Terra Canis Low Protein Diet: Chicken review

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 26% (chicken skin 11%, chicken stomach 10%, chicken muscle meat 5% ), broth 23%, carrot 14%, potato 11%, pumpkin 8%, courgette 6%, melon 3%, apple 3%, rapeseed oil 2%, minerals 1% *, coconut flour *, dandelion *, cumin *, parsley *, basil *, chia seed *, marigold *, stinging nettle *, oyster shell *, spirulina *, *dried

All three share a plant frame, and it is the same list in the same order every time. Broth comes in at 23%, carrot at 14%, potato at 11%, pumpkin at 8%, courgette at 6%, apple and melon at 3% apiece, rapeseed oil at 2% and minerals at 1%. Only the animal at the top changes.

The named animal is a little over a quarter of each pack. Much of that quarter is fat or skin, not lean meat. Pull the protein figure down and the calories have to arrive from somewhere, so the fat in the meat portion and the starch in the vegetables carry them. That is the intended architecture of a protein restricted food rather than a corner cut in the recipe.

Under the 1% line each list closes with dried additions: coconut flour, dandelion, parsley, basil, chia seed, marigold, stinging nettle, oyster shell and spirulina, with one herb swapped between flavours. Oyster shell is a mineral inclusion sitting among the botanicals, which is easy to read past.

Read the analysis across the three and fat is declared at roughly twice the protein figure or more, and the dry matter conversions widen that gap further. Energy is not pulled down alongside the protein, so on this range it is the size of the portion that does the restricting rather than the food being thin.

Every label prints its added vitamins and trace minerals with a dose beside each entry, vitamin A and vitamin D3 ahead of iodine, copper, manganese and zinc. On one of the three the vitamin D3 figure is set a little differently. The vet who asked for the restriction is the one to settle how much of any of it your dog should have. That is not a call to make from a label at home.

Chicken is declared at 26% and the split is printed underneath: chicken skin at 11%, chicken stomach at 10% and chicken muscle meat at 5%, so skin is the largest single part of the meat. Protein is declared at 4.9% against 8.3% fat. On a dry matter basis that is 26.8% protein and 45.4% fat, with energy at 100 kcal per 100g and calcium at 0.66% of dry matter. Cumin and parsley sit in the dried tail. Its guide asks 650 to 1000 grams a day for a dog of 10 to 20kg.

The three come in one size, a 400g unit at £11.66 a kilo. You can buy it singly or in a pack of 6. A 15kg dog would go through 732 to 837 grams a day depending which one is in the bowl, putting the daily rate between £8.54 and £9.76.