An older dog's immune system doesn't get weaker on a fixed schedule, but a senior diet is usually where the extra vitamin E and joint-support ingredients start turning up, on the theory that it's cheaper to feed for it than to treat for it later.

This is James Wellbeloved's turkey and rice senior recipe, built on brown rice at 26% and dried turkey protein at 17.5%, with naked oats, barley, white rice, whole linseed, sugar beet pulp and alfalfa meal alongside natural extracts including chicory, yucca and seaweed. It excludes beef, pork, soya, eggs and dairy, and includes glucosamine at 0.045% and chondroitin at 0.005% for joints, plus vitamin E at 350mg/kg.

• Protein 20.4%, fat 9.3%
• Crude ash 6.3%, crude fibre 3.8%
• Vitamin E at 350mg/kg
• Omega-3 at 1.0%, omega-6 at 2.2%
• Glucosamine 0.045%, chondroitin 0.005%
• 2KG bag

On the grain-free question. As with the rest of this range, 'hypoallergenic' doesn't mean grain-free here — oats, barley and rice are all in the ingredients. It excludes wheat and the named animal allergens specifically, not grains as a category.

Who it's for: owners of a senior dog sensitive to common proteins who also want the joint-support ingredients aimed at an older dog's mobility.