Symply Adult Trays: Turkey Bake review

Three of the four trays finish in our Excellent band, with the Ocean Fish a band below in Good. The wet category has its middle in the Excellent band too, so those three sit level with the better wet dinners and the fish tray just behind them. Nutritional balance reads Outstanding on three of them and Excellent on the Ocean Fish. Protein and processing reads Outstanding on the chicken, lamb and turkey and drops to Good on the Ocean Fish, which is the one label leaving its animal unnamed, while transparency reads Outstanding on all four.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey (73%), Brown Rice (4%), Peas (3%), Carrots (1%), Minerals, Salmon Oil (0.5%), Seaweed (0.12%), Prebiotic - Fructooligosaccharide, Yucca Extract.

Each tray puts its animal first with a figure attached: chicken, lamb and turkey at 73% apiece, and ocean fish at 81%. That is a high share for a wet food and it holds steady across the range, so choosing between these trays really is a choice of animal rather than a choice of quality.

Ocean fish never gets narrowed down to a species. It is a common way of labelling a mixed catch and it says nothing about quality either way. An owner keeping a species-level list, or a dog with a diagnosed fish allergy, will want to know.

Brown rice is the only cereal, at 4% in three of the trays and 5% in the Ocean Fish, with peas at 3% and carrots at 1% alongside. The amounts are modest and the conversions show it, running from 2.0% of dry matter on the Chicken Pie to 24.0% on the Ocean Fish against 15.8% for the typical adult wet food.

Protein lands between 38.0% and 52.0% of dry matter across the four, with fat between 22.0% and 32.0%. The Chicken Pie is the richest of them and the Ocean Fish the lightest, which is worth holding on to if your dog is watching their waistline.

Salmon oil at 0.5% and seaweed at 0.12% appear on every label, the first for omega-3 and the second for iodine and trace minerals. Fructo-oligosaccharide is the prebiotic, yucca extract the traditional deodoriser, and the trace elements come in chelated forms that a dog takes up readily.

Turkey at 73%, the leanest of the poultry options. If chicken sits a shade rich with your dog, this is the familiar swap. Protein converts to 44.4% of dry matter, fat to 25.9%, and energy to an estimated 117 kcal per 100g.

The trays weigh 395 g and work out at £7.57 a kilo. Packs of seven are sold alongside the single trays.

For a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition the day rate lands between £5.43 and £6.30 depending on the tray, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That is roughly 717 to 832 grams, or about two trays.