K9 Optimum Puppy Wet review

This food sits in our Excellent band and earns the position honestly. The meat share is high, the label is itemised, and what the analysis shows matches the claims on the front of the pack. Nutritional balance and transparency both read Outstanding, with protein and processing and value alike at Excellent, so the strength here is spread across the label rather than resting on one line.

The typical wet puppy food also sits in our Excellent band, so the competition here is strong. This recipe still clears the typical mark, which means it holds its own in good company rather than merely keeping up.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (65%), Dried Brown Rice (3.75%), Minerals, Dried Carrot (0.6%), Dried Potato (0.6%), Flaxseed Oil (0.5%), Salmon Oil (0.5%), Dried Seaweed (0.08%), Chicory Root Powder (0.03%), Glucosamine HCl (0.005%), Chondroitin (0.002%). Chicken (65%), Dried Brown Rice (4%), Minerals, Dried Carrot (1%), Dried Potato (1%), Flaxseed Oil (1%), Salmon Oil (1%), Dried Seaweed, Chicory Root Powder, Glucosamine Hcl, Chondroitin

Chicken at 65% does almost all the work here, and the analysis agrees with the label. Protein converts to 46.0% of dry matter and fat to 23.2%. Those are the numbers of a food built from meat. The carbohydrate estimate lands at 15.6% of dry matter, close to the 13.6% typical of wet puppy food. No starchy middle hides behind the meat headline.

The starch itself is a light touch. Brown rice at 3.75%, with dried carrot and dried potato at 0.6% each, is closer to seasoning than structure. Even so, the rice keeps this from being a grain free recipe. Fibre is minimal at 0.8% of dry matter, which most puppy digestion takes in its stride.

Flaxseed oil and salmon oil come in at 0.5% apiece, plant and marine omegas together, for the coat and brain of a growing pup. Chicken is the one meat named here, so the fish on the allergen picture comes from that salmon oil.

The mineral package is generous, with ash converting to 14.4% of dry matter and calcium to 3.2%. Growing bones need plenty of both, and small and medium pups will use it happily. At 3.2% it sits above where large breed growth plans are pitched, which is why the big pup note above matters. Closing the list, glucosamine HCl at 0.005% and chondroitin at 0.002% are a nod towards joints and not a working dose.

The added vitamin and trace mineral panel is dosed in print: vitamins A, D3 and E alongside zinc, iron, manganese, copper and iodine. L-Carnitine at 25 mg/kg goes in with them, and it helps a pup turn fat into energy it can use, a thoughtful inclusion in a growth recipe.

£4.22 a kilo, sold in a 6 x 395g multipack.

Our standard energy estimate puts a 10kg puppy between 4 and 12 months old on somewhere between 638 and 780 grams a day. Wet food feeds in larger volumes than kibble, so portion to the growth chart and the waistline, not to the pack.