Canagan Puppy Grain-Free review

Canagan Puppy Grain-Free lands in our Excellent band, a step above the Good band where the middle of the puppy kibble market comes to rest. Nutritional balance and transparency both read Outstanding, with protein and processing Good and value Excellent behind them, so the placing comes from steady work in every department rather than one strength carrying the others. The meat share, the declared calcium and the printed supplement figures are what lift it clear.

Ingredients, as declared: Freshly Prepared Free Range Chicken (29%), Dried Chicken (26%), Sweet Potato, Potato, Peas, Chicken Fat (4%), Alfalfa, Dried Egg (3.1%), Chicken Gravy (1.6%), Minerals, Salmon Oil (1.2%), Glucosamine (820 mg/kg), MSM (820 mg/kg), Apple, Carrot, Fructooligosaccharides, Spinach, Psyllium, Seaweed, Chondroitin Sulphate (600 mg/kg), Peppermint,Camomile, Marigold, Cranberry, Aniseed & Fenugreek.

The chicken arrives in two forms and both repay a moment's reading. Freshly prepared free range chicken at 29% goes in with its water and gives most of it up in the oven. Dried chicken at 26% has had its water taken out beforehand, so its share stays close to what the finished kibble actually holds. Chicken fat at 4% and chicken gravy at 1.6% come off the same bird, and protein declared at 38.0% is the panel backing up the claim on the front.

Not a grain in sight here. Sweet potato and potato hold the kibble together, and peas sit just behind. The starch load stays moderate as a result, with carbohydrate estimated at 27.0% as fed, or 29.3% of dry matter, where the typical puppy dry food runs at 39.0%. Alfalfa adds a little plant fibre and psyllium husk brings the soluble sort, which growing digestions tend to appreciate.

Calcium is declared and converts to 1.52% of dry matter. In a growth food no figure matters more, and large and giant breed owners should look for it first. Bone that grows too quickly is far harder to put right than bone that grows steadily. Canagan lists this recipe for every size of puppy, and the calcium line stands behind that claim.

Three joint ingredients come with numbers attached: glucosamine at 820 mg/kg, MSM at 820 mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 600 mg/kg. Those are working figures on a food for dogs who have not finished growing, and they sit alongside fructooligosaccharides for the gut and seaweed, which is where the iodine comes from.

Dried egg at 3.1% is a genuinely useful protein to find in a puppy recipe, and salmon oil at 1.2% covers the marine omega 3 that brains and coats draw on hard during growth. Both are also the reason the allergen picture reads wider than chicken on its own.

The tail of the list runs through apple, carrot, spinach, cranberry and a run of herbs from peppermint to fenugreek. That end of the list is flavour and finish rather than nutrition, and the chicken is what this bag is really offering. Energy is declared at 393 kcal per 100g, a shade above the 376 typical of a puppy kibble, so bowls can be slightly smaller than a less energy-dense food would ask for.

£7.67 a kilo, sold in 2kg, 6kg and 12kg bags.

A puppy's daily amount keeps moving. Start from the bag's own chart for age and expected adult weight, then adjust as their shape changes week by week.