Natural & Delicious N&D Spirulina Puppy Mini: Lamb, Spirulina & Wolfberry review

This bag lands in our Excellent band, clear of the middle of the puppy kibble field. Behind it, transparency reads Outstanding, protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Good, and value reads Excellent.

The strength is straightforward: named meat at the front, a printed calcium figure and starch kept lighter than most growth kibbles manage. The gap between this and the band above it is mostly a supplement list that names its joint ingredients without ever putting a number to them.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb (24%), dehydrated lamb protein (22%), sweet potato, chicken fat, dehydrated herring protein, dried spirulina (5%), herring, dried eggs, dried wolfberry (2.5%), fish oil (from herring), pea fibre, dried carrot, alfalfa meal, chicken cartilage (source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate), inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides, yeast extract (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), dried spinach, psyllium husks and seeds, sodium chloride, dried brewers' yeast, turmeric, aloe vera extract.

Two lamb entries lead this recipe, fresh lamb at 24% and dehydrated lamb protein at 22%. Splitting a meat like that is not a trick. Water has already gone from the dried version, so it holds its share into the finished kibble while the fresh lamb shrinks in the oven. Between them they set a protein figure of 33.0% of dry matter.

The only real starch source is sweet potato, and there is no grain at all. Estimated carbohydrate of 33.4% of dry matter sits below the 39.0% typical for a puppy kibble. That is a decent showing in a small bite food, where starch usually has to do more of the binding.

The mineral picture is printed in full, calcium included at 1.21% of dry matter. Small breed growth is more forgiving of that number than large breed growth is, but seeing it on the label at all still puts this bag in front of plenty of its rivals.

Dried spirulina at 5% is the flourish the pack is named for, an algae rich in pigments and micronutrients, with dried wolfberry at 2.5% behind it. Carrot, alfalfa, spinach, turmeric and aloe vera round the list off at trace levels.

Fish runs through the recipe in three places, as dehydrated herring protein, as whole herring and as herring oil. Those marine fats do good work for growing brains and coats. They are also the reason fish joins lamb, chicken and egg on the allergen picture.

The additive column is unusually full for a puppy food. Per kilo it carries taurine at 1000mg, L-carnitine at 300mg, choline chloride at 2800mg and vitamin E at 600mg. Selenium is delivered as selenised yeast, the form dogs are generally reported to absorb more readily than the mineral salt. Green tea extract at 100mg and rosemary extract do the preserving.

£12.99 a kilo, sold in a 2kg bag.

Feed to the chart, not to habit. It is laid out by age against weight, and the 5kg line moves from 60g a day at two months to 115g by six months. The amount in the bowl should be climbing while your pup is still filling out.