Whistler's Whistlers Hypoallergenic Puppy & Junior review

This bag comes out in our Good band, level with the typical puppy dry food. Transparency reads Outstanding, protein and processing Average, and nutritional balance and value both Good, so the strength sits in what the label is willing to print.

The shape of the recipe explains where it sits. At 27%, the dehydrated chicken is a proper meat figure. Behind it sit rice at 26% and then the oats and barley, and carbohydrate comes out at an estimated 40.2% of dry matter, a shade above the 39.0% typical for the category. Protein converts to 30.4% of dry matter, which is workmanlike for a growth food. What this bag does well is name things, and the supplement choices are more thoughtful than the reading on its own suggests.

Ingredients, as declared: Dehydrated Chicken (27%), Rice (26%), Oats, Chicken Fat, Prairie Meal, Barley, Chicken Liver, Alfalfa, Unmolassed Beet Pulp, Yeast, Salmon Oil, Salt, Seaweed, Mannan Oligosaccharides (2,000mg/kg), Milk Thistle, Green Lipped Mussel (1,000mg/kg),Yucca, Blackcurrant, Kale, Beetroot, Rosemary

The list opens with dehydrated chicken at 27%. Note the word dried: the water is already gone, so the full 27% reaches the bag with nothing cooking away. Chicken fat and chicken liver further down keep the meat to a single bird, and liver is a genuinely nutrient dense addition.

The grain side is substantial and openly declared. Rice at 26% sits immediately behind the meat with oats and barley following, all three easily digested once cooked and each bringing its own fibre and micronutrients. That does mean the hypoallergenic name here is about which triggers are left out rather than about a short list, and barley in particular puts gluten in the recipe.

Prairie Meal is the entry that stops the list being fully readable. The pack gives no explanation of what it covers, and on a food sold for sensitive pups that is the one line an owner would want spelled out. Alfalfa, unmolassed beet pulp and yeast round out the fibre and palatability side, and salt appears as its own entry, which is worth a glance for a household watching sodium.

The supplement choices are the best part of this label. Mannan oligosaccharides are there to feed the useful bacteria living in the large intestine, and green lipped mussel has long been rated for joints. Both are given a printed dose. Trace amounts of milk thistle, seaweed, blackcurrant, kale and beetroot follow. Rosemary is last on the list, a natural antioxidant that keeps the fats from going rancid.

Protein is declared at 28.0%, fat at 17.0%, fibre at 3.0% and ash at 7.0%. Moisture is not stated, so the dry matter conversions run on our standard 8% assumption, giving protein at 30.4% and carbohydrate at an estimated 40.2%. Energy is our estimate at 372 kcal per 100g, close to the 376 typical of a puppy dry food. No calcium figure is printed, which is the line a large breed pup's owner would most want to see. The added panel is otherwise generous and fully dosed, with vitamin E at 325 mg/kg and zinc supplied in two forms at 450 mg/kg each.

Bags come in 2kg and 12kg, and the food works out at £3.33 a kilo.

A growing pup's daily amount will not sit still. Take the chart on the sack and adjust it as your pup's shape tells you to. Whistlers' own guide starts at 76g a day for the tiniest pups and reaches 530g for a giant breed pup in mid growth.