Eukanuba Growing Puppy Large Breed review

Our band reading comes out at Good, level with the typical puppy dry food. This is a bag that does the growth specific things properly, with the declared calcium at the top of that list, then gives ground on a grain heavy middle that drives the starch estimate up.

Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Good, with transparency Outstanding, which is a fair picture of it. Nothing here is weak, and for an owner whose priority is an even growth curve, that steadiness is part of the appeal.

Ingredients, as declared: fresh chicken (21%), dried chicken and turkey (20% including chicken 14%, a natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin and taurine), barley, maize grits, maize, wheat, rice, poultry fat, dried beet pulp (2.3%), chicken gravy, fish oil (a natural source of omega-3 fatty acids), dried whole egg, minerals, brewer's dried yeast (a natural source of B-vitamins and selenium), fructooligosaccharides (0.24%, a natural prebiotic), mannanoligosaccharides (0.13%, a natural prebiotic).

Two poultry entries open the label together, fresh chicken at 21% ahead of a dried chicken and turkey blend at 20%, chicken accounting for 14% of that dried figure. Fresh meat arrives mostly as water before the extruder. The dried entry therefore contributes the larger share of what is actually in the kibble.

That dried poultry is what Eukanuba calls the natural source of glucosamine, chondroitin and taurine. All three do occur in cartilage and bone, so the description holds up. None of them carries a printed dose, so treat it as a quiet background contribution to a big pup's joints.

Barley leads the grain base ahead of maize grits, maize, wheat and rice. Barley is the better of that set for a dog, since it cooks down easily and carries fibre and micronutrients with it. Wheat is the one most often blamed for intolerance. Carbohydrate comes to an estimated 47.4% of dry matter between them, against 39.0% for the typical puppy dry food.

The analysis is pitched low on purpose. Protein converts to 28.8% of dry matter and fat to 15.8%, giving an estimated 369 kcal per 100g. A big pup grown on a steady diet fills out a large frame more safely. Calcium at 1.2% of dry matter is printed and sits inside the growth range. On a bag like this one, no number matters more.

Behind the main structure sit the smaller useful entries. Fish oil brings omega 3, dried whole egg a concentrated and very digestible protein, brewer's dried yeast B vitamins and selenium, and beet pulp at 2.3% gentle fibre. The prebiotic pair here is fructooligosaccharides at 0.24% with mannanoligosaccharides at 0.13%, feeding the population in the large intestine that keeps a young digestion settled.

Where the rest of the list is specific, two entries stay vague. Poultry fat and chicken gravy do not tie themselves to one bird, and the calorie figure on the panel is our own estimate, since the maker prints none.

Sold in 800g, 3kg, 12kg and 15kg bags.

A large breed pup eats more each month for most of a year before the amount levels off. Work from the bag's chart and your pup's expected adult weight, then revise as their outline changes.