Ava Wet Food Puppy: Chicken Pâté review

The two packs do not land in the same place. The box takes our Excellent band, which is where wet puppy food as a category tends to settle, and the single pâté comes in just underneath it in our Good band.

Nothing in the recipe explains that gap, because the ingredients and the declared analysis are identical on both. It comes down to how each pack is sold rather than what is in it. Nutritional balance and transparency read Outstanding on both versions. The same pack difference that leaves protein and processing Excellent on the box and Average on the single pâté carries value with it, Excellent on the one and Good on the other.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (49%), Brown Rice (7%), Minerals, Beet Pulp, Brewers Yeast, Fish Oil, Whole Dried Egg, Chicory Root Extract (as a source of Prebiotic Fructooligosaccharide) (0.040%), Yeasts (as a source of Beta-glucans and Prebiotic Mannanoligosaccharide) (0.028%), Glucosamine (0.013%), Chondroitin (0.005%), Yucca Extract (0.005%), Cranberry Extract (0.002%), Green Tea Extract (0.001%), Pomegranate Extract (0.001%)

Both recipes are put together the same way: one named meat at 49%, brown rice at 7%, then a short run of supporting entries. Lamb leads one and chicken the other, and after that the two lists match line for line.

The analysis is where a wet food shows its shape. Protein converts to 40.9% of dry matter and fat to 27.3%, both good figures once the water is taken out of the picture, and ash converts to 9.1%, the mineral share growing bones draw on.

The starch is heavier than the meat headline suggests. Brown rice at 7% lifts the carbohydrate estimate to 21.8% of dry matter against the 13.6% typical of a wet puppy food, with beet pulp adding a modest fibre behind it. Fibre itself stays very low at 0.9% of dry matter.

The omega 3 fats in the fish oil are there for the brain and the coat as a pup grows, and whole dried egg brings a highly usable protein. Both earn their place, and both are why a single meat claim cannot be made for either recipe once the full list is read.

The functional tail is named and numbered: chicory root extract at 0.04% for fructooligosaccharide, a yeast source at 0.028% for beta-glucans and mannanoligosaccharide, then glucosamine at 0.013% and chondroitin at 0.005%. The prebiotics are the part doing real work; the joint pair is a nod at these levels. Trace amounts of green tea, pomegranate, cranberry and yucca follow.

The vitamin and trace element panel is printed with its doses. Selenium arrives as selenised yeast, not as the mineral salt. Carrageenan and guar gum hold the texture, which is standard in a pâté style food and the reason it keeps its shape in the bowl. Energy is our estimate at 99 kcal per 100g, close to the 106 a wet puppy food typically carries.

The single 395g chicken pâté is that same chicken recipe on its own, which makes it the easy way to see whether your pup takes to the food before you bring home a whole box. It is also the pack that prints a calcium figure, and it converts to 2.73% of dry matter. That is a generous mineral level for a small or medium pup and above what large breed growth is usually planned around, so a big pup wants a word with the vet first.

£5.48 a kilo in the 6 x 395g box, and £6.05 a kilo for a single 395g pâté.

Your pup's age and eventual size both decide how much goes in the bowl. Let the feeding chart move with them, and keep checking they stay lean over the ribs. The label starts its guide at around 296g a day for a pup between 2kg and 10kg and climbs steeply from there.