Specific CDD-HY Food Allergen Management review

Ingredients, as declared: Rice, rice protein, pork fat, hydrolysed salmon protein, minerals, protein hydrolysate, cellulose powder, vitamins and trace elements (including chelated trace elements), fish oil, psyllium husk, rosemary extract. With natural antioxidants (tocopherols and vitamin C).

Rice heads the list and rice protein follows straight behind it, so plant protein is doing real work here before any animal entry appears. Pork fat is third and hydrolysed salmon protein fourth, with minerals, a second protein hydrolysate and cellulose powder behind them.

Hydrolysis is the point of the recipe. Before it goes in, the salmon protein is broken into smaller fragments. What the maker is putting forward is that processing rather than the fish itself. The fish does not stop there either, since fish oil is listed further down, so two fish derived entries appear in total.

The second hydrolysate, printed simply as protein hydrolysate, names no source whatever, and pork is present through the fat. On a trial where every protein is meant to be accounted for, those are the two entries to put in front of the vet before you start.

Psyllium husk joins the cellulose powder on the fibre side, and rosemary extract with tocopherols and vitamin C keeps the fats stable. The trace elements are chelated, as the label spells out.

The analysis reads 22.8% protein, 11.8% fat and 1.8% crude fibre against 8.5% moisture, with energy at 371 kcal per 100g. No ash is printed, so the carbohydrate share is left unquantified. Specific lists the food as suitable from puppyhood through to old age, yet the feeding table on the label is headed for adults only. That is one more thing to take back to the vet who suggested a hydrolysed diet.

Bags run 2kg, 7kg and 12kg with a 3 x 2kg multipack alongside, at £7.12 a kilo. The adult rows of the feeding guide begin at 55g for a 2.5kg dog, list 205g at 15kg and finish at 725g for an 80kg dog.