James Wellbeloved Adult Wet Loaf Cans: Turkey, Lamb & Chicken Grain Free review

Three of these cans reach our Excellent band, the chicken can and the two multipacks. The turkey can drops a band into Good: its protein and processing reads Poor where the other three read Excellent. The typical adult wet food sits in the Excellent band as well, wet being a category that scores strongly for us, so this range is broadly where a meat-first can ought to be. The grain free multipack declares the most animal content and carries the lowest estimated carbohydrate here at 19.0% of dry matter, with nutritional balance and transparency both Outstanding on it and protein and processing Excellent.

Ingredients, as declared: Multipack of three recipes. Chicken: chicken* 50% (deboned ground chicken, heart, liver, gizzard), carrots (2%), dried potatoes (including dried potatoes 1.5%, equivalent to potatoes 6%), minerals, peas (0.5%), dried beet pulp (0.5%), potato starch, oils and fats (including linseed oil 0.2%), alfalfa (0.1%), seaweed. Turkey: turkey* 50% (heart, deboned ground turkey, liver), carrots (2%), dried potatoes (including dried potatoes 1.5%, equivalent to potatoes 6%), minerals, peas (0.5%), dried beet pulp (0.5%), potato starch, oils and fats (including linseed oil 0.2%), alfalfa (0.1%), seaweed. Chicken & Lamb: chicken* 26% (deboned ground chicken, liver), lamb lung* 14%, dried potatoes (including dried potatoes 3%, equivalent to potatoes 12%), carrots (2%), oils and fats (including linseed oil 0.2%), minerals, peas (0.5%), dried beet pulp (0.5%), potato starch, alfalfa (0.1%), seaweed. *100% natural.

The single-flavour cans open with one named animal at 50%. That is a straightforward and verifiable claim, not a marketing figure, and it is half the tin before anything else is counted.

The plant side is small and printed: rice at 4%, carrots at 3.5%, peas and dried beet pulp at 0.5% each, with potato starch holding the loaf together. The grain free multipack swaps the rice for dried potatoes, declared at 1.5% with the fresh equivalent of 6% beside it, or 3% and 12% on its chicken and lamb can.

Oils and fats is the vague line, softened a little by the linseed oil inside it being declared at 0.2%. Alfalfa at 0.1% and seaweed close every list, seaweed being a natural source of iodine and a handful of other minerals.

The analysis is even across the range: protein at 37.5% of dry matter and fat at 27.5% on three of the cans, with the grain free multipack a step ahead at 39.5% and 28.9%. Those are honest wet-food figures and they sit comfortably for adult maintenance.

The added panel is short and dosed throughout: vitamin D3 at 220 IU, vitamin E at 13.8 mg, copper at 2 mg, manganese at 1.5 mg and zinc at 20 mg per kilo. The figures hold steady from can to can.

The same three-recipe idea with potato in place of rice and the offal spelled out, gizzard and liver on the chicken, lamb lung at 14% on the chicken and lamb can. It declares the most animal content of the four at an estimated 56.2%, the lowest estimated carbohydrate at 19.0% of dry matter and the highest protein at 39.5%. The rice box still just edges it on our scoring.

Between £5.73 and £11.23 a kilo depending on the recipe, sold as single cans and in packs of 12.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at between £5.38 and £10.54 a day, or roughly 939 to 981 grams. Both figures come off about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label's own guide for a 15kg dog runs from 900 to 1050 grams a day depending on the can.