Eukanuba Grain Free Puppy Large Breed Rich in Ocean Fish review

This one reads in our Good band, level with the typical puppy dry food. Fish meal in the lead position and a declared calcium figure are the strong parts of the label, so transparency reads Excellent and value Good. The starch total behind them holds the position down, with protein and processing and nutritional balance both Average.

For a large breed pup being reared on a grain free plan it still does the jobs that matter most, and it does them in print rather than by implication.

Ingredients, as declared: fish meal (30%, a natural source of omega-3 fatty acids), dried sweet potatoes (18%), whole peas, dried potatoes, pork fat, dried beet pulp (4%), sunflower oil, fish gravy, minerals, fructooligosaccharides (0.29%, a natural prebiotic), mannanoligosaccharides (0.15%, a natural prebiotic).

Fish meal at 30% is the engine of this recipe. Meal is fish already dried and ground, so it packs far more protein into each unit of weight than a fresh fish headline of the same size. The 28.3% dry matter protein figure reflects that concentration.

Dried sweet potatoes at 18% are the pick of the carbohydrate sources here, higher in fibre than ordinary potato and generous in vitamin A. Whole peas and dried potatoes follow them, and with beet pulp at 4% alongside the group takes carbohydrate to an estimated 45.6% of dry matter, above the 39.0% the typical puppy dry food runs.

Pork fat and sunflower oil do the fat work. Pork appears rarely in dog food, so for most pups it counts as a novel meat. Sunflower oil is a sound plant oil, light on saturated fat and rich in vitamin E. The pork does mean fish is not quite the only animal in the bag.

Calcium converts to 1.2% of dry matter, printed and comfortably inside the range a growing large breed needs. Calcium is the mineral that does the most work on a big pup's plate, so finding it declared on a bag with large breed on the front is the right way round.

The supplement tail is short and specific. The prebiotic pair here, fructooligosaccharides at 0.29% with mannanoligosaccharides at 0.15%, keeps the gut population fed further down. Taurine comes in at 500mg/kg, and though most dogs make their own, topping it up on a fish based recipe is fair enough.

One part of the panel needs reading carefully. Moisture is not declared on this label, so every dry matter figure here is worked from the 8% that dry foods conventionally hold, and the 366 kcal per 100g is our estimate as well. Neither changes the shape of the recipe, but both are worth knowing when you set it beside a food that prints everything.

£3.57 a kilo, sold in 3kg and 12kg bags.

Portions here follow the pup's age and the size it is heading for, so take the bag's chart as your starting point and adjust as the months go by.