Virbac Veterinary HPM Baby Small & Toy review

Our reading places Baby Small & Toy in the Good band, level with the middle of the puppy dry field. The nutrition on offer is not what holds it back, because it is genuinely strong. Very high protein, a low starch load for a kibble, plenty of energy for a small pup, and a calcium figure printed and in range.

It is the way the label describes itself. Meat is grouped and never named, the fats say poultry without saying which bird, and lignocellulose stands in for whole plant fibre, so transparency settles at Good and goes no higher. Read the recipe for what it does nutritionally and there is a lot to like, as long as the species questions do not matter to your dog.

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated pork and poultry proteins; Rice; Poultry Fats; Peas; Lignocellulose; Hydrolysed pork and poultry proteins; Minerals; Linseed; Fish oil; Dried (sugar) beet pulp; Fructo-oligosaccharides; Psyllium fibre (Plantago (L.) spp.); Inactivated brewer's yeast; Seaweed meal (Ascophyllum nodosum); Inactivated Lactobacillus helveticus

The opening entry, dehydrated pork and poultry proteins, tells you two things at once. The water is gone from a dehydrated protein before it is weighed, and it lands in the finished kibble at close to its listed share. That is how the protein figure reaches 38.5% of dry matter. Pork is an unusual choice too, and plenty of dogs will never have come across it. The poultry half stays anonymous and covers whichever bird the batch used.

Starch is kept unusually restrained for a kibble. Rice and peas are the only meaningful sources, and the carbohydrate estimate converts to 25.8% of dry matter where the typical puppy dry food runs at 39.0%. Fat converting to 23.1% is doing the work instead, and it is why energy comes out at 396 kcal per 100g. That is useful when a toy breed pup's stomach can only take so much at a sitting.

The mineral side is declared where it counts. Calcium converts to 1.43% of dry matter, sitting inside what growth calls for, with ash at 8.2% alongside. Small and toy pups are not the group where calcium usually causes anxiety, but seeing the figure in print, with no need to ask for it, is a courtesy on any growth food.

Fibre arrives from several places and they behave differently. Psyllium husk is a soluble fibre that steadies things and dried beet pulp is the gentle everyday sort. Lignocellulose is the purified powder here, and it adds bulk with little else. Alongside them sit fructo oligosaccharides as a prebiotic, inactivated brewer's yeast for its natural B vitamins, and an inactivated Lactobacillus helveticus.

This version also carries seaweed meal from Ascophyllum nodosum, which brings a broad spread of minerals and, in particular, iodine for thyroid function, and the panel backs that with iodine at 3.0 mg/kg. Taurine at 1500 mg/kg and choline at 3000 mg/kg are both dosed openly, with iron at 260 mg/kg and zinc at 160 mg/kg. The omega 3 fats come from fish oil and linseed together.

£7.98 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg and 3kg bags.

No fixed daily figure holds for long with a puppy. The amount climbs as your pup ages and as the adult size ahead of them gets closer. Begin with Virbac's chart, and let the way your pup fills out decide the rest.