Natural Greatness Ultra Premium Puppy, Junior, & Adult Mini: Lamb Recipe review

The chicken settles in our Excellent band, a rung above the Good band that most adult dry food occupies, with the lamb level with that typical mark. Dehydrated meat leads each list, the protein and fat run generously for a small dog, and the joint pair carries printed doses rather than a vague mention. Two things hold them back: plant protein in the middle of each recipe, and no calcium declaration on labels sold for growth.

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated lamb meat (24%), Fresh lamb meat (11%), Chicken oil (11%), Peas, Potatoes, Lamb liver hydrolysate (3%), Carrots, Pumpkin, Potato protein, Yeast, Beet pulp, Salmon Oil, Linseed, Mixed fruit (Apples and Blueberries), Mixed vegetables (Tomatoes and Spinach), Algae, Mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS 0.1%), Inulin (FOS 0.1%), Yucca schidigera, Rosemary, Parsley, Glucosamine 650 mg/kg, Chondroitin 150 mg/kg.

Dehydrated meat opens both lists, which is the entry you want at the top of a kibble. Drying comes before the percentage is worked out, so the label figure and the bowl are not far apart. The chicken list runs 25% dehydrated and 10% fresh; the lamb list 24% dehydrated and 11% fresh. Fresh entries lose a lot of weight in the oven. That is normal, and it is why the dried figure is the one to read first.

The chicken recipe is the denser build: 32.0% protein, 20.0% fat and 410 kcal per 100g, with carbohydrate at 32.1% of dry matter. Dehydrated salmon at 3% and chicken liver hydrolysate at 3% deepen both the protein and the flavour, and salmon oil at 0.5% adds marine omega 3s. Dehydrated whole egg at 0.3% is a small but genuinely high quality protein source. For a growing small dog that never stops moving, that is a sensible shape.

The lamb recipe is gentler, at 30.0% protein and 18.0% fat, and the more varied plate of the two. Lamb liver hydrolysate at 3% keeps a fussy small mouth interested, and carrots, pumpkin, apples, blueberries, tomatoes, spinach and algae all appear by name rather than hiding behind a general term. Most of its fat is chicken oil at 11%, worth knowing if the lamb on the front was the reason you picked it up.

Both labels do the same tidy job behind the meat. Peas and potatoes carry the starch, beet pulp supplies gentle fermentable fibre, linseed adds plant omega 3s, and chicory and MOS are prebiotics, feeding the bacteria that keep a young gut settled. Potato protein appears in the lamb recipe, a plant protein that raises the declared total without matching what meat contributes.

The supplements are properly dosed. Glucosamine at 650 mg/kg and chondroitin at 150 mg/kg support joints. Taurine covers heart muscle at 750 mg on the chicken and 700 mg on the lamb. Each trace mineral gets its own line, with zinc at 165 mg on the chicken and 150 mg on the lamb. The one absence that matters is calcium, which is never declared, and calcium is the figure a growth diet is judged on. For a small breed puppy the risk is low, since small dogs grow quickly and finish early, but the number would be good to see.

The gentler and more colourful recipe, at 30.0% protein and 18.0% fat for 393 kcal per 100g, built on dehydrated lamb at 24%, lamb liver hydrolysate at 3% and fresh lamb at 11%. Carrots, pumpkin, apples, blueberries, tomatoes, spinach and algae are all named on the list, with rosemary and parsley closing it. Chicken oil at 11% supplies most of the fat despite the lamb on the front.

Both come in 2kg and 6kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat about 205 grams a day of the chicken or about 214 grams of the lamb. The figure to work from is around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). A dog that size is larger than these small breed bags are aimed at. Nearer the mark, the lamb label asks 113 grams a day for a quiet 10kg dog. Puppies eat well above their adult ration while they are growing, so follow the label through that stretch and let the ribs guide you.