Europa Puppy 1-12 Months review

This food takes our Good band, matching the typical puppy dry food rather than pulling away from it. Transparency reads Outstanding, with nutritional balance and value both Good, while protein and processing reads Average, which is the cereal base behind the chicken showing through. The generous prebiotics and the printed calcium are the parts doing the most for it.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken 38% (Including Dried Chicken 31%, Chicken Fat 5% & Chicken Gravy 2%), Rice (18%), Maize, Oats, Beet Pulp (5%), Dried Fish, Freshly Prepared Free Range Egg, Brewer's Yeast, Linseed, Minerals, Omega 3 Supplement, Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 530 mg/kg), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 530 mg/kg), Yucca Extract (240 mg/kg), Glucosamine (90 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (90 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (60 mg/kg)

Chicken at 38% is mostly dried chicken at 31%. Dried is the useful form here. The water has gone before mixing, and the printed figure is close to what reaches the bowl. Chicken fat at 5% names its bird, not a category, and chicken gravy at 2% carries flavour through the kibble.

Rice at 18% is the largest single plant entry, with maize and oats behind it. Rice and oats are the friendlier two, both digestible and useful for fibre and micronutrients. Maize does the least of the three, little beyond binding. Beet pulp at 5% is a meaningful fibre inclusion that helps keep stools firm through the messy months.

Three entries in the middle of the list each earn their place. Dried fish is there for marine omega 3 and minerals. Freshly prepared free range egg gives protein a pup digests easily, and brewer's yeast a spread of B vitamins. The fish is the one that names no species, and that is the label's least precise moment.

The prebiotic doses are what stand out here. Mannanoligosaccharides and fructooligosaccharides at 530 mg/kg each are several times what many puppy bags bother to print, and yucca extract at 240 mg/kg is the traditional addition for keeping the garden tidier. The joint compounds behind them are much smaller, at 90 mg/kg and 60 mg/kg.

Calcium converts to 1.3% of dry matter. That one figure decides whether a growth food is safe to rear a big pup on. Here it is printed, and it sits inside the range. That is exactly the answer you want to find.

The analysis gives 28.0% protein and 13.0% fat as fed, converting to 30.4% and 14.1% of dry matter against a declared 8.0% moisture. Carbohydrate is estimated at 44.0% of dry matter, above the 39.0% typical, and energy is declared at 369 kcal per 100g, a shade under the typical 376. Portions here run a little larger than they would on a denser food.

£3.80 a kilo, sold in a 15kg bag.

Growth changes the sums every few weeks. Treat the chart on the sack as this week's guide, weigh the food out on scales, and adjust as your pup's shape tells you to.