Nature’s Variety Nature’s Variety No Grain Medium/Maxi Puppy Salmon review

Name: Nature’s Variety Nature's Variety No Grain Medium/Maxi Puppy Salmon
Brand: Nature’s Variety

Dry Puppy Grain free Hypoallergenic Allergies Fussy eaters High energy

Good

A solid, honest dry food. Just 18% declared meat content, and the label keeps too much vague. Feeding it costs about £1.23 a day for a typical adult dog - the breakdown below shows exactly what that buys.

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Top 64%scores higher than 37% of rated foodsacross all 3530 foods we've scored

Goodscore bandthe dot marks where it sits among every food we've rated

£1.23per day for a 15 kg dogcheaper than 21% of dry foods

18%declared meat content

Where the points went

The full breakdown, exactly as the algorithm scored it. How our rating works

Ingredient quality

Weighted ingredient quality 62/100 across 15 ingredients (declared percentages used for 5, position estimates for the rest). Named meat is only 23% of the recognised recipe, so the quality score is anchored down towards a plant-led food.

24.5 / 40

Label clarity

Vague category terms on the label (hydrolysed animal protein) - naming points withheld; percentages cover 54% of the recipe (+3.2); meat sources named (+2); variable-composition wording - fixed-formula points withheld.

5.2 / 15

Additives

No artificial colours, flavours, controversial preservatives or added sugars found.

10 / 10

Red flags

No red-flag ingredients.

0 / 0

Meat content

Declared meat content 20% (added up from every named meat on the label).

7 / 15

Nutritional balance

Estimated carbohydrate 34% dry matter (moderate); fat 20.7% DM in the healthy band; moisture not declared - 8% assumed for the dry-matter maths; fibre 3.3% DM (+2); ash 7.6% DM - sensible mineral load (+2); functional extras: omega-3 source, named botanicals (+2).

9.4 / 10

Processing

Assumed extruded kibble (standard high-heat process).

6 / 10

ODF Score

Algorithm v1.4.0 · scored July 28, 2026 · full methodology public

62 / 100

Our analysis

Breaking the 62 down: the biggest single loss is ingredient quality, where it takes 24.5 of a possible 40. Its strongest showing is additives at 10 of 10.

The label declares 18% meat, which is a low figure, and a declared low figure is still more honest than silence, and the ingredient list leans on vague groupings instead of naming what is actually in the bag.

At about £1.23 a day to feed a 15kg dog, the question is not whether it is cheap but whether the label justifies the price - and on our scoring, it broadly does.

Ingredients

Straight from the label, grouped by role - every ingredient is coloured by our published classification and links to its full page.

Good qualityAcceptable / watch the amountRed flagGeneric / neutralOutlined = first five on the label

Feeding & cost

What a bag actually costs to feed - worked out per dog, not per pack.

Pack size	RRP	Per kg
12 kg	-	-
24 kg	-	-

How heavy is your dog?

A typical 15 kg adult dog needs about 190 g a day = £1.23 / day, £37.39 / month.

How we work this out

Energy: an adult dog at rest needs about 95 × weight^0.75 kcal a day (the FEDIAF maintenance formula - a 15 kg dog works out near 725 kcal).
Portion: divide that by this food's energy density, 382 kcal/100g, to get the grams above - a denser food needs fewer grams.
Cost: multiply the grams by this food's price, £6.48 / kg, for the daily cost, then by 30.4 days for the month.

Estimates scale to your dog's weight and the food's calorie density - a denser food needs fewer grams. A rough guide; always follow the pack. This is a puppy food, but the figures above are for an adult dog at maintenance - the same reference we use on every food so costs stay comparable. A growing puppy needs roughly twice the energy for its weight, so feed to the pack, not to this. Try the full feeding calculator

Nutrition

Declared analysis converted to a dry-matter basis, so wet and dry foods compare fairly.

Protein

34.8 % DM

Directory average: 28.2

Fat

20.7 % DM

Directory average: 14.9

Est. carbs

33.7 % DM

Directory average: 45.1

Fibre

3.3 % DM

Directory average: 3.7

Ash

7.6 % DM

Directory average: 7.9

Moisture isn't declared on this label - dry-matter figures assume 8% (typical for a dry food) and are marked estimated.

Carbohydrates are estimated: 100% minus protein, fat, fibre, ash and moisture.

Similar foods that score higher

Same type and life stage, better ODF Score, comparable price per day.

EdenEden 80/20 Puppy Cuisine90

£1.36 / day approx.See review

WolfworthyWolfworthy 80/20 Countryside90

£1.57 / day approx.See review

WolfworthyWolfworthy 80/20 Oily Fish90

£1.56 / day approx.See review

AkelaAkela 80:20 Fish Feast89

£1.10 / day approx.See review

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This is label analysis, not veterinary advice - if your dog has a health condition, talk to your vet before switching foods.