Purizon Large Puppy Chicken with Fish review

This food sits in our Good band, and so does the typical puppy dry food, though this one finishes above that middle mark instead of resting on it. Nutritional balance reads Outstanding, while protein and processing, transparency and value all read Good, so the position comes from the whole label pulling together. The meat share, the light starch load and the printed joint doses are what lift it. What keeps it from pressing further is the silence on moisture and the level the calcium comes in at.

Ingredients, as declared: `New Recipe!` 1kg / Economy Pack: 4 x 1kg / 12kg / Economy Pack: 2 x 12kg, Fresh chicken (26%), peas, chicken protein (16%), hydrolysed poultry protein (7%), poultry fat (8%), fish protein (4%), dried apple pomace (4%), pea protein, hydrolysed poultry liver (2%), salmon oil (2%), potassium chloride, sodium chloride, pea meal, glucosamine (0.026%), chondroitin sulphate (0.018%), inulin (0.016%), mannan-oligosaccharides (0.013%), mojave yucca, dried herbs [camomile, thyme, marigold, peppermint, oregano].

The meat arrives from several directions and the total is generous. Fresh chicken at 26% carries its water into the mixer, and chicken protein at 16% is the dried concentrate that survives cooking largely intact. Hydrolysed poultry protein at 7% is protein already broken into smaller fragments for easy absorption. The analysis lands at 38.0% protein as fed, or 41.3% of dry matter.

The marine side is fish protein at 4% and salmon oil at 2%. In a growth recipe they matter more than their size suggests. The long chain omega 3 fats in fish oil are the ones a puppy's brain and retina are built from. They also put fish alongside the bird on the allergen picture.

Peas do the binding, and they turn up three ways: whole peas, pea protein and pea meal. No cereal appears at all. Spread across three entries a legume can end up contributing more than any one line suggests. The carbohydrate estimate of 27.1% of dry matter, against 39.0% typical for the category, shows the starch load has genuinely been kept down. Dried apple pomace at 4% adds gentle fibre alongside it.

Calcium is declared, and at 1.63% of dry matter it reads comfortably for a pup finishing at a medium adult size while sitting above the ceiling large breed rearing usually works to. Since this bag is sold for large puppies, that is the line to raise with your vet. It matters most for a pup heading past the top of the large range, where growth is slow and a skeleton is least forgiving of an oversupply. Crude ash converts to 8.7% of dry matter around it.

Every entry at the end of the list carries a dose. Glucosamine at 0.026% and chondroitin sulphate at 0.018% do the joints, with inulin at 0.016% and mannan-oligosaccharides at 0.013% behind them, feeding the gut bacteria. Hydrolysed poultry liver at 2% is the palatability entry, and a nutrient dense one at that. Mojave yucca and a named set of dried herbs from camomile through to oregano close things at seasoning level.

Two of the figures on this page are ours rather than the maker's. Moisture is not printed, so every dry matter conversion above works from the standard 8% assumption for a kibble. The energy figure of 374 kcal per 100g is estimated from the analysis. Neither changes what the ingredients list shows. Both are worth having in mind if you set this label beside one that declares the lot.

£4.37 a kilo, sold in 1kg and 12kg bags, with multipacks of four 1kg bags and of two 12kg bags.

What a puppy needs keeps moving. Take the daily amount from the pack's chart for the adult weight ahead of your pup, and revisit it as the weeks go by.