Nutrivet Instinct Growth & Nutrients review

Our reading puts this in the Good band, clear of the middle of the puppy dry field while still inside the same band. Nutritional balance reads Outstanding, transparency Poor, and protein and processing and value both Good. On the analysis alone it would climb higher, because 50.0% protein and 21.7% carbohydrate on a dry matter basis are the numbers of a properly meat led kibble and rare ones in a growth food.

What keeps it where it is comes down to declaration. There are no ingredient percentages to check the meat billing against, no calcium figure on a bag listed for every breed size, and an additive panel that names neither its vitamin forms nor its antioxidants. The food may well be as good as the analysis suggests; the label simply does not let you confirm it.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken, lamb, turkey, potato, peas, chicken oil and fat, salmon, dried whole eggs, dried chicken, dried lamb, protein from dried peas, salmon oil, beet pulp, green beans, sweet potato, tomaton, apple, alfalfa, chicory root, yeast, fennel leaf, cranberry, blackcurrant jelly, dried plasma protein, poultry liver hydrolysate, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS), taurine, fucus vesiculosus (bladderwrack) extract, ascophyllum nodosum (clubweed) extract, yucca schidigera extract, chondroitin sulphate, N-acetyl-glucosamine, L-carnitine tartrate, rosemary extract, green tea extract.

The meat block opens strongly. Chicken, lamb and turkey take the first three places, with chicken oil and fat, salmon, dried whole eggs, dried chicken and dried lamb following close behind. The dried entries carry no water any more, so they are the ones quietly doing the heavy lifting on protein. Whole egg is an excellent protein alongside them. What no reader can do is check the size of any of it, since the list carries no percentages anywhere.

The analysis is the strongest argument this bag makes. Protein at 45.0% as fed converts to 50.0% of dry matter, fat to 17.8% and carbohydrate to 21.7%, which is a little over half the 39.0% a typical puppy dry food carries. Energy comes out at 362 kcal per 100g. That figure is our own estimate, so treat it as a guide.

Potato and peas provide what starch there is, with protein from dried peas behind them, and beet pulp brings the fibre. Green beans, sweet potato, apple, alfalfa, cranberry and blackcurrant sit further down at garnish level, and chicory root is there for its prebiotic inulin.

Calcium carbonate appears on the list as an added calcium source, and yet no calcium figure is printed in the analysis. That combination is frustrating on a growth food, because supplemented calcium is exactly the thing a large or giant breed owner needs quantified before rearing a big pup on it. The label prints none, so there is no number here for a large breed claim to rest on. Asking the maker directly is the sensible first step.

Two entries stay opaque. Dried plasma protein names no animal. Poultry liver hydrolysate names a category rather than a species, and that is why duck and goose sit on the allergen picture as possibilities rather than certainties. Neither is a problem for a pup with a straightforward appetite, but a formal elimination diet needs them resolved first.

The functional tail is long and thoughtful, even though none of it is dosed. FOS and MOS work on the gut, taurine, bladderwrack and clubweed seaweeds sit alongside them, and yucca extract follows. The joints get chondroitin sulphate and N-acetyl-glucosamine, L-carnitine tartrate handles fat metabolism, and the rosemary and green tea extracts are the natural antioxidants. The declared additive panel covers vitamins A and D3. Iron is at 210 mg, zinc at 152 mg, manganese at 28 mg, copper at 8 mg, iodine at 2.3 mg and selenium at 0.20 mg per kilo. It names no chemical forms, and where a substance should be it simply says antioxidants.

£6.11 a kilo, sold in 3kg and 12kg bags.

A puppy's daily ration is a figure in motion. Set it week by week from the growth chart and your pup's condition. Our energy estimate gives a 10kg pup aged four to twelve months roughly 196g to 239g a day.