Pedigree in Loaf Tins review

Our bands reward the named meat a recipe can point to, and this one points to very little of it, which is a large part of why both entries finish in our Average band. It is worth setting out exactly what that means, and what it does not. The analysis itself is ordinary rather than alarming: protein converts to 39.5% of dry matter and fat to 26.3%, both unremarkable for a tinned food. Estimated carbohydrate at 21.0% of dry matter runs above the 15.8% typical for adult wet food, so the unnamed cereals carry a fair share of the tin. Set against that, the typical adult wet food reaches our Excellent band, which is the honest measure of the distance involved. None of this is a safety verdict on a tin that has fed dogs for generations. It is a description of a recipe that keeps its contents to itself.

Ingredients, as declared: Meat and Animal Derivatives* (including a Mix of Beef 2% and Pork Liver 4%), Cereals, Minerals, Derivatives of Vegetable Origin (including Dried Beet Pulp 0.5%), *95% Natural

Meat and animal derivatives is a legal category, not a description. The fleshy parts of slaughtered warm blooded land animals go in, and so do the products of processing their carcasses. What it holds can be excellent material or very plain material, and the label gives no way to tell which. The maker can also change what goes in whenever it suits, and the wording stays put. What is pinned down is small: beef at 2% and pork liver at 4% in the original tin, with the chicken recipe in the mixed case naming its bird at 4%.

Cereals and derivatives of vegetable origin are the same kind of umbrella. Any grain qualifies as cereals, and derivatives of vegetable origin covers nearly anything grown once it has been through a process. The single named plant is dried beet pulp at 0.5%, a fibre for firmer stools.

Minerals appearing as an ingredient in their own right explains the ash figure, which converts to 11.1% of dry matter. That is on the higher side. A good deal of the tin's non water content sits there, alongside the estimated 21.0% of dry matter that is carbohydrate.

Only the additive panel gets specific, and it is dosed properly. Vitamin D3 comes at 300 IU per kilo and vitamin E at 20.0 mg, with copper at 1.5 mg, iodine at 0.23, iron at 3.0, manganese at 1.8 and zinc at 19.4. There is more precision in that block than in the ingredient list above it.

None of this makes it a tin to avoid. The texture is easy for a dog with a tired mouth, and the energy density is gentle on a dog carrying a little extra. The servings are printed for every size, and the brand has been feeding British dogs longer than most. The reputation of the maker is what you are buying, since this label was never built to be read.

The single 400g tin of the original recipe, with beef at 2% and pork liver at 4% named inside the meat and animal derivatives block and nothing else tied to an animal. Of the two it carries the plainest label, and it suits a dog that has settled on the original with no wish to rotate.

The mixed selection case of 12 x 400g tins comes to £5.25 a kilo. We held no checked figure for the single 400g tin, so nothing is quoted for it here.

Using the case figure, feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at about £5.07 a day, or roughly 966 grams. That rests on the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The tin's own guide is more generous again, asking 600 to 650 grams for a 10kg dog and 1000 to 1100 grams for a 20kg dog.