Morrisons Chief Puppy Meaty Chunks: With Chicken & Rice review

The typical wet puppy food lands in our Excellent band, and the category as a whole scores well. This one sits in our Average band, well behind that middle, and the reason is the meat block rather than the analysis. Protein and processing reads Poor because so little of the animal content is pinned to a species. Nutritional balance and transparency both come out Excellent, so what is declared is broadly sensible for a growing dog. The energy figure has to be our own estimate too, since the pack prints none.

Ingredients, as declared: With Beef And Rice - Meat and Animal Derivatives (36%, including 4% Beef), Cereals (including 1.6% Dried Rice Equivalent to 4% Rehydrated Rice), Minerals, Various Sugars, With Chicken and Rice - Meat and Animal Derivatives (36%, including 4% Chicken), Cereals (including 1.6% Dried Rice Equivalent to 4% Rehydrated Rice), Minerals, Various Sugars, With Turkey And RIce - Meat and Animal Derivatives (36%, including 4% Turkey), Cereals (including 1.6% Dried Rice Equivalent to 4% Rehydrated Rice), Minerals, Various Sugars

The recipe is a short one. Meat and animal derivatives make up 36%, of which 4% is the meat named on the front, then cereals, minerals and various sugars. That heading covers the fleshy parts of farmed land animals at every grade, from good muscle meat to the plainest material. The pack gives no way of telling which end of that range is in the tin.

The cereal entry is just as broad, itemised only as 1.6% dried rice, equivalent to 4% once rehydrated. Naming that much and no more leaves the rest of the grain unspecified, which matters most to an owner trying to pin down an intolerance, and it also lets the source move between batches.

Various sugars deserve a moment. Sweetness appeals to a dog exactly as it appeals to us, and that is precisely why it is added. It brings nothing a growing puppy needs, so the less of it the better.

The declared analysis is more encouraging than the ingredient list. Protein at 6.5% and fat at 5.5% look modest until the 81.5% moisture is taken out, at which point they convert to 35.1% and 29.7% of dry matter, a properly meaty shape. Our carbohydrate estimate comes to 21.7% of dry matter, against 13.6% for the typical wet puppy food. The cereal is doing more than a token job.

Calcium converts to 1.62% of dry matter with ash at 10.8%, a mineral package that suits small and medium growth comfortably. Large and giant pups are normally reared on a little less, which is the note above. No vitamin or trace element panel is published with the pack, so the added micronutrients have to be taken on trust.

We estimate 84 kcal per 100g, against the 106 typical for wet puppy food. A pup therefore needs a fair weight of it to cover a day.

Here chicken takes the named 4% slot and the rest of the recipe matches the other two exactly. Puppies tend to get along with chicken easily, and it is the meat they are most likely to have met already. That same familiarity is the reason chicken sensitivity is reported more than any other.

£1.88 a kilo, sold as a 6 x 400g pack.

At the small end the pack's own guide asks 300g a day, and at the large end 1200g. That spread is a neat illustration of why a puppy's portion cannot be set once and forgotten. Start from the chart for your pup's weight today, then move it as they fill out.