Edgard & Cooper Puppy Kibble: Fresh Salmon & Turkey review

Our Good band holds both of these recipes, and the middle of the puppy kibble field settles there too. This range matches the general standard of its category without pulling away from it. Transparency reads Outstanding on each recipe. Protein and processing is Average, while nutritional balance and value both read Good.

What keeps the pair from climbing is easy to point at. The headline meats arrive fresh, so they lose most of their water on the way into the kibble. Two plant proteins sit high on the list and are doing real work there. The label does one thing very well. It names and quantifies its smaller ingredients right down to the last 0.02%.

Ingredients, as declared: fresh turkey* 35%, potatoes* (dried), fresh salmon* 10%, sweet potato* (dried) 10%, pea protein*, peas* (dried), potato protein, vegetarian gravy, yeasts* (dried) 1.7%, linseed* 1%, beet pulp* (dried), minerals*, salmon oil* 0.7%, chicory* (dried) 0.5%, sunflower oil*, carrot* (dried) 0.4%, pear* (dried) 0.1%, turmeric* (dried) 0.02%, thyme* (dried) 0.02%, glucosamine 0.02%, chondroitin sulphate* 0.02%. *Natural

Fresh meat headlines need reading carefully. One recipe has fresh chicken at 40% and fresh duck at 10%, the other fresh turkey at 35% and fresh salmon at 10%. All four are weighed before cooking, and much of what is weighed is water the oven drives off. The finished kibble therefore carries considerably less meat than the front figures suggest, which is normal for the method and simply worth understanding.

Dried potato is the biggest plant entry in both recipes, with dried peas and sweet potato alongside it. Both recipes also carry pea protein and potato protein. Those last two are refined plant proteins, useful for lifting the protein line but not the equal of animal protein for a growing dog. Carbohydrate converts to 40.9% and 40.3% of dry matter with moisture taken at the usual 8% for a kibble, close to the 39.0% typical of the category.

The fats are handled differently between the two. The chicken and duck recipe leans on salmon oil at 2.3%, a generous marine omega inclusion for a kibble. The turkey and salmon recipe carries salmon oil at 0.7% with sunflower oil behind it, and gets more of its marine fats from the fish itself. Linseed at 1% adds plant omega 3 to both.

Behind the base sit the useful small entries. Dried yeasts at 1.7% are the natural home of mannan oligosaccharides, and dried chicory at 0.5% brings inulin, both of them feeding the gut bacteria a young digestion is still establishing. Beet pulp supplies a well tolerated fibre, and dried carrot at 0.4%, dried pear at 0.1%, turmeric and thyme at 0.02% round the list off as seasoning.

The added panel is thorough where it chooses to be. Vitamin D3 is printed at 1,700 IU with vitamin E at 600 mg, vitamin C at 175 mg and taurine at 1000 mg. Zinc follows at 120 mg, iron at 75 mg, manganese at 12 mg, copper at 5.5 mg, iodine at 3.5 mg and selenium at 0.25 mg. The technological additives are given only as antioxidants without naming which. What the panel never gets to is calcium, and on a growth food aimed at every size of dog that is the figure most worth having.

This recipe swaps the birds and drops chicken entirely. Fresh turkey at 35% leads, fresh salmon comes in at 10%, and the gravy here is vegetarian, so nothing chicken derived appears anywhere on the list. Sweet potato is lifted to 10%, salmon oil sits at 0.7% with sunflower oil alongside it, and crude ash is declared at 7.9%, converting to 8.6% of dry matter. Carbohydrate converts to 40.3% and energy reaches 381 kcal per 100g. Only fish and turkey show on its allergen picture, so a chicken sensitive pup is well served here.

£6.08 a kilo for either recipe. The chicken and duck runs from a 1kg bag up to 12kg, taking in 3kg and 7kg on the way. The turkey and salmon is sold in the larger sizes up to the same 12kg.

A puppy's needs shift week by week, and the adult size they are heading for shifts them too. Trust the chart on the bag over a fixed scoop.