Winner Puppy review

Winner Puppy lands in our Good band, level with the middle of the puppy dry field. It does not climb higher because of what the label withholds, and not because of what the bag holds: no inclusion percentages, no calcium line, and meats that are named but never measured. Protein and processing reads Average. Nutritional balance and transparency read Good, and so does value. There is a serviceable kibble in here for a pup who thrives on it, and the notes below set out what can and cannot be read from the print.

Ingredients, as declared: Maize, Dehydrated Chicken, Poultry Fat, Whole Linseed, Dehydrated Beef, Minerals, Beet Pulp, Chicken Digest, Yeast Extract, Chicory Extract.

Maize opens the recipe, so the list starts on a grain and not on a meat. It is perfectly digestible for most dogs once cooked and it does the structural work a kibble needs, though it also means the bulk of this food starts from starch. Carbohydrate converts to an estimated 42.3% of dry matter against 39.0% for the typical puppy dry food, so the load runs slightly over the middle of the field, not dramatically past it.

Dehydrated chicken and dehydrated beef are the named meats, and the dehydrated form is the part worth decoding. The water has already gone before these go in, so their contribution carries through to the kibble much as listed. Both are good, digestible meats for a growing dog. The frustration is that neither has a figure attached, so the ranking tells you chicken outweighs beef and nothing more exact than that.

Poultry fat gives the recipe its richness, taking declared fat to 16.0%, and it is named to the bird family with no species given. Whole linseed brings plant-side omega 3 along with fibre and a spread of micronutrients. Chicken digest near the end is a palatability coating, which is one more entry for a chicken-avoiding household to keep in view.

Beet pulp and chicory extract make up the gut pairing. Beet pulp is a gentle, well-tolerated fibre that most puppies handle without fuss, and chicory earns its place through inulin, a prebiotic that encourages friendly bacteria in the large intestine. Yeast extract adds palatability and a little B vitamin content alongside them.

Protein at 28.0% and fat at 16.0% convert to 30.8% and 17.6% of dry matter, and because moisture is declared at 9.0% those conversions rest on Winner's own figure, not an assumption. Energy works out at 369 kcal per 100g on our estimate, near the 376 typical for the category. Calcium is the notable absence, with nothing printed at all. The bag covers pups of every adult size. Rearing a large or giant breed leaves you without a published number for the bone-growth side of the plan.

The added vitamin and trace element panel is dosed in print, with vitamins A, D3 and E alongside copper, iron, manganese, zinc, iodine and selenium. The antioxidants and preservatives at the end of the panel are listed by category only, with no names or figures attached to either.

Sold in 3kg and 15kg bags at £2.56 a kilo.

How much a puppy eats shifts month by month as they fill out, so set the amount from the growth chart for the adult weight you expect and revise it whenever their shape changes.