Nulo Raw Medley Puppy review

This lands in our Excellent band, a step ahead of where the middle of the puppy dry field sits, with protein and processing and nutritional balance each reading Good. The freeze dried pieces are not decoration, since heart and liver are among the most nutrient dense things a dog can be given. The kibble beneath them names its meats and puts percentages against them.

The limit on it is a declaration one. With neither moisture nor calcium printed, two of the questions a growth label most needs to answer are left to the maker's inbox. That is what separates this from the puppy foods that press higher.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh salmon (14%), dehulled oats (14%), dehydrated turkey proteins (12%), dehydrated chicken proteins (11%), sweet potatoes, lentils, chickpeas, fresh turkey (4%), chicken fat, linseed, fresh chicken (3%), hydrolysed chicken protein, minerals, fresh chicken (42% in the freeze-dried pieces*), chicken heart (30% in the freeze-dried pieces*), pea fibre (0.5%), autolysed inactivated yeasts, chicken liver (10% in the freeze-dried pieces*), Chicory inulin (0.2%), fresh pumpkin*, fresh kale*, fresh broccoli*, fresh blueberry*. *freeze-dried pieces typically 3% of the product.

Start with the pieces, since they are what the name is about. They run at typically 3% of the product. Within them fresh chicken accounts for 42%, chicken heart for 30% and chicken liver for 10%, with pumpkin, kale, broccoli and blueberry freeze dried alongside. That makes them a small share of the bag by weight, so treat them as a genuinely good topper baked into the food.

The kibble underneath is a four animal build. Fresh salmon leads at 14%, dehydrated turkey proteins follow at 12% and dehydrated chicken proteins at 11%, with fresh turkey at 4% and fresh chicken at 3% behind them. The dehydrated entries matter more than their figures suggest. Their water has gone already, and what remains is mostly protein. That is how a list like this arrives at a declared 30.5% protein.

Dehulled oats at 14% sit unusually high for a modern puppy food, joined by sweet potatoes, lentils and chickpeas. Oats are a well tolerated cereal that most puppies digest without fuss. The mix as a whole brings carbohydrate to an estimated 35.9% of dry matter, against 39.0% for the typical puppy dry food. The grain is not there to bulk the bag out.

Fats come from chicken fat, named by species on the list, and from linseed, with the fresh salmon contributing marine omega 3 of its own. Pea fibre at 0.5% and autolysed inactivated yeasts round out the digestion side alongside the chicory inulin.

The additive panel is dosed and specific: vitamin E at 200 mg and vitamin C at 80 mg, supplemented DL-methionine and choline, added taurine, and a gut flora stabiliser declared with its live count. The preserving is done by tocopherol extracts from vegetable oils, the natural route.

Two figures are missing, and both are worth saying out loud. Moisture goes undeclared, so the dry matter column here uses the 8% normally assumed for a dry food. Calcium is nowhere on the label. Ash at 8.5% shows the minerals are there, but only a calcium figure answers the question a large breed puppy owner is actually asking.

Sold in 1.8kg and 4.5kg bags.

Growth is a moving target, so lean on the feeding chart and on how your pup is filling out from one week to the next. The label starts a 5kg puppy at 116g a day and takes a 50kg one to 469g, with further columns covering the stages between those two.