Arden Grange Adult Dog Calming Turkey Sweet Potato

There is no food that makes an anxious dog calm, and anyone selling you one is overpromising. What this recipe does is more modest and a good deal more defensible: it puts in the things associated with calm — L-tryptophan, chamomile, B vitamins from yeast — and it keeps the digestion gentle, on the reasonable ground that a dog with an unhappy stomach is a restless dog.

Turkey is 39% of it, split between fresh turkey at 26% and dried at 13%, with sweet potato at 25% and no grain. The additives are where the calming claim actually lives: L-tryptophan at 2,000mg/kg, taurine at 1,000mg and L-carnitine at 2,500mg, alongside dried chamomile at 1% of the composition. The analysis is crude protein 25%, fat 15%, crude ash 8.5% and crude fibre 4.5%.

• Complete grain-free food for adult dogs, 12KG
• Turkey 39% — fresh 26%, dried 13%
• Sweet potato 25%, with no grain or cereal
• L-tryptophan declared at 2,000mg/kg
• Dried chamomile at 1% of the composition
• Protein 25%, fat 15%, crude ash 8.5%, crude fibre 4.5%

What food can and cannot do about anxiety. Arden Grange are careful with their own wording and so will we be: this is formulated to support calm, not to treat anxiety. A dog with genuine separation distress, noise phobia or reactivity needs a behaviour plan and usually a vet, and no bag of food is a substitute for either of those. It is also worth noting that it contains chicken digest and chicken oil despite being a turkey recipe, which matters if chicken is the protein you are trying to avoid.

Who it's for: adult dogs who are generally a bit wired or a bit windy, where the owner is already working on the behaviour and would like the diet pulling in the same direction.