Canine Choice Puppy Small/Medium review

This one places in our Excellent band, a step above the Good band where the typical puppy kibble settles. Transparency reads Outstanding, nutritional balance and value read Excellent, and protein and processing reads Good. The meat leading the list and the notably light starch load are what carry it.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh chicken (32%), dehydrated chicken (23%), sweet potato (14%), chicken fat, peas (7%), hydrolyzed chicken liver (5%), apple pulp (4.3%), dehydrated carrot (0.33% equivalent to 3% carrots), dehydrated cranberries (0.08% equivalent to 7.5% cranberries), pea protein, brewer's yeast, fish oil, minerals, chicory (source of fos), mannan-oligosaccharides (mos), camomile, parsley, rosehips, sea algae, rosemary, cloves, glucosamine (300mg/kg), cartilage (a source of chondroitin 200mg/kg), yucca schidigera.

Between them, 32% fresh chicken and 23% dehydrated chicken lead the recipe. Dehydrated meat goes into the mixer without its water. That is why the 23% counts for more than its position on the list implies. Chicken fat sitting third is a further sign of how much of this food comes off one bird. Hydrolysed chicken liver at 5% is a palatability ingredient, which growing pups tend to reward with a clean bowl.

Moisture is not declared, so dry matter figures here run on our standard 8% assumption for a kibble. On that basis protein converts to 34.8%, fat to 22.8% and carbohydrate to 30.7%, and that last figure is the striking one, sitting well below the 39.0% typical of a puppy dry food. Apple pulp at 4.3% joins sweet potato at 14% and peas at 7%, and that is all the starch and fibre this recipe asks for.

At 405 kcal per 100g the declared energy runs well clear of the 376 typical, and fat at 21.0% is where most of it sits. For a busy terrier or spaniel puppy that is exactly right. For a pup who prefers the sofa it simply means smaller measures, which is part of why a small breed puppy's daily portion looks so modest beside a big breed's.

The plant additions are small and specific. Dehydrated carrot at 0.33% is given as the equivalent of 3% fresh carrots. The cranberry entry at 0.08% is printed as the equivalent of 7.5% fresh, an equivalence that does not add up and is best not leaned on. Pea protein sits lower down and brings some plant protein with it, which is worth remembering when you read the declared 32.0%.

Behind the food itself sits a well built supplement list. Chicory supplies FOS, mannan-oligosaccharides supply MOS, brewer's yeast covers the B vitamins and fish oil brings the marine omega 3 that a growing coat lives on. Glucosamine at 300 mg/kg and chondroitin at 200 mg/kg from cartilage handle the joints, and a run of botanicals from camomile through parsley and rosehips to cloves finishes the list at trace level.

The declared additive panel carries doses rather than names alone, including vitamin E at 600 mg/kg and vitamin C at 300 mg/kg, with tocopherol extracts at 135 mg/kg holding the fats steady in the bag. A Bacillus subtilis probiotic is named with its strain, which is more than most growth kibbles put in print.

£5.71 a kilo, sold in a 7kg bag.

The bag prints a chart, and that is where to start. From there the ribs and the waist tell you whether to nudge the amount up or down.