Edmondson's Puppy: Chicken, Turkey & Salmon review

Edmondson's Puppy lands in our Excellent band and finishes towards the upper end of it. The middle of the puppy kibble field sits a band below it in Good, so the gain here is genuine. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Good, value Excellent, and transparency clear of them all in Outstanding.

What earns the position is the label's willingness to be specific. Twenty four per cent of the recipe is dried meat, which keeps its weight through manufacture. The calcium line is printed and lands where growth wants it, and the joint and gut supplements carry numbers of their own.

Ingredients, as declared: 60% Chicken, Turkey & Salmon (contains 20% Freshly Prepared Chicken, 14% Dried Chicken, 7% Freshly Prepared Turkey, 7% Freshly Prepared Salmon, 7% Dried Turkey, 3% Dried Salmon & 2% Chicken Stock), Sweet Potato (22%), Potato, Linseed, Beet Pulp, Omega 3 Supplement, Minerals, Vitamins, Dried Carrot, Peas, Vegetable Stock, Glucosamine (170 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Nucleotides, Fructooligosaccharides (96 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (24 mg/kg).

The 60% meat headline is unusually well broken down: 20% freshly prepared chicken, 14% dried chicken, 7% freshly prepared turkey, 7% freshly prepared salmon, 7% dried turkey, 3% dried salmon and 2% chicken stock. That split matters more than the total. The dried entries have already given up their water, so the 24% between them carries through to the finished kibble almost as printed, while the freshly prepared entries shrink considerably in the oven. Protein lands at 32.6% of dry matter, which is the analysis confirming that a decent amount of meat survived the process.

Three animals in one bag gives a broad amino acid spread and a flavour most puppies take to, with salmon adding marine omega fats that neither bird supplies. It also means the recipe cannot be narrowed down, so a pup with a suspected sensitivity to any one of chicken, turkey or fish is not a candidate here.

The largest plant entry is sweet potato at 22%, with plain potato behind it and no cereal anywhere. Carbohydrate converts to 39.3% of dry matter, effectively level with the 39.0% typical of puppy kibble. The grain free route has not made this a low starch food, only a wheat and maize free one. Beet pulp gives a fibre most dogs tolerate well, and linseed adds plant omega 3 alongside the salmon.

Calcium converts to 1.3% of dry matter, declared on the label and comfortably inside what growth calls for. Getting calcium wrong is the classic way to go astray when feeding a puppy. A printed, in range figure on a food offered to every size of dog is exactly what an owner wants to find. Ash converts to 7.4%, a sensible mineral load to go with it.

The supplement tail is dosed, not merely listed. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane are each printed at 170 mg/kg with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg, an early trio for joints that will still be forming for months. Fructooligosaccharides at 96 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 24 mg/kg feed the gut bacteria, and nucleotides sit alongside them. The added panel then covers vitamin E at 95 IU, zinc and iron at 50 mg each, manganese at 35 mg, copper at 15 mg, iodine at 1 mg and selenium at 0.3 mg. Vitamin A and D3 are printed in international units as well.

Two entries are looser than the rest. The omega 3 supplement names no oil and the vegetable stock names no vegetable, and peas appear without a percentage. None of that undoes the work the rest of the label does, but they are the parts an allergy minded owner would want confirmed.

£5.83 a kilo, in 2kg, 6kg and 12kg bags.

Portions for a growing dog belong on the label's chart, not in a fixed habit, because age and expected adult weight both move the figure week by week.