Wagg Senior review

Our reading places this in the Average band, while the middle of the adult dry shelf earns a Good one. The distance is about construction rather than anything unsafe. Cereal carries the recipe, protein lands at 22.0% of dry matter and fat at 8.2%, and the animal content is given as meat meal with a single named minimum. Nutritional balance comes in at Poor. Protein and processing reads Average, with transparency at Good. What the food does offer an older dog is a lighter energy load, a printed joint package and a complete, fortified profile fed to the guide on the bag.

Ingredients, as declared: 26% Meat Meal & Gravy*(with min 4% Chicken), Whole Grain Wheat, Maize, Whole Grain Barley, Wheat Fibre, 5% Whole Grain Rice, Whole Linseed (source of Omega 3), 1% Chicken Fat* (source of Omega 6), Beet Pulp, Salmon Oil, Minerals & Vitamins, Chicory Root (1000 mg/kg as a source of FOS), Glucosamine (150 mg/kg), Yucca (150 mg/kg), Chondroitin (50 mg/kg). *28% Meat Ingredients with Chicken* equivalent per 100g kibble to: * min 40g hydrated animal ingredients with

First on the list is 26% meat meal and gravy, and 4% of that is named as chicken at minimum. Meat meal is a concentrated animal protein, rendered and dried, so its place at the front is honest enough. A named minimum of 4% still leaves most of the animal material unattributed. The footnote works that up to 28% meat ingredients, equal to no less than 40g of hydrated animal ingredients in every 100g of kibble.

Whole grain wheat comes second and maize third, with whole grain barley, wheat fibre and 5% whole grain rice behind them. Carbohydrate converts to 57.2% of dry matter, and that cereal heavy list is the main reason. For an older dog that has eaten grain happily all its life, none of that is a problem. For one that has developed a wheat sensitivity along the way, it is the first thing to notice.

The senior thinking shows in three places. Fat is trimmed to 7.5%, which keeps the energy load down for a dog doing shorter walks. Glucosamine at 150 mg/kg and chondroitin at 50 mg/kg give the joints a printed and modest top up, gentler than a dedicated supplement but more than a vague nod on the front of the pack. And salmon oil joins whole linseed on the omega side, which is the pairing you want: a dog can use the marine form directly.

Chicory root at 1000 mg/kg supplies FOS, a prebiotic the large intestine's bacteria feed on. Beet pulp handles the working fibre, and yucca at 150 mg/kg is the usual entry for stool odour.

Zinc is dosed at 50 mg per kilogram, with iron and manganese at 30 mg apiece. Copper follows at 5 mg, iodine at 0.5 mg and selenium at 0.1 mg. Vitamins A, D3 and E are printed alongside. The antioxidant at the end of the panel is not named. On an otherwise legible label, that is the one place it goes quiet.

Sold in 2kg and 15kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg dog in moderate condition eats around 266 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The bag's own table asks 185 to 310 grams at that weight, and an older dog doing less should sit nearer the bottom of that range.