Lakes Collection Lakes Heritage Grain Free Puppy: Chicken with Carrot review

The two recipes finish a whisker apart, the chicken in our Excellent band and the salmon just under it in Good, which is where the typical puppy dry food settles too. Transparency reads Outstanding on both and protein and processing Good on both, with nutritional balance Good on the chicken and a step behind on Average for the salmon.

It is the ingredient work that earns the position. Neither label hides behind a category name. Every meat and fish is itemised with a percentage of its own. The supplement doses are printed in mg/kg, and calcium is declared instead of being left to trust. That is a lot of information for an owner to check a growth food against.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken, Turkey & Salmon 60% (including Freshly Prepared Chicken 20%, Dried Chicken 14%, Freshly Prepared Turkey 7%, Freshly Prepared Salmon 7%, Dried Turkey 7%, Dried Salmon 3% & Chicken Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (22%), Potato, Linseed, Omega 3 Supplement, Beet Pulp, Minerals, Carrot (0.2%), Peas (0.07%), Glucosamine (170 mg/ kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Nucleotides, Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 96 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 24 mg/kg). No Added Artificial Colours & Preservatives. Naturally preserved using rosemary extract.

Each recipe opens with a 60% meat or fish block and then takes that block apart, which is the habit worth appreciating here. Weigh freshly prepared meat and you are weighing its water too. Dried meat has already given that water up, so those entries put more into the bowl than their percentages first suggest. Both recipes lean on that pairing rather than relying on a fresh headline alone.

Sweet potato leads the starch side of both, with potato behind it and not a cereal in sight. Beet pulp brings a modest fibre that suits a young digestion. Linseed adds plant omegas, and a named omega 3 supplement sits beside it. That gives a growing pup's coat and brain more than one source for the fats they need.

Both recipes declare calcium, and both figures land inside the range growth calls for. On a puppy label, no single number tells an owner more. Get calcium wrong in a large or giant breed pup and the skeleton is the part that pays. This food is sold for medium, large and giant breeds, and a number that is printed and in range is exactly the right way round. The two recipes carry different amounts, and the variety notes below give each one.

The pair share one supplement tail, and each entry in it comes with a printed figure. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane are printed at 170 mg/kg each, with chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg for the joints. FOS at 96 mg/kg and MOS at 24 mg/kg are the prebiotic pair, there to feed the gut bacteria, with added nucleotides alongside.

Both labels say no artificial colours or preservatives are added and name rosemary extract as the preservative doing the work instead, an antioxidant that slows the oxidation which turns fats rancid. Moisture is declared at 8% on each. The dry matter figures here therefore come straight off the label, where many kibbles leave you to assume it.

The chicken recipe splits its 60% across three birds and a fish. Chicken leads twice over, 20% freshly prepared and 14% dried. Turkey follows with 7% freshly prepared and 7% dried, salmon with 7% freshly prepared and 3% dried, and chicken stock closes at 2%. Sweet potato is the heavier of the two recipes at 22%, peas barely register at 0.07%, and carrot gives the variety its name at 0.2%.

This is the richer analysis of the pair: protein at 29.0% and fat at 15.0% as fed, converting to 31.5% and 16.3% of dry matter, with energy at 384 kcal per 100g. Calcium converts to 1.3% of dry matter, well placed for a pup with a lot of growing left to do.

Sold in 2kg and 12kg bags.

A puppy's portion keeps moving. The amount rises through the early months and comes back down as growth slows. Use the bag's own chart as your starting point, then let the shape of your pup decide the rest.