Hill's Prescription Diet i/d Puppy Food — dry (with Chicken) review

Ingredients, as declared: Cereals, meat and animal derivatives (chicken 13%), eggs and egg derivatives, oils and fats, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, vegetable protein extracts, fruit, seeds. Highly digestible ingredients: Broken rice, brown rice, chicken and turkey meal, dried eggs, maize, digest, animal fat, maize protein meal, fish oil. ActivBiome+ Digestion prebiotic blend (4%): Ground pecan shell, dried beet pulp, flaxseed, dried citrus pulp, dried cranberries.

The label opens in category terms. Cereals come first, then meat and animal derivatives with chicken declared at 13%, followed by eggs and egg derivatives, oils and fats, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, vegetable protein extracts, fruit and seeds. Hill's then itemises what it calls its highly digestible ingredients: broken rice, brown rice, chicken and turkey meal, dried eggs, maize, digest, animal fat, maize protein meal and fish oil. Digest is a processed palatant coating, there to keep a dog interested in the bowl, which is a practical consideration in a food built for recovery feeding.

The ActivBiome+ Digestion blend is declared at 4%, and Hill's prints every part of it. Ground pecan shell leads, then dried beet pulp and flaxseed, with dried citrus pulp and dried cranberries at the end. Hill's calls that a prebiotic package. The fibre in it is there for the bacteria in the gut, not for the dog itself.

If you are tracking what your puppy reacts to, start with the animal side of the label: chicken, turkey meal, egg and fish oil. Several of the entries give a category and never a species. Your vet is the one to say whether any of it matters for your dog.

On the analysis, protein converts to 30.5% of dry matter and fat to 18.7%, with crude fibre at 1.9% as declared and energy at 377 kcal per 100g. The carbohydrate estimate works out at 41.5% of dry matter. A therapeutic growth diet is built to its own targets, so these figures are context for your vet's advice rather than something to weigh against everyday puppy foods.

The added trace minerals, iron, iodine, copper, manganese and zinc, are each dosed in print on the label, with a natural antioxidant closing the list. The label's own feeding guide runs from 80g a day for a 1kg pup up to 1025g a day at 40kg. On a diet like this the vet's instruction takes precedence over the table on the bag.

It is sold in 1.5kg and 4kg bags.