Nutriment Puppy Gently Steamed review

The middle of the wet puppy field already reads as an Excellent band product, so this is a strong shelf and standing out on it takes something real. This one does stand out, and protein and processing reads Excellent on the strength of a recipe that is essentially meat, offal and a garnish.

Nutritional balance and transparency both read Outstanding behind that, with value keeping step at Excellent.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey (42%), Beef (26% including Beef Tripe 11%, Beef Heart 7%, Beef Liver 4%, Beef Kidney 4%), Pumpkin (1%), Minerals, Dried Broccoli (0.5% equivalent to 4%), Blueberry (0.5%) Salmon Oil, Chicory (0.01%)

Turkey at 42% and beef at 26% between them account for the overwhelming majority of this recipe. The beef is itemised in a way most makers never bother with: heart at 7%, tripe at 11%, then liver and kidney at 4% each. Offal is the nutrient dense end of an animal, with liver in particular carrying vitamin A, B vitamins, copper and iron in quantity. Tripe brings an easily digested protein that dogs tend to fall on with enthusiasm.

What is not in the recipe is as telling as what is. Cereal, legume and potato are all absent. The only plant entries are pumpkin at 1%, dried broccoli at 0.5% stated as equivalent to 4% fresh, blueberry at 0.5% and chicory at 0.01%. The carbohydrate figure of 16.7% of dry matter is a residual calculation from the declared analysis, not a measure of added starch. That is worth knowing before you set it against the 13.6% typical of a wet puppy food.

The analysis is fat forward for a growth food, with protein converting to 37.5% of dry matter and fat to 33.3%. Energy works out at 114 kcal per 100g against 106 typical of the category, though that figure is our estimate and not a declaration, so treat it as a good guide.

Ash converting to 10.4% of dry matter says there is a substantial mineral package in here, which growing bones need, but ash is only a total and calcium itself is not printed. This food is listed for every breed size, toy through to giant, and a large breed owner cannot work around that missing line alone. It is worth asking for directly.

Salmon oil carries the long chain omega 3 a puppy's brain and coat need. It is also the reason fish turns up on the allergen picture, though the meats here are turkey and beef. The vitamin and trace element panel is dosed in print, covering vitamins A, D3 and E alongside zinc, iron, copper, manganese, iodine and selenium.

Cassia gum is declared under the technical additives and does the thickening. It contributes nothing nutritionally and is common in steamed and canned food, so it is there for texture alone, and some owners would rather choose a recipe that manages without it.

£5.85 a kilo, sold in 395g packs.

Wet food feeds in real volume, and a puppy's volume changes month by month, so any single number is a checkpoint rather than a rule. Working from our energy estimate, a 10kg pup aged four to twelve months is looking at somewhere around 624g to 763g a day. After that, the growth chart and your pup's waistline should take over.