Europa Puppy Trays: Chicken & Rice review

This tray reaches our Excellent band, which is also where the typical puppy wet food sits, and that is strong company to be keeping. At 65% meat it goes clear of that typical mark, and the analysis matches the claim on the front of the pack. Protein and processing reads Excellent, with nutritional balance and transparency Outstanding and value Excellent.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (65%), Brown Rice (6%), Carrots (6%), Salmon Oil, Mixed Herbs (0.5%), Seaweed (55.6 mg/kg), Glucosamine (38.9 mg/kg), Chondroitin (22.2 mg/kg), Yucca Extract (22.2 mg/kg), Cranberry Extract (22.2 mg/kg), Yeast Extract (11.1 mg/kg), Vegetables, Vitamins & Minerals

Chicken at 65% is the whole basis of the recipe, and the analysis follows it. Protein converts to 36.4% of dry matter and fat to the same figure, the profile of a food built on meat. Nothing starchy hides behind the headline: carbohydrate is an estimated 15.6% of dry matter, close to the 13.6% typical of a puppy wet food.

Brown rice at 6% and carrots at 6% are the only sizeable plant entries. Brown rice is a whole grain most pups digest happily, and it does put the tray outside a grain free plan, while carrots bring soluble fibre and natural antioxidants with them.

Salmon oil is the named fat, and marine omega 3 is exactly what a developing coat and brain draw on. It is also the reason fish belongs in the allergen picture even though chicken is the only meat here.

The tail of the list is printed to the milligram: seaweed at 55.6 mg/kg, glucosamine at 38.9 mg/kg, then chondroitin, yucca extract and cranberry extract at 22.2 mg/kg each and yeast extract at 11.1 mg/kg. Read them as considered small inclusions rather than working doses, with the seaweed also acting as a natural source of iodine.

A few entries stay general. Vegetables closes the list without detail, mixed herbs at 0.5% covers whatever the blend holds, and the vitamins and minerals arrive as a heading rather than a dose. That is common on wet food labels, though it does leave a corner of the recipe unread.

Nowhere on the pack is calcium declared. An owner with a large breed pup on their hands wants that figure more than any other. Ash converts to 9.8% of dry matter, so minerals are plainly present. A total says nothing about the calcium inside it, and no claim about rearing a big pup can rest on a number that was never printed.

Energy of 135 kcal per 100g is our estimate, not a figure the label declares, and it runs above the 106 typical of a puppy wet food. A tray therefore goes further than its size suggests, which is worth remembering when you are portioning.

£4.05 a kilo, sold in 395g trays.

Nothing about feeding a puppy stays fixed, so begin with the guide on the pack and move up or down a tray as your pup grows through each stage.