Calibra

Calibra Dog Verve GF Adult Chicken & Duck 6x400g review

Name: Calibra Calibra Dog Verve GF Adult Chicken & Duck 6x400g
Brand: Calibra

87.1/100Outstanding

WetAdult

Calibra Verve grain free chicken and duck is a two bird tin that puts its animal content out in the open, chicken at 44% and duck at 26%. Behind them come apple, jerusalem artichoke and a short row of dried botanicals. Not a single cereal appears anywhere on the label. It sits in our Outstanding band, a step ahead of the typical adult wet food, and protein and processing reads Outstanding with it.

Where to buy: coming soon

Live retailer pricing is coming soon. Once we have prices from UK retailers, the best price, cost per day and where to buy will appear here.

Our view

Likely to suit

A tin built on two named birds makes it easy to know exactly what your dog is eating.

Owners who want a number against each meat, with chicken at 44% and duck at 26% at the head of the list
Households that steer clear of grain, with not one cereal on this label
Dogs that get on better with poultry than with red meat
Adult dogs of every build, since one tin covers the whole range from toy breeds to giants
Dogs that could do with more water in the day, moisture running to 78%

Worth watching

Check a couple of label details against your own dog first.

Both birds are in the tin, so a dog taken off chicken or off duck cannot use it
This label carries fish, in the form of salmon oil at 1.5%, so a fish-free household should know it is there
Vegetable derivatives at 2.7% is the one entry that never says what it actually is

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

87.1/100Outstanding

Protein and processingOutstanding

Nutritional balanceOutstanding

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueOutstanding

The Details

Dog fit

A tin built on two named birds makes it easy to know exactly what your dog is eating. Check a couple of label details against your own dog first.

Food type

Wet

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Chicken

The score, in context

Our scoring treats wet food kindly, and the typical adult wet food already sits in our Excellent band. This tin finishes a full band clear of that mark. Protein and processing is where it earns most, reading Outstanding on the strength of two named birds carrying the recipe, with nutritional balance and transparency Outstanding alongside it.

What's in it

Ingredients, as declared: chicken (44 %), duck (26 %), apple (4 %), jerusalem artichoke (4 %), vegetable derivatives (2.7 %), salmon oil (1.5 %), dried rose hip (0.5 %), dried sea buckthorn (0.5 %), dried chicory (0.3 %), dried rosemary (0.05 %), dried thyme (0.05 %), dried oregano (0.05 %).

Named ingredients

Chicken (44 %), duck (26 %), apple (4 %), jerusalem artichoke (4 %), vegetable derivatives (2.7 %), salmon oil (1.5 %), dried rose hip (0.5 %), dried sea buckthorn (0.5 %), dried chicory (0.3 %), dried rosemary (0.05 %), dried thyme (0.05 %), dried oregano (0.05 %).

Nutritional additives

| Additive | per 1 kg | |---|---| | vitamin A (3a672a) | 1,000 IU | | vitamin D3 (3a671) | 250 IU | | vitamin E (3a700) | 150 mg | | zinc (3b606) | 12.5 mg | | iron (3b106) | 10 mg | | manganese (3b504) | 3 mg | | potassium iodide (3b201) | 0.75 mg | | copper (3b406) | 4 mg | | taurine (3a370) | 1,000 mg | | carob gum (E 410) | 5,000 mg |

Ingredient notes

Chicken at 44% and duck at 26% open the list, both named, both with a percentage beside them. Protein converts to 40.9% of dry matter and fat to 22.7%, an analysis that keeps its weight on the animal side without being especially rich.

The plant side is unusually light. Apple gives a little natural sweetness. Jerusalem artichoke brings inulin, the soluble fibre that friendly gut bacteria live on. The only vague entry in the whole recipe is vegetable derivatives at 2.7%. There is no potato, no rice and no grain of any kind.

At 1.5%, the salmon oil is a working dose, and it is the main reason the label carries fish. Dried rose hip and sea buckthorn at 0.5% each, chicory at 0.3% and rosemary, thyme and oregano at 0.05% are flourishes, with the rosemary most likely there to keep the fats from turning.

The added panel is dosed line by line, and two entries are worth naming. Taurine is added deliberately, an amino acid most dogs make for themselves but one that is increasingly supplemented in support of the heart. Carob gum is the thickener that holds the loaf together. Calcium converts to 1.36% of dry matter, a comfortable level for an adult dog.

Price and value

Sold in one 400g tin size, in packs of 6. There is no per-kilo figure to quote for this recipe at present.

As a guide to how far a tin goes, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would get through about 809 grams a day. That works from roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate) against the label's 104 kcal per 100g.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

103.8 kcal/100g

Protein

Fat

Fibre

0.5%

Ash

Moisture

78%

Dry weight

Protein

40.9%

Fat

22.7%

Fibre

2.3%

Ash

9.1%

Carbs

25%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

75.5%

Added water

9.8%

Carbs

2.9%

Veg

4.6%

Oils

1.6%

Other

5.6%