Burns Puppy Mini review

Our Average band is where this one comes to rest, a step below the Good band a typical puppy kibble reaches. Value and protein and processing read Average, transparency Good, and nutritional balance Poor. Rice at 44%, white rice at 13% and oats give the recipe its shape, which leaves the 23% dried chicken carrying the animal content on its own. That is what keeps the protein and fat lines as low as they are.

None of that is careless. This is a small breed puppy food from a maker whose whole reputation rests on foods that sit quietly in a dog. The label is complete, plainly written and honest about what is in the bag. For a fussy little pup with a temperamental stomach, it does the job the score cannot really show.

Ingredients, as declared: Brown Rice (44%), Dried Chicken (23%), White Rice (13%), Chicken Oil, Oats, Peas, Sunflower Oil, Dried Fish, Minerals, Seaweed.

Rice gives this kibble its character, 44% of it brown and 13% white. Rice is about as easy a starch as a dog is given. Brown rice keeps more of its fibre and micronutrients while white rice digests faster, and the pairing is a familiar choice for a food aimed at settling a sensitive gut. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 55.4% of dry matter as a result.

Dried chicken at 23% is the meat, and it arrives dehydrated. That printed share therefore lands in the bag close to intact, where fresh meat would shrink in the oven. It is still one meat inclusion doing all the animal work, which is why protein converts to 22.8% of dry matter and fat to 12.0%.

Oats add a soft, fermentable fibre along with manganese and B vitamins, and peas bring a little plant protein and antioxidants without taking over. Chicken oil is the named animal fat and sunflower oil the light plant one. Halfway down the list, dried fish adds marine protein and omega 3. That dried fish is why fish should be on your allergy checklist here.

Seaweed closes the recipe out, bringing iodine for thyroid function and a spread of other minerals. The additive panel is properly dosed. Taurine is at 1000mg per kilo, and copper, manganese and zinc come as amino acid chelates, a form a dog absorbs more readily than plain sulphate salts. The selenium is inactivated selenised yeast.

Calcium converts to 1.2% of dry matter, printed on the label and sitting comfortably for the toy and small breed puppies this food is written for. The rest of the analysis is declared in full at 21.0% protein, 11.0% fat, 2.0% fibre, 7.0% ash and 8.0% moisture. Only the energy figure of 346 kcal per 100g is our own estimate.

£7.50 a kilo, in a single 2kg bag.

Small breeds finish growing far sooner than big ones do. Follow the bag's guide for the age and the finishing weight in front of you, and keep moving the scoop as the weeks pass.