Forthglade Complete Meal Grain Free Puppy: Lamb with Liver review

Both recipes land in our Outstanding band, while the wet puppy field sits a step below in the middle, so this is a food pulling clear inside already strong company. It clears that midpoint rather than merely reaching it.

Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Outstanding on both recipes, as do transparency and value. The position rests on the whole label, and no one standout showing carries it. The meat share, the itemised list and the declared analysis all pull the same way.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb (71%), Lamb Liver (4%), Sweet Potato (4%), Carrots (2%), Peas (2%), Minerals, Chicory Root Extract (0.45%), Salmon Oil (0.25%), Linseed Oil (0.25%), Dried Seaweed*, Herbs (Parsley, Rosemary, Nettle, Camomile) (0.12%), Glucosamine (50mg/kg), Chondroitin (50mg/kg), Yucca Extract (0.005%). *natural ingredient

The headline is easy to read because nothing is hiding behind it. The named meat sits at 71% with its own liver at 4%. Liver is the most nutrient-dense thing in the tray, rich in vitamin A, vitamin B12 and copper, all of which a fast-growing body draws on heavily. Apart from the salmon oil, nothing else animal appears anywhere.

The plant side is entirely sweet potato at 4%, with carrots and peas at 2% apiece. No cereal of any kind is used. That is a very light starch load, and it shows in the analysis: both recipes come in under the 13.6% of dry matter typical of a wet puppy food on carbohydrate.

Chicory root extract at 0.45% is the gut entry, and it is a real inclusion. Chicory root is the usual natural source of inulin, the soluble fibre that feeds friendly bacteria further down the intestine. Supporting that while a young digestion is still finding its feet makes good sense. Dried seaweed adds a broad mineral spread with iodine among it, and the parsley, rosemary, nettle and camomile blend at 0.12% is seasoning.

Salmon oil and linseed oil sit at 0.25% apiece, a marine and a plant omega source working together on brain and coat. Fish appears on the allergen picture because of that salmon oil, even though a single meat leads each recipe. Hold onto that detail if a strict exclusion trial is the plan.

Glucosamine and chondroitin both come printed at 50 mg/kg, with yucca extract at 0.005% closing the list. These are modest inclusions, but they arrive with their doses attached, so what your pup is getting is there in plain sight.

The added vitamin and trace element panel is dosed in print too, with vitamin A at 2,900 IU, vitamin D3 at 232 IU and vitamin E at 35 mg in each kilogram. The zinc at 58 mg, iron at 11.6 mg, copper at 5.8 mg and iodine at 0.58 mg all come in chelated form, which is the more readily absorbed way of delivering them.

The declared analysis covers every line it needs to, moisture included at 75%, so the dry matter conversions in the table rest on a printed figure rather than an assumption. Calcium is the missing figure, and it is the one a large or giant breed owner most wants to see before committing to a growth food. Energy is our own estimate, with no declaration on the label.

Lamb with Liver runs the same recipe with lamb at 71% and lamb liver at 4% standing in for the poultry, and it reads a little leaner. Protein is declared at 9.5% and fat at 8.0% as fed, or 38.0% and 32.0% of dry matter. Ash is higher here at 4.5%, and the small carbohydrate estimate of 2.5% is 10.0% of dry matter. Energy comes to an estimated 110 kcal per 100g. Lamb is also the one to choose when your pup has already shown they would rather not have poultry.

£4.68 a kilo. The trays are sold in multipack cases.

There is no one daily amount for a growing dog, because what a pup needs at ten weeks and what the same pup needs half a year later are two different numbers. Use the pack chart for your pup's weight, then let your hands on their ribs fine tune it from there.