Skinner's Puppy Food is a popular choice for new dog owners in the UK. Let's look at the nutritional content and I'll also tell you whether it's a good option for your puppy's needs!
Dry Skinners Puppy Food
Rating: stars stars stars
Top 5 Label Ingredients: 30% Poultry meat meal (min. 95% chicken), Maize, Brown Rice, Poultry Fat, naked oats
Type: Dry Food,
Made For: All puppies from small to large breeds
Age Range: From 8 weeks to 6 months. After 6 months, they recommend you switch to their Junior dog food range until you start feeding them adult dog food. Note: Some flavours have the puppy and junior food combined into one so no switching necessary until adult.
Price: £££
This puppy food called Field & Trial comes in three tasty favours for puppies and junior dogs. By far the most popular is the chicken & rice option, but are are all the options:
- Chicken
- Duck & Rice
- Lamb & Rice
One thing that not many other brands have done, is that they've introduced a mid-way dry food for "junior dogs". According to Skinner's this food can be used to wean a puppy onto adult dog food. The junior dog food can be initiated from 6 months old and at the moment it only comes in chicken flavour.
Originally established in 1688, this family owned business has been around literally for centuries. Although they have only started producing dog food about 50 years ago, they have had experience in the mill business since inception.
According to their website, the Skinner family first started venturing into the pet business in the 1900s and they started by producing a variety of foods from monkey nuts to cat food.
Personally, to me it's reassuring when a company can stay in business for this long. It means that they must be doing something right and that their approach to business and customer care must be safe and sound.
The price is reasonably affordable at around £11 for a 2.5kg bag or £50 for a 15kg bag.
In terms of the food itself, it's being marketed as a complete puppy food aimed at healthy development and growth. It contains 30% of a "poultry meat meal" which on the label they say it contains at least 95% of actual meat (chicken in the instance of the one we have reviewed).
The 30% meat content is a bit on the low end compared to the dry Wainwright's Puppy food and other brands out there.
In terms of its other ingredients, I quite like the variety. It has maize and brown rice to create bulk, but also linseeds, brewer's yeast, marine algae meal, beet pulp and naked oats. The brewer's yeast in particular has a wealth of B vitamins and minerals.
In addition, it contains a herbal blend, glucosamine, chondroitin sulphate and seaweed + yucca in small amounts.
I am a big fan of seaweed in dog food, as it is a great dental cleaner for dogs. Some studies have shown that certain seaweed that grows in the Atlantic ocean, called Ascophyllum Nodosum has a direct role in reducing plaque and tartar. This subsequently improves a dog's dental health and may prevent oral problems like gingivitis and bad breath. These are the main consequences of gum disease in dogs.
The downside however is that there is only about 150mg of seaweed per kilogram in this particular food. The usual recommended dose for seaweed to have a role in dental health, is at least 2-3g per day (depending on dog size). 150mg per kg of food is therefore too low to have any significant effect on teeth cleaning.
Glucosamine and chondroitin are useful supplements that can contribute to healthy joints. These are also used in humans to improve joint function and to reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis.
They have the same role in dogs. However, from experience I would say that they are more beneficial in older dogs rather than in puppy food.
Additives consist of vitamin A, vitamin D, E and the aminoacid taurine.
As already mentioned, the other 2 flavours (except chicken) have a puppy & junior blend combined into this same food. It doesn't make much sense for Skinners to separate the two foods just for the chicken flavour in my opinion. The nutrition content is very similar (32.5% chicken in the junior formulation vs 30% in puppy).
Overall, Skinners Puppy Food has about a third meat content, with the rest of the content made up of various vegetables, grains, seeds and cellulose, with some extra vitamins and supplement additives.
In my opinion, they could do better in this respect as protein is what's most important in the early days. The addition of small amounts of "superfoods" is likely to be too low to make a difference.
Skinner's Wet Puppy Food
Rating: stars stars stars stars
Top 5 Label Ingredients: Chicken 60%, Carrot 2%, Potato 2%, Parsnip 1.5%, Dried Egg
Type: Wet Food
Made For: All puppies from small to large breeds
Age Range: From 8 weeks to 18 months (Puppy and Junior all in one)
Price: £££
The wet Skinners puppy food only comes in one flavor: Chicken & Garden Veg.
What I like about this one is the high amount of meat it contains. At 60% chicken, it's one of the higher meat contents out of all the wet foods currently available.
Skinner's Puppy Food Feeding Guide
Skinners wet puppy food feeding guide
Here is a rough guide on how much to feed your puppy of the wet food. You can either use this dry food on its own, or in combination with a dry puppy food either from Skinner's or a different brand.
If you choose to go for Wainwright's wet puppy food, the feeding guide will be present on the back of the packaging.
For now, this only comes in one flavour but once your puppy weans on to adult dog food, you will have a few more options should you choose to stick with Skinner's.
Skinners dry puppy food feeding guide
Remember that ultimately, each puppy is different so you need to use your judgement to see if you need to increase or decrease the amount of food your puppy has. This constant monitoring ensures that they are a healthy weight, nor underweight or overweight.
Inadequate weight in a dog is associated with various health problems so bringing up your puppy with the right food habits is key to ensuring a healthy lifespan 😊.
Where can you buy Skinners Puppy Food?
Skinners is available to buy from various places such as its own website, Amazon, Pets at Home and other online retailers.
Some supermarkets in the UK may stock this brand as well in the physical stores, but at time of writing it's not generally available in the major ones such as Tesco, Sainsbury's Asda or Waitrose. If this changes in the future we will update this page.
Before you go...
Wainwrights Puppy Food is in my opinion an average choice of food for your puppy, with much better options available. One of these widely available choices is Lily's Kitchen and you can just buy one or two cans from Pets at Home to start with and see if your puppy prefers it. To read more about this one and other choices, read my page below.
