Chapel Farm Puppy/Junior review

Chapel Farm Puppy/Junior reads Good for us and finishes clear of the midpoint for puppy dry food, which also comes out Good. Protein and processing, nutritional balance and value all return Good, with transparency at Excellent. What earns the position is named chicken in two forms leading the list, with a supplement tail that prints its doses. The missing calcium declaration is the single thing most likely to be holding it back, since a growth food is judged on that number more than almost any other.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (chicken meal min 20%, freshly prepared chicken min 20%), rice, maize, prairie meal, chicken fat, oats, yeast (source of mannan oligosaccharides 1250mg/kg), salmon oil (source of omega 3 fatty acids DHA & EPA), unmolassed beet pulp, seaweed, plasma powder, whole egg powder, sodium bicarbonate, potassium chloride, glucosamine (1000mg/kg), fructose oligosaccharides, nucleo-tides, green lipped mussel powder, yucca shidigera, blackcurrant, kale, beetroot, rosemary.

Chicken opens the list in two forms, chicken meal at a minimum of 20% and freshly prepared chicken at a minimum of 20%, which is a genuinely useful pairing. Because the water has gone from the meal, its share reaches the finished kibble close to the printed figure. The fresh portion brings the smell and taste a young dog responds to. Declaring both with minimums is more than most labels at this level bother to give you.

Rice, maize and oats carry the starch, with prairie meal among them as the one entry the label does not open up. Carbohydrate converts to 39.0% of dry matter, exactly level with the typical puppy kibble, so this is a conventional cereal-based bowl rather than a low-starch one. Oats are a gentle grain that most young digestions manage well, and unmolassed beet pulp adds a steady, well-tolerated fibre behind them.

Protein lands at 29.0%, or 31.9% of dry matter, and fat at 18.0%, or 19.8%, which is a generous energy level for a growing dog and a good match for one that never stops moving. Chicken fat carries most of it, and salmon oil brings the marine omega 3 behind coat and brain development. Our energy estimate is 379 kcal per 100g, close to the 376 a typical puppy kibble runs at.

The supplement tail is where this recipe gets interesting. Yeast supplies mannan-oligosaccharides at 1250mg/kg for the gut, and glucosamine is declared at 1000mg/kg for the joints. Behind them come fructo-oligosaccharides, then nucleotides and green lipped mussel powder. Plasma powder and whole egg powder add easily digested protein, and seaweed brings a natural source of minerals and iodine.

Calcium is the omission. Nothing on the analysis gives a figure for it. Ash converting to 6.6% of dry matter tells you the overall mineral load is modest, but it says nothing about what the calcium inside it is doing. The maker offers this food for pups of every adult size, giant breeds included. An owner rearing a big puppy is exactly the person who needs that number, and asking for it directly is a reasonable first move.

Vitamin A is declared with its amount, and so are D and E, along with iron, iodine, copper, manganese, zinc in two forms and selenium. Selenium comes as sodium selenite. Pet food is allowed two forms and this is the usual one, worth noticing at this dose and nothing to worry about. Rosemary closes the list as the natural antioxidant keeping the fats fresh in the bag.

£3.03 a kilo, sold in a 15 kg sack.

A growing dog's portion is a moving figure, rising steadily through the early months before it levels off. Match the sack's chart to your pup's weight today and the size you expect them to reach, then trust their condition over the printed line.