Terra Canis Diabetic Diet: Horse review

Ingredients, as declared: horse muscle meat 46%, broth 20%, carrot 6% *, courgette 6% *, potato 4% *, fennel 3% *, broccoli 3% *, celery 2% *, beetroot 2% *, lupin meal 2% */*, blueberry 1% *, minerals 1% *, rapeseed oil, coconut flour *, artichoke leaf *, sage *, fenugreek *, cumin *, thyme *, oyster shell *, spirulina * *Sources of carbohydrate, *dried

Horse muscle meat is declared at 46%, and no other animal ingredient appears. The meat side of this tin is one species, with nothing slipped in behind it. Broth accounts for a further 20%, and horse is a meat most dogs will never have eaten before.

The label marks which of its entries it counts as carbohydrate sources, which is an unusual thing to print and a practical one on a recipe of this kind. It does use the same asterisk for that footnote as it does for the dried ingredients, so which mark belongs to which entry is not always clear from the page.

Carrot and courgette are at 6% each, potato at 4%, fennel and broccoli at 3%, then celery, beetroot and lupin meal at 2% and blueberry at 1%. Rapeseed oil, coconut flour and a run of dried botanicals close things off, artichoke leaf, sage, fenugreek, cumin and thyme among them, with oyster shell and spirulina last. Oyster shell is in there as a mineral source rather than as food, and none of that tail end carries a percentage.

Protein reads 11.4% as declared, which is 55.6% of dry matter once 79.5% moisture is taken off, and fat is held to 3.1%, or 15.1% dried down. Crude fibre is 0.7% and ash 1.3%, the carbohydrate estimate is 4.0% as fed and 19.6% of dry matter, and energy comes to 117 kcal per 100g. Lean meat with the fat pulled back is the shape a diet of this description is drawn to, so the low fat line is a choice. Your vet decides whether that choice matches your dog's treatment.

The dosed additions are printed per kilo, vitamin A at 7631 IU and vitamin D3 at 340 IU. Zinc is at 20 mg, manganese at 10 mg, copper at 2 mg, with a smaller iodine dose. Minerals also appear in the ingredient list itself at 1%.

It comes as a 400g tin, sold singly or in sixes, at £11.66 a kilo. The guide on the label puts a dog of 10 to 20kg on 700 to 1200 grams a day, which for a 15kg dog is around 717 grams and about £8.36 a day.