Chappie Wet Food: Original review

The two cans carry the same declared analysis and land in the same place, both of them in our Average band with the Original the stronger of the pair. Each reads Good for protein and processing and Good again for transparency, with nutritional balance Poor, and the Original holds the upper end of both those shared readings by a clear margin. Both sit behind the typical adult wet food, which reaches our Excellent band, and the reason is not hard to find. At 71.0% moisture this is a denser loaf than most wet food, and what fills the difference is cereal. The estimated carbohydrate converts to 57.9% of dry matter where typical adult wet food runs at 15.8%, with protein at a modest 20.7%. None of that makes it a poor dinner, and generations of dogs would argue otherwise, but it is a cereal-led recipe with fish and chicken for flavour and body rather than a meat-led one.

Ingredients, as declared: Fish and Fish and Derivatives* (including 14% White Fish), Cereals*, Meat and Animal Derivatives* (including 4% Chicken), Oils and Fats (including 0.3% Sunflower Oil), Minerals, Herbs*, *Natural ingredients

Fish and fish derivatives leads both cans, with white fish named at 14%. The category itself covers any fish and any part of one, so the 14% is the part you can hold on to. The rest could be anything from good offcuts to the plainest processing leftovers.

Cereals come next, and they are the story of this recipe. On the chicken and rice can, cooked rice at 4% is named inside that entry; on the Original, nothing is named at all. Either way the estimated carbohydrate converts to 57.9% of dry matter. That is where the energy comes from, at 118 and 113 kcal per 100g, a good deal denser than the 97 kcal typical of adult wet food.

Meat and animal derivatives with chicken at 4% follows, and after that a small oils and fats entry with sunflower oil named at 0.3%. As plant oils on a label go, sunflower is one of the better ones. It is a natural source of vitamin E and low in saturated fat. The wider heading it sits under gives no clue about whatever else is in there.

Minerals and herbs close the list, with the herbs left unnamed. The added panel is dosed per kilo across vitamin A, vitamin D3, iodine, copper, iron and zinc, with manganese joining on the chicken and rice can. Calcium converts to 1.34% of dry matter, a comfortable level for an adult dog.

What you are buying is an honest, cereal-heavy loaf with fish at the front of it. It is low in protein for a wet food and light on fat at 13.1% of dry matter, which is a good part of why it has such a long reputation as a gentle bowl.

The plain can, and the more energy dense of the two at 118 kcal per 100g. Its cereals entry names nothing whatsoever, so the grain behind the loaf is entirely unstated, and it is the can whose added panel carries vitamin A at 7805 IU.

£4.04 a kilo for the Original and £4.02 a kilo for the chicken and rice. Both come in 412g cans and are sold singly or by the case.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at £2.88 to £2.99 a day, or roughly 712 to 743 grams. That is built on about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That is a smaller daily weight than most wet food asks for, because these cans carry more energy per gram. The Original's own label guide starts further up the scale, giving 412 grams a day for a 20kg dog.