Bob & Lush Puppy Kibble review

Bob & Lush Puppy Kibble settles into our Good band, the same band the middle of the puppy dry field occupies. The label is where the strength shows, with transparency at Outstanding and value at Good. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Average. What holds it just short of the band above is the starch share and an analysis that prints no calcium.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh Duck (55%), Potatoes (26%), Peas (9%), Duck Fat (4%), Duck Stock (1%), Linseed (1%), Brewer's Yeast (1%), Beet Pulp (1%), Sunflower Oil (1%), Minerals, Vitamins, Yucca Schidigera Extract (0.3%), FOS (0.1%), MOS (0.1%).

Fresh duck at 55% is the headline, and fresh meat carries its water, so the finished kibble holds less duck than that figure reads at first glance. The declared protein of 25.0% is the honest end result, converting to 27.2% of dry matter. What matters more here is the consistency: duck fat at 4% and duck stock at 1% come from the same bird, so nothing slips a second animal into the bag.

The starch is potatoes at 26% with peas at 9%. Not a single cereal appears on the list. Potato is largely starch, which is why carbohydrate reaches 41.0% and converts to 44.5% of dry matter, above the 39.0% typical for the category. Beet pulp at 1% adds a mild fibre for a young gut.

Skin and coat get plant omega 3 from linseed at 1%, and sunflower oil at 1% brings a fat rich in vitamin E. Brewer's yeast at 1% is a natural source of B vitamins. Yucca extract at 0.3% tones down the smell of what your pup leaves behind, and anyone house training will be grateful for it.

FOS and MOS both appear at 0.1%, a pairing that feeds the friendly gut bacteria from two directions, one drawn from plants and one from yeast cell walls. Small inclusions, but printed ones, which is more than most labels bother with.

The added panel is thorough: vitamin E at 135 mg/kg, zinc at 285 mg/kg and iron at 310 mg/kg among the minerals, plus taurine at 1,100 mg/kg and L-carnitine at 500 mg/kg. Calcium, though, appears nowhere in the analysis. This food is offered to pups of every size from toy to giant, and a big breed owner would want that number most of all.

£7.60 a kilo, sold in 2kg, 4kg, 7.5kg and 15kg bags.

A growing pup's portion is a moving target. Weigh to the chart on the bag by age and expected adult size, and let the final amount follow the shape of your pup.