Pro Plan Medium Puppy OptiStart review

The typical puppy dry food holds our Good band, and this one settles a step under it in Average. Transparency and nutritional balance each read Good, with protein and processing at Average. The soft spot is easy to point at: the recipe is built around cereal and plant protein, with a fifth of the bag declared as chicken. What it does well it does at the panel, where calcium is printed, the micronutrients are dosed and the energy is genuinely there for a pup who needs it.

Ingredients, as declared: High quality chicken (including back and chest) (20%), Dried poultry protein, Wheat, Soya meal, Animal fats, Rice (8%), Corn, Digest, Dried beet pulp, Corn protein meal, Minerals, Fish oil, Dried egg, Dried colostrum (0.1%)

The largest single entry is chicken at 20%, and the label names the cuts it uses, back and chest. That is unusually specific for a mainstream kibble. It is fresh chicken, so much of that fifth is water lost in the kiln. Behind it sits dried poultry protein, and that is where the lasting protein comes from. Poultry covers any farmed bird without committing to one.

Wheat and soya meal take the next two places. Wheat is a workhorse binder for kibble. When a pup does not agree with its food, wheat is often the first suspect. Soya adds plant protein, and a dog digests it less completely than meat protein. Rice at 8% and corn sit behind them, so the cereal side of this recipe is broad.

Calcium is the figure a growth food lives or dies by, and here it is printed and converts to 1.63% of dry matter. For a pup heading towards a medium adult frame that is a workable level, supplying the mineral a fast building skeleton lays down week after week. It does sit higher than the ceiling large breed rearing is usually kept under, which is exactly why the maker runs a separate line for big pups.

Animal fats and digest give away nothing about their source. The digest is a large part of why a kibble like this gets eaten so readily, an animal derived coating applied once the kibble is baked, and it works. With neither entry naming a species though, the allergen picture stays cloudy for anyone reading it seriously.

Three good things sit at the very end. Fish oil brings the long chain omega 3 fats a growing brain and retina are built from, and dried egg lifts protein quality. Dried colostrum at 0.1% is the OptiStart element, included for early immune support. The added panel is dosed all the way down, from 29000 IU/kg of vitamin A and 940 IU/kg of vitamin D3 to 0.13 mg/kg of selenium. Tocopherol extracts at 56 mg/kg hold the fats fresh.

In the analysis, protein at 30.0% and fat at 19.0% convert to 32.6% and 20.7% of dry matter against a declared moisture of 8.0%. Carbohydrate estimates at 36.3% of dry matter, under the 39.0% typical for the category, and at 405 kcal per 100g a modest bowl goes a long way with a pup who is growing hard.

Sold in 3kg and 12kg bags.

The pack's chart is keyed to the adult size your pup is heading for. The daily amount moves as they grow. Start where the chart puts them and revise it as the months pass rather than holding to one figure.