Wainwright's Sensitive Mature Cans review

Our Good band holds this tin, a step under the typical adult wet food, since wet scores well as a category. Protein and processing, nutritional balance and value all read Good, with transparency Outstanding. That is fair on a recipe that names and counts its meat, keeps its plant list to a handful of entries and never claims more than the label can show. The ceiling comes from the half of the tin that is not salmon, where dehydrated sweet potato at 5% rehydrates to the equivalent of 25% sweet potato and takes a real share of the recipe.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon (50%), Dehydrated Sweet Potato (5%)(equivalent to 25% Sweet Potato), Dehydrated Peas (1.3%)(equivalent to 4% Peas), Krill Meal (1%), Minerals, Salmon Oil (0.3%), Dried Seaweed (0.1%), Green Lipped Mussel (0.05%), Chicory Root Extract (0.05% as a source of Prebiotic Fructo-oligosaccharide), Yucca Extract (0.01%) Glucosamine (0.004%), Chondroitin (0.002%)

Salmon leads the list at a printed 50%, and it is the one meat named in the tin. Protein converts to 28.0% of dry matter and fat to 36.0%, a moderate pairing for a wet food and a sensible balance for a dog that has eased off the long walks.

Dehydrated sweet potato at 5% comes second and rehydrates to the equivalent of 25% sweet potato, with dehydrated peas at 1.3% behind it standing in for 4% peas. Sweet potato is a steady, gentle starch that older dogs handle well, though at this share it lifts estimated carbohydrate to 22.0% of dry matter.

Krill meal at 1%, salmon oil at 0.3%, dried seaweed at 0.1% and green lipped mussel at 0.05% make up the marine tail of the list. Seaweed carries iodine and a broad mineral spread, while krill and mussel bring the sort of oils that suit an older dog, though in quantities this small they season the recipe rather than dose it.

Glucosamine and chondroitin close the list at 0.004% and 0.002%. Makers reach for both once a food is pointed at older joints. Both are named, though the quantities are slight. Worth knowing about, not worth losing sleep over. Chicory root extract at 0.05% supplies a prebiotic and yucca extract at 0.01% helps with odour. Every added vitamin and trace element carries a figure beside it.

The cans are 395g, sold in packs of 6, at £5.06 a kilo.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would get through roughly 699 grams a day, which comes to £3.54, working from a daily requirement of about 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). For a dog of that weight the label prints 493.8 to 888.8 grams.