Naturediet Feel Good Puppy review

Excellent is where this carton lands, and the middle of the wet puppy field sits in the same band, so it holds its own in good company and finishes above that middle mark. Nutritional balance and transparency come back Outstanding, with protein and processing and value both Excellent, so the strength is spread rather than resting in one place.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken - 60%, Rice - 7%, Carrot - 4%, Dried Egg, Dried Seaweed

The heavy lifting is done by chicken at 60%, the only meat anywhere in the recipe. The pack front and the analysis tell the same story. Protein converts to 37.9% of dry matter, a properly meaty reading for a carton, and fat to 31.0%.

Rice at 7% and carrot at 4% are the only bulk behind the meat. Carbohydrate is estimated at 15.6% of dry matter against 13.6% for the typical puppy wet food. That is close company, and the chicken headline has no starchy middle to hide. Carrot brings soluble fibre and natural antioxidants with it, and cooked as it is here a pup digests it easily.

Dried egg is a small entry doing useful work. Few proteins are as easy for a young dog to use, and egg carries fat and micronutrients too. Dried seaweed closes the list. Kelp of that sort is a broad mineral and iodine source, and the quantity here is a finishing touch rather than a main event.

The added panel is itemised per kilo: vitamin A at 3,600IU and vitamin D3 at 300IU, with zinc at 30mg, iron at 14.4mg, manganese at 2.4mg and copper at 2mg. Ash converts to 10.3% of dry matter, so the mineral load is generous for growth. No calcium line is printed. On a puppy food, calcium is exactly what an owner of a large breed most wants to see.

Energy is declared at 134 kcal per 100g, so no estimate is needed. It runs above the 106 typical for the category, and a pup gets more from each spoonful here than from a leaner carton. For a pup up to 10kg the label's own guide starts at 650g a day, and at the far end of its chart it climbs past 2kg a day. That is simply the shape of wet feeding once a puppy gets big.

£4.02 a kilo, sold as 18 x 390g cartons.

Portions for a growing pup keep moving. Take the daily amount from the chart on the pack, set it against your pup's age and their expected grown size, and revise it as they fill out.