Growling Tums Gourmet Puppy review

This recipe takes its place in our Excellent band. The midpoint of the puppy kibble field falls a step below in our Good band. Value reads Excellent, transparency Outstanding, and protein and processing and nutritional balance both Good, so the position is evenly earned and not propped up in one spot.

The itemised meat breakdown and the dosed supplement tail are what lift it. The starch share is the ceiling here, and that is where the notes below start.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken, Turkey & Salmon 60% (including 20% Freshly Prepared Chicken, 14% Dried Chicken, 7% Freshly Prepared Turkey, 7% Freshly Prepared Salmon, 7% Dried Turkey, 3% Dried Salmon & 2% Chicken Stock), Sweet Potato (19%), Potato, Beet Pulp, Omega 3 Supplement, Linseed, Minerals, Vitamins, Carrots (equivalent to 25gms per Kg of product) Peas (equivalent to 8.5gms per Kg of product), Vegetable Stock, Glucosamine (170 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Nucleotides, FOS (92 mg/kg), MOS (23 mg/kg)

The 60% headline is worth unpacking, and helpfully the label does it for you. That is 20% freshly prepared chicken, 14% dried chicken, 7% freshly prepared turkey, 7% freshly prepared salmon, 7% dried turkey, 3% dried salmon and 2% chicken stock. Water makes up most of freshly prepared meat until it is cooked. The dried entries therefore carry a good deal more into the finished kibble than their figures suggest, while the fresh shares shrink away. That is normal for a kibble and not a criticism, and it is why a 60% meat headline arrives at a declared protein of 29.0% and nothing loftier.

What the three meats give and take is worth a thought too. No meat turns up in dog food more often than chicken, and that frequency is exactly why it is the one most commonly implicated in intolerance. Turkey is leaner and easily digested. The marine omega fats come from the salmon, and a growing brain and coat lean on those. Together they make a broad and appealing recipe. Together they also rule it out for a pup on an exclusion trial.

The binders are sweet potato at 19% and potato, with not a grain in sight. As starches go, sweet potato releases slowly and carries useful fibre and beta carotene behind it, which puts it at the better end of the grain-free options. The overall starch load is still substantial, with carbohydrate estimated at 44.1% of dry matter where the class typically runs at 39.0%, and beet pulp adds a well tolerated fibre alongside it.

The vegetables are declared in an unusually honest way, as equivalents: carrots at 25 grams per kilogram of product and peas at 8.5 grams. Those are small amounts, stated plainly and not dressed up as a superfood blend. Read them as a garnish on a recipe whose case rests on its meat.

The supplement tail is the strongest stretch of this label. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane both come at 170 mg/kg with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg, and on the gut side FOS at 92 mg/kg and MOS at 23 mg/kg sit with added nucleotides. Prebiotics like those work on the friendly bacteria low in the large intestine. That is a sensible thing to support while a young digestion is finding its feet, and every one of them arrives with a number beside it.

Moisture is declared at 8.0%, so the dry matter column rests on the label, and the energy figure of 384 kcal per 100g is declared too, not estimated by us. The vitamin and trace element panel is dosed as well, with vitamin D3 at 2,250 IU. Iron is at 160 mg, zinc at 130 mg, manganese at 110 mg, copper at 60 mg, iodine at 1.58 mg and selenium at 0.60 mg. Calcium is the one line missing. This food is listed for pups of every size, toy to giant, so a large breed owner will want to ask for that figure.

£4.92 a kilo, sold in 4kg, 6kg and 12kg bags.

By our standard energy estimate a 20kg pup aged four to twelve months lands near 310 to 379 grams a day. Take that as a snapshot and not a rule, because a growing dog's ration keeps moving. Use the pack's chart, matching your pup's age to the adult weight they are heading for, then adjust by how they are filling out from one week to the next.