Seven Pet Seven Grain Free Puppy Small Breed: Turkey & Duck review

Our reading puts this in our Good band, which is also where the typical puppy dry food lands, and it comes out well above that middle point. Three of the four pillars read Good, with transparency higher still at Outstanding, helped along by a label that quantifies its birds, its supplements and, most usefully of all on a growth food, its calcium.

Ingredients, as declared: 60% Turkey & Duck (including Freshly Prepared Turkey 32%, Freshly Prepared Duck 18%, Dried Turkey 6%, Turkey Stock 4%), Sweet Potato (24%), Peas (4%), Potato, Turkey Fat (2%), Beet Pulp, Minerals, Omega 3 Supplement, Camomile (0.3%), Dill (0.3%), Nucleotides, Glucosamine (170mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125mg/kg), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 96mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 24mg/kg).

The 60% turkey and duck block comes itemised: turkey freshly prepared at 32%, duck freshly prepared at 18%, dried turkey at 6% and a turkey stock at 4%. Turkey does most of the work, and duck earns its place on the pack with a real share. Turkey fat at 2% is named to the bird as well, which is a better sight than an anonymous animal fat.

Sweet potato at 24% is the biggest starch entry, with peas at 4% and potato behind it, and no cereal on the label. Beet pulp brings a gentle fibre that most pups tolerate well. Camomile and dill at 0.3% each close the recipe, named outright where many labels would just write herb blend.

The omega 3 comes from an unnamed supplement source. Most such supplements are marine, so a pup being kept strictly away from fish needs that one checked with the maker, though no fish appears anywhere else on the composition.

Joint and gut support are both quantified. Glucosamine at 170 mg/kg, methylsulfonylmethane at 170 mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg look after the joints. Fructooligosaccharides at 96 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 24 mg/kg are there for the gut bacteria lower down, with nucleotides alongside them.

The panel reads protein 30.0%, fat 16.0% and moisture declared at 8.0%, converting to 32.6% and 17.4% of dry matter. The estimated carbohydrate figure is 38.0% of dry matter, a shade under the 39.0% typical of a puppy dry food. Energy is declared at 390 kcal per 100g against a typical 376, which suits a small pup burning through the day at speed.

Calcium is where a growth label proves itself, and this one prints enough for the figure to work out at 1.52% of dry matter, inside the range a puppy skeleton is built on. The rest of the mineral panel is dosed too, with zinc at 85 mg, iron at 50 mg, manganese at 35 mg, copper at 12 mg and iodine at 1.3 mg per kilo. Selenium comes as sodium selenite at 0.1 mg, the common route; a selenised yeast is the other form permitted here and is the one some owners prefer to see.

£7.47 a kilo, sold in a 2kg bag.

Small pups reach their finished size quickly, so expect the daily amount to climb and then level off, and take it from the growth chart rather than from a fixed measure.