Carnilove True Fresh Junior Large Breed review

This one comes out in our Good band, a little ahead of the midpoint of the puppy dry field, which reads Good as well. Three pillars come back Good and transparency reads Outstanding, so nothing here is leaning on a single strength. Carbohydrate converts to 40.5% of dry matter against 39.0% for the typical puppy kibble, close enough to call level. What holds the food back from pressing higher is the calcium line, not anything in the ingredients.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh duck (60%), yellow peas, beef fat (3%), hydrolysed liver (3%), linseed, chickpeas (3%), pea protein, pumpkin (2%), salmon oil (2%), red lentils, dried apple pulp (1%), carrots, egg shells, potassium chloride,sodium chloride, pea flour, dried sea buckthorn (0.2%), dried ginger root (0.1%), dried blueberries (0.1%), dried rosemary (0.1%), dried cranberries (0.1%), dried thyme (0.1%), hydrolysed crustacean shells (source of glucosamine, 0.022%), chicory root (source of fructo-oligosaccharides, 0.0163%), cartilage extract (source of chondroitin, 0.014%), brewer's yeast (source of mannan-oligosaccharides, 0.013%), Mojave yucca (0.0085%).

Fresh duck at 60% is the headline. Fresh means the duck was weighed with its water in it, and much of that water goes during cooking. Less duck ends up in the finished kibble than the bag's front suggests. What survives shows up as protein of 28.0%, or 31.1% of dry matter. Duck itself is an easy meat for a young digestion, well liked in taste tests and rarely turned down.

Yellow peas do most of the binding, with chickpeas at 3% and red lentils behind them and no cereal anywhere on the label. Whole pulses bring fibre and micronutrients along with their starch, and that is a fair trade. Further down the list sit pea protein and pea flour. Both are plant protein, added where more meat could have gone. Worth noticing on a food that already leans hard on peas.

Beef fat at 3% and salmon oil at 2% split the fat between land and sea, with linseed adding a plant omega 3 alongside. Hydrolysed liver at 3% is the palatability entry. Little else in a bowl carries as much nutrition as liver, though the label leaves that animal unnamed. Fat lands at 14.0%, or 15.6% of dry matter, and energy at 360 kcal per 100g sits under the 376 a typical puppy kibble carries. Slightly gentler energy is a reasonable thing to want when a big pup is growing.

Calcium is printed, and on a large breed food that alone puts this label ahead of a great many rivals. It converts to 1.67% of dry matter, above what large breed growth plans generally aim for. If your pup is heading for the top of the size chart, raise it with your vet. Egg shells and the mineral salts are where much of it comes from, and ash converts to 8.6% of dry matter around it.

The tail of the list carries its numbers. Glucosamine at 0.022% comes from hydrolysed crustacean shells and chondroitin at 0.014% from cartilage extract. The prebiotics are chicory root at 0.0163% for fructo-oligosaccharides, with brewer's yeast at 0.013% for mannan-oligosaccharides, and Mojave yucca at 0.0085% closes the list. The prebiotic pair looks after the gut while the joint pair starts that support early, which is a sensible thing to be doing in a food aimed at heavy-framed dogs.

Sea buckthorn at 0.2% sits with ginger, blueberries, cranberries, rosemary and thyme at 0.1% apiece. Read that run as garnish on a food built around its duck. Fibre at 3.8% and the dried apple pulp at 1% are the entries doing the real digestive work.

£6.66 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg, 4kg and 12kg bags.

A big pup's portion climbs for months and then eases back as the frame finishes, so a single daily amount is not something we can quote for a growing dog. The chart on the bag is set out by age and expected adult size. Weigh meals against it and let body condition settle the final call.