Salters Senior review

This lands in our Average band, one step below the Good band that the middle of the adult dry shelf holds, and the numbers are not mysterious. Protein converts to 18.5% of dry matter and estimated carbohydrate to 62.1%, against the 46.2% typical for a dry food. Nutritional balance reads Poor as a result, with protein and processing and transparency at Average. Our scoring is reading a recipe where cereal does most of the carrying and the chicken plays a supporting part.

That reading needs a little translation for an owner. Wanting a light, low fat bowl for an older dog who no longer burns what they eat is perfectly reasonable, and at 344 kcal per 100g this delivers exactly that. What it does not offer is a generous protein allowance, and protein is the one thing ageing muscle asks for most. Worth having clear before you choose it for a senior you are trying to keep strong as well as trim.

Ingredients, as declared: Ground Maize, Round Grain Rice, Chicken Meat Meal, Sprayed Dried Chicken Meal, Maize Gluten Meal, Dried Sugar Beet Pulp, Sunflower Meal, Chicken Fat, Cellulose Fibre, Full Fat Linseed, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Yeast (Autolyzed), Dried Whole Egg, Natural Seaweed, Vitamins and Minerals.

Two cereals open this recipe, ground maize then round grain rice, with chicken meat meal third and a spray dried chicken entry fourth. The meat that is here is dried before it goes in, so its position is a fair reflection of what it contributes; it is simply starting from third place. Protein converts to 18.5% of dry matter and fat to 10.9%, both at the light end of what a kibble can be.

Carbohydrate is estimated at 62.1% of dry matter, well above the 46.2% typical for an adult dry food, and that is the defining fact about the recipe. It makes for a gentle, low calorie bowl an overweight older dog will handle comfortably. It also means the protein share is thin for a dog whose muscle is starting to need the support.

Cellulose fibre sits unusually high here, ahead of the linseed and the olive oil. It is a purified plant fibre with essentially no calories, and its job is to give a light diet enough bulk that dinner still looks like dinner. Dried sugar beet pulp above it does the more nutritionally useful fibre work, and crude fibre finishes at 4.2% of dry matter.

The lower half of the label is better than the upper half. Full fat linseed brings plant omega 3, extra virgin olive oil adds vitamin E, dried whole egg contributes a little high quality protein, and natural seaweed covers iodine and trace minerals. Autolysed yeast is there to keep the food tasting of something, which matters more than it sounds when an older dog's appetite starts to wander.

Maize gluten meal in fifth place is part of how the protein figure is reached. Dogs extract less from plant protein than from meat, so the declared number flatters the chicken contribution a little. Calcium works out at 0.6% of dry matter and ash at 4.3%, both low, which fits a recipe with a small mineral load overall.

No dosed additive panel is published for the range. No artificial colours go into this range, and no antioxidants or preservatives either. Preservation is handled by a natural vitamin E extract and thorough drying. Straightforward as promises go, but it does mean the trace mineral doses are not there for you to check.

£5.52 a kilo, sold in 2kg and 15kg bags.

As a guide, an older 15kg dog in moderate condition would eat about 244 grams a day, working from roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £1.35 a day. A genuinely sedentary senior usually needs less than that estimate suggests. The calorie figure behind it is our estimate, since the label does not declare one, so weigh the food and watch the waistline.