McAdams Wet Foods: Finest Cuts of Free Range Chicken With Garden Vegetables review

All four trays finish in our Outstanding band, and they land level with one another, so no single recipe leads the set. The analysis is what lifts them. Protein converts to 55.6% of dry matter, a high reading for anything fed from a tray, and the carbohydrate estimate stays at 11.1%, under the 15.8% typical for adult wet food. Bear in mind how well wet food does on our scoring: its midpoint is already an Excellent band food, so these trays are a step clear of company that is already strong. Protein and processing reads Good on every recipe, while nutritional balance and transparency both read Outstanding, a striking result for a label this short.

Ingredients, as declared: Free Range Chicken 55%, Carrots 6%, Garden Peas 3%, Minerals.

The lists here are about as short as a complete food gets. Free range chicken at 55% on one tray, free range turkey at 55% on another. A third has free range turkey at 51% with ASC certified Norwegian salmon at 4%, and the fourth free range chicken at 46% with chicken hearts at 5% and free range turkey at 4%. Every animal entry is named to a species and given a percentage, and free range and ASC are sourcing claims a maker has to stand behind rather than marketing adjectives.

The label never accounts for the whole tray. The named entries add up to well under the weight in your hand, and the balance, which is the liquid that turns this into wet food, is not itemised anywhere. This is common on wet labels, and no hygiene question arises. It does mean that however precisely the meat is named, this list on its own will not support a strict elimination diet.

The plant side is a couple of lines long. Carrots at 6% on three trays, garden peas at 3%, pumpkin at 6% and courgette at 3% on the chicken and turkey recipe. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 11.1% of dry matter where 15.8% is usual for adult wet food. The vegetables season the tray without filling it out.

The analysis is the quiet strength. Protein at 55.6% of dry matter is a genuinely high reading, and fat at 19.4% is moderate. Together that suits a dog carrying a little weight, or one that finds richer food heavy going. At 82.0% moisture and 70 kcal per 100g, though, the calories per gram are low, so bowls look large and a big dog gets through the trays quickly.

The added panel is short, and it is dosed to the kilo on all four. Vitamin A is at 2002.2 IU, vitamin D3 at 207.0 IU, zinc at 7.1 mg, manganese at 0.9 mg, copper at 0.8 mg and iodine at 0.7 mg. Those look like small figures beside a dry food, and they are, because a dry food has had the water taken out of it while this tray has not. Calcium is not declared.

The simplest recipe here: free range chicken at 55%, carrots at 6%, garden peas at 3% and minerals. Nothing else is on the list. For a dog that needs chicken and only chicken this is the tray, and it is a straightforward starting point for a household new to the range.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat roughly 1200 grams a day, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate).

These are light trays, so the daily amount runs high, and plenty of households pair them with a dry food rather than feeding them on their own.