Specific CKD Heart & Kidney Support review

Ingredients, as declared: Rice, wheat, maize, fish oil, pork fat, potato protein, beet pulp, animal protein hydrolysate, egg powder, Antarctic krill, minerals, cellulose powder, yeast, fructo-oligo-saccharides, AuraGuard (calcium carbonate, citrus extract, maltodextrin, sodium chloride). With natural antioxidants (tocopherols, rosemary extract and vitamin C).

Rice, wheat and maize hold the top three places and fish oil comes fourth, so the bulk of this food is cereal and the energy behind it is largely added fat. Pork fat follows the fish oil, and Antarctic krill is the only whole animal ingredient anywhere on the list.

Potato protein and egg powder make up the rest of the protein, alongside an animal protein hydrolysate that gives no species. That is an unusual shape for a dog food and a very ordinary one for a renal diet, where giving the dog less protein rather than more is the object.

Protein is declared at 13.9%, a long way below what an everyday adult kibble carries, and it is meant to be. Fat at 15.3% and energy at 390 kcal per 100g do the work of holding condition on a dog that is eating less protein. None of that is something missing from the food; it is the reason a diet like this exists at all, and the decision to use it belongs with your vet.

The mineral declaration is the single word minerals. On a diet aimed at kidneys, phosphorus and sodium are the figures owners are usually told to watch. Neither is printed here, so those numbers have to come from your vet or from Specific directly. Salt does reach the ingredient list through AuraGuard. That entry covers sodium chloride along with calcium carbonate, citrus extract and maltodextrin, and no level is printed for it.

Fibre is declared at 2.4%, carried by beet pulp and cellulose powder, with fructo oligosaccharides and yeast for the gut flora. A crude fibre reading of that order suits a food meant to be easy to digest.

The table on the bag opens at 50 grams a day for a 2.5kg dog, gives 195 grams at 15kg and closes at 690 grams at 80kg. On a cardiac or renal case the ration forms part of the treatment, so take the figure your vet gives you over the one printed here.

It is sold as 2kg and 7kg bags, plus multipacks of three 2kg or three 4kg, at £6.32 a kilo.