Natures Deli Puppy/Junior review

The typical puppy kibble lands in our Good band and this one lands there with it. Nothing inside it troubles us, so what is left to talk about is how the recipe is assembled. Brown rice takes almost a quarter of the bag, and pea protein raises the protein figure using a plant. Of the 32.5% turkey, only the meal share carries through to the finished kibble.

Protein and processing sits alongside nutritional balance at Good, with transparency the clear high point at Outstanding. The turkey is described in detail and the functional extras are dosed in print, and both of those work in the food's favour.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey (32.5%; including turkey meal (24.9%), turkey (5.7%), turkey gravy (1.9%)), brown rice (22.3%), turkey fat, pea protein, dried beet pulp, dried peas (3.8%), dried chick peas (2.9%), dried sweet potato (2.9%), brewers' yeast, dried pumpkin (1.9%), minerals, linseed oil, vegetable stock, dried carrot (0.5%), yeast (as a source of mannan- oligosaccharides (prebiotic MOS; 0.14%)), chicory root extract (as a source of fructo- oligosaccharides (prebiotic FOS; 0.14%)), dried rosemary, yucca schidigera (0.024%), glucosamine (0.012%), dried cranberry, dried dandelion root, dried pomegranate, chondroitin sulphate (0.005%)

Turkey comes in three forms and the label puts a number on each: turkey meal at 24.9%, then turkey at 5.7%, then turkey gravy at 1.9%. The meal is the workhorse. Being dried already, it carries its declared share through to the bag, while fresh turkey loses much of its weight to the oven. Turkey digests easily and pups tend to like it, and as the only meat here it keeps things simple for a pup on one protein.

Brown rice at 22.3% is the second largest entry, and it is why grain sits in this bag. Being a whole grain and not a refined one, it brings its own fibre with it. Even with that share, carbohydrate converts to an estimated 33.5% of dry matter against 39.0% for the typical puppy kibble. That leaves the starch load on the lighter side for the category.

Pea protein sits fourth, with dried peas at 3.8%, chick peas at 2.9% and dried sweet potato at 2.9% following. Pea protein is a refined plant protein rather than a whole pulse, and it does not match meat for digestibility, so the headline protein figure and the turkey content are not quite the same conversation.

Calcium converts to 1.65% of dry matter, which is the sort of margin bone growth is designed around, and ash lands at 9.9% of dry matter alongside it. Calcium is what most often goes wrong in rearing a puppy, so a printed figure is exactly what an owner wants to see. Small and medium pups are well served by it; the largest breeds grow to a tighter calcium brief, which is the one conversation to have before a giant breed pup starts on this bag.

The added panel is thorough. Vitamin D3 comes in at 1,500 IU, vitamin E at 560 mg and vitamin C at 75 mg per kilo, with biotin at 0.2 mg. Zinc arrives from both oxide at 70 mg and a chelate at 50 mg. Then iron at 40 mg, manganese at 25 mg, copper at 5 mg, iodine at 1.5 mg and selenium at 0.2 mg. The label also names a live Bacillus subtilis culture, a gut flora stabiliser, and tocopherol extracts at 66 mg keep the fats fresh naturally.

Linseed oil looks after the omega 3 side, which is worth having in a growth food since those fats feed coat and brain development. Cranberry, dandelion root, pomegranate and yucca schidigera at 0.024% finish the list in trace amounts. Treat them as flourishes, and choose the bag on what comes before them.

Sold in 2kg and 12kg bags.

Working from our standard energy estimate, a 10kg pup in the four to twelve month band gets through roughly 194g to 237g a day. In its first four months that same pup eats rather more, closer to 291g to 356g. Those amounts move as fast as the pup does, so treat the guide as a weekly checkpoint and let body condition settle the final number.