Wilko Natures Best Dry Puppy review

Our reading puts Wilko Natures Best Dry Puppy in the Average band, a step under the Good band that the middle of the puppy dry field occupies. Protein and processing reads Poor and nutritional balance Average, while transparency reaches Good. The shortfalls run together: grain leads the recipe, most of the animal content sits under category headings instead of species names, and the label declares neither moisture nor calcium. Puppies do grow on food like this, but the print gives you less to work with than most growth kibbles offer, and the notes below set out where.

Ingredients, as declared: Cereals (Wholegrain Barley 30%*, Wholegrain Wheat 15%*), Meat and Animal Derivatives (Chicken 14%), Derivatives of Vegetable Origin (Chicory Extract 0.1%*), Vegetables (Peas 5%*), Minerals, Oils and Fats (Poultry Fat 3%*), Fish and Fish Derivatives, Yeasts (Brewers Yeast 0.5%*). *Natural ingredients.

Cereals opens the list, with wholegrain barley at 30% and wholegrain wheat at 15% named inside it. Barley is a sound grain for a dog once cooked, giving fibre along with selenium and copper, and the wholegrain form keeps more of that intact. Wheat is the more divisive half of the pair. No other grain is behind as many dietary intolerances. A pup with a sensitive gut is the one to think about here.

Chicken is declared at 14% inside a meat and animal derivatives heading. That tells you the species of the one part Wilko chose to name, and nothing about the rest. Headings of that kind cover material from the very good to the very ordinary, with no way to read which from outside the bag. Fish and fish derivatives further down works the same way, and it is the entry that puts fish on the allergen picture.

Peas at 5% sit under a vegetables heading and bring fibre with a little plant protein. Chicory extract at 0.1% carries inulin, a prebiotic for the helpful bacteria of the large intestine. Brewers yeast at 0.5% adds B vitamins, and poultry fat at 3% carries the added fat, named to the bird family rather than to one species.

Protein is declared at 25.0%, fat at 9.0%, fibre at 3.0% and ash at 7.5%, with 350 kcal per 100g. That energy figure runs below the 376 typical for a puppy kibble, so portions come out a little larger for the same growth. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 51.5% of dry matter where the typical puppy dry food sits at 39.0%, which is the arithmetic behind a grain-led recipe. Moisture is not declared, so the dry matter column works from an assumed 8%, the standard figure for a kibble.

Calcium is what a growth label is read for, and this one does not print it. Wilko lists this bag from toy right up to giant. Rearing a large or giant pup turns on getting calcium right, and that end of the claim has no published number holding it up. The omission matters less for a small or medium pup, though it is still the figure we would most want to see added.

£0.87 a kilo, sold in a 2kg bag.

A puppy's daily amount climbs steeply and then settles as they grow. Start from the bag's chart, then let the shape of your pup tell you where to adjust it.