, sold in a 12kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 242 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £1.27 a day. A medium breed dog heavier than that will get through proportionally more, so portion to the waistline.