Ydolo Puppy Wet review

Ydolo Puppy Wet reaches our Outstanding band, with nutritional balance, transparency and value all reading Outstanding and protein and processing Excellent. Nothing is carrying anything else here: the meat headline, the itemised label, the declared analysis and the printed supplement doses all point the same way.

The typical wet puppy food reaches our Excellent band, which makes this a strong category to be judged in. This recipe still finishes above that typical mark, so it holds a lead in company that is already good rather than standing out in a weak field.

Ingredients, as declared: 90% fresh meat and wild caught fish (50% pork, 20% sardines, 20% anchovies), 5% sweet potato, 3% health mix: (banana (5982 mg/kg), artichoke (4487 mg/kg), chicory, alfalfa (2692 mg/kg), apples (2542 mg/kg), broccoli, blueberries (2333 mg/kg), sprouts (2303 mg/kg), green lip mussel (598 mg/kg), rosemary (419 mg/kg), thyme (389 mg/kg), oregano (359 mg/kg), milk thistle, spirulina (242 mg/kg), olive oil, yucca), 1% trout oil, glucosamine (1000 mg/kg), chondroitin (850 mg/kg), MSM (650 mg/kg)

The 90% animal headline is broken down into named species, and that is the part that matters. Pork at 50% leads, with sardines and anchovies at 20% apiece behind it, so half the tin is a single mammal meat and the rest is small oily fish. Fresh ingredients carry their own water, but in a wet food that water is part of the product anyway. The dry matter is where the recipe shows its hand: protein at 41.6% and fat at 32.8%. That is a food built out of animals, not seasoned with them.

Sweet potato at 5% is the whole of the starch story, and the analysis agrees with that. Nothing starchy hides behind the meat percentages: carbohydrate is estimated at 13.2% of dry matter, next to the 13.6% typical of wet puppy food. There is no cereal on the list at all.

The 3% health mix is where the label gets almost pedantic, listing each entry with its own inclusion in mg/kg. Banana at 5982 mg/kg and artichoke at 4487 mg/kg lead it, with alfalfa, apples, blueberries and sprouts following, and green lipped mussel at 598 mg/kg tucked in behind. Chicory is in the same blend, and its inulin is a soluble fibre that gut bacteria feed on. Rosemary, thyme and oregano at their few hundred mg/kg are working partly as natural antioxidants, and olive oil closes the blend. Taken together this is garnish, but it is garnish declared to a standard most makers never bother with.

The joint support here is a real inclusion and not a name on the ingredients list. Glucosamine at 1000 mg/kg, chondroitin at 850 mg/kg and MSM at 650 mg/kg are quantities you could point a vet at, and the green lipped mussel in the health mix works the same corner. Starting that support early is a reasonable habit for a pup expected to grow big or work hard.

Doses are printed for the added nutrient panel too, and taurine at 1000 mg/kg with L-Carnitine at 500 mg/kg are the two that stand out. Taurine is an amino acid dogs mostly make for themselves, and topping it up is a considered choice in a recipe leaning on pork and small fish. L-Carnitine helps turn fat into usable energy, a useful thing in a food this rich. Vitamins A, D3 and E come alongside a full trace mineral run from zinc down to selenium.

Two things about the analysis are worth reading properly. Crude ash converts to 6.8% of dry matter, a modest mineral fraction for a growth food, and the label prints no calcium figure at all. In a pup heading for a toy, small or medium adult size that is unlikely to trouble anybody, since the recipe is meat dense and mineral bearing by nature. Calcium does the heavy lifting for a large or giant breed pup, and the label publishes no number for any claim to rest on. Put the question to the maker first.

£8.75 a kilo, sold as a 6 x 400g pack.

The right portion for a puppy keeps moving with the calendar and with the size your pup is heading for. Start from the maker's chart and let the shape of your dog settle the rest. As a guide from our standard energy estimate, a 10kg pup of four to twelve months works through roughly 473 to 578 grams a day. Wet food always feeds in bigger volumes than kibble does.