Naturo Adult Mini Dog Pouches: Duck With Rice And Vegetables review

All three pouches come out level with one another in our Good band, holding their own in a category whose typical adult wet food lands a step up in Excellent.

What lifts them is straightforward. Around two thirds of each pouch is a named animal, the percentages are printed and not left implied, and the starch comes from one declared grain instead of a category word. Transparency reads Outstanding on every pouch, with protein and processing Good and nutritional balance Good to Excellent. Value matches the overall at Good, and that near identical sheet is why no recipe pulls ahead of the others.

Ingredients, as declared: Duck 65%, Brown Rice 12.5% (from 5.2% 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 animal comes first on every label and it comes with a number beside it: duck, salmon or turkey at 65%. Once the moisture is stripped out, protein converts to between 32.1% and 35.2% of dry matter and fat to between 27.8% and 37.5%. On the wet shelf that counts as rich.

Brown rice at 12.5%, made from 5.2% dried brown rice, is the one cereal, and the label names it outright. It digests steadily and it holds the estimated carbohydrate to between 16.1% and 20.3% of dry matter, close to the 15.8% that the typical adult wet food carries. That is unusual for a wet recipe with a grain in it at all.

The vegetables at 10% start as 1.8% of dried potato, carrots and peas. Carrots are a good source of vitamin A and soluble fibre, and peas add a spread of nutrients along with a little plant protein. The shared heading means the balance between the three is not spelled out.

All three carry sunflower oil at 0.75% for its vitamin E, and salmon oil at 0.3% to cover the marine omega side. Then comes the usual Naturo garnish, every one of them at trace level: cranberry, blueberry, tomato powder, kelp, chicory root, basil, yucca, yeast and pomegranate extract. Chicory root has a job beyond flavour, as its inulin is a prebiotic fibre, but at 0.04% it gestures at that rather than delivering it.

The added vitamins and trace elements are printed with doses on each pouch. The Duck and the Turkey share the same panel, while the Salmon differs a little, carrying a higher vitamin A figure and no vitamin D3 on the label as it stands. Ash converts to between 12.5% and 14.8% of dry matter across the three, the mineral fraction left once water, protein and fat are accounted for.

Duck at 65% with the brown rice behind it, the lightest of the three at 121 kcal per 100g and the lowest in fat at 27.8% of dry matter. Duck is an easily digested meat that many dogs treat as a welcome change from chicken, and protein here converts to 35.2% of dry matter.

£6.67 a kilo on all three recipes, in 150g pouches sold 8 to a pack.

Fed to a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, the three work out at between £3.97 and £4.63 a day, or roughly 596 to 694 grams. The daily energy need behind that is about 840 kcal, from the standard 110 × bodyweight^0.75 estimate. The small dogs these pouches are made for eat a fraction of that each day.