Wellness Core Puppy: Ocean Salmon with White Fish review

The Ocean Salmon bag comes out in our Good band, level with the typical puppy dry food, while the turkey and chicken recipe pushes a band clear of it into Excellent. Transparency reads Outstanding on both labels, with nutritional balance Outstanding on the turkey and chicken bag and Excellent on the fish. The position is earned across the board, with nothing propped up in one place.

It is the build that earns the place. A lead meat is declared in two forms, the starch base stays modest for a kibble, and the supplement tail is written out in full. What stops either bag pressing higher is a set of smaller things, from a plant protein sitting high on the list to the calcium line that only one of the labels prints.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon 33.5% (Fresh Salmon 20%, Dehydrated Salmon 13.5%), Peas 15%, Dried Potatoes, Dehydrated Whitefish 10%, Potato Protein, Rapeseed Oil, Dried Beet Pulp 4%, Salmon Oil 2%, Minerals, Brewer's Dried Yeast 0.5%, Dried Apples, Dried Carrots, Dried Chicory Root (source of Fructo-oligo-saccharides and Inulin) 0.3%, Yeast Extract (source of mannan-oligosaccharides) 0.3%, Dried Broccoli, Dried Tomatoes, Dried Spinach 0.01%, Dried Cranberries, Dried Blueberries, Glucosamine Hydrochloride 400 mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 300 mg/kg, Yucca Schidigera, Mixed Herbs (Dried Rosemary, Dried Turmeric, Dried Citrus, Dried Eugenia).

Both recipes use the same trick with their meat, and it is a good one. The lead animal appears twice, once fresh and once dehydrated. The dried form has already given up its water, so that half of the declared share reaches the finished kibble much as printed, with no shrinking in the oven.

Peas and dried potatoes do the binding across the range, so neither bag carries a cereal. Fibre on both lists is beet pulp at 4%, a gentle and well tolerated sort that most growing digestions handle without fuss. Potato protein appears on both lists too, and it is the one structural entry we would rather see lower down. Plant proteins are less digestible than the animal kind, and they are better topping up the amino acid picture than filling it out.

The gut and joint tail is common to both. Fructo-oligosaccharides and inulin come from dried chicory root, mannan-oligosaccharides from yeast extract. Together they are the standard prebiotic pairing, there to feed the helpful bacteria further along. Glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulphate follow, though at quite different levels in the two bags.

After that comes the garnish: broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, cranberries and blueberries in trace amounts, then yucca schidigera and a mixed herb blend of rosemary, turmeric, citrus and eugenia. Treat all of that as seasoning rather than substance. Mixed herbs is also the one broad heading on an otherwise itemised list, so a pup whose triggers are being pinned down deserves a note of it.

Both labels dose their added vitamins and trace elements in print, with vitamin A at 14000 IU and taurine at 1500 mg/kg on each. Zinc and iron come at 100 mg apiece, with smaller amounts of copper, manganese and iodine. The variety notes below carry the analysis, the calcium picture and the joint doses, which is where the two recipes genuinely part company.

The Ocean Salmon with White Fish bag is the fish recipe in every sense. Salmon accounts for 33.5%, split between 20% fresh and 13.5% dehydrated, dehydrated whitefish adds another 10%, and salmon oil at 2% goes on top. Peas step up to 15% here, rapeseed oil joins the fats and brewer's dried yeast at 0.5% is a small extra.

Protein reads 34.0% and fat 17.0%, and because moisture is not declared on this pack the dry matter conversions rest on our standard 8% assumption, giving protein at 37.0% and carbohydrate at an estimated 32.0%. At 380 kcal per 100g this bag carries the more energy of the two. No calcium figure is printed on this label, so a large breed rearing plan cannot be built on it. The joint pair is dosed considerably harder than in the turkey bag, at 400 mg/kg of glucosamine hydrochloride and 300 mg/kg of chondroitin sulphate.

Bag sizes across the range run from a kilo and a half up to ten kilos, depending which recipe you choose. The Ocean Salmon with White Fish bag works out at £3.50 a kilo.

Puppy rations are not a fixed number. They rise through the early months and then flatten off as the frame finishes. Let the chart on the bag and the feel of your pup's ribs decide the scoop, never habit.