Royal Canin Mini Sterilised Care review

This one lands in our Average band, a tier under the typical adult dry food in our Good band. Every reason is printed on the label. Maize leads, wheat is third, and the protein figure is helped along by a vegetable protein isolate and by maize gluten as much as by the poultry, none of which is pinned to a species. Set against that, the panel reads well for the job it is doing. Protein converts to 32.6% of dry matter while fat stays down at 14.1%, and estimated carbohydrate works out at 40.2%, comfortably under the 46.2% typical of adult dry food.

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

Maize first and dehydrated poultry protein second is the order to notice. Maize is a workmanlike cereal that most dogs digest without any fuss. The dehydrated poultry behind it came with its water already removed, and it holds its position through to the finished kibble. Together the two produce a panel protein of 30%, which is generous for a food with the calories pulled back.

Fibre is the trick this recipe uses. Crude fibre reaches 6.6% on the back of psyllium husks, beet pulp and vegetable fibres. That bulk is what stops a reduced portion feeling like a punishment to a dog whose appetite has grown since the operation. Psyllium in particular is a soluble fibre with a settling effect on digestion.

L-carnitine is dosed at 200 mg per kilo. It is an amino acid, and its part is moving fat into cells that can burn it for fuel. That is why it turns up on recipes written for dogs whose energy needs have dropped away from their appetite.

The finishing touches are small but real. Fish oil covers the long chain omega 3s, borage oil supplies gamma linolenic acid, marigold extract adds lutein, and yeast products with fructo-oligo-saccharides look after the gut. Zinc is dosed at 156 mg per kilo and manganese at 52 mg.

Where this label goes quiet is on species. The poultry has no bird against it. The animal fats go unnamed too, as do the hydrolysed animal proteins. The plant side adds protein as well, with a vegetable protein isolate alongside maize gluten. For a dog with no known food sensitivity none of that will ever matter. For a dog whose reactions you are trying to trace, it leaves too little to go on.

Sold in 3kg and 8kg bags, at £7.12 a kilo.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 243 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £1.73 a day. A small breed dog eats well under that, so treat the daily figure as a comparison point and portion to the dog.