Ava Breed Health Shih Tzu Wet: Hypoallergenic Adult Pâté Pouches review

Our bands put this recipe in Good. The wet shelf typically sits in our Excellent band, so the shortfall here is structural. A little over a third of the pouch is named meat, and much of the remainder is water, starch and refined fibre. Nothing in that reading is a caution, it is simply where a moderate meat share lands.

Set against it, the transparency is genuinely strong. Every functional ingredient carries a percentage, the energy figure of 91 kcal per 100g is the maker's own rather than an estimate of ours, and the additive panel prints its doses. Protein converts to 44.3% of dry matter and fat to 25.1%, a lean and sensible balance for a small adult dog that is not especially busy. Estimated carbohydrate lands at 18.8% against 15.8% for the typical adult wet food.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (36%), Sweet Potato (8%), Cellulose Fibre (0.9%), Minerals, Tapioca Starch, Yeast Extract, Fish Oil (0.3%), Yeast (as a source of Prebiotic Mannan-oligosaccharides and Beta-glucans)(0.055%), Sunflower Oil (0.03%), Chicory Root Extract (as a source of Prebiotic Fructo-oligosaccharides)(0.02%), Yucca Extract (0.005%), Cranberry Extract (0.002%), Pomegranate Extract (0.001%), Green Tea Extract (0.001%)

Chicken at 36% is the only animal in the list, and a slightly firmer inclusion than a pâté of this kind usually carries. It is worth being straight about what that means for the hypoallergenic claim. A single named meat, no cereal, no dairy and no egg is a genuinely simple recipe and many itchy dogs do well on exactly that. Chicken itself, though, is the protein dogs most commonly become intolerant of, so this is a simple recipe rather than a novel-protein one.

Sweet potato at 8% and tapioca starch behind it carry the carbohydrate. Tapioca is starch extracted from the cassava root and brings little beyond that, which is the trade a grain-free wet recipe usually makes. Cellulose fibre at 0.9% is refined plant fibre added for bulk and stool structure, a light inclusion that leaves crude fibre at 4.9% of dry matter.

The fat picture is worth a closer look, because it comes almost entirely from the chicken. Sunflower oil is listed at 0.03%, which is a trace and not a fat source, and fish oil at 0.3% is a modest inclusion supplying some omega-3. Fat lands at 5.1% as fed. This is a lean pouch.

Taurine at 1060 mg and L-carnitine at 320 mg are both printed. Taurine is an amino acid a dog can usually make for itself, and here it is a bonus on top. L-carnitine has a hand in how fat is metabolised, which is why it turns up in recipes written around keeping weight steady. Vitamin E arrives at 95 mg.

Two prebiotics close the list. The fructo-oligosaccharides come from chicory root extract at 0.02%, and the mannan-oligosaccharides and beta-glucans from yeast at 0.055%. Both are there for the gut bacteria further along. Green tea, pomegranate, cranberry and yucca all sit at trace level. The trace minerals are chelated. Chelates are absorbed more easily than plain salts.

£12.74 a kilo, in 85 g pouches sold twelve at a time.

The standard day rate assumes a 15kg adult, well above a shih tzu, so the label's own guide is the sensible one to read. It puts a dog of 6 to 8 kg at 425 to 552.5 grams a day, which is roughly five to six and a half pouches.