Europa 60/40 Grain Free Small Breed Puppy: Turkey & Duck review

This one settles in our Excellent band, a step above the Good band the typical puppy dry food holds. Transparency reads Outstanding and value sits with the overall in Excellent, with protein and processing and nutritional balance reading Good. The itemised meat and the printed calcium pull it up, while the potato protein and a plant heavy back half of the list are what hold it where it is.

Ingredients, as declared: 60% Turkey & Duck (including Freshly Prepared Turkey 32%, Dried Turkey 18%, Turkey Fat 5%, Freshly Prepared Duck 4%, and Turkey Stock 1%), Sweet Potato (20%), Potato Protein, Peas (4%), Potato, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Minerals, Omega 3 Supplement, Vegetable Stock, Camomile (0.3%), Dill (0.3%), Nucleotides, Glucosamine (170 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 96 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 24 mg/kg)

Turkey does nearly all the work inside the 60% headline: 32% of it freshly prepared, 18% dried and 5% turkey fat, with duck at 4% and turkey stock at 1% completing it. Naming the fat by species is a small thing that tells you a good deal about how the rest of the label was written.

Duck deserves a word of its own. Duck is a digestible meat and plenty of dogs have never come across it, so it can help a pup prone to reactions. Its presence does mean this cannot be called a turkey-only recipe.

The plant side opens with sweet potato at 20% and potato further down, with no cereal anywhere, so the grain free claim is sound. A little plant protein and some fibre come from the peas at 4%, and beet pulp gives the gentle bulk that keeps digestion regular.

If one entry could move down the list, potato protein would be it. Potato processing leaves it behind, and it is in the recipe to lift the protein figure. For digestibility and amino acid balance plant protein is no match for meat, so it flatters the analysis more than it feeds the pup. With this much turkey sitting above it, the effect is limited rather than serious.

Camomile and dill at 0.3% each are the calming botanicals a puppy food often reaches for, present in small enough amounts to count as seasoning. The supplement tail behind them is more substantial: glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 170 mg/kg, chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg, then fructooligosaccharides at 96 mg/kg, mannanoligosaccharides at 24 mg/kg and nucleotides.

Calcium converts to 1.52% of dry matter, and that lands where a growing skeleton wants it. That is reassurance for the smaller frames this bag is written for, and it holds up as a figure whatever size of pup is eating it.

The analysis is rich by puppy standards: 30.0% protein and 18.0% fat as fed, converting to 32.6% and 19.6% of dry matter against a declared 8.0% moisture. Ash comes in at 9.2% and fibre at 3.3% of dry matter. Carbohydrate is estimated at 35.3% of dry matter, under the 39.0% typical, and energy is declared at 389 kcal per 100g.

£4.05 a kilo, sold in a 6kg bag.

Nothing about a puppy's ration stays still for long. Read the feeding chart as a starting point for this month, and let the way your pup is filling out do the fine tuning.