Briantos Delicious Paté: 400 g / 800 g cans review

The mixed pack and the trays settle in our Good band, with the cans just below in our Average band and the typical adult wet food up in our Excellent band. That distance deserves an honest explanation, because it is almost entirely about naming. Meat and animal by-products at 60% or 62% can mean any warm blooded land animal in any proportion, and only 4% is tied to the species on the front. That holds protein and processing to Good on the cans and the trays, and to Average on the mixed pack. The analysis tells a different story. Protein converts to between 42.9% and 48.7% of dry matter, fat to between 25.6% and 35.7%, and estimated carbohydrate to between 8.1% and 14.9% against the 15.8% typical of adult wet food. That is why nutritional balance reads Outstanding right across the range. None of this is a warning about the food itself. What it describes is how much this label will tell you, and the answer is very little.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb & Carrots: 60% meat and meat by-products (incl. 4% lamb), broth, vegetables (1.5% carrots), minerals, vegetable by-products, Fish & Peas: 56% meat and meat by-products, 4% fish and fish by-products, broth, vegetables (1.5% peas), minerals, vegetable by-products, Beef: 60% meat and meat by-products (incl. 4% beef), broth, minerals, vegetable by-products, Chicken: 60% meat and meat by-products (incl. 4% chicken), broth, minerals, vegetable by-products, Turkey: 60% meat and meat by-products (incl. 4% turkey), broth, minerals, vegetable by-products

The animal entry is a category term on all three formats, sitting at 60% on the cans and trays and 62% in the small mixed pack. On the fish version of the can it splits into 56% meat and meat by-products plus 4% fish and fish by-products. The term covers everything from good muscle meat and organ to the least appealing parts of a carcass. Nothing on the label tells you which end of that range is in the tin.

One thing this range does quietly well is stay clear of cereal. Not one of the three lists carries grain, unusual at this end of the shelf. The estimated carbohydrate agrees, running from 8.1% of dry matter in the cans to 14.9% in the trays where the typical adult wet food sits at 15.8%.

What fills the space instead is broth on the cans, minerals throughout, small printed vegetable amounts on some versions, and vegetable by-products, which is another term that leaves you guessing. The carrots on the lamb versions and the peas on the fish ones are declared at 1.5% in the cans and 4% on the trays. That makes them a flavour note, not a vegetable serving.

The analysis is where this range does best. Protein converts to 42.9% of dry matter in the cans, 43.2% in the trays and 48.7% in the small mixed pack. Fat follows the same order at 35.7%, 28.2% and 25.6%. The cans are the richest of the three, and the mixed pack the leanest and the most protein dense.

The added panels are dosed where they appear. The cans print vitamin D3 at 280 IU and vitamin E at 35 IU, with zinc, copper, iodine and manganese beside them. The trays run a lighter panel at 200 IU of vitamin D3 and 20 IU of vitamin E. A separate salmon and peas panel leaves the vitamin D3 out.

The 400 g and 800 g cans carry five recipes: lamb and carrots, fish and peas, beef, chicken and turkey. Meat and meat by-products sit at 60%, or 56% on the fish version with 4% fish and fish by-products alongside, and broth follows in every one. This is the richest of the three formats, with fat at 7.5% as fed, or 35.7% of dry matter.

£2.91 a kilo for the 400 g and 800 g cans, £3.33 a kilo for the 300 g trays, and £4.64 a kilo for the 100 g mixed pack. The cans come six to a pack, the trays nine and the mixed pack 44.

Take maintenance as about 840 kcal a day for a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard estimate). The cans then work out at roughly 830 grams a day and about £2.42, the trays at 816 grams and about £2.72, and the 100 g pack at 1006 grams and about £4.67.