Ava Large Breed Puppy review

Our scoring places this recipe in the Good band, level with the middle of the puppy dry field. Transparency reads Outstanding, with protein and processing, nutritional balance and value all Good, so nothing here is falling over; what stops it climbing further is spread thinly rather than concentrated in one place.

Three things are doing it. The base is cereal-led, the declared calcium sits above the usual large breed mark, and the energy figure has to be estimated because the label does not print one. Set against that, the chicken share is generous and every extract on the list arrives with a percentage next to it, which is more than many bags of this kind offer.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (51%) (Chicken Meal 24.5%, Fresh Chicken 17.5%, Chicken Fat 6.5%, Chicken Gravy (2.5%), Brown Rice (22.5%), Maize (13.5%), Beet Pulp (5%), Whole Dried Egg, Salmon Oil, Brewers Yeast, Minerals, Chicory Root Extrat (as a source of Prebiotic Frutooligosaccharide) 0.16%, Yeasts (as a source of Beta-glucans and Prebiotic Mannanoligosaccharide) (0.11%), Glucosamine (0.04%), Chondroitin (0.03%, Yucca Extract (0.02%), Cranberry Extract (0.01%), Green Tea Extract (0.005%), Pomegranate Extract (0.005%)

Chicken at 51% is broken into its parts, and that itemisation is genuinely useful: chicken meal at 24.5%, fresh chicken at 17.5%, chicken fat at 6.5% and chicken gravy at 2.5%. The meal is dried meat, so its share arrives more or less intact in the finished kibble, while the fresh chicken loses most of its water during cooking. Protein comes out at 28.0% as fed and 30.4% of dry matter.

Calcium is declared, converting to 1.63% of dry matter, and in a growth food that number is the one to look at first. Puppy bones lay themselves down on a schedule of their own, and a big pup does best on a measured calcium supply. A figure a shade above the usual large breed target is worth raising with your vet. Having it printed at all puts you ahead of most labels.

The starch here is brown rice at 22.5% and maize at 13.5%, with beet pulp at 5% supplying a well-tolerated fibre. Carbohydrate lands at 37.5% as fed and an estimated 40.8% of dry matter, a little richer in starch than the 39.0% typical for a puppy dry food. Fat at 17.0% pushes our energy estimate to 374 kcal per 100g, near enough level with the 376 typical.

The gut and joint extras are small but specific. Chicory root extract at 0.16% is there for its prebiotic fructooligosaccharide and yeasts at 0.11% for beta-glucans and mannanoligosaccharides, a sensible pairing for a young digestion still finding its feet. Glucosamine at 0.04% and chondroitin at 0.03% follow, better read as gentle ongoing support than as a working dose.

Whole dried egg brings protein a puppy uses easily and salmon oil brings marine omega 3 for skin, coat and brain, which is also how fish comes to sit on an otherwise chicken label. Yucca extract at 0.02%, cranberry at 0.01% and a pinch each of green tea and pomegranate at 0.005% finish the list, with a fully named vitamin and chelated trace element panel behind them.

£5.45 a kilo, in a 2kg bag.

What a big puppy needs in the bowl changes month by month. Read the pack's chart against their age and expected adult size, and adjust in small steps as they grow into it.