Husse Valp Maxi review

Valp Maxi lands in our Good band, level with the middle of the puppy dry field. Value and nutritional balance both read Good, and so does transparency. Protein and processing sits at Average, so nothing here is falling over. The position comes from a recipe that leans on wheat and rice and a list that leaves the fat and the hydrolysed protein without a species.

What the analysis does well deserves to stay in view. Protein converts to 31.5% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 38.0%, a shade under the 39.0% typical, so the starch share is actually lighter here than on most puppy shelves. And the number large breed rearing turns on is printed, not left to guesswork. A good many bags aimed at big pups do not manage that.

Ingredients, as declared: chicken, rice, animal fat, wheat meal, wheat, linseed, vegetable fibres, hydrolysed animal protein, salmon, salmon oil, yeast, salt, fructo-oligosaccharides (0.5%), dried whole eggs, potassium chloride, mannan-oligosaccharides (0.1%), lecithin, fatty acid salt, sea algae, glucosamine (500 mg/kg), rosemary.

Chicken heads the list in the plain form, which normally means the fresh sort. Most of a fresh meat's weight is water, and the oven sees it off. The declared protein of 29.0% as fed, converting to 31.5% of dry matter, is the number to trust, not the position on the list. For growth it is a respectable one.

Rice, wheat meal and wheat carry the starch between them. Carbohydrate converts to 38.0% of dry matter, which is a touch under the norm for puppy kibble, so the cereal load is not the problem some ingredient lists of this shape have. Wheat is still the entry to note if your pup has ever had trouble with it. Of the grains, it is the one that turns up when skin and digestion misbehave.

Calcium is the headline act in any large breed growth food, and this one gets it right. It converts to 1.3% of dry matter, inside the range a big pup's skeleton needs while it is laying down bone. Having it declared on a bag sold specifically for large breeds is exactly the standard we would like every maker to hold to.

Glucosamine gets a real dose at 500 mg/kg, not just a mention on the packet. It is the supplement best known for joint cartilage, and while the evidence for it remains a debated subject, a large breed puppy is precisely the dog it tends to be included for. Salmon and salmon oil back it up with omega 3 fatty acids. A growing coat and a growing brain both draw on those. Linseed adds the plant version.

The gut side is named and dosed: fructo-oligosaccharides at 0.5%, with mannan-oligosaccharides at 0.1% beside them. That prebiotic pair feeds the bacteria a large intestine depends on. A small amount of high quality protein comes from the dried whole eggs. Vegetable fibres bring bulk, and yeast, lecithin and sea algae fill out the tail.

The added panel runs vitamin A at 17874 IU/kg, vitamin D3 at 1624 IU/kg and vitamin E at 500 mg/kg. Iron is at 200 mg/kg, manganese at 60 mg/kg, zinc from two sources at 108 and 12 mg/kg and selenium at 0.20 mg/kg. Tocopherols do the preserving. Moisture is declared at 8%, so every dry matter figure on this page comes off the label and not out of an assumption. Not every kibble allows that.

£3.86 a kilo, sold in 12 kg bags and a 2 x 12 kg double.

A large breed pup's ration changes faster than almost anything else about them. Keep the growth chart on the bag to hand and reweigh regularly, and do not settle on one scoop and forget about it.