Calibra Verve Adult Small Cans: Beef & Chicken review

Both cans land in our Excellent band, close enough together that the decision is about which meats your dog prefers rather than which can is better. Wet food does well on our scoring generally and the typical adult wet food sits in that band too, so these are strong rather than exceptional performers among their peers.

Protein and processing, nutritional balance and transparency all read Outstanding on both, with value Excellent behind them. The meat percentages are printed and high, the plant side is small and mostly named, and the analysis holds up once moisture is taken out.

Ingredients, as declared: chicken (43 %), beef (27 %), pumpkin (4 %), carrots (4 %), vegetable derivatives, (2.7 %), salmon oil (1.5 %), dried rose hip (0.5 %), dried sea buckthorn (0.5 %), dried rosemary (0.1 %), dried chicory (0.1 %).

Both cans open with two animals and a percentage each, at 43% and 27%, which is a high declared meat share for a wet food and the main reason these read well. The rest of the recipe is short: two plant entries at 4%, a small unnamed vegetable fraction, salmon oil and a trail of dried botanicals at half a percent and below.

The plant partners differ between the cans and are chosen sensibly. Pumpkin and carrots sit in the beef and chicken can, carrots and apple in the duck and turkey. All of them are gentle, digestible ingredients that carry a little fibre and a little natural sweetness without pretending to be the point of the recipe.

The omega-3 source is salmon oil at 1.5%, and it is why fish appears on both labels. Vitamin C comes from dried rose hip at 0.5% and sea buckthorn at 0.5%. Chicory at 0.1% adds a trace of prebiotic fibre, and rosemary at 0.1% is there in the usual role of keeping the fats fresh. Taurine and carob gum round the panel off, one for the heart and one to hold the loaf together.

Calcium is declared on both, converting to 1.3% of dry matter in the beef and chicken can and 1.36% in the duck and turkey, which is comfortable for an adult dog of any size. Protein converts to 41.3% and 38.6% of dry matter respectively, so whichever can you pick the animal side is doing the work.

Chicken at 43% with beef at 27%, joined by pumpkin and carrots at 4% each. The more familiar pairing of the two and the leaner one, with fat converting to 28.3% of dry matter and energy at 106 kcal per 100g. It also carries the higher protein reading at 41.3% of dry matter.

£9.50 a kilo, in 200g cans sold in packs of 6, the same on both flavours.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat roughly 773 to 791 grams a day, depending on the can. That is about £7.35 to £7.51, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). A dog small enough to be the target for a can this size will eat a good deal less than that.