JosiDog Mini in Sauce: Beef & Veggies review

The six trays share our Average band, with too little between them for the running order to be worth reading. What holds them all in the one place is protein and processing reading Poor across the range, while nutritional balance comes back Outstanding on every tray and transparency Excellent. The typical adult wet food sits above all six in our Excellent band. The gap comes from the anonymous part of the meat line, since the analysis is a genuinely good one for a tray at this size.

Ingredients, as declared: meat and animal derivatives (84.0 % in the chunks*, of which 20.0 % liver, 9.5 % beef); cereals; oils and fats; vegetable protein extracts; vegetable by-products (inulin 0.40 %); minerals; vegetables (mixture of dried peas and carrots 0.45 %, equivalent to 4.0 % fresh vegetables); caramel syrup

Start with the 84.0%, because it is the number that matters and it needs reading precisely. It describes what the chunks are made of, not what the tray holds, and the sauce sits outside it. What lifts these labels above the usual is that the maker then opens the line up. Chicken is printed at 37.5%, liver at 20.0%, and beef, lamb and turkey at 9.5%, so a fair slice of the animal content is accounted for by name.

Liver is the quiet workhorse of the range, declared at 20.0% on five recipes and 8.6% on the sixth. Few foods a dog can eat carry more nutrition per mouthful, and liver is rich in B vitamins and copper. Dogs love the taste too, and that is part of why these trays go down so easily with fussy small dogs.

Behind the chunks the list turns general. Cereals is a wide field. So is oils and fats, and so is vegetable protein extracts. Vegetable protein is a less useful source of amino acids for a dog than meat, so it is worth noticing where it sits in the order.

Inulin at 0.40% is the one deliberate flourish, a soluble plant fibre of the sort gut bacteria feed on, included at a level best described as a nod. Three recipes also add a dried vegetable line at 0.45%, equivalent to 4.0% fresh, which is seasoning rather than substance.

Caramel syrup finishes each label and is the reason sugars show up on the allergen reading. It is a colouring, aimed at the person lifting the lid and not at the dog.

The analysis is the reassuring part. Protein converts to 40.0% of dry matter and fat to 25.0%. The estimated carbohydrate lands at 23.0% against the 15.8% typical for adult wet food, and the energy figure of 92 kcal per 100g is the label's own, not our sums. The added panel is dosed throughout, with vitamin D3 at 160 IU, vitamin E at 100 mg, biotin at 100 mcg and zinc, manganese, copper and iodine each printed per kilo.

Liver at 20.0% and beef at 9.5%, with a dried pea and carrot mix at 0.45% that stands in for 4.0% fresh vegetables. Naming one animal beside the liver leaves more of the meat line unaccounted for, though it holds our Average band along with the rest of the range.

£7.90 a kilo across all six recipes, sold in packs of 24 x 100g.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would work out at around £7.24 a day, or roughly 917 grams, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). These trays are aimed at much smaller dogs than that, so a toy or small breed will get through a fraction of the daily figure.