Harringtons Grain Free Wet Puppy Trays review

This tray reaches our Excellent band, which is where the typical wet puppy food sits as well, and it clears that mark comfortably rather than merely keeping pace with it. Nutritional balance and transparency both read Outstanding, with protein and processing and value both at Excellent. Behind that is a label that names its meat, declares its moisture, keeps the list short and prints a percentage beside nearly everything on it.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Chicken (73%), Vegetables 20% (Fresh Potato, Peas & Fresh Carrot), Vitamins & Minerals, Salmon Oil (0.4%), Dried Tomato (0.15%), Seaweed (0.08%), Chicory (0.05%), Parsley (0.05%), Basil (0.05%), Green Tea (0.01%), Rosemary (0.01%), Rosehip (0.01%)

The chicken at 73% is freshly prepared and still carries its water. That is worth decoding, because fresh meat shrinks a good deal in the tray and the fair test is what the analysis says afterwards. Take the water out and the analysis gives protein at 37.5% of dry matter and fat at 35.4%, so the meat headline holds up.

The vegetables are given as a group at 20% and then itemised as fresh potato, peas and carrot, which is the right way round. Carbohydrate converts to 14.6% of dry matter against 13.6% typical of a wet puppy food, so the vegetable share is doing real work without turning the tray starchy.

Everything after the vegetables is garnish, and all of it is spelled out to the decimal. Salmon oil is at 0.4%, dried tomato at 0.15% and seaweed at 0.08%, then chicory, parsley and basil at 0.05% each, with green tea, rosemary and rosehip at 0.01%. None of these will change a puppy's week on its own, but a label itemising to this level is telling you it has nothing tucked away.

The salmon oil is the one thing that complicates an exclusion diet. Chicken really is the only meat here, and for a pup kept to one animal that is exactly what you want. Fish is in the recipe through the oil, so a fish free plan is not what this tray supports.

On an otherwise open label, calcium is the single gap. The tray is sold for dogs of any size, from the smallest to the largest, and prints no figure for it. A number the pack leaves out cannot carry a large breed claim. If you are raising a big pup, put the question to the maker or to your vet.

The added panel is light, as wet foods generally are, and it is dosed in print. Vitamin A is at 3000IU, vitamin D3 at 420IU and vitamin E at 40mg per kilo. Zinc is at 38.5mg, iron at 20mg, manganese at 3.75mg, copper at 2.7mg, iodine at 0.39mg and selenium at 0.04mg. Cassia gum at 2,500mg per kilo sits at the bottom of that same list, doing the thickening job most wet foods need something for.

Energy is 110 kcal per 100g against the 106 typical of a wet puppy food. Crude fibre is 0.5% and crude ash 2.5%, so portions will look much like other trays of a similar size.

£4.21 a kilo, sold in packs of 8 and 18 trays of 380g.

The pack's own table starts at 190g a day for the smallest pups and finishes at 400g. Treat it as a starting point. A puppy's needs move faster than any feeding table, so let your pup's shape tell you the rest.