Waitrose

Waitrose Puppy Grain Free review

Name: Waitrose Puppy Grain Free
Brand: Waitrose

64.9/100Good

DryPuppy

A chicken and sweet potato puppy kibble with a list you can read to the end, and it sits in our Good band. Chicken is 52% of the recipe, half of that fresh. The declaration around it is where the questions come from: it prints protein, fat and fibre, then stops.

Where to buy: coming soon

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Our view

Likely to suit

Chicken-fed puppies. No other meat is named
Grain-free homes, with sweet potato at 30% the only starch
Joints thought about early, with glucosamine and chondroitin declared
Growing pups with a steady appetite: 30.0% protein and 16.0% fat as fed, 380 kcal per 100g
Owners who like a short list without a dictionary

Worth watching

Poultry fat names no bird, so read it carefully before a strict elimination diet
No ash, moisture or calcium figure, which matters most for a large or giant breed pup
No vitamin and trace element panel published, so the added doses cannot be checked

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

How this scores

How we score

64.9/100Good

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balanceGood

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueGood

The details

Dog fit

Listed for puppies of every size. For a large or giant breed pup, ask Waitrose for the calcium figure before ordering, since the pack does not print it.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Puppy

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Chicken

The score, in context

Waitrose Puppy Grain Free 64.9

All one Good. Typical dry food: Good.

A specific ingredient list lifts it above the middle of the puppy kibble field, and a fuller analysis would probably lift it further.

What's in it

Chicken52%26% of the recipe goes in as fresh chicken, largely water; the dried remainder carries more protein into the kibble.
Sweet potato30%The whole starch story, and what keeps the bag clear of cereal.
Poultry fatNames no species, so it could come from another bird. Matters for an exclusion trial.
Beet pulp4%Gentle, widely tolerated fibre.
Linseed3%Plant omega 3 and more fibre.
Chicken gravyFor palatability, and it does name its bird.
Minerals, alfalfa
Yucca extract, glucosamine, chondroitin0.02% down to 0.01%The joint pair is token, well short of a working dose.

No calcium figure on a food sold for pups of every size. Large breed growth is decided by that line.

No ash or moisture declared, so the dry-matter figures are partial.

Named ingredients

Chicken (52%, of which 26% Fresh Chicken), Sweet Potato (30%), Poultry Fat, Beet Pulp (4%), Linseed (3%), Chicken Gravy, Minerals, Alfalfa, Yucca Extract (0.02%), Glucosamine (0.02%), Chondroitin (0.01%).

Against the range

A short, readable list: chicken at 52%, sweet potato at 30% in place of cereal, then fibre, fat and a token joint pair. The analysis stops after protein, fat and fibre.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

380 kcal/100g

Protein

30%

Fat

16%

Fibre

Dry weight

Protein

32.6%

Fat

17.4%

Fibre

3.3%

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

56.7%

Carbs

34%

Veg

1.2%

Oils

3.6%

Other

4.6%

Pricing & size