Royal Canin Maxi Puppy review

Our reading places this in the Average band, a step below the Good band that a typical puppy dry food reaches. The reasons are the familiar ones for this family of recipes: meat named by category, a heavily cereal-based structure, and gluten entries raising the protein figure without contributing meat. Nutritional balance comes out Good, with protein and processing and transparency both reading Average.

That is the label being judged, not the bowl. Protein converts to 32.6% of dry matter, carbohydrate to an estimated 38.4% against the 39.0% typical, and energy is declared at 379 kcal per 100g rather than estimated. As a set of numbers this is a perfectly ordinary large breed growth food; as a piece of writing, the label leaves a lot unsaid.

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated poultry protein, maize flour, rice, dehydrated pork protein*, animal fats, maize, wheat gluten*, wheat flour, hydrolysed animal proteins, minerals, beet pulp, maize gluten, vegetable fibres, soya oil, fish oil, fructo-oligo-saccharides, psyllium husks and seeds, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides and betaglucans) (0.30%), algal oil Schizochytrium sp. (source of DHA), Yucca Schidigera juice, marigold meal, glucosamine from fermentation, hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitin).

Dehydrated poultry protein leads and dehydrated pork protein follows at fourth, and that second entry is worth noticing. Pork is named outright on a list that otherwise prefers categories. Very few dogs will have eaten it before, and that can make it a useful thing to have in a growth recipe.

The bulk sits on the starch side. Maize flour, rice, maize, wheat gluten, wheat flour and maize gluten all appear at or above the mid-point. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 38.4% of dry matter against the 39.0% typical of a puppy dry food. The gluten entries are concentrated plant proteins. Some of the 30.0% declared protein therefore comes from cereal, not from an animal.

Nothing on this label puts a number on calcium. On a kibble sold specifically for large breed growth, that omission is the one worth naming. The mineral balance through a big pup's fastest months is the single thing most worth getting right. Ash is declared at 8.2%, converting to 8.9% of dry matter, which tells you the mineral load is substantial without telling you how it divides.

The functional tail is the one the brand uses across its growth kibbles. Fructo-oligo-saccharides and psyllium husks handle digestion. Hydrolysed yeast at 0.30% brings manno-oligo-saccharides and betaglucans, and an algal oil grown from Schizochytrium supplies DHA. Glucosamine from fermentation pairs with hydrolysed cartilage on the joints. Doses are absent throughout, so the label confirms presence and nothing beyond it.

Fish oil covers the omega 3 side and soya oil the omega 6, while beet pulp and vegetable fibres do the fibre work, which comes out light at 2.7% of dry matter. Yucca Schidigera juice and marigold meal close the list at trace level, where they are seasoning.

The declared analysis is full, with protein at 30.0%, fat at 16.0%, fibre at 2.5%, ash at 8.2% and moisture at 8.0%. The energy figure of 379 kcal per 100g is declared and not estimated. A lot of labels do not go that far. The added panel is dosed throughout, from vitamin A at 15500 IU down to selenium at 0.07 mg per kg.

£4.87 a kilo, sold in 3kg and 15kg bags.

A large breed pup has no single daily amount, because the requirement moves with age and with the adult weight the pup is growing towards. The bag prints a chart across both of those, and that is the thing to feed to, with a hand on your pup's ribs as the check.