Royal Canin Mini Dental Care Dry Dog Food1–10 kg adult weight · adult

By three years old most small dogs have some degree of dental disease, and it is painful, expensive and the commonest reason an older small dog stops eating. Almost nobody brushes their dog's teeth twice a day, which is what it would actually take.

This does two things at once. Pentasodium triphosphate at 3.5 g/kg — declared here as a technological additive rather than buried — binds the calcium in her saliva so it can't crystallise into tartar. And the kibble is large for a small dog and reinforced with cellulose so it doesn't shatter: her tooth sinks in and the biscuit wipes the surface on the way through. That mechanical brushing is what an ordinary kibble, which crumbles on contact, does not do.

• Oral Care
• Complete Nutrition

Ingredients

Maize flour, dehydrated poultry protein, rice, animal fats, hydrolysed animal proteins, beet pulp, minerals, vegetable fibres, cellulose powder. Additives (per kg) — Nutritional additives: Vitamin A 15,500 IU · Vitamin D3 1,000 IU · E1 (Iron) 39 mg · E2 (Iodine) 3.9 mg · E4 (Copper) 12 mg · E5 (Manganese) 51 mg · E6 (Zinc) 128 mg · E8 (Selenium) 0.06 mg. Technological additives: Clinoptilolite of sedimentary origin 10 g · Pentasodium triphosphate 3.5 g. Preservatives. Antioxidants.

Looking after it

Store in a cool, dry place, sealed. Use within six weeks of opening. **Feed it dry and whole** — soaking or crushing the kibble removes the entire point of the product. This prevents build-up; it will not remove tartar that's already there, so have existing build-up dealt with by your vet first and then use this to hold the line. Have her mouth checked yearly. Bad breath is not normal in a dog; it usually means disease.