My Pet Says Super Premium Large Breed Puppy: Salmon & Potato review

This recipe lands in the Good band, the same band the middle of the puppy kibble market occupies. Protein and processing reads Average here, with nutritional balance and value both Good and transparency Outstanding. There is plenty on the label and the doses are printed, while a protein figure of 29.3% of dry matter and a generous starch share keep the balance side ordinary. What gives it a clear purpose is the large breed brief, which it answers with a printed calcium figure and a joint package that is actually dosed.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon 36% (Including Freshly Prepared Salmon 22%, Dried Salmon 13%, Salmon Gravy 1%), Potato (22%), Barley, Oats, Chicken Fat, Potato Protein, Peas, Beet Pulp (2%), Omega 3 Supplement, Minerals, Vitamins, Glucosamine (355 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (355 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (250 mg/kg). Vitamins: Vitamin A 14,400 IU, Vitamin D3 1,925 IU, Vitamin E 95 IU. Trace Elements: Iron (Iron (II) Sulphate Monohydrate) 50 mg, Zinc (Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate) 50 mg, Manganese (Manganous Sulphate Monohydrate) 35 mg, Iodine (Calcium Iodate Anhydrous) 1 mg.

Salmon at 36% is itemised the way you want to see it: 22% freshly prepared, 13% dried and 1% salmon gravy. Before it goes through the oven, fresh fish is mostly water. The dried 13% therefore carries more finished protein than its share suggests, and the declared 27.0% protein converts to 29.3% of dry matter.

The list names salmon and no other meat, which will appeal to owners steering clear of red meat and poultry meat alike. The added fat, though, is chicken fat. A dog on a genuine poultry exclusion cannot use this recipe, and that is the line to read twice if allergies are the reason you are label reading in the first place.

Potato at 22% leads the base, with barley and oats following on. Potato protein and peas add plant protein on top of the fish. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 45.7% of dry matter against the 39.0% that puppy kibble usually runs, so the base is doing a fair bit of the feeding. Beet pulp at 2% adds a modest, well tolerated fibre.

For a food built for big pups, the mineral reading is the headline act, and it is printed: calcium converts to 1.20% of dry matter, comfortably within the range large breed growth is happiest with. That figure is the one most often pitched wrong when a heavy framed dog is being reared. Seeing that figure declared, and inside the range, is worth a lot on a bag aimed at big dogs.

Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 355 mg/kg each, with chondroitin sulphate at 250 mg/kg, add up to a joint package with genuine numbers behind it. Starting that early makes sense in a dog that will carry weight on those joints for life. An omega 3 supplement tops up fatty acids the salmon already supplies, the trace elements are the usual sulphate forms with iodine as calcium iodate, and energy comes in at 388 kcal per 100g.

£4.69 a kilo, sold in 12kg and 24kg bags, with a 15kg bag carrying working dog labelling.

While a large breed is growing, no single daily amount holds for long. Begin with the bag's chart, matched to how old your pup is and what they will weigh grown, then trim or add as they fill out.