Sausage Dog Sanctuary Food Superfood Puppy: Scottish Salmon review

This one reads in our Excellent band, a step above the Good band where the typical puppy dry food settles. It earns the position on its meat share and on a supplement list that gives quantities instead of names. The pillars pull in one direction rather than against each other, with nutritional balance and value reading Excellent, transparency Outstanding and protein and processing Good.

Ingredients, as declared: 65% Salmon (35% Freshly Prepared Salmon, 22% Dried Salmon, 5% Salmon Oil, 3% Salmon Gravy), Sweet Potato, Beans, Beet Pulp, Omega 3 Supplement, Dried Superfood Blend* (Including Dill, Spinach, Fennel, Asparagus, Tomato), Minerals, Vitamins, Fructooligosaccharides (192 mg/kg), Glucosamine (170 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (48 mg/kg), Nucleotides, Olive Extract (0.01%) *Each equivalent to 4% Fresh Ingredients

The salmon headline comes with a breakdown: 35% freshly prepared salmon, 22% dried salmon, 5% salmon oil and 3% salmon gravy. Dried fish arrives with its water already gone, so that 22% does more in the finished kibble than its size implies. Protein is declared at 33.5%, so the claim on the front of the pack is a fair one.

Just as important as the quantity is the exclusivity. Every animal-derived line on this label is salmon, right down to the oil and the gravy. For a pup raised on one protein, that makes it a genuine option. One caveat remains. The omega 3 supplement names no source, so a household counting species strictly should ask about that entry.

Cereal is replaced here by sweet potato and beans. Beet pulp adds a gentle fibre behind them. No grain appears on the list at all.

Dill, spinach, fennel, asparagus and tomato make up the dried superfood blend, each one equal to 4% of fresh ingredients according to the label's footnote. A trace of olive extract at 0.01% closes the recipe. Take that end of the list as trimming. The food stands on its fish.

The supplement tail is quantified throughout. Fructooligosaccharides at 192 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 48 mg/kg do the prebiotic work, with nucleotides alongside. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 170 mg/kg apiece and chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg look after the joints.

The analysis is where this label leaves questions open. Protein at 33.5%, fat at 15.0%, fibre at 2.5% and ash at 8.0% are printed, but moisture is not. The dry matter column on this page is therefore worked from the 8% a dry food is usually assumed to carry. On that basis protein converts to 36.4% of dry matter and carbohydrate to 35.9%, under the 39.0% typical of a puppy dry food. Energy is our own estimate at 360 kcal per 100g, since the label gives none. Calcium is missing as well. Of everything absent from a growth food label, that is the one most worth chasing the maker for.

£6.42 a kilo, sold in 2kg, 6kg and 12kg bags.

Its own chart asks 45g a day for the smallest pups and 320g at the other end. A growing appetite rarely holds still for long, so keep measuring your pup against that chart as the weeks go by.