Bug Bakes Hypoallergenic Wet: Pumpkin & Carrot review

Our Good band puts this tin a step below the middle of the wet category, and since that middle sits in our Excellent band the gap is narrower than it sounds. Most of it comes from the plant side. Peas, pumpkin and carrot push the estimated carbohydrate to 20.8% of dry matter where the typical adult wet food runs at 15.8%. That figure is worked out by subtraction, not measured, so on a label like this one it reads high.

What holds the score up is that the maker names what it uses and puts the headline ingredient in a number. Protein converts to 36.0% of dry matter and fat to 28.0%, both respectable for a tin. Fibre at 6.0% of dry matter runs higher than most wet foods manage, which is what insects and vegetables do to a recipe. Nutritional balance and transparency both come out Outstanding, with protein and processing reading Good.

Ingredients, as declared: Insects 50% (Fresh insect puree + insect protein), Peas, Pumpkin, Carrot, Minerals, Safflower Oil, Cranberries, Sage Leaves, Basil.

Insects at 50% arrive in two forms, a fresh puree and a dried insect protein. The combination does what a meat and a meat meal would do in a conventional recipe: one brings the moisture and the palatability, the other concentrates the protein. Insect protein is well digested by dogs and, being an animal protein, it carries the amino acid profile plant proteins cannot.

The DL methionine on the additive panel is the tell that the maker has done its homework. Methionine is the amino acid insect protein runs shortest on, and topping it up is exactly what a complete diet built on a single novel animal source has to do. It is a small line on a label and a meaningful one.

Peas, pumpkin and carrot make up the plant side. Carrot is a useful source of vitamin A and antioxidants once cooked, pumpkin is the gentlest of the starchy vegetables on a dog's digestion, and peas add protein and fibre alongside them. None of the three carries a percentage, so the order of the list is all you have to go on for how much of each goes in.

Safflower oil is the only added fat, which keeps the recipe free of the fish and poultry oils that quietly break an elimination diet elsewhere. Cranberries, sage leaves and basil close the list at trace level. Cranberry has a long association with urinary health, but at this inclusion treat it as a nice touch rather than as a working dose.

The added panel runs vitamins A and D3, the methionine, then zinc, iron, copper, iodine and selenium. Pet food permits two forms of selenium, and this tin uses sodium selenite, the commoner one, dosed at 0.03 mg per kilo. Moisture is declared at 75%, a little lower than most wet foods, which is part of why the tin carries more energy per 100g than the category typically does.

£10.05 a kilo, in a single 400g size sold in cases of 6.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 769 grams a day, or around £7.73. That assumes the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75).