Walker & Drake

Walker & Drake Puppy Food: Chicken review

Name: Walker & Drake Puppy Food: Chicken
Brand: Walker & Drake

69.3/100Good

Cold pressedPuppy

Flavour

Cold-pressed puppy food in two recipes, with the duck in our Excellent band and the chicken a step behind in Good. The pressing is what sets it apart for a young dog: the pellet crumbles in water and does not swell in a pup that has eaten too fast. Neither label prints a calcium figure, and that is the gap to close for a big breed.

Where to buy: coming soon

Live retailer links are coming soon. Once we have them from UK retailers, where to buy and the best price will appear here.

Our view

Likely to suit

Puppies that gulp their meals
Cereal-free feeding, with potato, sweet potato and pea doing the job instead
Growing joints. Glucosamine and chondroitin come with their doses printed
A picky pup: hydrolysed chicken in one recipe, duck fat in the other
Starting small, with a 1.5kg bag beside the 6kg

Worth watching

No calcium or phosphorus figure on either label, so ask Walker & Drake before a large-breed pup grows on it
Salmon oil in both, so fish is in the bag either way
Poultry fat in the chicken recipe names no bird

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

How this scores

How we score

69.3/100Good

Protein and processingGood

Nutritional balanceGood

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueGood

The details

Dog fit

Listed for puppies of every size, toy to giant. For a pup heading for a large frame, get the calcium figure from the maker before ordering.

Food type

Cold pressed

Life stage

Puppy

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Chicken

The score, in context

Duck 72.3
Chicken 69.3

Two recipes across Excellent and Good. Typical dry food: Good.

Named dried meat, printed joint doses and a full trace element declaration earn both their places; plant protein near the top keeps the chicken a band behind the duck.

What's in it

Dried chicken26%Every entry on this label carries a percentage.
Flaked potato25%The main starch.
Pea protein, pea flour, potato protein10%, 10%, 6%Refined plant proteins doing real work, so part of the 33.0% protein comes from plants.
Poultry fat6%A category term for any domestic bird, so this is not a single-species food.
Sweet potato5%
Brewers yeast, beet pulp2% eachBeet pulp is the source of FOS, a prebiotic fibre.
Whole egg powder, hydrolysed chicken2% eachEgg is highly digestible; the hydrolysed chicken is there for taste.
Salmon oil, rapeseed oil1% eachSo fish is in the bag.
Blueberry, cranberry, gelatin powder, yucca extract1% down to 0.1%
Glucosamine sulphate, chondroitin sulphate415mg/kg, 180mg/kg

Vitamins A, D3 and E, with the source compound named behind every trace element, from zinc oxide at 100mg to sodium selenite.

No calcium or phosphorus figure on the label. For a large-breed puppy, ask Walker & Drake for it.

Named ingredients

Dried Chicken 26%, Flaked Potato 25%, Pea Protein 10%, Pea Flour 10%, Potato Protein 6%, Poultry Fat 6%, Sweet Potato 5%, Brewers Yeast 2%, Beet Pulp 2% (source FOS), Whole Egg Powder 2%, Hydrolysed Chicken 2%, Salmon Oil 1%, Rapeseed Oil 1%, Blueberry 1%, Cranberry 1%, Gelatin Powder 0.1%, Yucca Extract 0.1%, Glucosamine Sulphate (415mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (180mg/kg).

Against the range

Meat: Dried chicken 26%, hydrolysed chicken 2%; The duck has dried duck at 34%.
Fat source: Poultry fat, unnamed bird; The duck uses duck fat.
Percentages on the label: Every entry; The duck prints only the meat and the joint doses.

The more transparent of the pair, and the more plant-reliant.

Both recipes share one analysis: 33.0% protein and 12.0% fat, with carbohydrate converting to 39.7% of dry matter, close to the usual for cold-pressed puppy food. The starch side is grain free in each, carried by flaked potato and sweet potato with pea protein and pea flour behind. Glucosamine sulphate at 415mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate at 180mg/kg are printed on both, and salmon oil and whole egg powder appear in both. What varies is the meat share, the fat source and how much of the label carries a percentage.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

370 kcal/100g

Protein

33%

Fat

12%

Fibre

Ash

8.5%

Moisture

Dry weight

Protein

35.9%

Fat

13%

Fibre

2.2%

Ash

9.2%

Carbs

39.7%

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

29.9%

Carbs

57.9%

Oils

Other

4.2%

Pricing & size