Devini Single Protein Wet Food: Turkey with Apples & Pumpkin review

Both recipes come out in our Excellent band, the beef a shade ahead of the turkey. They hold that placing in a category where the typical adult wet food is an Excellent band product too. The meat share is what earns it: 65% of each tin is one named animal, and everything after that is a short list of whole ingredients instead of category terms. The turkey is the leaner of the pair, with protein at 46.4% of dry matter and estimated carbohydrate at 12.7%, under the 15.8% the typical adult wet food runs at.

The beef reads higher on that same estimate, at 19.6% of dry matter, which deserves a word of explanation. We work carbohydrate out by difference rather than measuring it, and on a wet label with no starch source anywhere in the composition that method tends to overstate what is actually in the tin. Carrots at 3% and blueberries at 2% cannot account for a fifth of the dry matter. Protein and processing reads Excellent on both recipes, as does value, with nutritional balance and transparency Outstanding.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey 65%, Apples 3%, Pumpkin 2%, Minerals, Safflower Oil, Seaweed, Yucca Extract, Green-Lipped Mussel (Source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin).

One animal at 65% is the whole idea here, and both labels declare it plainly. It is beef on one tin and turkey on the other. There is no second meat, no meat and animal derivatives, and no unnamed fat anywhere in the list. That is unusually clean for tinned food and it is the reason the analysis comes out where it does, with protein at 42.0% of dry matter on the beef and 46.4% on the turkey.

The fruit and vegetables are chosen to match the meat. The beef takes carrots at 3% and blueberries at 2%, the turkey takes apples at 3% and pumpkin at 2%. Carrots bring beta carotene and soluble fibre, blueberries a dose of antioxidants, pumpkin a gentle fibre that settles a lot of dogs. None of them is present in enough quantity to change the shape of the recipe, which is rather the point.

The oils differ and the difference is worth knowing. The beef uses linseed oil, a plant source of omega 3 that supports skin and coat, while the turkey uses safflower oil, which leans towards omega 6. Neither is present in a large amount, and both are named on the label, not sold to you as a vegetable oil.

Green lipped mussel closes both lists and does two things at once. It is a natural source of glucosamine and chondroitin, the friendlier way to get joint support into a recipe. It is also a shellfish, so an elimination trial cannot treat these tins as strictly one animal. No dose is printed against it, so it counts as a welcome extra. Seaweed and yucca extract sit alongside it. Seaweed is there for iodine and trace minerals, yucca extract for digestion and for what it can do about the smell in the garden.

The declared additive panel is brief: vitamin D3, zinc, manganese and iodine on both tins, with copper added on the turkey. There is no vitamin A or E figure and no calcium figure on either label. Against that, both labels print their own energy figure. That is a courtesy plenty of wet labels skip, and a small sign of a maker willing to show its working.

Turkey at 65% with apples at 3% and pumpkin at 2%, and safflower oil in place of the linseed. It is the leaner tin, with protein converting to 46.4% of dry matter and fat to 27.7%, and the lighter at 103 kcal per 100g. Moisture is declared at 78.0%, and copper joins the trace elements on this label.

£16.35 a kilo, in 85g tins sold singly and in packs of 12.

As a guide, feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition comes to £11.35 a day on the beef and £13.30 a day on the turkey. That is roughly 694 grams a day on the beef and 813 grams on the turkey. That comes from a maintenance need of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard estimate) set against the energy figures printed on each label.

In tins, that works out at around eight a day on the beef and closer to ten on the turkey. Most owners feeding a dog this size will be using them alongside another food.