Gelert Complete Puppy Variety Tins review

These tins land in our Average band, below the Excellent band where the middle of the wet puppy field sits. Wet puppy food is a strong class, so that gap is about the company this tin keeps and not about weakness in the food.

The split across the pillars tells the story neatly. Nutritional balance reads Outstanding, because the declared analysis really is strong for a growth food. Protein and processing and transparency each read Good, held there by a composition of four headings with only four named ingredients tucked inside them.

Ingredients, as declared: Meat & Animal Derivatives (Chicken 4%), (Lamb 4%), (Turkey 4%), Cereals (Rice 4%), Derivatives of Vegetable Origin and Minerals. Nutritional Additives: Vitamin A 2,250 IU/kg, Vitamin D3 328 IU/kg, Vitamin E 26 mg. Trace Elements: Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate 67 mg/kg, Iron Sulphate Monohydrate 42mg/kg, Copper Sulphate Pentahydrate 9.6 mg/kg, Manganese Sulphate 6.3 mg/kg, Calcium Iodate Anhydrous 0.71 mg/kg, Sodium Selenite 0.089 mg/kg.

The meat arrives as meat and animal derivatives, with chicken, lamb and turkey each declared at 4% within that heading. Those three are the variety in Variety Tins and they tell you what the recipe is built around, but the bulk of the animal content is not attributed to any one species. In practice that usually means the parts of an animal that people do not eat, which can be highly nutritious, and it also means the mix is free to move between batches.

Cereals with rice named at 4% cover the grain, and derivatives of vegetable origin cover the rest of the plant matter. Both are wide headings, so it is fair to want more detail. The reassuring part is how little of the tin they account for: the carbohydrate estimate lands at just 3.0% of dry matter, so whatever sits behind those two entries is present in small amounts.

The analysis is the best part of this label. Protein at 10.0% and fat at 6.0% look modest as fed, but a tin declaring 80.0% moisture is mostly water by weight. Take the water out and protein converts to 50.0% of dry matter, fat to 30.0%. Those are strong figures for a growing dog, and they are why nutritional balance reads the way it does.

Ash converts to 15.0% of dry matter, so there is plenty of mineral in the tin, but no calcium figure is given for it. A small or medium pup has a wider margin for error, so that gap matters less. Calcium in the bowl is the number a large or giant breed owner watches hardest through the first year, so give the maker a call before you settle in.

The added panel is printed properly. Vitamin A is at 2,250 IU, vitamin D3 at 328 IU and vitamin E at 26 mg in each kilogram. The trace elements run to zinc at 67 mg, iron at 42 mg, copper at 9.6 mg, manganese at 6.3 mg, iodine from calcium iodate at 0.71 mg and selenium at 0.089 mg. Sodium selenite is the selenium form here, and it is the one used far more widely in pet food. The organic form is generally reckoned to be the better taken up of the two, though the amounts involved either way are very small.

£11.63 a kilo. The tins hold 395g each and come six to a pack.

Our standard energy estimate puts a 10kg pup between four and twelve months of age somewhere near 804 to 983 grams a day. Growth keeps moving that figure, so treat it as a marker rather than a rule and let the chart on the label and your pup's waistline settle the real amount.