Nourish Grain Free Puppy Large Breed review

Our reading lands this in the Excellent band, a step clear of the Good band that the middle of the puppy dry field occupies. Transparency reads Outstanding here, protein and processing Good and nutritional balance Average, with value matching the Excellent band the food itself holds.

The balance of the recipe is what stops it climbing any further. On one side there is a genuinely single fish meat block, a declared and in range calcium figure and joint doses that go well beyond a token. On the other, starch takes a large share and the protein conversion is modest for a growth food. Energy comes in at 376 kcal per 100g, exactly the puppy dry typical, which tells you the bag is pitched at even growth rather than fast growth.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon 60% (Freshly Prepared Salmon 38%, Dried Salmon 20%, Salmon Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (19%), Potato, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Minerals, Vitamins, Carrot, Peas (0.2%), Omega 3 Supplement, Vegetable Stock, Glucosamine (355 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (355 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (250 mg/kg), Nucleotides, FOS (96 mg/kg), MOS (24 mg/kg)

The 60% salmon headline is fully itemised, and few labels bother. Freshly prepared salmon at 38% carries the fresh weight. Dried salmon at 20% has lost its water already and puts more finished protein into the bag than its figure suggests. Salmon stock at 2% rounds it off. The declared protein of 25.0% is what a recipe built on one fish reads like.

Salmon is the one animal on the whole list. For a pup reared on one protein, that makes this a real option. The omega 3 supplement is the one caveat, since no source is named beside it. A household running a formal exclusion diet should ask Nourish what sits behind it.

The largest plant entry is sweet potato at 19%, with potato and beet pulp behind it, and no cereal appears anywhere. Carbohydrate converts to 48.9% of dry matter. The typical puppy dry food runs at 39.0%. The starch base here does more of the work than most. That fits the brief of a large breed food, where the aim is steady, unhurried growth.

Calcium is the number to hunt for on a large breed bag, and this label gives it: 1.41% of dry matter, sitting inside the growth range. Calcium is where rearing a big pup usually goes wrong. A declared, in range figure on a bag actually sold as a large breed food is the pairing you want.

The joint package is the most generously dosed in the Nourish puppy line. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane come in at 355 mg/kg each, with chondroitin sulphate at 250 mg/kg. Those are working doses. There is sense in starting them early on a dog whose frame will carry a lot. Prebiotics follow at FOS 96 mg/kg and MOS 24 mg/kg with added nucleotides alongside.

Linseed supplies plant side omega 3 on top of what the salmon already brings, and carrot and peas appear at garnish level. L-carnitine at 480 mg/kg sits on the additive panel. The body uses it to turn fat into usable energy. Moisture is declared at 8.0%. Every dry matter conversion here is worked from the label.

£4.07 a kilo. The sizes are a 200g sample, then 1.5kg, 6kg and 13.5kg bags.

No growing dog has a single daily amount, least of all a large breed one. Work from the chart printed on the bag, then let your pup's shape settle the final figure. The maker's own guide asks for 210g to 250g a day through the earlier stages, and 370g for the biggest pups on it.