Iams Advanced Nutrition Puppy Large Breed review

The middle of the puppy dry field is where this large breed recipe lands, reading Good on our scale. Transparency is the high point at Outstanding, with protein and processing Good and nutritional balance Average.

The label itself is genuinely well made. Each meat and each fat is named. Moisture is declared, and so is the calcium figure that large breed rearing turns on. Pulling the other way is the analysis. Carbohydrate converts to 47.2% of dry matter against 39.0% for the typical puppy food, while protein converts to 28.3%. The cereal share is carrying more of this kibble than the poultry headline on the front would suggest.

Ingredients, as declared: dried chicken and turkey 26% (including chicken 16%), barley, maize, fresh chicken (10%), dried beet pulp (2.5%), sunflower oil, pork fat, chicken gravy, fish oil, fructooligosaccharides (0.2%), brewer's dried yeast, minerals.

The meat is declared with real precision: dried chicken and turkey at 26% of the recipe, with the chicken portion of that broken out at 16%, and fresh chicken at 10% on top. Water is already out of the dried meat when it goes in. Most of that 26% therefore reaches the finished kibble, and the oven takes a good deal of the weight off the fresh chicken. Protein lands at 26.0% as fed, converting to 28.3% of dry matter.

Barley and maize follow the meat and carry the starch. Carbohydrate converts to 47.2% of dry matter, the heaviest load in this slice of the puppy shelf and comfortably above the 39.0% typical. The poultry headline describes the front of the recipe; the cereals describe the rest. Barley itself is a decent grain once cooked. It digests well and has fibre and micronutrients to offer, though the gluten it carries rules it out for a pup kept off wheat on that account.

Calcium does more than any other figure in large breed growth. This label prints it. It converts to 1.2% of dry matter, and a big pup's skeleton wants to be in that range while bone is being laid down. Fat is moderate by growth food standards, converting to 15.2% of dry matter. Big breed pups do best grown steadily rather than quickly, and both numbers point in that direction. Energy sits at 377 kcal per 100g, effectively level with the 376 typical of a puppy dry food.

Not many labels name every fat. This one does. Sunflower oil is among the better plant oils on a dog food list, low in saturated fat and carrying vitamin E of its own. Pork fat is a palatable animal fat. Fish oil brings omega 3 fatty acids for a growing brain, and eyes and coat use them as well. Chicken gravy sits with them, doing the work of making the kibble taste like something.

The gut side is short but named. Dried beet pulp at 2.5% is a well tolerated fibre and most puppy digestions handle it easily. Fructooligosaccharides at 0.2% is a prebiotic that feeds the good bacteria living further down the gut. Brewer's dried yeast closes the list and is a natural source of B vitamins.

The added panel prints vitamin A at 23000 IU/kg, vitamin D3 at 1100 IU/kg and vitamin E at 135 mg/kg. Zinc comes in at 115 mg/kg, iron at 69 mg/kg, manganese at 40 mg/kg, copper at 13 mg/kg, iodine at 2.6 mg/kg and selenium at 0.08 mg/kg. The selenium arrives as sodium selenite, one of only two forms permitted in pet food here and much the more widely used of them, dosed as regulation requires at a small fraction of a milligram. Nothing on this list is vague about where it came from. That makes the allergen picture complete: chicken, turkey, pork, fish and grain, with no guesswork.

Sold in 2 kg, 3 kg and 12 kg bags.

Follow the bag's own chart for portions. Big breed growth is best kept unhurried, so let the pace your pup's frame is setting decide whether the amount goes up or stays put.