Essential Foods Essential Highland Living Pate review

This tin takes our Excellent band. The wet shelf is a strong one on our scoring, with its midpoint sitting in that same band, so Highland Living stands level with the better end of the category. The meat is what earns it: 65% of the tin from two named birds with the organ meat printed separately, no category terms and no unnamed oils. Estimated carbohydrate comes in at 12.8% of dry matter, under the 15.8% the typical adult wet food carries, with nutritional balance and transparency both Outstanding and protein and processing and value both Excellent.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey meat (26%), duck meat (21%), turkey hearts (18%), carrots (2%), pea flour (2%), cranberry (1%), blueberry (1%), goji berry (1%), blackberry (1%), lignocellulose, calcium carbonate, kelp (0.2%), green tea (0.2%), marigold (0.2%), ginger (0.2%), spirulina (0.2%).

Turkey at 26% and duck at 21% open the tin, with turkey hearts at 18% completing an animal share of 65%. Duck is a protein dogs digest easily and rarely tire of. For sheer nutrient density, little on a bird beats heart, and all three entries earn their place near the top of the list.

Only two species appear anywhere on the label. No chicken, no fish oil, no unnamed fat, which is unusual enough on a wet composition to be worth saying plainly, and helpful if you are narrowing down what your dog can eat.

Carrots at 2% and pea flour at 2% carry the plant side, and four berries follow at 1% each: blueberry, cranberry, blackberry and goji berry. Carrots cook down easily for a dog and bring vitamin A along with some soluble fibre. Estimated carbohydrate settles at 12.8% of dry matter, below the 15.8% typical of adult wet food, so the plants are seasoning the tin rather than filling it.

Fat is the striking figure. It converts to 34.1% of dry matter against protein at 38.6%, and the tin comes out at 112 kcal per 100g, so this is an energy-dense bowl. For a lean or busy dog that is a gift; for a settled one it means portioning with a little more care than the guide might suggest.

Lignocellulose and calcium carbonate close the working list without percentages, the first a purified fibre for bulk and the second the calcium source, with calcium converting to 0.91% of dry matter. Ginger, marigold, spirulina, green tea and kelp all follow at 0.2% each. The panel behind them prints a dose against every entry, from vitamin A at 800 IU and vitamin D3 at 250 IU down to iodine at 0.6 mg.

£9.37 a kilo. Tins hold 400 g, sold on their own or six at a time.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would get through about 753 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to roughly £7.06. The tin's own guide asks 675 grams a day for a dog that size.