Natural Instinct

Natural Instinct Puppy: Duck and Chicken review

Name: Natural Instinct Puppy: Duck and Chicken
Brand: Natural Instinct

84.3/100Outstanding

RawPuppyAdult

Flavour

Frozen raw for growing dogs, and all six recipes sit in our Outstanding band. What sets the range apart is the organ meat: liver on every label, heart and green tripe on most. Every recipe is labelled for adults too, so nothing changes when the growing stops.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Organ meat from the first week, with liver on every label
No food change at the end of growth, as all six are labelled for adults
Puppies that find rich bowls heavy: the two turkey recipes are far leaner
Large-breed pups, steered towards the salmon recipes where calcium reads lowest
Variety, with chicken, turkey, duck, salmon and tripe across the range

Worth watching

Beef organ meat on all six and salmon oil throughout, so none is single-species or fish free
Calcium from 1.4% to 3.43% of dry matter, which matters most for a large-breed pup
Energy swings hard between labels, so re-work the portion when you switch

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

84.3/100Outstanding

Protein and processingOutstanding

Nutritional balanceOutstanding

TransparencyGood

ValueOutstanding

The details

Dog fit

Listed for puppies and adults of every size. A puppy is fed on a share of its bodyweight, so set the portion per recipe and recheck it as the pup grows.

Food type

Raw

Life stage

Puppy, Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Chicken

The score, in context

Chicken 85.9
Chicken 85.6
Turkey 85.1
Turkey 84.9
Duck 84.3
Chicken 82.9

All six Outstanding. Typical raw food: Outstanding.

Six recipes in the hardest field we score, and the one with the shortest animal list finishes lowest.

What's in it

Beef heart10%The biggest beef heart share in the range.
Beef liver5%
Chicken35%
Duck35%The only label with duck.
Apple, butternut squash, carrot
Kelp, salmon oil, spinachSalmon oil puts fish in the bowl.
WheatgrassLeaf and stem, not grain: no gluten, no cereal.

Calcium at 3.02% of dry matter, among the highest here. For a large-breed puppy, the salmon recipes read lower.

Named ingredients

Beef heart 10%, beef liver 5%, chicken 35%, duck 35%, apple, butternut squash, carrot, kelp, salmon oil, spinach, wheatgrass

Against the range

Energy: 173 kcal per 100g; The peak of the range, so the smallest portions.
Calcium, dry matter: 3.02%; Second only to the Chicken's 3.43%.
Tripe: None; Green tripe on four of the six.

The richest bowl in the range, for a puppy that burns a lot.

Every recipe holds the animal share at 85%, with apple, butternut squash and carrot behind it, then kelp, salmon oil and spinach. Beef liver is on all six labels, beef heart on five and green tripe on four. Wheatgrass appears on five, and the Chicken has brewers yeast instead.

Nothing starchy goes in. What moves is fat and calcium: fat from 23.0% to 46.0% of dry matter, and calcium from 1.4% to 3.43%.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

173.4 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

13.8%

Fat

14.6%

Fibre

0.9%

Ash

3.5%

Moisture

66.9%

Dry weight

Protein

41.7%

Fat

44.1%

Fibre

2.7%

Ash

10.6%

Carbs

0.9%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

85%

Veg

13.8%

Oils

0.8%

Other

0.4%

Pricing & size