Happy Dog

Happy Dog Vet Diet: Recovery review

We don't put a score on this food. It is a veterinary diet, formulated for a diagnosed condition and meant to be fed on a vet's advice. Your vet has seen your dog and we have not, so a number from us could only pull you towards their advice or away from it, and neither of those is ours to do. What follows is what the label declares, what the analysis works out at, and where to buy it, with no judgement attached to any of it.

Happy Dog sells these five tins through its VET Diet line as the wet counterparts to its condition named kibbles. Adipositas, Intestinal, Renal and Struvit sit alongside a Recovery tin the maker aims at dogs eating their way back from illness.

WetAdult

Flavour

The wet side of Happy Dog's VET Diet line, four tins named for a condition and a Recovery tin for dogs eating their way back from illness. We do not score them. Each one is built to a very different shape, from the lean Adipositas to the dense Renal.

Where to buy: coming soon

Live retailer links are coming soon. Once we have them from UK retailers, where to buy and the best price will appear here.

Our view

Likely to suit

A dog whose vet has prescribed one of these conditions' diets in wet form
Feeding alongside a kibble, which is how these tins are often used
A convalescent dog that eats little: the Recovery packs the most into a small tin
Owners who want each trace element dosed on the panel

Worth watching

Salmon oil in every tin, so fish is present even where no fish is listed as meat
Meat percentages missing on two tins, so the animal content is not visible on all of them

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adult dogs of every size. Which tin, how much and for how long are set by the vet treating the condition on the label.

Food type

Wet

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Chicken

What's in it

Meat and offal of chicken and turkey50 %, 15%The only tin with turkey.
Sweet potato3 %
Whole egg powder2 %Egg is in this tin.
Potato protein, minerals
Salmon oil0.5 %Fish derived.
Cellulose
Chicory root (source for FOS)0.2%
Milk thistle seeds0.05 %

The fullest panel in the range: the B vitamins throughout, choline chloride at 600 mg, L-carnitine at 1000 mg and taurine at 750 mg per kilo.

Named ingredients

Meat and offal of chicken (50 %) and turkey (15%), sweet potato (3 %), whole egg powder (2 %), potato protein, minerals, salmon oil (0.5 %), cellulose, chicory root (source for FOS) (0.2%), milk thistle seeds (0.05 %)

Against the range

Protein, dry matter: 51.2%; The highest of the five; the Renal is 25.0%.
Carbohydrate: 10.8%; Lowest in the range.
Tin size: 200g; The others are 400g.
Additive panel: Full B vitamins, taurine, L-carnitine; Shorter on the other four.

Packing this much into a small tin is the whole idea of a convalescence food.

Every tin opens on meat and offal, not a named cut. Chicken runs through all five, pork joins it in three and turkey appears only in the Recovery. Three tins print their meat percentages and two do not.

Salmon oil is in all five, and chicory root supplies FOS throughout. Minerals appear on the lists as one word, with the doses held for the additive panel. DL-methionine is added to three, at very different levels. No tin prints a calorie figure.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

117.2 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

12.8%

Fat

7.4%

Fibre

0.3%

Ash

1.8%

Moisture

75%

Dry weight

Protein

51.2%

Fat

29.6%

Fibre

1.2%

Ash

7.2%

Carbs

10.8%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

52%

Added water

26.6%

Carbs

15%

Veg

0.2%

Oils

0.5%

Other

5.8%