Sneyd's Wonderdog Wonderdog Puppy Grain Free review

This one comes out in our Good band, the same band the middle of the puppy kibble field settles in. Transparency is the strongest of the four at Outstanding, value reads Good in step with the food overall, and protein and processing and nutritional balance both come out Average.

The named fish, the itemised salmon breakdown and the fully dosed micronutrient panel are what carry it. Two things stop it climbing further: the plant protein in the middle of the recipe, and the calcium figure the label leaves out.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon 23% (Freshly Selected Salmon 15%, Salmon Meal 5%, Salmon Gravy 2%, Salmon Oil 1%), Freshly Prepared Trout 20%, Potato 18% Potato Starch 11%, Beet Pulp, Pea Starch, Potato Protein 6%, Sunflower Oil, Minerals, Vitamins, Brewers Yeast, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Yucca Schidigera Extract (105 mg/kg), Marigold Meal (105 mg/kg), Rosemary Extract, Beta-Carotene (26 mg/kg).

Salmon at 23% is broken into four declared parts, the kind of detail worth rewarding: freshly selected salmon at 15%, then 5% as salmon meal, 2% as gravy and 1% as oil. The meal portion punches above its number because it arrives already dried, and the oil brings marine omega 3 straight into the recipe with no plant substitute needed.

Freshly prepared trout at 20% is the second fish, and no other animal is on the list. That makes this an easy fit for a pup avoiding poultry or red meat, although with two species in the bowl it is not a single protein diet in the strict sense of the phrase.

The biscuit is potato at 18% and potato starch at 11%, with pea starch behind them and no grain at all. Pure potato starch is there for structure, not nutrition, and that is the usual trade in a cereal-free kibble. Carbohydrate converts to 47.2% of dry matter where the typical puppy kibble runs at 39.0%, so the starch load here is on the higher side.

Potato protein at 6% deserves a paragraph of its own. It lifts the declared protein of 24.0%. On amino acid balance and digestibility, though, plant protein trails meat, so the genuinely meaty share of that figure is smaller than the number alone suggests.

The finishing touches are sensible and mostly dosed. Sunflower oil brings vitamin E along with its fats, brewers yeast adds B vitamins and appeal, and yucca schidigera extract at 105 mg/kg is the long-standing answer to strong smelling stools. Marigold meal comes at the same dose, beta-carotene at 26 mg/kg, and rosemary extract keeps the fats from turning rancid without a synthetic preservative.

The micronutrient panel is printed in full and covers more ground than most puppy labels bother with, with vitamin C at 85 mg, biotin at 160 mcg and L-Carnitine at 60 mg/kg among the entries. Our energy figure of 354 kcal per 100g is an estimate, and calcium is the one growth figure this label does not give you.

£4.55 a kilo, with 2kg and 12kg bags plus a sample pack.

A puppy's portions change from week to week, so begin with the chart on the bag and adjust as your pup grows into it. The label's own guide spans 100g a day at the small end up to 400g.