Arden Grange Light/Senior Dog Sensitive Fish & Potato

An older dog needs less fat and the same protein, which is a harder balance to strike than it sounds — cut the calories by cutting the meat and you take muscle off a dog who cannot spare it. This recipe pulls the fat down to 12% while holding protein at 22%, which is the shape you actually want on a bag for an older dog.

Ocean white fish makes up 28% of it, mostly dried at 23% with fresh fish at 5%, and the carbohydrate is sweet potato at 28% and potato at 16% with no grain behind them. Arden Grange also declare the joint ingredients by weight rather than just naming them — glucosamine at 740mg/kg, MSM at 740mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 520mg/kg — and there is a long tail of fruit and botanicals: cranberries, elderberries, rosehips at 230mg/kg, blackcurrants, blueberries at 150mg/kg, blackberries, raspberries and curcumin.

• Complete food for senior dogs or lighter feeding, 12KG
• Ocean white fish 28% — dried 23%, fresh 5%
• Sweet potato 28% and potato 16%, no grain
• Protein 22%, fat 12%, crude ash 8.5%, crude fibre 4%
• Glucosamine 740mg/kg, MSM 740mg/kg, chondroitin sulphate 520mg/kg
• No added grains, gluten, soy or dairy

It is doing two jobs, and you should be clear which you want. Arden Grange sell this as both a senior food and a light one, which is reasonable — but light means the fat is lower, and a thin older dog put on a light food will carry on losing weight. If your dog is old and holding condition well, this is the right bag. If they are old and getting bony, it is the wrong one, and worth a conversation with your vet before you switch. The added fat is chicken oil, so check the composition if chicken is what you are avoiding.

Who it's for: older dogs slowing down and carrying a bit more than they should, and any adult dog who needs the calories pulled back without the protein going with them.