Hill's Science Plan Perfect Digestion Medium Breed Puppy Food with Chicken & Brown Rice review

Our Good band holds this recipe, along with the middle of the puppy dry field. The result is squarely mainstream. Protein and processing, nutritional balance and transparency all read Good, on the back of quantified poultry and a prebiotic blend spelled out on the pack. The maize and the overall carbohydrate load keep the balance where it is.

Calcium being declared and in range is the part doing the most for a growing dog here, and it is worth more to a puppy owner than the band alone conveys.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken and turkey meal (chicken 18%; total poultry 28%), maize, animal fat, brown rice (7%), broken rice, digest, barley, oats, minerals, ground pecan shell, maize protein meal, dried beet pulp, flaxseed, dried citrus pulp, fish oil, vegetable oil, dried cranberries. ActivBiome+ prebiotic blend (4%): Ground pecan shell, dried beet pulp, flaxseed, dried citrus pulp, dried cranberries.

The poultry is declared twice over, at 18% chicken and 28% total poultry, a more generous meat share than the large breed recipe in the same range carries. Because it goes in as a meal, with its water already taken out, those percentages hold their weight in the finished kibble. Protein is declared at 26.6%, or 28.9% of dry matter.

Maize takes second place, brown rice is declared at 7% and broken rice follows it, with barley and oats behind. Maize protein meal appears in the lower half as well, a concentrated plant protein that contributes to the headline protein figure without being meat. Carbohydrate is estimated at 39.0% as fed, which becomes 42.4% of dry matter, a little above what is typical once the moisture is out of the way.

Spelled out, the 4% ActivBiome+ blend is dried beet pulp, ground pecan shell, dried citrus pulp, flaxseed and cranberries. Fermentable and bulking fibres both go in, aimed at a steadier gut. Crude fibre is declared at 2.2%, lower than the large breed version carries, which suits a dog who does not need the same bulking to slow their growth.

Fat at 16.8% converts to 18.3% of dry matter, and energy is declared at 371 kcal per 100g, just under the 376 typical of a puppy dry food. That is a comfortable level for a medium breed puppy in the busy months, and it makes for a richer bowl than the large breed recipe offers.

Calcium converts to 1.57% of dry matter, sitting inside the band a growing skeleton works best in, with ash declared at 7.4%. Getting calcium right is the most important single thing a puppy food does, and this label answers the question rather than leaving an owner to guess at it.

Two entries carry no species, the animal fat and the digest. Digest is the cooked coating that makes a kibble worth eating. Fish oil and vegetable oil close the fats, the first a proper marine omega 3 source. Every trace element carries a printed dose: zinc at 145 mg, iron at 82.8 mg, copper at 8.2 mg, manganese at 8.6 mg, iodine at 2.0 mg and selenium at 0.2 mg per kilo.

£4.50 a kilo, sold in 2.5kg and 14kg bags.

A puppy's ration is a curve, not a constant. It climbs through the fastest months and eases off as adult size comes into view. Start from the bag's own table and update the amount as the weeks pass.