Step Up

Step Up Dry Food Small Breed Adult review

Name: Step Up Dry Food Small Breed Adult
Brand: Step Up

58.2/100Good

DryAdult

A small kibble on named poultry and traditional grains, with chicken declared at 18% inside a 20% poultry meal. Fat at 11.0% and 367 kcal per 100g suit a small dog that gets through its day in short bursts. It sits in our Good band, and the recipe is what keeps it there: nothing has been left off the label.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Small adult dogs, with the kibble size and feeding guide built for them
Owners who want the bird named: chicken at 18%, turkey meal below it
Dogs that do well on barley, rice, maize and oats
Busy little dogs

Worth watching

Turkey meal plus a slice of poultry that names no bird, so not an elimination diet
Salmon oil, so fish is in the bowl

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

58.2/100Good

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balanceAverage

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueGood

The details

Dog fit

Listed for small-breed adults. Most will weigh well under the 15kg guide, so use the label's table for your dog's weight and adjust by feel.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Small

Main protein

Poultry

The score, in context

Step Up Dry Food Small Breed Adult 58.2

All one Good. Typical dry food: Good.

A plain small-breed kibble that would place higher with more meat and less starch behind it.

What's in it

Poultry meal (incl. chicken)20% (chicken 18%)Nearly all the headline meat is pinned to a species.
Rice, whole grain barley, maize17% (barley)Whole barley keeps its fibre. It carries gluten.
Poultry fat5.5%Any domestic fowl, which loosens the naming.
Dried peas, turkey meal, whole grain oats4% eachA second named bird.
Poultry gravy
Beet pulp, minerals
Dried apple, dried sweet potato1% eachFresh equivalents printed too, 6.5% and 3%.
Salmon oil0.5%The omega 3 a dog uses most readily.
Dried chicoryInulin for the gut bacteria.

Vitamins A, D3 and E, with trace minerals in the plainer sulphate and oxide forms and selenium as sodium selenite.

Moisture is not declared, so the dry-matter figures assume 8%.

Named ingredients

Poultry Meal (20% incl. Chicken 18%), Rice, Whole Grain, Barley (17%), Maize, Poultry Fat (5.5%), Dried Peas (4%), Turkey Meal (4%), Whole Grain Oats (4%), Poultry Gravy, Beet Pulp, Minerals, Dried Apple (1% equivalent to 6.5% Apple), Dried Sweet Potato (1% equivalent to 3% Sweet Potato), Salmon Oil (0.5%), Dried Chicory

Against the range

One recipe. Poultry meal at 20% leads, with chicken named at 18% of it and turkey meal at 4% further down. Rice, whole barley at 17%, maize and oats carry the starch. Poultry fat is the main added fat and salmon oil adds marine omega 3. Moisture and calcium are not printed, so the dry matter figures assume 8%.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

367 kcal/100g

Protein

23%

Fat

11%

Fibre

Ash

7.5%

Dry weight

Protein

25%

Fat

12%

Fibre

3.3%

Ash

8.2%

Carbs

51.5%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

27.6%

Added water

4.2%

Carbs

60.3%

Veg

Oils

Other

0.9%

Pricing & size