Naturo Senior Trays: Turkey With Rice And Vegetables review

Our reading puts the chicken and the duck trays in our Excellent band, with the turkey a step below in Good. The pick still rests on which meat suits your dog best. The typical adult wet food occupies our Excellent band as well, so these trays are keeping company with a strong field. All three read Outstanding for transparency, and the reasons hold across the range: the meat is named at 65% and given its figure. The rice is declared at 12.5% instead of hiding behind a general cereal term, and the carbohydrate estimate stays between 17.3% and 20.3% of dry matter where 15.8% is the wet norm. Grouped vegetables and token joint amounts are what stop the reading climbing further.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey 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%, Glucosamine HCI 0.005%, Chondroitin 0.002%, Pomegranate Extract 0.002%

Each tray leads with one named animal at 65%, chicken, duck or turkey, printed as a percentage with no category term standing in. Protein converts to between 35.2% and 38.5% of dry matter across the three, which for a tray meant to tempt an older appetite is a genuinely meat led analysis.

Brown rice at 12.5%, shown alongside the 5.2% dried weight behind it, is the only cereal. Rice cooked gently like this is about as undemanding as a carbohydrate gets. At this share it sits underneath the meat and stands in for none of it. The 10% vegetable entry brings potato, carrots and peas, from 1.8% in dried form.

What separates these trays from the brand's adult line is the senior tail. Glucosamine HCl at 0.005% and chondroitin at 0.002% are upkeep amounts, worth having in a daily bowl but not a substitute for a vet's dosing where arthritis has been diagnosed. L-Carnitine at 25mg sits in the additive panel too. It is an amino acid involved in fat metabolism, and it shows up where an older dog's waistline needs help.

What follows is the familiar Naturo garden, and every part of it is declared. Tomato powder takes 0.15% and kelp 0.08% for iodine. Cranberry and blueberry have 0.05% each. Chicory root at 0.04% carries prebiotic inulin, with yeast at the same level. Basil is at 0.016%, yucca at 0.01% and pomegranate extract at 0.002%.

Sunflower oil at 0.75% is the added plant fat and salmon oil at 0.3% goes in beside it. Across all three trays the vitamin and trace mineral panel prints a dose against every entry.

Turkey at 65%, the richest tray of the three at 127 kcal per 100g with fat converting to 31.5% of dry matter. It goes furthest per gram, so it suits a dog whose appetite has shrunk more than their requirements have.

£3.47 a kilo on the Chicken and the Duck, and £3.75 a kilo on the Turkey, all in 400g trays.

For a 15kg adult dog in steady condition the day rate falls between £2.41 and £2.48 depending on the tray, which is somewhere between 661 and 700 grams. Behind those figures sits an energy assumption of roughly 840 kcal a day, worked out as 110 × bodyweight^0.75.