Riverwood Puppy Dry review

This food sits in our Excellent band, a step above the typical puppy dry food. The position is earned on construction. Dried meats lead the label, the calcium declaration falls in range for growth, and the supplement package is dosed in print.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey dehydrated (30%), duck dehydrated (15%), yellow peas (15%), poultry fat (preserved with tocopherols, 11%), yellow pea starch (11%), dried apple pulp (6%), pheasant dehydrated (4%), pea protein (3%), hydrolysed protein (2%), spinach (1%), evening primrose oil (0.5%), carrots (0.5%), glucosamine sulphate (220 mg/kg), mannan -oligosaccharides (170 mg/kg), chondroitin sulphate (130 mg/kg), fructo-oligosaccharides (110 mg/kg), Yucca schidigera (95 mg/kg), marigold (90 mg/kg), nettle (90 mg/kg ), spirulina (40 mg/kg), turmeric (35 mg/kg), citrus pulp (35 mg/kg), cranberries (35 mg/kg), chamomile (30 mg/kg), cinnamon (30 mg/kg).

Every meat here arrives dehydrated, which is worth decoding. The water is gone before these meats are weighed, so the label's shares reach the finished kibble almost intact. A fresh-meat headline would not survive the oven that way. Turkey at 30%, duck at 15% and pheasant at 4% add up to 49% of the label. The analysis agrees: protein converts to 43.3% of dry matter, well above what most growth foods manage.

No grain appears anywhere on the label. The binding is yellow peas at 15% and pea starch at 11%, with pea protein at 3% behind them. The starch load is genuinely light for a kibble, with carbohydrate converting to an estimated 25.8% of dry matter where the typical puppy dry food runs at 39.0%. Dried apple pulp at 6% is in there for fibre.

Calcium is declared, and it converts to 1.56% of dry matter, inside the range growth needs. Puppy feeding goes wrong on that number more often than anything else. Here it is printed, and it is inside the range. The maker lists the food for small and medium breed puppies, and the calcium sits comfortably for that job.

The supplement tail is dosed like a label that expects to be checked: glucosamine sulphate at 220 mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 130 mg/kg. The gut-support pairing joins them, mannan-oligosaccharides at 170 mg/kg and fructo-oligosaccharides at 110 mg/kg. Evening primrose oil at 0.5% looks after the coat, and the added vitamin and mineral panel is fully dosed as well.

Two entries deserve a moment from allergy-minded owners: the poultry fat at 11% and the hydrolysed protein at 2% name no species. Neither is likely to bother a dog with a simple preference, but a genuine exclusion diet needs the label read with both in mind. From yucca to cinnamon, the botanicals sit at trace level and season the food without adding much to it. The meat is what the recipe stands on.

£6.17 a kilo, sold in 2kg and 12kg bags.

Puppy portions change quickly with age and expected adult weight. Follow the bag's growth chart, and let the pup in front of you settle the amount.