Natures Menu Complete & Balanced Puppy 80/20: Turkey & Fish review

All three reach our Outstanding band, which is where a typical raw puppy food sits, so the whole range is meeting the standard of a very strong field. The Chicken with Salmon is the one a shade behind the other two. There is nothing wrong with it, and its protein and processing still reads Outstanding. It leans on brown rice where the other two use sweet potato and greens, so its plant side is short on variety.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey 40%, Salmon 20%, White Fish 20%, Sweet Potato 10%, Peas 2%, Spinach 2%, Pea Fibre, Minerals, Yeast Products (as a source of prebiotic MOS and beta glucans) (0.016%), Yucca, Green Tea

Two of the three recipes read like the adult 80/20 range with a puppy in mind: named meat at 80%, sweet potato at 10% for steadier energy, then peas and spinach. Pea fibre closes the list, along with the familiar tail of added minerals, yeast product, yucca and green tea. The third takes an entirely different route.

The Chicken with Salmon is the outlier. On the animal side there is chicken at 70%, then salmon at 10%. Brown rice at 18% fills everything else, and no vegetable appears on the list at all. Brown rice is a decent whole grain and plenty of puppies do well on it, but the shorter, plainer list is what separates this recipe from its two stablemates.

Sweet potato at 10% is a sensible carbohydrate for a growing dog, releasing its energy gently and bringing fibre and beta carotene along with it. Spinach and peas at 2% each amount to a small green fraction rather than a token gesture, and pea fibre helps a rich mince hold its shape in the pack.

Minerals are added and printed per kilo across all three recipes, with the trace elements itemised and selenium supplied as an inactivated selenised yeast. The yeast product at 0.016% is a prebiotic addition, included for MOS and beta glucans. What the panel does not carry is a calcium figure, and in a food built for growth that is the one worth putting to the maker directly.

Puppy appetites are the other thing to plan around. The label sets its chart out by weight and by age, and it is generous. A 10kg puppy is fed 200 to 300 grams a day on one line and 500 to 600 grams on the nought to twelve month line. That is a lot of frozen food moving through a household each week.

The analyses are rich, as a growing dog's food should be. Protein converts to between 37.5% and 41.9% of dry matter and fat to between 32.3% and 34.4%, with energy from 160 to 189 kcal per 100g. Portions are smallest on the Chicken with Salmon. It is the densest of the three.

Turkey leads at 40%, then salmon and white fish at 20% apiece. Marine oils are front and centre here for a growing dog. Behind them come sweet potato, peas and spinach. Energy at 169 kcal per 100g falls between the other two.

All three recipes are £6.99 a kilo and come in 1kg packs.

There is no single day rate worth quoting for a puppy, because the portion climbs every few weeks as the dog grows. The label's own chart is the better guide, and it is laid out by weight and by age rather than as one fixed figure.