Wainwright's Mature Dry Food: Lamb & Rice review

All three finish in our Good band, and the median adult dry food finishes there too. The spread between them is small enough that taste should decide. Transparency reads Outstanding on all three, which is the label doing its job: the meat split is printed, the dehydrated ingredients are shown at their fresh equivalents, and the joint additions carry percentages. Protein and processing reads Average across all three, with nutritional balance Average on the salmon and the turkey and a band under that on the lamb. A meat share of a third and a cereal base taking up much of the rest are what hold it there. As a straightforward everyday food for an older dog, it does what it says on the front.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb (33%) (Dried Lamb 28%, Freshly Prepared Lamb 5%), Rice (26%), Whole Grain Barley (21%), Beet Pulp (6%), Whole Ground Oats (4.5%), Rapeseed Oil, Dried Peas (3% equivalent to 12.5% Peas), Linseed (2%), Dried Carrots (1% equivalent to 8% Carrots), Seaweed (0.2%), Glucosamine (0.05%), Yucca Extract (0.02%), Chondroitin (0.015%)

Every variety puts a third of the recipe into one animal and shows the split, 28% dried against 5% freshly prepared. That arrangement matters more than the headline. In fresh meat, most of the weight is water that boils away in cooking. The dried portion is what genuinely arrives in the bowl. Protein converts to 24.5% of dry matter in the lamb. The salmon reads 26.6% and the turkey 27.2%. None of the three declares moisture, so the conversions rest on the 8% a kibble usually holds.

On all three the plant side begins with 26% rice, followed by whole grain barley at 20% or 21% depending on the variety, and whole ground oats at 4.5%. Beet pulp ranges from 6% to 7% and is where most of the fibre comes from, the soluble and insoluble mix that keeps an older digestion regular. The trade is the amount of starch a cereal base brings with it, which is what sits behind carbohydrate figures of around half of dry matter against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food.

Taurine at 1000 mg is the entry that separates these from the adult recipes. Dogs generally make this amino acid themselves. It is supplemented mostly for the heart, and that is a fair thing to be thinking about as a dog ages. Glucosamine at 0.05% and chondroitin at 0.015% follow the same logic for the joints, both printed with a figure.

Dried peas at 3% stand for 12.5% fresh peas, dried carrots at 1% for 8% fresh. That is the honest way round to declare a dehydrated ingredient. The omega 3 comes from linseed at 2%, in its plant form. That reaches the skin more slowly than the marine kind, but it does arrive. Seaweed at 0.2% supplies iodine. Yucca extract at 0.02% is in there for what happens at the other end, no small thing when an older dog shares the house.

All three carry the same vitamin and mineral declaration, printed in full. Vitamins A and D3 come first, then vitamin E at 150 mg. After them run zinc at 50 mg, iron and manganese at 40 mg each, copper at 5 mg, iodine at 1 mg and selenium at 0.1 mg per kilo. Sulphates and oxides are the forms used here, not chelates, and a dog takes those up a shade less efficiently. A full set of printed doses is the thing to look at.

Lamb at 33%, with whole grain barley at 21% and the least beet pulp of the three at 6%. Protein reads lowest here at 22.5% and ash highest at 10.0%, both of which come with the territory for a red meat recipe. For an older dog that never took to poultry, this is the natural pick.

£3.33 a kilo from the 15kg bag or £4.75 a kilo from the 2kg, and the figures are the same whichever animal you choose.

As a rough guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat 241 to 249 grams a day depending on the variety. That assumes about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), and lands between £0.80 and £0.83 a day. For a dog of 12kg to 25kg the labels themselves ask 175 to 315 grams a day, and the waistline settles any disagreement.