CSJ CP27 (Puppy) review

Our Good band is where CSJ CP27 holds a place, matching the middle of the puppy dry field.

Transparency reads Excellent, since the composition is itemised right down to milligram figures on the botanicals. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Good, which is the cereal share and the lamb share talking. This is an honest, plainly built feed rather than a showy one, and the label is candid about what it is.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb (34% total: 21% freshly prepared & 13% lamb meal), Rice, Maize, Maize Gluten, Chicken fat, Oats, Salmon, Chicken Gravy, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Egg powder, Minerals, Chicory (5000mg/kg, a natural source of FOS & inulin), Dried fruits & herbs (total 1000mg/kg; Blackcurrant, Rosemary, Pomegranate, Milk Thistle, Seaweed, Fenugreek, Spearmint, Parsley, Marshmallow Root, Marjoram, Oregano), Yucca schidigera.

Lamb at 34% comes in two forms and the label tells you the split, at 21% freshly prepared and 13% lamb meal. Fresh lamb is largely water before cooking and the meal has already given its up. The 13% therefore carries more of the finished protein than it looks like it should. Most dogs take to lamb readily and digest it without fuss. That is part of the reason it appears so often in growth feeds.

The cereal side is substantial. Rice, maize and oats all appear, and maize gluten sits with them, a maize by-product used to lift a protein figure with plant protein that a dog cannot use as readily as protein from meat. Carbohydrate converts to 43.5% of dry matter on an assumed 8% moisture, against 39.0% for the typical puppy dry food, so the cereals are doing real work in this bag.

Lamb is not alone on the animal side either. Chicken fat supplies much of the declared 16.0% fat, chicken gravy adds palatability, salmon brings marine omega 3 fatty acids and egg powder adds high quality protein. All good things in a growth feed, and all reasons this cannot be sold to you as a single protein diet.

The tail is where CSJ puts its effort. Chicory at 5000 mg/kg is a proper prebiotic inclusion, supplying FOS and inulin for the gut bacteria. It dwarfs the 1000 mg/kg of dried fruits and herbs behind it: blackcurrant, rosemary, pomegranate, milk thistle, seaweed, fenugreek, spearmint, parsley, marshmallow root, marjoram and oregano between them. At that total they are seasoning. The seaweed does bring iodine, and rosemary earns its place as a natural antioxidant.

The mineral panel is better than most at this level. Iron, copper, zinc and manganese each turn up twice over, first as a sulphate and then as an amino acid chelate. The chelated form is generally the easier one for a dog to take up. Vitamin E comes in at 300 mg/kg, and natural antioxidants do the preserving.

Where the label stops short is the analysis. Protein at 27.0%, fat at 16.0%, fibre at 2.0% and ash at 7.0% are printed. Moisture is not, which is why the dry matter readings above rest on an assumed 8%. The energy figure of 370 kcal per 100g is our estimate, not the maker's declaration. Calcium is missing too. For anyone rearing a large breed that is the figure to chase.

£1.78 a kilo, sold in a 15kg sack.

How much a puppy eats is a moving figure right through the first year, tied to their age and to the adult size ahead of them. Set it from the chart on the sack and correct it by feel every few weeks.