Specific CRD-1 Weight Reduction review

Ingredients, as declared: Wheat, fish meal, maize protein, oats, cellulose powder, beet pulp, animal protein hydrolysate, potato protein, Antarctic krill, fish oil, minerals, vegetable oil, vitamins and trace elements, (including chelated trace elements), yeast, psyllium husk, methionine, L-carnitine, rosemary extract. With natural antioxidants (tocopherols, and vitamin C).

Wheat heads the list with fish meal directly behind it, then maize protein and oats. Cellulose powder and beet pulp arrive early too, ahead of most of the recipe, which is how a reduction food is put together: bulk near the front, calories a long way back.

Crude fibre is declared at 13.2%, far above what an everyday kibble prints, and psyllium husk adds a soluble fibre on top of the cellulose and the beet pulp. That number is the working mechanism of the diet rather than a fault in it, since fibre gives a dog something to eat while handing over very little energy.

Protein is held at 29.7% while fat comes down to 6.1%, the shape you would expect where the aim is shedding fat and keeping muscle. Methionine and L-carnitine are both named as separate additions, carnitine being the one makers turn to in slimming formulas for its part in moving fat through the system. No quantity is printed against either.

On the animal side there is fish meal, animal protein hydrolysate and Antarctic krill, with fish oil for the omega fats. The fish meal names no fish and the hydrolysate names no animal, so a label that reads as fish-led will not actually carry an exclusion trial. Vegetable oil is likewise left unspecified as to source.

Energy lands at 274 kcal per 100g with moisture at 8.5%, and the label asks for 280 grams a day at 15kg and 470 grams at 30kg. The ration on a slimming plan is usually set against the weight the practice wants your dog to reach, not today's reading on the scales. The table is a starting point, and the vet running the plan owns the decision.

It works out at £6.34 a kilo. Four pack options are listed: a small bag on its own and again in a three-pack, then 6 kg and 12 kg bags. On an estimated 306 grams a day for a 15kg dog, the daily figure comes to about £1.94.