Fish4Dogs Superior Puppy Complete review

The fish carries Superior Puppy Complete into our Good band, which is where the typical puppy dry food comes to rest. Transparency comes back Outstanding, and protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Good. The starch pair behind the salmon is what holds it back, with potato and pea starch taking over a third of the label between them. A richer growth recipe would have given that space to meat.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon (26%), Salmon Meal (23%), Potato (18%), Pea Starch (17%), Salmon Oil (8%), Salmon Digest (2%), Pea Fibre (0.9%), Sunflower Oil, Minerals, Krill Meal (0.9%), Yeast Extract, Malt Extract, Seaweed Meal (0.4%), Algae (0.2%), Spirulina, Green Lipped Mussel Powder (0.02%).

Salmon arrives here in four guises and each does a different job. Fresh salmon at 26% brings quality and flavour, though most of its water goes in the oven. Salmon meal at 23% has already been dried, so it carries its protein straight through. Salmon oil at 8% supplies marine omega 3, and salmon digest at 2% is a fish based palatant sprayed onto the kibble to make it worth eating. Protein reads 30.0% as fed, or 32.6% of dry matter.

This is a rich bag by the standards of the field. Fat is declared at 16.0%, which converts to 17.4% of dry matter, and energy comes out at 391 kcal per 100g against the 376 typical of a puppy dry food. That suits a pup with an engine to feed, and it means a steadier, quieter pup wants portions measured out on the scales.

Potato at 18% and pea starch at 17% carry the starch, with pea fibre at 0.9% behind them and no cereal anywhere. Moisture is declared at 8.0%, so the conversions here come off the label and not off an assumption. Carbohydrate reads 36.7% as fed and 39.9% of dry matter, right about the middle of the puppy dry field, despite that pairing taking up so much of the list.

The tail of the recipe is where this bag earns its name. Krill meal at 0.9% and green lipped mussel powder at 0.02% bring shellfish into the food, which is worth knowing for an exclusion diet even though both are present at small levels. Seaweed meal at 0.4% brings iodine and a broad mineral spread, algae at 0.2% and spirulina add carotenoids, and yeast extract with malt extract lifts the flavour. Read the whole tail as seasoning done thoughtfully, and not as a supplement package.

The declared panel covers protein, fat, fibre, ash at 7.0% and moisture, then stops short of calcium. For anyone rearing a large breed puppy, that is the one line they most want to see. The added list is short and specific: vitamins A, D3 and E, taurine at 1 g per kilo and iodine at 1.6 mg per kilo. Tocopherol rich extracts hold the fats fresh in place of a chemical preservative.

Sold in 1.5kg, 6kg and 12kg bags.

There is no steady daily figure to quote for a puppy food, since the amount in the bowl tracks a pup's age and the adult size it is growing towards. Start from the maker's chart, check it again every few weeks, and let the dog set the amount.