Nature's Way Puppy & Small Dog review

Our scoring places this food in our Good band, level with where the typical puppy dry food settles. What it does well it does where a growth label should: a high declared meat share with every part itemised, and transparency reading Outstanding with protein and processing Good. Nutritional balance reads Excellent.

Ingredients, as declared: 59% Chicken consisting: Chicken (21%), Dried Chicken (32%), Chicken Fat (3%), Chicken Liver (2.5%), Brown Rice (21%), Potato Protein, Harvest Oats, Barley, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Minerals, Vitamins, Salmon Oil, Sunflower Oil, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Glucosamine (.015%), MSM (.015%), Chlondroitin (.01%), Prebiotic MOS, Prebiotic FOS, Mixed Herbs consisting: Thyme, Majoram, Sage, Basil, Parsley, Oregano

The 59% chicken headline is led by dried chicken at 32%, ahead of fresh chicken at 21%, with chicken fat at 3% and liver at 2.5% completing the total. That order is quietly reassuring. Dried meat has no water left in it, so gram for gram it delivers much more protein to the finished kibble than fresh meat does. The analysis agrees, with protein converting to 37.0% of dry matter, a generous level for a growing dog.

Brown rice at 21% leads the starch, with harvest oats and barley behind it and potato protein topping up the protein total. These are familiar, gentle grains doing honest work, and the carbohydrate estimate converts to 36.9% of dry matter, a touch under the 39.0% typical of puppy dry food.

Calcium converts to 2.17% of dry matter, and that figure is why the small-dog framing on the bag matters. Small breeds take a level like this in their stride, while large-breed growth needs calcium held lower, since oversupply during a big pup's growth spurt is the classic rearing mistake. Fed to the pups it is named for, the number is nothing to lose sleep over.

The back half of the label works hard for a puppy food. Glucosamine and chondroitin both appear as declared inclusions, and so does MSM. Beet pulp brings gentle fibre for firm stools, and linseed with salmon and sunflower oils covers the fats a young coat and brain are hungry for. Yucca extract makes an appearance too, an ingredient makers reach for with stool odour in mind.

The mixed herbs that close the list, thyme through to oregano, are seasoning rather than nutrition, and the recipe knows it. This food makes its case on the chicken and on a label honest enough to itemise it.

£5.50 a kilo, sold as a single 12kg bag, which will last a small pup a good while, so plan the storage and check the dates on arrival.

Puppies move through their feeding bands quickly, so portion to the label's bodyweight guide and let your pup's condition steer you between the lines, rather than settling on one fixed daily amount.