Cesar Junior Dry review

This one comes out in our Average band, a step under the Good reading the typical puppy kibble earns, with protein and processing reading Poor and nutritional balance Good. The gap is about disclosure as much as content. Protein at 30.8% of dry matter and carbohydrate at 42.5% are not far off what a mid-table growth food declares, and the energy figure is respectable. What we cannot do is check any of it against the recipe. Cereals, meat and animal derivatives, oils and fats and derivatives of vegetable origin are all umbrella terms, and unnamed colourants and preservatives pull the reading down further still.

Ingredients, as declared: Cereals (including Rice 4% in the Circular and Triangular Kibbles), Meat and Animal Derivatives (32%, including Fresh Chicken 4% in the Square Kibbles), Oils and Fats (including Fish Oil 0.3%), Derivatives of Vegetable Origin (including Sugar Beet Pulp 3%), Minerals, Vegetables (including Dried Carrots 0.5%, equivalent to Carrots 4% and Dried Peas 1%, equivalent to Peas 4% in the Circular and Triangular Kibbles), Herbs (including Herbes de Provence 0.4%), Yeast (including Brewer's Yeast 0.2%), Triangular and Circular Kibble typically 85% of product and Square Semi-Moist Kibble typically 15% of product

Cereals lead the list, with rice at 4% the only grain named and named only for the circular and triangular kibbles. The term covers everything from the finest grain to the poorest, and it commits to none of them. One bag can hold different grains from the last with no change on the pack.

The meat comes in at 32% as meat and animal derivatives, of which 4% is named as fresh chicken in the square kibbles. That wording is allowed to cover the fleshy parts and processing products of any warm-blooded land animal. It can be generous or it can be thin, and the pack gives you no way of telling which. Chicken is at least named, and it is the most digestible and best-liked meat in the category.

The fat line tells the same story. Oils and fats names no source. Fish oil at 0.3% is declared inside it, and that is a worthwhile route to the omega 3 fats a puppy's brain and coat need while they grow. Derivatives of vegetable origin sits alongside with sugar beet pulp at 3% named within it, a fibre most young digestions handle comfortably.

The vegetables are declared more precisely than anything else here: dried carrots at 0.5%, equivalent to 4% carrots, and dried peas at 1%, equivalent to 4% peas, both in the circular and triangular kibbles. Herbes de Provence at 0.4% and brewer's yeast at 0.2% round the recipe off in quantities better understood as flavour than as nutrition.

The analysis itself reads reasonably. Protein 28.0%, fat 15.0%, ash 7.2% and moisture 9.1%, with energy at 383 kcal per 100g against the 376 a typical puppy kibble carries. Calcium is declared and converts to 1.65% of dry matter, which is printed information many labels never offer. It sits above the level large breed rearing aims for, and the pack does not say what size of dog it is meant for.

The additive panel is the part most worth knowing about. Vitamin D3, vitamin E and a set of trace minerals are listed with their amounts, but antioxidants, colourants and preservatives appear as bare headings. Colour in a kibble is there for the person buying it rather than the puppy eating it, so if you would rather steer clear of artificial colouring, that is the entry to weigh.

Sold in a 1.4kg bag.

Puppy portions never hold still. Start from the pack's guide, using your pup's weight today and the adult size you expect them to reach. Let their shape and how they are filling out decide any adjustment.