Calibra Dog Life Can Sensitive Salmon & Rice 6x400g review

An Outstanding placement, and it is the salmon that earns it. Seventy per cent of the can is one named fish with a percentage printed against it, and protein converts to 45.5% of dry matter. No category term appears anywhere on the label to take on trust. Transparency and nutritional balance both read Outstanding, with protein and processing some way back in Good.

Wet food is a strong field, and this tin still finishes a step clear of its typical member, so read it as a solid, honest tin that plays to a clear purpose.

Ingredients, as declared: salmon (70 %), rice (4 %), pea flour, lignocellulose, salmon oil (1 %), calcium carbonate, dried algae (0.2 %, Schizochytrium limacinum).

Everything here starts with salmon at 70%, and that is a big enough number to carry the recipe on its own. Protein converts to 45.5% of dry matter and fat to a moderate 22.7%, so the analysis is meat led without being heavy, which is often what a dog with a delicate stomach needs. Because no second animal appears anywhere, this can genuinely support a one animal diet.

Rice at 4% is the gentle grain that sensitive recipes have leaned on for decades, easy to digest and undemanding. The pea flour is roasted peas, milled. It brings fibre and minerals along with a useful amount of plant protein, though plant protein is never quite the equal of the protein in the fish above it. Between them, and with the fibre, they take the estimated carbohydrate to 21.4% of dry matter.

There is no need to worry about lignocellulose, but it is worth understanding. It is purified plant fibre, close to indigestible by design, and it is used to add fibre and bulk without adding calories. It does the job it is there for, but unlike the fibre in a vegetable it carries nothing else along with it.

The dried algae at the end is a nicer touch than it looks. Schizochytrium limacinum is a marine algae grown for the same long chain omega 3 fats a fish oil supplies, so this recipe reaches for them twice over. Calcium carbonate lifts calcium to 1.36% of dry matter, comfortable for an adult, and it explains why the ash reading stays low at 6.8%.

The added panel is fully dosed and unusually broad for a wet food. Vitamin A comes at 800 IU per kilo, vitamin D3 at 200 IU, vitamin E at 120 mg, vitamin B1 at 1 mg and biotin at 0.4 mg. The minerals behind them are zinc at 10 mg, manganese at 2.4 mg, iodine at 0.6 mg, copper at 3.2 mg and iron at 8 mg.

Sold as a pack of 6 cans, each 400g.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would need roughly 812 grams a day, or two cans and a little over, working from a daily energy estimate of about 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75). At 104 kcal per 100g this is a denser tin than most, so portions are a shade smaller than wet food usually asks for.