Skinner's Field & Trial Wet Foods Puppy & Junior review

Puppy wet food is strong ground, and its midpoint already sits in our Excellent band, so clearing that midpoint means something. This carton goes a step further again, into our Outstanding band, which puts it in good company rather than merely keeping up.

Nutritional balance, transparency and value all read Outstanding, with protein and processing Excellent. The recipe earns that the plain way, with a high meat share, a short plant list you can check in one look, and a declared energy figure instead of an estimated one.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 60%, Carrot 2%, Potato 2%, Parsnip 1.5%, Dried egg, Dried seaweed

Chicken at 60% does nearly all the work here, and the analysis agrees with what the carton claims on the front. Protein converts to 41.4% of dry matter and fat to 34.5%. That is what a food built out of meat looks like. There is good reason no meat appears in more dog food than chicken: most dogs digest it well and most dogs enjoy it.

The plant side is almost nominal. Carrot at 2%, potato at 2% and parsnip at 1.5% are the only vegetables. Estimated carbohydrate is 2.5% as fed, or 8.6% of dry matter, against the 13.6% typical of a wet puppy food. Grain of any kind is absent, and a grain free household is answered without a claim on the front.

Dried egg brings a complete protein with a full spread of amino acids, and it is the reason the recipe carries a second animal source despite chicken being the only meat. Dried seaweed closes the list, a natural mineral source that also carries iodine for thyroid function, used here in the small quantities that ingredient calls for.

The added panel is printed with its amounts: vitamin A at 3300iu and vitamin D3 at 275iu per kilogram, with zinc at 27.5mg, iron at 13.2mg, manganese at 2.2mg and copper at 1.3mg. Ash is declared at 3.0%, converting to 10.3% of dry matter, so the mineral side of the recipe is present without being heavy.

The gap in an otherwise tidy label is calcium, which is printed nowhere. On a food carrying puppy and junior on the front, a large breed owner reaches for calcium first. Any claim about rearing a big breed rests on that figure, and here there is none to rest on. For a small or medium pup it matters far less, and the rest of the analysis is declared, not assumed, including the 139 kcal per 100g.

£3.67 a kilo, sold in 390g cartons.

How much of that a puppy gets through changes month by month. Work from the feeding chart on the carton, which allows up to 650g a day for a pup of up to 10kg, and let your puppy's outline be the real guide.