Ruff's Recipes Grain-Free Trays: Shepherds Pie review

All four trays land in our Excellent band, with Hunters Stew at the upper end and the other three grouped a little below it. Hunters Stew is the one that pulls clear, reading Outstanding for protein and processing, nutritional balance and transparency, largely because it names four separate animals and puts a figure against every one of them. The other three read Good for protein and processing, and nutritional balance and transparency read Outstanding right across the range. Homely Fish Pie and One-Pot Chicken get there on protein at 50.0% of dry matter or better with almost no starch underneath. The typical adult wet food is an Excellent band food too, so this range is competing in the thick of a strong category rather than standing outside it.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb (60%), Potato (4%), Carrot (4%), Minerals, Linseed, Dried Herbs & Botanicals (0.2%) (Seaweed, Nettle, Rosemary, Bay, Dill, Mint, Oregano, Thyme, Chamomile, Turmeric, Reishi Mushroom, Valerian Root), Chicory (a source of Inulin), Dried Blueberry.

Meat at 60% is the fixed point of every tray, and each recipe fills that share differently. Cod does the job alone in the fish tray, chicken in One-Pot Chicken and lamb in Shepherds Pie. Hunters Stew divides its 60% between duck at 21%, turkey at 20%, pork at 14% and venison at 5%. Naming four animals and declaring each share like that is rare on any label, and venison in particular is one of the least common meats you will find in a dog food.

Two vegetables sit behind the meat in every tray, each at 4%, drawn from potato and peas, sweet potato and carrot and dried spinach. That is a very small plant fraction and the analysis shows it. Estimated carbohydrate reads 0.0% of dry matter in three of the four trays and 2.7% in Hunters Stew, against 15.8% for the typical adult wet food. Linseed follows for omega-3, and chicory is there for inulin, food for the gut's good bacteria. Dried blueberry closes each list. Last comes the herb and botanical blend, 0.2% covering seaweed, nettle, rosemary, turmeric, reishi mushroom and valerian root at trace level.

Homely Fish Pie is the one recipe with an added oil, and it is a good one. Salmon oil goes undeclared as a percentage but sits high enough in the order to matter, bringing the long-chain omega-3s that linseed cannot supply on its own. It does mean the tray carries two fish rather than one, which is the difference between a fish-led recipe and a single-species trial.

The added panel is short and dosed throughout: zinc at 15.3 mg per kilo and manganese at 3.2 mg, both in chelated form, with iodine at 0.5 mg and copper at 2.4 mg. No vitamins are declared on any of the four. That is a spare panel for a food sold as a complete diet. Give calcium a look before you settle on a tray: it runs from 1.67% of dry matter in the fish up to 2.22% in the stew and the chicken.

Lamb at 60%, with potato and carrot at 4% each. One red meat, and a change of scene for a dog tired of poultry and fish. At 33.3% fat on a dry matter basis and 88 kcal per 100g, it is the richest of the four. Its crude ash is declared at 6.0%, well above the 2.5% on the other three trays. That converts to 33.3% of dry matter and pulls protein down to 38.9%. Check it with your vet if your dog is on a mineral-restricted plan.

£9.27 a kilo, in 150g trays.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat between 955 and 1167 grams a day depending on the tray. That comes to between £8.85 and £10.81, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). Hunters Stew's label guide puts a 12kg to 25kg dog on 825 to 1500 grams a day, and the fish tray, being the lightest, asks for 975 to 1725 grams over the same range.