Virbac

Virbac Veterinary HPM Clinical: Digestive Support Wet review

Name: Virbac Virbac Veterinary HPM Clinical: Digestive Support Wet
Brand: Virbac

We don't put a score on this food. It is a veterinary diet, formulated for a diagnosed condition and meant to be fed on a vet's advice. Your vet has seen your dog and we have not, so a number from us could only pull you towards their advice or away from it, and neither of those is ours to do. What follows is what the label declares, what the analysis works out at, and where to buy it, with no judgement attached to any of it.

Virbac sells this one through its Veterinary HPM Clinical range as Digestive Support, a chicken-led wet loaf the maker builds on organ meats and flagged digestible ingredients for dogs whose digestion a vet is managing.

WetAdultSenior

Flavour

Where to buy: coming soon

Live retailer pricing is coming soon. Once we have prices from UK retailers, the best price, cost per day and where to buy will appear here.

The Details

Dog fit

Food type

Wet

Life stage

Adult, Senior

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Chicken

What's in it

Ingredients, as declared: Loaf: chicken neck; chicken liver [1]; pork kidney [1]; chicken tripes [1]; mechanically deboned chicken meat [1]; pea protein extract [1]; fish oil [1]; sunflower oil [1]; pork plasma [1]; egg white [1]; minerals and, vitamins; cellulose; lignocellulose; potato starch, caramel. [1] Highly digestible ingredients

Named ingredients

Loaf: chicken neck; chicken liver [1]; pork kidney [1]; chicken tripes [1]; mechanically deboned chicken meat [1]; pea protein extract [1]; fish oil [1]; sunflower oil [1]; pork plasma [1]; egg white [1]; minerals and, vitamins; cellulose; lignocellulose; potato starch, caramel. [1] Highly digestible ingredients

Nutritional additives

| Item | Value | |---|---| | Vitamin A (iu/kg) | 22000 | | Vitamin D3 (iu/kg) | 240 | | Vitamin E (mg/kg) | 200 | | Vitamin B1 Thiamine) (mg/kg) | 1,8 | | Vitamin B2 (Riboflavine) (mg/kg) | 5 | | Vitamin B3 (PP. niacine nicotic AC) (mg/kg) | 40 | | Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic AC) (mg/kg) | 9 | | Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) (mg/kg) | 1,5 | | Vitamin B8 (Biotine. Vitamin H) (mg/kg) | 0,08 | | Vitamin B9 (Folic AC) (mg/kg) | 0,2 | | Vitamin B12 (Cobalamine) (mg/kg) | 0,03 | | Choline (mg/kg) | 1000 | | Taurine (mg/kg) | 1000 | | Copper (mg/kg) | 5 | | Iron (mg/kg) | 40 | | Iodine (mg/kg) | 0,8 | | Manganese (mg/kg) | 8 | | Selenium (mg/kg) | 0,4 | | Zinc (mg/kg) | 40 |

What's on the label

The label opens on chicken neck, then chicken liver, pork kidney, chicken tripes and mechanically deboned chicken meat, a far more specific meat panel than most wet foods print. Organ meats carrying that much of a recipe is unusual, and it is why the loaf reads as chicken with pork behind it instead of as a general meat mix.

A footnote marks the highly digestible entries and covers nearly everything from the liver downwards, taking in the pea protein extract, both oils, the pork plasma and the egg white. The leading chicken neck carries no such mark, a small oddity on a list that otherwise flags almost every part of itself.

Pea protein extract is the plant protein here, with pork plasma and egg white adding two further animal fractions. Added fat comes from fish oil and sunflower oil. Cellulose and lignocellulose provide the fibre, potato starch binds the loaf and caramel closes the list, which is there for colour.

The added vitamin and mineral panel is printed in full with a dose against every entry. Vitamin A sits at 22000 iu per kg, choline and taurine both at 1000 mg per kg, iron and zinc at 40 mg per kg, manganese at 8 and copper at 5. Calcium sits at 0.93% of the food's dry weight.

On the declared analysis, protein is 13.0% and fat 9.5% as fed, with crude fibre at 1.1%, moisture at 72.0% and energy at 144 kcal per 100g. Fat carrying that much of the energy is a decision the recipe has made, not an accident of the ingredients. The guide asks for 600 grams a day at 15kg and 1050 grams at 30kg. What a dog with a digestive problem should actually be eating, and for how long, is for the vet who knows the case to settle.

Price and where to buy

It is sold as a 300 g pack, at £13.15 a kilo. On an estimated 583 grams a day for a 15kg dog, the daily figure is roughly £7.67.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

144 kcal/100g

Protein

13%

Fat

9.5%

Fibre

1.1%

Moisture

72%

Dry weight

Protein

46.4%

Fat

33.9%

Fibre

3.9%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Added water

Carbs

43.6%

Oils

36.3%

Other

13.1%

Pricing & size