Lifestage Grain Free Puppy Dry Food: Chicken Turkey & Salmon review

Both recipes here sit in our Excellent band, one step up from the band the typical puppy kibble occupies, with the poultry led recipe a shade ahead of the fish one. Transparency is the pillar doing the most work, reading Outstanding on each, which follows naturally from labels that break their meat and fish out entry by entry and keep the starch to named vegetables. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Good. What holds the pair back from pressing higher is the missing calcium declaration, which on a growth food is the figure with the most riding on it.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken, Turkey, Salmon (60%), Freshly Prepared Chicken (25%), Dried Chicken (17%), Chicken Fat (6%), Dried Salmon (4%), Dried Turkey (4%), Chicken Gravy (4%), Sweet Potato (24%), Peas (5%), Potato, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Minerals, Dried Seaweed, Yeast, Carrot, Glucosamine, Methylsulfonylmethane, Chondroitin Sulphate, Fructooligosaccharides (Fos), Mannanoligosaccharides (Mos)

Both recipes lead with a headline percentage and then break it down, which is the habit that separates a label worth reading from one worth skimming. In each case the total is split between a freshly prepared portion, a dried portion, a fat or oil and a stock or gravy, all named to species. You can see exactly where the protein is coming from and in what form.

Neither recipe contains grain. Most of the binding is sweet potato, and potato and peas come behind it. Beet pulp adds a modest, well tolerated fibre. Peas in moderation earn their place, with fibre and a range of micronutrients to offer. In both bags they sit well below the meat.

Glucosamine, methylsulfonylmethane and chondroitin sulphate appear on both lists, together with fructooligosaccharides as a prebiotic. None of the four carries a printed quantity, so take them as a considered inclusion with no figure to go on. They are still the right ingredients to find in a growth food, and they are named in plain sight.

The gap on the two labels is the same one. Neither declares a calcium figure. The range is sold for puppies of every size, from a toy breed that finishes early to a giant breed still filling out well into its second year. That makes calcium the number with the most riding on it. Ask the maker for it. Nothing about the recipes suggests a problem, but a large breed rearing plan cannot rest on a figure nobody has printed.

Both recipes declare 9.0% moisture and 8.0% ash. On our energy estimate both come in a little under the 376 kcal per 100g typical of a puppy dry food, which mostly means a slightly fuller scoop. The added mineral and vitamin panels are printed with figures on each, including copper at 15 mg/kg and iodine at 2 mg/kg, so the supplementation side is properly documented.

This is the poultry led recipe, and its 60% total is unpacked in full. Chicken accounts for 25% freshly prepared, 17% dried, 6% as fat and 4% as gravy, with dried salmon at 4% and dried turkey at 4% alongside. Chicken is comfortably the main event, with turkey and salmon in supporting roles. A dog that struggles with poultry should look at the other recipe, and the salmon means this one cannot anchor a fish free plan either. Starch duty falls to sweet potato at 24%, peas add 5%, and carrot and dried seaweed sit further down the list. Protein is declared at 29.0% and fat at 15.0%, converting to 31.9% and 16.5% once the declared moisture comes out, and energy is estimated at 355 kcal per 100g. Both mannanoligosaccharides and fructooligosaccharides are named here, and the added panel includes vitamin D3 at 2,750 IU per kilogram.

£3.30 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg and 10kg bags.

A growing dog's daily amount is a curve, climbing hard through the early months and easing off as the frame completes. Use the chart on the pack for your pup's age, then let what you see in front of you settle it.