Edgard & Cooper Puppy Cups review

The duck and chicken pot finishes in our Excellent band, level with the middle of the wet puppy field, and the organic pot sits a step behind in Good. The company here is strong, and this range holds its own in it.

Between the two, the duck and chicken pot is the stronger read: transparency comes out Outstanding on it against Excellent on the organic pot, with nutritional balance Outstanding on both. That gap is mostly about what the organic label is prepared to certify and declare rather than about anything wrong with the other pot.

Ingredients, as declared: duck 30%, chicken 26%, minerals, carrot 2%, broccoli 1%, apple 1%, pumpkin 1%, peas 1%, salmon oil 0.5%, parsley 0.1%, dill 0.1%

The duck and chicken pot is unusually plain spoken. Duck at 30% and chicken at 26% are the only animals in it, both named as meat with no category word in sight. Together they account for over half the recipe before anything else gets a look in. Duck is easy on most young digestions and tends to go down well with fussy eaters, which is a useful pairing with chicken.

After the meat the list turns to garnish. Carrot at 2% is the biggest of the plant entries, with broccoli, apple, pumpkin and peas at 1% apiece and parsley and dill at 0.1%. Carrot brings vitamin A and a little soluble fibre. The peas are whole and at this level they add real nutrition, well beyond the bulking job peas sometimes end up doing.

The organic pot is built on a wider base. Organic chicken at 26% leads, with organic beef, organic fish at 10% and organic pork behind it, then organic carrot and organic peas at 2% each and traces of rosehip and chamomile. Four species in one recipe gives a broad amino acid spread, and pork is uncommon enough in dog food that many puppies will be meeting it for the first time here.

The analysis is where both pots make their case. Protein converts to 50.0% of dry matter in the duck and chicken recipe and 52.8% in the organic one, with fat at 31.6% and 30.6%. Carbohydrate barely shows: 5.2% of dry matter in one and 2.7% in the other, well under the 13.6% typical for wet puppy food. Energy runs to 93 kcal and 87 kcal per 100g against a typical 106 kcal, which simply means slightly fuller pots at mealtimes.

Minerals are added to what the meat already supplies, with ash converting to 11.6% and 12.2% of dry matter. The duck and chicken pot declares vitamin D3 at 140 IU, zinc at 12 mg, manganese at 1 mg, copper at 0.5 mg and iodine at 0.3 mg. The organic pot prints zinc at 15.2 mg, manganese at 3.2 mg and iodine at 0.5 mg, and stops there. Neither label carries a calcium figure, and neither carries any technological additive, the site printing a plain slash where preservatives and colourings would go.

This is the duck forward pot of the pair. Duck at 30% heads the composition with chicken at 26% behind it, and no other animal appears except the salmon oil at 0.5% that supplies marine omegas. Carrot at 2% leads the plant side, then broccoli, apple, pumpkin and peas at 1% each with parsley and dill at 0.1%. Moisture is declared at 81.0%, protein converts to 50.0% of dry matter, fat to 31.6% and carbohydrate to 5.2%, and the pot carries 93 kcal per 100g. Its added panel is the fuller of the two: vitamin D3 at 140 IU alongside zinc at 12 mg, manganese at 1 mg, copper at 0.5 mg and iodine at 0.3 mg.

£7.87 a kilo for the duck and chicken cups and £14.11 a kilo for the organic ones. The duck and chicken pots come in 150 g and 300 g sizes sold singly and in cases of 11 and 18. The organic pots come in a 100 g size sold singly or in a case of 17.

Growing pups eat to a moving target, so let the guide on the pack and the shape of your puppy set the amount.