Naturo Puppy Grain Free Trays review

The trays finish in our Good band. Puppy wet food is a strong category whose middle sits a band above that, so this is a solid tray in demanding company.

Transparency reads Outstanding and nutritional balance Excellent, with protein and processing at Good. The label explains why: chicken leads by a distance, nearly every entry after it carries its own percentage, and there is no grouped derivative category anywhere. The maker lists these trays across every breed size, which is the main practical difference from the pouch version of the same recipe.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 65% (Including 5% Chicken Broth), Vegetables 20% (from 3.9% 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%

Chicken is the only animal in the tray and the label puts it at 65%, adding that 5% of that is chicken broth. Broth is mostly water with flavour in it, so the protein-bearing meat sits slightly below the headline, and our own estimate of the meat share comes out at 60%. Most puppies meet chicken before any other meat, and it is palatable and easy to digest. It is also the protein dogs most often become intolerant of. Your own dog's history with it is worth knowing.

The vegetable entry is where the label is least specific. It reads as 20%, coming from 3.9% dried potato with carrots and peas, so the potato is the only part with a number of its own. Dried ingredients rehydrate during production, which is how that small dried figure supports a much larger cooked share. Carbohydrate is estimated at 16.6% of dry matter, a little above the 13.6% typical of the category, which is the sort of gap you would expect from a recipe that leans on potato.

Fat converts to 35.2% of dry matter, a rich figure that comes from the chicken itself as much as from the two added oils. Sunflower oil sits at 0.75%, a light plant fat carrying natural vitamin E. The marine omega 3 in the tray comes from salmon oil at 0.3%. A growing pup uses it for coat and for brain and eye development. At 1.9% of dry matter the fibre reading is very low, and that is normal for a meat-led tray.

Below the oils comes a run of small, deliberate touches. Tomato powder is at 0.15% and dried kelp at 0.08%. Cranberry and blueberry take 0.05% apiece. Chicory root and yeast sit at 0.04%, then basil and yucca. Kelp is a broad mineral and iodine source, and the chicory root is there for its inulin. At these levels the whole group seasons the recipe and nothing more.

Minerals appear as one entry and the added panel is dosed per kilo. Vitamin A is at 1,500IU, vitamin D3 at 250IU and vitamin E at 40mg. Zinc is at 22mg, iron at 15mg, manganese at 5mg, copper at 4.50mg and iodine at 0.75mg. Selenium comes at 0.04mg as sodium selenite, the widely used permitted form. Ash converts to 13.0% of dry matter, so the minerals for bone building are clearly there. Calcium itself is never printed, and on a tray offered to giant breed puppies that is the number worth chasing up.

£3.75 a kilo, sold as 7 x 400g trays.

The label's guide starts at 300g a day for a 5kg pup, sits between 800g and 1000g through the middle of its chart and reaches 1300g for the biggest pups on it. Those steps come round quickly while a dog is growing. Check the chart against this week's weight and the size you expect them to finish at, and do not settle into a fixed number of trays.