Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Satiety Weight Management Small Dogs review

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated poultry protein, vegetable fibres, wheat gluten*, manioc (tapioca), hydrolysed animal proteins, chicory pulp, wheat, maize, maize gluten, animal fats, minerals, psyllium husks and seeds, fish oil, sodium butyrate, fructo-oligosaccharides, marigold meal, glucosamine from fermentation, hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitin).

Dehydrated poultry protein opens this label, with vegetable fibres immediately behind it and wheat gluten third. Manioc, listed as tapioca, hydrolysed animal proteins and chicory pulp come next, and wheat, maize and maize gluten follow those.

The meat entry is a category, not a species, so a dog who reacts to chicken but tolerates turkey cannot be steered by what is printed. Hydrolysed animal proteins and animal fats lower down are equally unspecific, while fish oil at least says which water it came from.

Inulin comes in with the chicory pulp, a fibre the gut bacteria use and the dog does not. The psyllium husks and seeds bring the kind that holds water. Sodium butyrate is a dosed addition makers reach for where the gut lining is part of the picture, and fructo-oligosaccharides sit near the end. Between them the fibre side of this recipe is more varied than a single bulking agent.

Crude fibre reads 15.6% as declared, or 17.0% once the moisture is taken out, and fat is kept to 9.5%, which is 10.3% of dry matter. Protein is at 30.0%, or 32.6% dried down, with the carbohydrate estimate at 32.7% of dry matter and energy at 269 kcal per 100g. Plenty of bulk against very little fat is precisely what a satiety recipe is drawn up to deliver, so read those proportions as design. Your vet is the one to say whether the design fits your dog.

Nutritional additives are itemised per kilo. Vitamin A sits at 19000 IU with vitamin D3 at 1000 IU. Zinc comes at 136 mg, manganese at 44 mg, iron at 34 mg, copper at 10 mg, iodine at 3.4 mg and selenium at 0.05 mg. Preservatives and antioxidants are given as groups with no substance named. The list finishes with glucosamine from fermentation and with hydrolysed cartilage standing in as the chondroitin source. Neither carries a figure.

The portion figures here come from the food's energy value, not from a printed table. They also run to weights well past anything a small dog food is meant for, and a 15kg dog comes out around 312 grams a day. Take your vet's figure ahead of any of that.

It comes in 1.5kg, 3kg and 8kg bags.