Winalot Classics In Jelly: Cod review

Two labels, one landing: our Average band for both single-flavour tins. The declared analysis is identical across both. An Excellent-band food is what the typical adult wet food looks like, so the whole range sits below that mark. None of this is a safety judgement on a tin that has been feeding British dogs for generations; it is a reading of how much each label is prepared to show.

Ingredients, as declared: Meat and animal derivatives* (96% natural ingredients*), Cereals*, Fish and fish derivatives* (of which Cod 4%), Vegetable protein extracts, Minerals, Various sugars, *natural ingredients.

Read any of these labels and the shape is the same. Meat and animal derivatives comes first and can mean any warm-blooded land animal and any part of it, with only the flavour animal fixed at 4%. Winalot puts a natural ingredients claim of 96% alongside it. That speaks to sourcing, not to what the animal material actually is. Labels on big-brand wet food are often written this way. You are asked to trust the recipe, not to read it.

Cereals follow, unnamed, with vegetable protein extracts behind them adding plant protein of an unstated origin. Between them they explain the carbohydrate figure, which converts to an estimated 32.0% of dry matter against 15.8% for the typical adult wet food. Once the water comes out, that is a meaningful share of the tin. Nothing else separates this construction from a meat-led wet recipe by as much.

Various sugars appear on every label. In a jelly tin they do familiar work, helping the jelly set and lifting the smell and taste that get a picky dog started. Nothing is hidden about it, since the entry is printed plainly, and it is simply something to weigh if you would prefer no sugars were added to your dog's food at all.

What the panel can tell you, it does. Protein converts to 35.1% of dry matter and fat to 18.9%, moderate figures that suit a steady, unfussy adult. Energy is a declared 79 kcal per 100g on both tins. The added panel is dosed throughout, with vitamin A at 1800 IU/kg, vitamin D3 at 172 IU/kg and vitamin E at 25 IU/kg. The minerals run zinc at 19 mg/kg, iron at 12 mg/kg, manganese at 1.5 mg/kg, copper at 1.4 mg/kg and iodine at 0.41 mg/kg.

Cod is the named fish, at 4%, declared inside a fish and fish derivatives entry rather than as cod standing alone. This is the one single-flavour tin in the range built around fish, and its energy figure is declared at 79 kcal per 100g.

£3.12 a kilo on the cod tin. Single flavours come as 12 tins of 400g.

Feed a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition on an energy assumption of 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to 1063 grams of the cod tin at £3.32 a day. The label's own guide is heavier, putting a dog between 12kg and 25kg on 930 to 1530 grams a day.