Pedigree Pouches in Gravy: Mixed Selection 80/40/12 x 100g review

All four packs share one analysis, and yet they do not share a band. The farmers and mixed selections reach our Good band, while the poultry selection and the beef and liver pack sit a step back in our Average band. What separates them is protein and processing, Good on the first pair and Poor on the second. Transparency reads well on all four regardless, from Good up to Outstanding. Underneath the bands the analysis is moderate rather than poor, with protein converting to 41.2% of dry matter, fat to 22.4% and estimated carbohydrate to 24.0%. Those figures put nutritional balance at Outstanding on every pack. The typical adult wet food gets as far as our Excellent band, which is the fair measure of how much ground there is between these pouches and the middle of the shelf.

Ingredients, as declared: With Beef and Lamb Mix and Carrots: Meat and Animal Derivatives* (including a Mix of Beef 7% and Lamb 7% and Pork Liver 9.6% in the Chunk), Cereals, Vegetables (including Dried Carrots 0.6%, equivalent to Carrots 4%; Sweet Potato Powder 0.01%), Vegetable Protein Extracts, Derivatives of Vegetable Origin (Dried Beet Pulp 0.5%), Minerals, Yeast (Mannan-Oligosaccharides 0.1%), Fruit (Apple Powder 0.01%), With Beef and Liver Mix and Vegetables: Meat and Animal Derivatives* (including a Mix of Beef 6% and Pork Liver 9.6% in the Chunk), Cereals, Vegetables (including Dried Carrot and Pea Mix 0.8%, equivalent to Carrot and Pea Mix 4%, Sweet Potato Powder 0.01%), Vegetable Protein Extracts, Derivatives of Vegetable Origin (Dried Beet Pulp 0.5%), Minerals, Yeast (Mannan-Oligosaccharides 0.1%), Fruit (Apple Powder 0.01%), With Chicken and Vegetables: Meat and Animal Derivatives* (including Chicken 14% and Pork Liver 9.6% in the Chunk), Cereals, Vegetables (including Dried Carrot and Pea Mix 0.8%, equivalent to Carrot and Pea Mix 4%, Sweet Potato Powder 0.01%), Vegetable Protein Extracts, Derivatives of Vegetable Origin (Dried Beet Pulp 0.5%), Minerals, Yeast (Mannan-Oligosaccharides 0.1%), Fruit (Apple Powder 0.01%), With Turkey and Carrots: Meat and Animal Derivatives* (including Turkey 14% and Pork Liver 9.6% in the Chunk), Cereals, Vegetables (including Dried Carrots 0.6%, equivalent to Carrots 4%, Sweet Potato Powder 0.01%), Vegetable Protein Extracts, Derivatives of Vegetable Origin (Dried Beet Pulp 0.5%), Minerals, Yeast (Mannan-Oligosaccharides 0.1%), Fruit (Apple Powder 0.01%), *96% Natural, Chunk typically 42% of the product

Start with the chunk, because that is where the food is. It makes up typically 42% of the pouch and it is built from meat and animal derivatives, a legal category covering the fleshy parts and processing derivatives of warm blooded land animals. It might be good material or it might be plain, and nothing on the label says which. What is nailed down is the named meat, at 14% where a recipe leads on one animal and 6% or 7% where it leads on a mix. Pork liver at 9.6% is nailed down too, a genuinely useful inclusion for its vitamin A, B12 and copper.

The gravy carries the rest. Cereals go unnamed, vegetable protein extracts add plant protein of unstated origin, and derivatives of vegetable origin brings in dried beet pulp at 0.5% as the one named fibre. Vegetable protein is nutritionally weaker than animal protein for a dog. Sitting high on the list, it is part of why the analysis flatters the ingredient list.

Then come the flourishes, and they are small. Mannan-oligosaccharides at 0.1% from yeast are a real prebiotic, though at that share they are a nod towards gut health. Dried carrot and pea at 0.8% is declared as equivalent to 4% fresh, honest labelling of a modest amount. The sweet potato powder and apple powder at 0.01% each are there for the ingredient list more than for the dog.

The added panel is properly dosed and worth the credit. Vitamin D3 comes at 187 IU per kilo and vitamin E at 28.0 mg, with copper at 1.6 mg, iodine at 0.26, iron at 3.4, manganese at 2.0 and zinc at 15.9. As so often with this style of label, the additives are described far more precisely than the food they sit in.

Read as a whole, this is a light, soft, easy meal that a lot of dogs eat with enthusiasm, built from material the maker will not itemise. The analysis is unexceptional, the calories are gentle, and the pouches make portioning simple. What you cannot do with them is trace a reaction back to an ingredient, and that is the trade being offered.

The beef and lamb mix and the beef and liver mix again, joined here by chicken at 14% and turkey at 14%, and sold in 12, 40 and 80 pouch packs. Two of its four recipes name a single bird at 14%, which puts it level with the farmers selection. The range of pack sizes makes it the easiest of the boxes to buy for a big household.

Sold in 3, 12, 40 and 80 pouch packs, each pouch 100g. No checked per-kilo figure was available for any of the four, so no per-kilo or per-day figure is given here.

On portions, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs roughly 1120 grams a day, taking the standard maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75) and the pouches' own energy figure. The label asks for rather less, 700 to 800 grams a day for a 10kg dog and 1200 to 1300 grams for a 20kg dog. His condition decides the right end of that range.