Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Cardiac review

Ingredients, as declared: Rice, dehydrated poultry protein, maize flour, animal fats, maize gluten, egg powder, hydrolysed animal proteins, minerals, beet pulp, fish oil, vegetable fibres, soya oil, yeasts products, fructo-oligo-saccharides, marigold meal.

Rice leads, then dehydrated poultry protein, then maize flour. Poultry is a category, not a species, so the pack never says whether the bird is chicken, turkey or duck. Further along, the animal fats are unnamed in the same way, and so are the hydrolysed animal proteins. Egg powder is the one animal entry printed as itself.

Taurine is declared in the added panel at 3.4 g per kilo, alongside vitamin E at 500 mg and vitamin C at 301 mg. Taurine is an amino acid dogs generally make for themselves, so a dosed inclusion printed at that level is a deliberate feature of the recipe rather than a routine top-up.

A sodium figure is missing from the label, and that is the number many owners of a heart patient are asked to keep an eye on. Crude ash is declared at 5.0% and the mineral entry behind it stays as minerals with no breakdown, so that detail belongs to the conversation in the consulting room and not to the pack.

On the analysis, protein works out at 28.7% of dry matter against fat at 22.1%, with the carbohydrate estimate at 41.8% and crude fibre at 1.9%. Energy is declared at 416 kcal per 100g, so portions run small for the calories they carry, which is how a kibble of this shape is meant to work. Take the water out and calcium reads 0.92%.

Portion size here has to be worked back from the energy figure rather than read off a table printed on the bag, and on that basis a 15kg dog sits near 202 grams a day. Take the figure for your own dog from the vet who prescribed the food.

It comes in 2kg and 14kg bags.