Simpsons Premium Puppy Sensitive review

Good is the band this recipe lands in, the same band the middle of the puppy dry field occupies.

The pillar split is the honest summary. Transparency reads Excellent. Nutritional balance is Good and protein and processing Average, which makes the label's openness the stronger half of this story. The 45% salmon at the front is a genuine headline, though the form that salmon takes is ordinary enough. A printed calcium figure and a fully grain free base are what hold the position up.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon (min 45% - Deboned Salmon,Dried Salmon), Potato (min 26%), Sunflower Oil, Beet Pulp, Potato Protein, Dried Egg, Salmon Oil, Salmon Stock, Vitamins, Brewers Yeast, Minerals, Linseeds, Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS), Yucca Extract, Cranberries, Nucleotides, Glucosamine, MSM, Chondroitin. Naturally preserved with mixed tocopherols

The whole recipe turns on salmon at a minimum of 45%. The label breaks that figure in two, deboned salmon and dried salmon, where one number would have done. The dried portion has no water left in it. Its share of the finished kibble's protein therefore runs ahead of its share of the label. Protein is declared at 30.0%, converting to 32.6% of dry matter.

No other meat or fish appears on the list, and the salmon oil and salmon stock further down come from that same fish. That is useful in itself. Dried egg is the one other animal ingredient. Worth knowing that if you are running a formal exclusion trial and not simply steering clear of poultry.

Potato at a minimum of 26% carries the starch with no cereal behind it, so this is a genuinely grain free bag. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 38.1% of dry matter, sitting near the 39.0% the puppy dry field averages, and beet pulp adds a modest, easily tolerated fibre at 2.5% crude fibre as fed. Potato protein appears further down as a plant protein topper, and plant proteins do not match fish for quality or digestibility, so read it as a supporting entry rather than part of the 45%.

Sunflower oil is the main added fat, a light oil naturally rich in vitamin E, with salmon oil and linseeds covering the omega 3 side from marine and plant sources respectively. Fat is declared at 16.0%, converting to 17.4% of dry matter, a moderate figure that suits a steady grower better than a whirlwind.

The calcium line is printed too, landing at 1.35% of dry matter. That sits inside what growing bones want, and it makes the recipe usable for a big pup as much as a small one. A big breed puppy's owner needs that answer from a label more than anyone.

The tail brings brewers yeast, yucca extract, cranberries, MOS, FOS and nucleotides, followed by glucosamine, MSM and chondroitin. Mixed tocopherols preserve the whole thing naturally. Every entry there is a sensible one for a growing dog. What none of them carry is a quantity, and the Vitamins and Minerals lines above are un-itemised as well, so the recipe shows you its intentions without showing you its doses. The energy figure of 364 kcal per 100g is our estimate, not a declaration.

£5.94 a kilo, sold in 2kg and 12kg bags, and in a 2 x 12kg pack.

Because a growing dog's daily amount climbs with age and then eases off again once the fastest weeks are behind them, the bag's chart is the thing to feed to. The range runs 30g a day at the small end and 295g a day at the far one, and in between the honest test is how easily you can feel your puppy's ribs.