Buddy Puppy Love review

Buddy Puppy Love lands in our Good band, level with the typical puppy kibble. Nutritional balance and transparency both read Outstanding, with protein and processing at Average and value Good, so two clear strengths are carrying it. The meat opening the list, the itemised supplement doses and the declared calcium all push in the same direction, and the analysis backs them up rather than quietly undoing them.

Ingredients, as declared: salmon (42%), fresh turkey (26%), chicken fat (preserved with tocopherols), peas, sweet potato, dried apple, hydrolysed chicken liver (2%), salmon oil, carrots, dried kelp (ascophyllum nodosum), glucosamine (0.036%), chondroitin sulphate (0.026%), mannan-oligosaccharides (0.018%), fructo-oligosaccharides (0.015%), Mojave yucca (0.012%), citrusextrakt (0.006%), curcumaextrakt (0.006%) och rosmarinextrakt (0.006%).

Salmon at 42% and fresh turkey at 26% take up the whole front of the list, which is unusual and worth crediting. Most of the water in that fresh turkey goes in the oven, so its share of the finished kibble is smaller than the printed figure. The salmon is not described as either fresh or dried, so the same caution applies there. What settles the argument is the analysis: 36.0% protein as fed, converting to 40.0% of dry matter, is a genuinely meaty result.

The starch side is short and grain free. Peas do the structural work with sweet potato behind them, and dried apple and carrots add a little fruit and vegetable fibre. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 28.0% of dry matter, comfortably under the 39.0% a typical puppy kibble runs at, so the meat headline is not covering for a starchy middle.

Calcium converts to 1.56% of dry matter, declared on the label and inside the range growth calls for. Calcium is the number people get wrong when rearing a big puppy. Seeing a printed and sensible figure on a bag listed for every size from toy up to giant is exactly the right result.

Fats come from chicken fat preserved with tocopherols, a natural vitamin E preservative, with salmon oil behind it for the marine omegas a growing brain and coat draw on. Hydrolysed chicken liver at 2% is there to make the kibble taste of something, and it is also the reason chicken belongs on your allergy checklist alongside the salmon and turkey.

The tail end of the list is short, and everything in it carries a dose. Glucosamine sits at 0.036% and chondroitin sulphate at 0.026% for early joint support. The friendly gut bacteria are fed by 0.018% mannan-oligosaccharides and 0.015% fructo-oligosaccharides, and Mojave yucca at 0.012% is a common odour helper. Citrus, curcuma and rosemary extracts close things out at 0.006% each, working as natural antioxidants. Dried kelp brings iodine along the way.

The declared analysis is complete, which is more than many growth bags manage: protein 36.0%, fat 19.0%, fibre 2.0%, ash 7.8% and moisture 10.0% are all printed, and calcium besides. Only the energy line is missing, and 376 kcal per 100g is our estimate standing in for it.

£10.00 a kilo, sold in 2kg, 5kg and 17kg bags.

A growing pup's portion keeps moving, and there is no fixed scoop. Take the daily amount from the bag's chart, using your pup's age and the adult size you expect, then adjust as their shape tells you.