Husse Puppy Balanced Growth review

Balanced Growth lands in Good on our scale, keeping company with the middle of the puppy kibble field. That leaves it tucked in with the pack. Protein and processing, nutritional balance and value all come back Good, with transparency the one that reads Average. The analysis bears that out: protein and fat are sound for growth while the carbohydrate estimate lands right on the mark, at 39.1% of dry matter against 39.0% for the typical puppy food. Moisture goes unprinted on this label, so the dry matter conversions rest on the 8% a kibble usually carries. The energy figure is our own estimate as well.

Ingredients, as declared: dried chicken, rice, maize, animal fat, maize protein, hydrolysed animal protein, linseed (2%), dried salmon, salmon oil (1%), brewer's yeast, minerals, psyllium husks (0.5%), inulin (0.5%, source of fructo-oligosaccharides), vegetable fibres (0.5%), dried eggs, mannan-oligosaccharides (0.1%), marine algae.

At the head of the list is dried chicken, and that word dried is worth decoding. Before that ingredient is weighed the water has gone. The printed share therefore lands close to what the finished kibble holds, with nothing lost in the oven. Protein comes in at 29.0% as fed, converting to 31.5% of dry matter, which is a sound growth figure for a kibble of this shape.

Rice and maize handle the binding, with maize protein sitting behind them and adding to the plant protein share. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 39.1% of dry matter, as close to the puppy kibble norm of 39.0% as makes no difference. The starch load here is neither light nor heavy for the format.

The fat side is a mixed picture. Animal fat leads it and names no species. Linseed at 2% and salmon oil at 1% carry the omega 3 contribution, a seed on one side and a fish on the other. Dried salmon appears alongside them, so there is a real marine element in the recipe rather than a token drop of oil.

Calcium is declared and converts to 1.3% of dry matter, sitting inside the range growth works to. That counts for most with the big pups this bag is listed for, because calcium is the number that most often goes wrong in large breed rearing. Seeing it printed and in range is exactly what you want from a food sold for toy through to giant.

The digestive tail is properly itemised. Psyllium husks and vegetable fibres come in at 0.5% each, with inulin at 0.5% as the named source of fructo-oligosaccharides. Mannan-oligosaccharides at 0.1% are the yeast derived prebiotic that encourages the friendly end of the gut population. Brewer's yeast brings natural B vitamins, and dried eggs and marine algae round the list off.

The added panel is generous where growth draws on it: vitamin A at 20000 IU/kg, vitamin D3 at 1900 IU/kg, vitamin E at 600 mg/kg and vitamin C at 425 mg/kg. Zinc at 65 mg/kg and manganese at 35 mg/kg are among the trace minerals. Sepiolite at 2500 mg/kg is a clay that keeps the kibble flowing, not a nutrient. One gap deserves naming: no moisture is printed. The dry matter figures here rest on the level usual for a kibble, and the 380 kcal per 100g is our estimate, not the maker's declaration.

£5.00 a kilo. The only bag is 12 kg.

A puppy's ration keeps moving, because they are eating for the adult they are becoming. Weigh against the bag's growth chart and let their shape settle the final amount.