Yarrah Senior review

Our reading lands this in the Average band, under the Good band the typical adult dry food holds, and the arithmetic behind that is not mysterious. Dried chicken is declared at 17.5% with a smaller herring entry behind it, so the animal share is modest, and corn, wheat and oats take up the space the meat does not. Protein still finishes at 27.2% of dry matter, ahead of plenty of kibbles, and the senior touches on the list are real rather than ornamental. Fed to the dog it names, an older one taking life at a gentler pace, it does what it says it will.

Ingredients, as declared: Dried chicken* (17.5%), corn*, wheat*, oats*, peas*, soy husks*, chicken fat*, sunflower seed husks*, rice protein*, dried MSC herring¹, hydrolised liver*, brewers yeast, minerals, MSC fish oil¹, horsetail*, devil's claw*, rosehips*. * = organic. ¹From an MSC certified sustainable fishery, www.msc.org. 96.9% of agricultural resources is sourced from organic agriculture.

Dried chicken at 17.5% leads, and dried is the useful word. The water has been driven off already, so 17.5% here goes further in the finished kibble than 17.5% of fresh meat would. Chicken fat follows further down and is named to the species, and protein lands at 27.2% of dry matter.

The cereal side is where the bulk comes from. Corn, wheat and oats sit second, third and fourth, with peas and soy husks behind them, and carbohydrate converts to 51.8% of dry matter. Of the three, oats sit easiest on a dog's digestion. Wheat is the one that occasionally causes trouble. If your dog has a history there, keep it in mind.

Look at the small print and you find the senior thinking. Devil's claw is the standout, a southern African plant with a long history of use for stiff joints and one you very rarely see on a kibble label at all. Horsetail and rosehips join it. Marine omega 3s come from the MSC certified herring and the MSC fish oil, and that is the form a dog uses most directly.

A palatant is the job hydrolysed liver does here, and it makes sense on a food for a stage of life where appetite can fade. No species is named against it, so a formal elimination trial cannot rest on this food. The herring and the fish oil also put fish in the recipe, which matters in a house that avoids it.

Fat is modest at 10.9% and crude fibre low at 3.3% of dry matter. Together they read as a food for a dog winding down, not one still working. Calcium works out at 1.3% of dry matter, comfortable for an adult. The panel carries vitamins A, D3 and E with iodine, copper and selenium behind them. Every figure is printed as a bare number with no unit, so you can see what is in there without being able to weigh it.

£11.18 a kilo, sold in 2kg and 10kg bags.

As a guide, an older 15kg dog in moderate condition eats about 241 grams a day and that comes to £2.70. The estimate assumes around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). Yarrah's own table for a 40kg dog runs from 435 to 570 grams a day depending on how active it still is.