Essential Foods Essential Balance Pate review

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon (59%), brewer's yeast (3%), peas (2.5%), lignocellulose (0.5%), calcium carbonate (0.5%), psyllium husks and seeds (0.5%), dried algae (Ascophyllum nodosum) (0.5%), algae oil (Schizochytrium limacinum) (0.3%), MOS (mannan-oligosaccharides) (0.005%), β-glucans (0.005%), FOS (fructo-oligosaccharides) (0.004%), Mojave yucca (0.004%), dried sea buckthorn (0.004%).

Salmon opens the label at 59%, the only meat the list carries. The whole animal side of the recipe rests on that one fish. Brewer's yeast follows at 3% and peas at 2.5%, and with moisture declared at 78.2% the tin comes down to fish, a small plant fraction and water.

The added fat is algae rather than fish oil. Algae oil from Schizochytrium limacinum is printed at 0.3%, with dried Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed at 0.5% beside it, so nothing on the list brings a second species in through the back door. For an owner running an exclusion trial, that keeps the recipe honestly on one fish.

Fibre is split between lignocellulose and psyllium husks and seeds, both declared at 0.5%. The fermentable additions are traces with their figures printed: MOS and beta glucans at 0.005% each, FOS at 0.004%, with Mojave yucca and dried sea buckthorn at 0.004% as well.

The additive panel is where a therapeutic tin shows its hand. Taurine and L-arginine are both supplemented, not left to the recipe. Monosodium glutamate is declared as a flavour enhancer, a practical inclusion when appetite is patchy. Clinoptilolite, a sedimentary mineral, sits under technological additives as a binder in the mix. Vitamins D3, E, C, B1 and biotin are each dosed in print alongside zinc, iron, manganese, iodine and copper.

Once water comes out of the sums, protein and fat land on the same figure, 34.4% of dry matter each, with the carbohydrate estimate at 14.2% and energy at 102 kcal per 100g. That is a rich, low starch profile put there on purpose rather than a quirk of the batch. Calcium carbonate is declared at 0.5% and calcium itself reads 1.38% of dry matter. Whether a tin built this way is right for your dog is the judgement of the vet who put them on it.

It is sold as a 400g tin, singly or in a pack of six, and works out at £9.37 a kilo. On an energy based estimate a 15kg dog would eat around 824 grams a day, which comes to roughly £7.72 a day at that rate. The label's own guide puts a 15kg dog nearer 675 grams. Either way the portion your dog gets is the one the vet sets.