Natural & Delicious N&D Ancestral Grain Puppy Medium & Maxi review

This one takes our Excellent band, while the middle of the puppy kibble market sits below it in Good. Protein and processing reads Good and value settles at Excellent, while nutritional balance and transparency both reach Outstanding, an even showing rather than one figure dragging the others up. The meat share and the light touch with grain are what push it forward. The label helps too: it names what it is doing at almost every line, from the fish the oil is pressed from to the part of the chicken the joint compounds come out of.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh boneless lamb (20%), dehydrated lamb meat (20%), spelt (10%), oats (10%), chicken fat, fresh herrings, dehydrated herrings, dried whole eggs, dried beet pulp, fish oil (from herring), fiber vegetable of peas, dried carrots, dried alfalfa, chicken cartilages (source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate), inulin, fructooligosaccharides, yeast extract (source of mannan-oligosaccharides), dried blueberries (0.5%), dried spinach, psyllium (0.3%), dried apple, dried sweet orange, dried pomegranate, sodium chloride, dried brewer's yeast, turmeric root (0.2%).

Lamb arrives twice, as 20% fresh boneless lamb and 20% dehydrated lamb meat. That pairing is the sensible way to build a meat headline, because the fresh portion is mostly water before cooking while the dehydrated portion carries through close to as printed. Protein is declared at 35.0% and converts to 38.5% of dry matter, a properly meaty figure for a growth food.

Spelt and oats at 10% each are the whole of the cereal content. Spelt is an old relative of wheat with a broader nutrient spread than the modern grain behind it. Many dogs who struggle with wheat take it in their stride, though it does carry wheat gluten. Oats add fibre and B vitamins. With so little grain in the recipe, carbohydrate converts to an estimated 28.8% of dry matter, well under the 39.0% a puppy kibble typically runs.

Herring appears fresh and dehydrated, with the fish oil pressed from the same fish, so the marine omega 3 comes from a source you can actually name. Dried whole eggs add some of the most digestible protein there is, and chicken fat supplies much of the added fat, which is the line to note if poultry is what you are avoiding.

On a bag aimed at medium and maxi puppies the mineral reading carries real weight, and here it is in print. Ash is declared at 8.0% and calcium converts to 1.21% of dry matter, sitting inside the range growing bone is built to handle. For a dog that will finish big, a declared figure in that range is exactly the reassurance to look for on the back of the pack.

What follows is a long tail of small, deliberate things. Chicken cartilage is named as the source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate, and inulin and fructooligosaccharides sit with a yeast extract for mannan-oligosaccharides on the gut side. Psyllium at 0.3% brings soluble fibre, then blueberries at 0.5%, spinach, apple, sweet orange, pomegranate and turmeric root at 0.2%. The declared panel is generous too, with taurine at 1000 mg and L-Carnitine at 300 mg. Selenium arrives in its organic form, selenised yeast, not the plain mineral one.

This is a concentrated kibble, at 416 kcal per 100g against the 376 a puppy food typically carries, with fat converting to 22.0% of dry matter. A pup growing quickly will put that energy to work, while a steadier one will need a smaller bowl than the size of the bag suggests.

£7.50 a kilo, sold in a 12kg bag.

Portions across the first year are a moving line, never a set figure, so follow the chart printed for your pup's age and finished size and use their waistline as the check on it. That guide starts at 95g a day for a pup expected to reach 10kg and rises to 440g a day for one on course for 40kg.