Europa 60/40 Grain Free Puppy: Chicken & Turkey review

Both recipes reach our Excellent band, a step up from the Good band where puppy dry food typically settles. Transparency reads Outstanding on both, value reads Excellent on each, and protein and processing and nutritional balance read Good throughout, so neither bag is leaning on one strength. What earns the position is the itemised meat, the declared calcium and a grain free build whose analysis still stacks up sensibly.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken, Turkey & Salmon 60% (including Freshly Prepared Chicken 20%, Dried Chicken 14%, Freshly Prepared Turkey 7%, Freshly Prepared Salmon 7%, Dried Turkey 7%, Dried Salmon 3% & Chicken Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (22%), Potato, Linseed, Omega 3 Supplement, Beet Pulp, Minerals, Carrot (0.2%), Peas (0.07%), Glucosamine (170 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Nucleotides, Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 96 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 24 mg/kg)

The 60/40 name describes the split the maker works to, and the labels support it. Sixty per cent of each recipe is animal, itemised into fresh and dried portions with a stock at the end. Dried meat and dried fish have already lost their water, so those entries contribute more to the finished kibble than their percentages suggest, while the freshly prepared portions shrink during cooking.

On the plant side both bags lead with sweet potato, then potato, and neither list carries cereal. Beet pulp adds a modest fibre in each, and linseed brings a plant source of omega 3 alongside the marine oils already in the recipes.

Both bags carry the same supplement tail, dosed and printed: glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 170 mg/kg, chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg, then fructooligosaccharides at 96 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 24 mg/kg with nucleotides behind them. Puppy labels rarely trouble to print those numbers at all.

Both labels declare calcium, and both figures land where a growing skeleton needs them. That is the line worth checking on any growth food, and having it printed means the same bag holds up whether your pup finishes at the size of a spaniel or a shepherd.

The omega 3 supplement is the one loose entry in either recipe. It names no source, so an owner running a formal exclusion diet has a question to put to the maker. Everyone else can read it for what it is, a top up on fats the fish is already providing.

Chicken, turkey and salmon sit under one 60% heading here, and the label breaks the lot apart. Chicken accounts for 20% freshly prepared with 14% dried, turkey for 7% of each, salmon for 7% freshly prepared with 3% dried, and chicken stock for 2%. Sweet potato is the higher of the two versions at 22%, with carrot at 0.2% and peas at 0.07% little more than a nod.

It analyses at 29.0% protein and 15.0% fat, converting to 31.5% and 16.3% of dry matter. Carbohydrate is estimated at 41.9% of dry matter and energy declared at 384 kcal per 100g, the livelier of the two bags. Calcium converts to 1.3% of dry matter. Note the salmon in the mix: this is the poultry option, but it is not a fish free one.

£4.05 a kilo for the chicken and turkey recipe and £4.83 a kilo for the fish one, both sold in 12kg bags.

How much of that bag a puppy gets through changes every few weeks. Portions climb as a pup grows, and they climb again with the adult size ahead. Begin with the pack's chart and let body condition settle it.