Royal Canin Maxi Puppy Dry Dog Food26–44 kg adult weight · 2 to 15 months

A large-breed puppy has a problem a small one doesn't: her skeleton is being asked to carry a body that gains weight faster than bone can safely strengthen. Push growth too hard and you get joint disease — hip and elbow dysplasia, OCD — that follows her for the rest of her life. Slower is genuinely better.

That's why fat here is 16% rather than the 20% a small-breed puppy gets. It isn't a cheaper food; it's a deliberately controlled energy level so she grows steadily to fifteen months instead of racing there by nine. Protein stays at 30% to build muscle, glucosamine and chondroitin support cartilage while it's forming, and the calcium and phosphorus balance is set for a skeleton doing an unusual amount of work. Betaglucans and prebiotics handle the digestive and immune side.

• Healthy Growth
• Joint Support
• Immune Support
• Digestive Health

Ingredients

Dehydrated poultry protein, rice, maize flour, vegetable protein isolate (L.I.P. — protein selected for its very high digestibility), animal fats, maize, wheat flour, hydrolysed animal proteins, beet pulp, maize gluten, minerals, vegetable fibres, soya oil, fish oil, fructo-oligo-saccharides (0.34%), psyllium husks and seeds, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), yeast extracts (source of betaglucans), marigold extract (source of lutein), hydrolysed crustaceans (source of glucosamine), hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitin). Additives (per kg) — Nutritional additives: Vitamin A 15,500 IU · Vitamin D3 1,000 IU · Vitamin E 480 mg · E1 (Iron) 42 mg · E2 (Iodine) 4.2 mg · E4 (Copper) 13 mg · E5 (Manganese) 55 mg · E6 (Zinc) 132 mg · E8 (Selenium) 0.07 mg. Technological additives: Clinoptilolite of sedimentary origin 10 g. Sensory additives: Yucca extract 125 mg. Preservatives. Antioxidants.

Looking after it

Store in a cool, dry place, sealed. Use within six weeks of opening. Keep her lean while she's growing — you should feel ribs easily. Don't supplement with calcium; the balance here is deliberate and adding to it causes the problem it looks like it should prevent. Limit stairs, jumping and long runs until she's a year old, and use a non-slip surface where she eats and sleeps.