Optimum Pet Health Junior review

Junior takes a position in our Excellent band, a step clear of the Good band the middle of the puppy dry field occupies. Protein and processing and nutritional balance each read Good, value steps up to Excellent and transparency goes higher still at Outstanding. It is an even showing, built on one named meat, a supplement list that names its parts and a starch side that stays behind the protein. Where it loses a little polish is in the printing of the label itself, and the ingredient notes pick that up.

Ingredients, as declared: Chicken (Of Which Fresh Chicken Meat 25% And Dried Chicken 22%) (47%), Dried Potato Flakes, Dried Sweet Potatoes, Green Peas, Chicken Fat (6%), Chicken Gravy (3%), Dried Beet Pulp, Fish Oil (1%), Dried Antarctic Krill (1%), Minerals, Linseed, Carob Flour, Cellulose, Dried Brewers Yeast, Dried Chicory (1%), Fos And Inulin, Yeast Cell Wall (1%), Mos And Beta Glucans, Gos (1%), Galacto Oligosaccharides, Dried Curcuma Longa, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondroitin Sulphate, Chondroitin Sulphate, Msm (Methylsulfonylmethane), Yucca Schidigera, Dried Melissa Officinalis, Dried Thymus Vulgaris, Dried Fenugreek, Olive Powder, Dried Rosehip, Tyndallized Lactobacillus Helveticus

The chicken declaration is unusually well broken down: 47% in total, of which 25% is fresh chicken meat and 22% is dried chicken. The two forms do different jobs. In the oven fresh meat gives its water up, while dried chicken has already lost its own. That 22% therefore holds more protein for the finished kibble than its size suggests. Protein converts to 33.0% of dry matter, and with moisture declared at 9.0% that conversion comes off a printed figure.

Everything animal in this recipe is chicken. The fat at 6% and the gravy at 3% are both named as chicken, where a label could have said animal fat and left it there. The only thing standing between this and a genuine single-protein bag is the marine side: fish oil at 1% and dried Antarctic krill at 1%, both in for omega 3 and both fish.

The starch is grain-free and mixed: dried potato flakes first, then dried sweet potato and green peas. Of the three, sweet potato is the best of them, bringing fibre and vitamin A along with its carbohydrate. Carbohydrate converts to 36.2% of dry matter, under the 39.0% a typical puppy dry food carries. Nothing starchy is hiding behind that meat headline.

Fibre comes from dried beet pulp and cellulose, two ingredients that are not remotely alike. Beet pulp is a moderate, well-tolerated fibre that most young dogs do nicely on. Cellulose adds bulk as a purified powder and not much beyond that. Crude fibre of 4.0% converts to 4.4% of dry matter, a touch more than most growth kibbles carry, which tends to show up as firm stools.

Gut support here is itemised, not gestured at. Dried chicory at 1% brings inulin. Yeast cell wall at 1% brings MOS and beta glucans. GOS has a separate 1% line, and a tyndallised Lactobacillus ends the list. Between them they feed the resident bacteria of a young gut that is still finding its feet.

Calcium is declared and converts to 1.1% of dry matter, sitting inside the window a developing skeleton should be reared to. That single figure does more to shape how a big pup's joints turn out than almost anything else on the panel, which is why a growth food that prints it deserves the credit.

Glucosamine hydrochloride, chondroitin sulphate and MSM are all present, with turmeric, yucca, melissa, thyme, fenugreek, olive powder and rosehip trailing behind them. No printed dose is given for any of the joint entries, and chondroitin appears twice in the list as captured, which reads as a printing slip and not two separate inclusions. Take the botanicals as garnish; the recipe stands on its chicken.

The added panel is properly dosed, with vitamin E at 450 mg and vitamin C at 100 mg alongside declared vitamin A, vitamin D3 and taurine. The trace minerals come in both sulphate and amino acid chelate forms, the chelated versions generally being the better absorbed. Energy at 356 kcal per 100g is our own estimate and not a figure the maker declares.

Sold in 4kg and 15kg bags at £3.20 a kilo.

A junior dog's feeding follows a curve, not a fixed number. Work from the bag's chart, matched to their age and their expected adult weight, then revise as their shape changes.