Natural & Delicious N&D Tropical Selection Puppy Mini: Lamb, Spelt, Oats & Tropical Fruits review

Good is our band for this bag, and the midpoint of the puppy dry field falls there too, so treat it as a dependable choice rather than an unusual one. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Good behind it, with transparency well clear of them in Outstanding.

Named meats open the list and the calcium figure is printed, and those two do most of the lifting. A modest additive panel, and joint ingredients named without numbers, are what keep it from pushing higher.

Ingredients, as declared: lamb (20%), dehydrated lamb protein (20%), spelt (10%), oats (10%), chicken fat, dehydrated herring protein, dried beet pulp, fish oil (from herring), dried carrot, alfalfa meal, chicken cartilage (source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate), inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides, yeast extract (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), dried banana (0.5%), dried kiwi (0.5%), dried mango (0.5%), dried papaya (0.5%), dried pineapple (0.5%), dried spinach, psyllium husks and seeds, sodium chloride, dried brewers' yeast, turmeric, aloe vera extract.

The meat is declared in two forms, lamb at 20% and dehydrated lamb protein at 20%, which is a straightforward way to reach a decent protein figure without leaning on plant protein to get there. Dehydrated herring protein sits further down and adds to the total, giving 33.0% protein on a dry matter basis.

Spelt and oats share the starch load at 10% apiece. Spelt is an old wheat variety with a wider nutrient spread than modern wheat, and plenty of dogs handle it comfortably, though it does contain gluten. Oats cook down easily and bring soluble fibre with them. The estimated carbohydrate of 33.2% of dry matter is below the 39.0% typical for the category.

The label declares calcium at 1.26% of dry matter. Seeing that figure printed matters on a food meant for a growing dog. Small breeds have more latitude on that number than the giants do, and this is a comfortable figure for the size of dog the bag is built around.

The five fruits arrive dried and each is there at 0.5%. Banana, kiwi, mango, papaya and pineapple are the names on the list. They add colour, a little sweetness and some antioxidant value. Their size is printed on the list as well, and plenty of fruit-forward packs never manage that.

Dried beet pulp handles the bulk of the fibre with psyllium husks and seeds behind it. Inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides look after the gut flora, alongside a mannan-oligosaccharide yeast extract. At 3.0% of dry matter the fibre level is easy going for a puppy.

The supplement column covers the essentials without extras: vitamin A at 12000IU, vitamin D3 at 1200IU, vitamin E at 120mg, a full spread of trace minerals, DL-methionine at 2500mg and choline chloride at 2500mg. Green tea extract at 100mg and rosemary extract handle the preserving, both of them natural antioxidants.

£9.99 a kilo, sold in a 1.5kg bag.

A puppy has no fixed daily amount, only a moving one. Our energy estimate puts a 5kg pup at roughly 156g to 190g a day through the first four months, easing to 104g to 127g a day from four to twelve months. The right figure is always the one that keeps their waist visible.