Webbox Naturals Adult Grain Free Tray: Lamb and Chicken with Sweet Potato, Peas and Mint review

Wet does well as a category with us. The middle of the adult wet shelf already sits in our Excellent band, so the question is what it takes to climb past that. This tray lands above that middle. Protein and processing reads Excellent, with nutritional balance, transparency and value all Outstanding. The label shows why: two named animals at the top, nothing vague underneath them, and carbohydrate at 14.0% of dry matter where the typical adult wet food runs at 15.8%.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb (33%), Chicken (32%), Sweet Potato (4%), Peas (1% Dried Peas, Equivalent to 8% Peas), Mint (1%), Minerals, Chicory Root (a source of Prebiotic FOS), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Nettle, Rosemary, Parsley, Sage.

The list opens on lamb at 33% and chicken at 32%. That puts 65% of the tray into named animals before anything else gets a look in. Both are given as fresh meat and not as a dried meal, which is what you would expect in a tray. Protein converts to 40.0% of dry matter with fat at 34.0%. For a wet food that reads rich, and it is where the tray's energy comes from.

The plant side is deliberately small. Sweet potato sits at 4% and mint at 1%. The peas are declared as 1% dried peas equivalent to 8% peas before drying, which is an honest way of writing it even if it takes a second to parse. Nothing here is a cereal, so the range is fully grain free, and the carbohydrate estimate of 3.5% of the tray reflects that.

Chicory root is on the list as a source of prebiotic FOS, a soluble fibre that the good bacteria in the gut live on. Yucca schidigera extract is a common addition where a maker wants to tone down the smell of a dog's stools. Neither is doing heavy lifting, but neither is an accident either.

Nettle, rosemary, parsley and sage close the list at trace level. Rosemary earns its place twice over. Its oil is a natural antioxidant, slowing the point at which fats turn rancid, and that matters in a recipe carrying this much fat. The rest are flourishes, and none of them sells the tray. The meat at the top is.

One thing the label keeps brief is the mineral premix, which is written simply as minerals with no itemised doses beside it. Calcium is not declared either. For an adult dog on a complete food that is a small omission and not a real gap, but it is the one place this otherwise open list goes quiet.

£3.37 a kilo, in a single 400g tray sold on its own or seven to a pack.

Feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works out at about £2.21 a day, or roughly 655 grams, on an allowance of 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label's own guide puts a 10 to 20kg dog on 500 to 800 grams a day.