Pro Plan Large Robust Puppy OptiStart review

This kibble reads in our Average band, a step below the Good band where the middle of the puppy dry field sits. Nutritional balance and transparency both read Good while protein and processing reads Average. That fits a recipe which describes its chicken carefully, then leans on wheat, corn and soya for a great deal of what follows. The care in the supplement panel is genuine. It is the body of the recipe that holds the reading down.

Ingredients, as declared: High quality chicken (including back and chest) (18%), Dried poultry protein, Rice (15%), Wheat, Soya meal, Corn, Animal fats, Wheat middlings, Digest, Dried beet pulp, Corn protein meal, Wheat gluten, Minerals, Dried egg, Fish oil, Dried colostrum (0.1%)

The bird arrives twice on this label. Fresh chicken at 18% is named down to the cuts used, back and chest, and dried poultry protein follows immediately behind it. There is a lot of water in fresh meat and the kiln drives it off. That leaves the dried entry to supply the steadier protein. Poultry is a looser word than chicken, and the species behind it can move between batches.

Rice at 15% is the largest declared plant ingredient and the most digestible cereal in the mix, which counts for something in a growth food. Behind it come wheat, corn, wheat middlings and wheat gluten. Grain does much of the structural work in this kibble.

Soya meal sits high, and it is there to lift the protein line. Dogs get less out of soya protein than out of the protein in meat. Soya has also been linked to food reactions more often than most ingredients, so a pup with a sensitive history is not the natural fit for this recipe.

No animal is named behind either the animal fats or the digest. Digest is the layer sprayed onto the kibble after cooking to make it worth eating, and it does that job well. Between those two entries, though, a long list of meats sits in the unclear column for an owner reading the label for allergens.

The most considered part of this label is its final stretch. Dried egg, fish oil and dried colostrum at 0.1% are all worth having, the colostrum being the OptiStart idea about supporting a puppy's early immune development. The added panel then runs from 26000 IU/kg of vitamin A and 870 IU/kg of vitamin D3 through 100 mg/kg of zinc to 0.12 mg/kg of selenium. Tocopherol extracts at 33 mg/kg keep the fats from turning.

Moisture is declared at 8.0%, so the conversions here rest on a printed figure. Protein at 29.0% and fat at 15.0% work out at 31.5% and 16.3% of dry matter. The gap is calcium. Nothing is printed for it. Controlled calcium is the whole reason a large breed puppy recipe exists, and the owner of a big pup is left asking for the number the front of the bag implies.

Sold in 3kg and 12kg bags.

A growing pup's daily amount is really a series of amounts, so read the pack's chart against the adult size you are expecting and adjust every few weeks as their frame fills out.