Autarky Puppy Grain Free: Tantalising Turkey review

This kibble finishes in the upper reaches of our Good band, level with where the middle of the puppy dry field settles. Good is the reading across all four pillars: protein and processing, nutritional balance, transparency, value. The performance is level throughout, and no single figure is hauling the rest along.

What keeps it from pressing further is the label rather than the recipe. With neither moisture nor calcium declared, part of the picture has to be estimated, and estimates never carry the weight of a printed number. The ingredients themselves are doing plenty.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey (min 26% turkey meal and 14% freshly prepared turkey), Potato, Turkey fat, Pea starch, Pea protein, Peas, Brewer's yeast (source of postbiotics, 0.45%), Unmolassed beet pulp, Egg powder, Potato protein, Minerals, Salmon oil, Marine algae (source of omega 3 fatty acid DHA), Glucosamine, Green lipped mussel, Carob pod meal, Seaweed, Blackcurrant, Milk thistle, Turmeric, Marigold, Nettle, Mint, Yucca schidigera, Rosemary, Pomegranate, Rosehip, Fenugreek, Thyme, Olive extract, Aniseed, Dandelion, Ginger, Oregano.

Turkey meal at 26% and freshly prepared turkey at 14% give a headline of 40% turkey, and the two forms behave differently. The meal has already had its water driven off, so it carries almost its full share into the finished kibble, while the fresh portion loses a good deal of weight in cooking. Turkey is easy on most young stomachs and lighter in fat than chicken as a raw material, which suits a recipe that gets its fat elsewhere.

With no grain in the bag, potato takes the lead on starch. Behind it the peas appear three times over, as pea starch, as pea protein and as whole peas. Carbohydrate works out at an estimated 35.9% of dry matter against 39.0% for the typical puppy dry food, so the starch load is on the lighter side. That figure leans on an assumed moisture, since the label declares none. Unmolassed beet pulp brings the fibre, with crude fibre declared at just 1.5%.

Fat at 20.0% as fed, or 21.7% of dry matter, is what makes this a food for an active youngster. Our energy estimate of 390 kcal per 100g sits above the 376 typical for a puppy dry food. A growing brain and coat need marine fats, and salmon oil and marine algae supply them, with the algae named specifically for its DHA.

The tail of the list is more interesting than most. Brewer's yeast at 0.45% is declared as a source of postbiotics, and glucosamine and green lipped mussel look after the joints. Carob pod meal and seaweed sit alongside a long run of herbs from milk thistle and turmeric through to ginger and oregano. None of the botanicals carries a dose. They are finishing touches, and the turkey is what the recipe stands on.

The declared analysis stops at protein, fat, fibre and ash, which is where this label runs short. No moisture means every dry matter figure here is worked from the standard 8% assumption, and no calcium means the one number a large breed owner most wants is missing. Egg powder and potato protein sit behind the meat, adding to the protein total from outside the turkey.

£5.38 a kilo, sold in 2kg and 10kg bags.

A puppy's ration climbs steeply and then eases back as the months pass, so start from the chart on the pack. It runs from 95g a day for the smallest youngsters to 410g at the top end, and you trim or add as their shape tells you.