Trophy Pet Foods Trophy Lifestyle Sensitive & Shine review

Our reading places Trophy Lifestyle Sensitive & Shine in the Good band, level with the middle of the puppy dry field. Protein and processing and nutritional balance both read Average, with transparency Excellent and value Good, so nothing here is falling over. The recipe simply leads with maize rather than meat, and the carbohydrate estimate of 52.2% of dry matter against the 39.0% typical is the clearest expression of that. What it does well is stay uncomplicated and stay consistent, which is worth something in a first bag.

Ingredients, as declared: Maize, Chicken meal (min. 26%), Chicken Fat, Rice (min. 5%), Freshly Prepared Chicken, Full Fat Linseed, Oats, Prairie Meal, Lucerne, Peas, Yeast (source of mannan oligosaccharides), Minerals, Carrot, Seaweed, Milk Thistle, Marigold, Nettle, Yucca Schidigera, Rosemary, Blackcurrant, Pomegranate, Thyme, Turmeric, Dandelion, Ginger, Oregano, (min. 0.4% herbs and min. 4% vegetables).

The head of the list is maize, and that is where most of this kibble comes from. Most dogs do perfectly well on it, and with oats and a minimum of 5% rice behind it the energy side of the recipe is well covered. The foundation of the food is grain and not meat.

The chicken is declared properly for a label of this kind. Chicken meal is declared at a minimum of 26%, and chicken fat and freshly prepared chicken sit behind it. The water has already gone from a meal. That 26% therefore survives into the kibble much as printed. It is the reason a cereal led recipe still declares 23.0% protein as fed, or 25.0% once the moisture is taken out.

Three entries in the middle of the list are worth a moment. Prairie Meal names no source at all, which is the one genuinely opaque line here. Lucerne is dried forage, good for fibre with a little plant protein alongside. Peas do much the same job. None of them are problems in themselves, though an owner running an exclusion diet will want the Prairie Meal question answered.

The range gets its name from the bottom of the list. Carrot, seaweed, milk thistle, marigold, nettle, blackcurrant, pomegranate, thyme, turmeric, dandelion, ginger and oregano all sit inside that minimum of 0.4% herbs and 4% vegetables. They are a finishing touch on the recipe, not its substance. Yeast is on the list as the source of mannan oligosaccharides. Prebiotics like that one are food for the bacteria in the lower bowel, and this is the entry aimed squarely at digestion.

The declared analysis reads modestly for a food aimed at growth. Protein converts to 25.0% of dry matter, fat to 13.0% and the carbohydrate estimate to 52.2%, that last figure sitting well clear of the 39.0% typical of the category. The bigger gap is calcium, which is not printed at all. For a growing pup that is the number you most want in hand. Ask Trophy for it if you like to check a growth diet against a target.

Sold in 3kg and 14kg bags, at £3.49 a kilo.

How much of a bag a pup gets through changes almost week to week, because the amount tracks age and the adult weight your dog is heading for. Take your figure from Trophy's growth chart and adjust as your pup fills out. The label's own guide opens at 47g a day for a 2kg pup.