Pro Plan Small & Mini Puppy OptiStart review

This one lands in our Average band while the middle of the puppy dry field holds our Good band. Nutritional balance reads Excellent and transparency Good, with protein and processing the one that comes in Average. The label shows why: a fifth of the bag is named chicken, and most of what follows is cereal, plant protein and unnamed animal entries. Where the label is strong is in what it declares, from calcium through to the individual trace minerals, and that openness is worth having in a growth food.

Ingredients, as declared: High quality chicken (including back and chest) (20%), Dried poultry protein, Wheat, Animal fats, Soya meal, Rice (7%), Corn protein meal, Dried beet pulp, Corn, Wheat gluten, Minerals, Fish oil, Dried egg, Digest, Dried colostrum (0.1%)

The bird is declared twice and in two forms. Fresh chicken at 20%, named down to back and chest, and then dried poultry protein, which is the more concentrated of the pair and does more for the finished protein figure. Poultry is a category name though, so the species behind it can move with supply while chicken stays on the front of the bag.

Wheat follows in third, with animal fats, soya meal and rice at 7% behind it and wheat gluten further along. That is a cereal heavy structure for a food this concentrated, and it matters if a small pup has ever shown you that a grain does not agree with them.

Energy is where this recipe sets itself apart: 413 kcal per 100g, with fat declared at 21.0% as fed and 22.8% of dry matter. Small breed puppies burn through energy at a rate their stomachs struggle to keep up with, so the density earns its place here, provided the daily amount is weighed and not judged by eye.

All that fat and protein has a flip side. Carbohydrate estimates at 31.5% of dry matter, well under the 39.0% typical for a puppy dry food. Fibre is light at 2.2% of dry matter, and ash converts to 8.7%, a mineral load sized for a skeleton being laid down fast.

Calcium is declared, and at 1.63% of dry matter it reads sensibly for a pup who will be structurally finished inside a year. Small breeds do not face the same risk of outgrowing the joints they are standing on, so calcium at this level is a fair match for the animal the bag is sold for.

Digest and animal fats stay anonymous, and digest is much of the reason a kibble this plain in composition gets eaten so eagerly, an animal derived coating added once the kibble is baked. The back of the list does better: fish oil and dried egg are both worth having, and dried colostrum is printed at 0.1%. The added panel names its doses right down to selenium at 0.14 mg/kg and tocopherol extracts at 70 mg/kg.

Sold in 3kg and 7kg bags.

The right portion changes every few weeks while a pup is growing. Read the pack's chart for your pup's stage and expected adult size, and let how he looks now count for more than the last number you wrote down.