Tribal Fresh Pressed Senior/Light: Fresh Chicken review

Our Good band covers both flavours, and the typical cold-pressed food sits in that band too, so this pair keeps pace with a competitive format. The strengths are a fresh named meat at the front and joint doses that are printed and generous by the standards of the shelf. The trade for a lighter analysis is more starch, and that is what stops it climbing. The two flavours share a band, with the turkey a shade in front, so the choice is largely which bird your dog prefers.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh chicken (36%), Sweet potato (35%), hydrolysed fish protein (7.3%), Beet pulp, Carrot, Whole egg (4.4%), Brewer's yeast, Minerals, Inulin (source of prebiotic FOS), Sunflower oil, Herbal blend (0.25%; Parsley, Rosemary, Nettle, Chamomile, Sage, Thyme, Coriander leaves, Dandelion leaves, Liquorice), Glucosamine (2000mg/kg), Chondroitin sulphate (1250mg/kg), Green lipped mussel (750mg/kg).

The recipe is recognisably Tribal, with fresh chicken at 36% or fresh turkey at 35% leading and sweet potato at 35% behind it, but the balance has shifted. Protein converts to 21.1% of dry matter, and fat to 11.4% in the chicken, 10.3% in the turkey. Both sit lower than the brand's adult recipes, and that is exactly what a lighter diet is meant to do. Carrot turns up on this list alone within the range.

The joint package is the clearest difference between this pair and the rest of the shelf. Glucosamine at 2000 mg/kg, chondroitin sulphate at 1250 mg/kg and green lipped mussel at 750 mg/kg are meaningful inclusions, not decorative ones. Each is printed with a figure, and you can see exactly what you are buying. Green lipped mussel comes from shellfish, which is the one caveat attached to it.

Fish protein still does the work of topping up the animal share, hydrolysed at 7.3% in the chicken and named as blue whiting at 5.75% in the turkey, both lower than the adult recipes use. Whole egg adds a little more complete protein. The net effect is a food where the meat is real and named but is not asked to carry as much of the bowl as it does elsewhere in the range.

Starch is where a light recipe usually pays its way, and this one is no exception. Carbohydrate converts to 56.8% of dry matter for the chicken, 59.0% for the turkey, where cold-pressed food has a 43.2% middle. Beet pulp and inulin add fibre and prebiotic FOS, and the fibre reading of 3.6% and 3.4% of dry matter helps an older dog feel fed on a smaller ration of energy.

The rest of the label follows the brand's house style. Brewer's yeast supplies natural B vitamins, and the herbal blend at 0.25% names all nine of its plants rather than hiding behind the word herbs. Sunflower oil brings vitamin E along with its fats, and a tocopherol-rich extract does the preserving. The chicken recipe also prints vitamin D3 at 2020 IU/kg.

No other recipe in the Tribal line-up pushes fresh meat past a third, and this one does it with chicken at 36%. Its fish protein share is the smaller of the pair at 7.3%. Calcium is declared at 1.09% of dry matter, the higher figure of the two, and vitamin D3 is printed at 2020 IU/kg. Energy reads 362 kcal per 100g.

Both flavours are £7.08 a kilo, in 2.5kg and 12kg bags.

About 840 kcal a day is what a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs, on the standard maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The chicken takes 232 grams at £1.64 a day, and the turkey 235 grams at £1.66. Tribal's own guide puts a 15kg dog at 205 grams on either flavour, and a dog being slimmed is meant to sit under its guide rather than on it.