Terra Canis Low Protein Diet: Game review

Ingredients, as declared: Game 26% (game muscle meat 15%, game fat 11%), broth 23%, carrot 14%, potato 11%, pumpkin 8%, courgette 6%, apple 3%, melon 3%, rapeseed oil 2%, minerals 1%*, coconut flour*, basil*, chervil*, stinging nettle*, chia seed*, dandelion*, parsley*, marigold*, 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.

Game comes in at 26%, itemised as game muscle meat at 15% and game fat at 11%, and this one carries the most fibre of the set at 1.5%, or 7.9% of dry matter. Protein is the lightest here, 4.2% as fed and 22.0% of dry matter, against 7.8% fat and 115 kcal per 100g, with calcium at 0.63% of dry matter. Chervil takes the place of the cumin used in the other two. Portions run smaller to match the energy, 570 to 900 grams a day at 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.