Wolf Of Wilderness Classic Tins Adult: Black Rocks review

Four of the five tins finish in our Excellent band, with the wild boar just over the line into Outstanding. All five land above the middle of the adult wet shelf. Protein and processing reads Excellent on every one, and transparency reads Outstanding right across the five. The construction explains it. Two thirds of the tin is named animal, declared part by part, with a percentage on the stock as well. Nothing has been added to bulk out the rest. Protein converts to between 35.2% and 51.0% of dry matter across the range, so even the lightest of them is properly meat-led.

Ingredients, as declared: 66% goat (meat, heart, liver, lung), 28.8 % Brühe, 28.8% stock, 4% wild berries (blueberries, raspberries), 1% minerals, 0.2 % wild herbs (dandelion root, nettle, ribwort, common yarrow)

The recipe is the same in every tin and it is four lines long. One named animal at 66%, its stock at 28.8%, wild berries at 4% and minerals at 1%, then yarrow, ribwort, nettle and dandelion root at 0.2%. There is no starch source, no oil, no gum and no flavouring. You cannot often say that about a wet food.

The animal entries are declared part by part, and they lean on organ meat as much as muscle. Heart, liver and lung appear on most of the five. The chicken adds gizzards and neck. Organ meat is nutrient dense, especially liver, and that goes a long way towards explaining why these tins can carry such a brief added panel without looking thin.

Because there is no carbohydrate ingredient in the tin, the estimated carbohydrate figure needs reading with care. It is worked out by subtracting everything the label does declare from the whole, so on a list like this it collects the rounding rather than any real starch. That is why Blue River shows 27.0% of dry matter while Wide Acres, with an identical construction, shows 8.5%.

Every tin carries the same added panel, and every entry in it has a figure. Vitamin D3 sits at 200 IU, vitamin E at 20 IU, zinc at 25 mg and manganese at 1.4 mg per kilo. Only Oak Woods declares calcium, at 0.8% of dry matter, which is a comfortable level for an adult dog.

Across the five, protein converts to between 35.2% and 51.0% of dry matter and fat to between 22.7% and 27.2%, with energy running from 92 to 125 kcal per 100g. That spread is wide enough that the tin you pick will change the size of the portion in the bowl, so it is worth checking the guide again if you switch between them.

Goat at 66%, taking in heart, liver and lung as well as meat. No other tin in the range is built on it. Protein converts to 46.4% of dry matter with fat at 27.2%, the richest in the range, and energy reads 112 kcal per 100g. Goat is genuinely unusual in a British bowl. Reach for this tin when the familiar meats have stopped working.

£3.54 a kilo, and the same figure on every tin in the range.

Working from the standard maintenance estimate (110 × bodyweight^0.75), a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition wants about 840 kcal a day. That lands between £2.38 and £3.23 a day depending on which tin is in the cupboard, or roughly 672 to 913 grams. The label's own guide is broader at every weight, running from 430 to 795 grams a day for a 10kg dog depending on the tin.