Flourish Puppy: Scottish Salmon review

Flourish Puppy sits in our Excellent band, a step above the Good band where the typical puppy dry food comes to rest. Transparency reads Outstanding, nutritional balance and value both sit at Excellent, and protein and processing at Good. The strength runs right across the label instead of resting on one thing. On the recipe's own terms there is plenty to like. The 65% fish share is itemised right down to the gravy, calcium is printed and inside the growth range, and the starch load is lighter than the middle of the puppy dry field.

Ingredients, as declared: 65% Salmon (Freshly Prepared Scottish Salmon (35%), Dried Salmon (22%), Salmon Oil (5%), Salmon Gravy (3%)), Sweet Potato, Beans, Beet Pulp, Omega 3 Supplement, Dried Superfood Blend* (Including Dill, Spinach, Fennel, Asparagus, Tomato), Minerals, Joint Pack (Glucosamine 178 mg/kg, Methylsulfonylmethane 178 mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 125 mg/kg), Fructooligosaccharides (175 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (50 mg/kg), Nucleotides, Olive Extract (0.01%), *Each equivalent to 4% Fresh Ingredients

The 65% salmon headline is set out in full, which is worth decoding because the four entries behave differently. Freshly prepared Scottish salmon at 35% arrives with its water still in it and gives most of that up in the oven. Dried salmon at 22% has already been reduced, so the protein it puts into the finished kibble outweighs its share. Salmon oil at 5% handles the fats, and salmon gravy at 3% the palatability. Protein is declared at 33.5%, which converts to 36.4% of dry matter, a genuinely meaty figure for a kibble.

Salmon is also the only species named on the recipe. For a pup being brought up on fish, that makes it a reasonable choice. Two entries stop it being airtight for a strict exclusion diet, though. The omega 3 supplement gives no source. The glucosamine and chondroitin in the joint pack are manufactured from animal material the label does not identify, shellfish for the one and cartilage for the other. For a household simply favouring fish that is neither here nor there; for a formal elimination trial it is the detail to raise with your vet.

No cereal appears at all: sweet potato and beans handle the starch, and beet pulp behind them handles the fibre. Moisture is declared at 8.0%, so the conversions below are taken from the label and not from an assumption. Carbohydrate comes out at 33.0% as fed and 35.9% of dry matter, comfortably under the 39.0% typical of a puppy dry food. Most growth kibbles run a heavier starch load than that.

Calcium converts to 1.3% of dry matter with ash at 8.0%. On a growth food, no line matters more. It sits inside the range growth needs, and that includes large and giant breeds. A big pup can be reared on this without the guesswork an unprinted calcium figure forces on an owner.

Every entry in the supplement tail carries a dose. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane come in at 178 mg/kg apiece, with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg. The prebiotic pair of FOS at 175 mg/kg and MOS at 50 mg/kg feed the friendly bacteria in a young gut. Nucleotides and olive extract at 0.01% close the list. Above them sits the dried superfood blend: asparagus, dill, fennel, spinach and tomato, each entry equivalent to 4% fresh ingredients by the label's own footnote.

The printed trace element list names zinc at 48 mg, iron at 48 mg, manganese at 34 mg and iodine at 1.7 mg per kilo. Vitamins A, D3 and E sit alongside, with vitamin E at 96 IU. Anything beyond those is folded into the minerals entry on the ingredients list, with no dose shown. Energy works out at 382 kcal per 100g, close to the 376 typical of the field, so portions here behave much as a puppy owner would expect them to.

£4.16 a kilo, sold in a single 12 kg bag.

Puppy feeding is a sliding scale, not a set amount, because the ration follows both the pup's age and the size it is growing towards. Take the maker's growth chart as your reference point. When you adjust it, trust your hands over the pup's ribs.