Naturo Adult Light Trays review

This tray earns a place in our Good band, a step below the Excellent band where the typical adult wet food comes to rest, in a category that sets a high bar.

Transparency reads Outstanding. Good is the reading for protein and processing, for nutritional balance and for value, and the shape of the recipe explains why. A clear 55% chicken declaration and a restrained fat level earn their keep, while the brown rice lifts the estimated carbohydrate above what most wet foods carry. In a recipe built deliberately to be lighter, that trade is a choice rather than a corner cut, and the label is open enough for you to see it being made.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 55%, Brown Rice 18.5% (from 8% Dried Brown Rice), Vegetables 10% (from 1.8% Dried Potato, Carrots and Peas), Minerals, Sunflower Oil 0.75%, Salmon Oil 0.3%, Tomato Powder 0.15%, Dried Kelp 0.08%, Dried Cranberry 0.05%, Dried Blueberry 0.05%, Dried Chicory Root 0.04%, Yeast 0.04%, Dried Basil 0.016%, Yucca Powder 0.01%, Pomegranate Extract 0.002%

The whole animal contribution is chicken at 55%, declared right at the top of the list where you want to see it. With the water taken out, protein converts to 36.0% of dry matter and fat to 18.0%. That lean reading is exactly what a light recipe ought to look like, and the meat has been kept, not trimmed.

Brown rice at 18.5% is the largest entry after the chicken, declared as coming from 8% dried brown rice before cooking. A whole grain digests steadily, and this one is the main reason the estimated carbohydrate reaches 30.0% of dry matter where the typical adult wet food runs at 15.8%. Carbohydrate is an estimate on every wet food we cover, since labels are not required to print it.

The vegetable line at 10% is drawn from a 1.8% dried base of potato, carrots and peas. Carrots bring vitamin A and soluble fibre with them and peas add a useful spread of nutrients, while the grouped heading leaves the exact division between the three unstated.

The fats added on purpose are sunflower oil at 0.75%, carrying its own vitamin E, and salmon oil at 0.3% for the marine omega fats. The list then turns to garnish, all at a fraction of a percent: chicory root, tomato powder, kelp, cranberry, blueberry, yeast, basil, yucca and pomegranate extract. The inulin in chicory root is the one entry with a recognised prebiotic role.

The added panel is short and fully dosed, from vitamins A, D3 and E through to zinc, iron, copper and manganese. Crude ash comes to 14.0% of dry matter and crude fibre to only 2.0%. That is quietly reassuring in a diet food, since nothing has been padded out with fibre to make the tray feel larger than it is.

£3.75 a kilo, in 400g trays sold seven to a pack.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat around 824 grams a day, roughly two trays, working out at about £3.09. That assumes a daily energy need of about 840 kcal, taken from the usual 110 × bodyweight^0.75 maintenance formula.