Best-value puppy food, by adult size

A puppy heading for 30 kg eats 395 to 480 g a day of James Wellbeloved at 4 to 6 months, by the table on its zooplus.co.uk page. So the 2 kg bag lasts four or five days. That's why bag size matters as much as the price on the shelf.

This ranking is by price per 1,000 kcal, using the calories each store states and the prices read on 2 November 2026. I haven't fed any of these to a puppy. It all comes from labels, store pages and named sources, and the opinions are mine.

James Wellbeloved's line above is the 2 kg bag. The same page lists a 15 kg bag that came out lower per kilo when I checked, so anyone with a big puppy should price that instead.

If your dog will end up small

Up to about 10 kg as an adult, the big bags turn awkward. Wagg's table gives 120 to 250 g a day from 3 to 6 months for a puppy heading for 5 to 10 kg. A 12 kg bag then lasts somewhere between 48 and 100 days. James Wellbeloved's table gives 185 to 215 g at 4 to 6 months for a 10 kg adult, so 2 kg lasts 9 to 11 days.

I'd pay more per kilo for the small bag first. Then move to the bigger one if the puppy takes to it.

Royal Canin Maxi Puppy is out of range here. Its page says expected adult weight of 26 to 44 kg.

If your dog will end up large

This is where the choice gets real. At 6 months, a puppy expected to reach 30 kg gets 451 g a day on Royal Canin's table, so a 15 kg bag lasts about 33 days. At £66.99 a bag that's about £2.01 a day.

Wagg's band is much wider. It says 450 to 850 g a day from 3 to 6 months for a 20 to 40 kg adult, so 12 kg lasts 14 to 27 days. At £16.29 that's about 61p to £1.15 a day, depending on where in the band your puppy sits. Band width like that tells you to weigh the puppy and ask your vet.

Wagg's label is the catch. It opens with 30% meat meal and gravy, with a minimum of 4% chicken, then whole grain wheat and maize. Battersea's puppy feeding page says to look for real protein in the ingredients and skip vague terms such as "meat derivatives". Wagg's wording falls short of that standard, in my opinion. Whether that's worth the gap to Royal Canin is your call, since both are complete foods by their stated labels.

When the puppy food stops

The labels disagree with each other and with PDSA, so check before you stock up.

• PDSA's general rule is around one year for small dogs, and around 18 months for large or giant breeds.
• Royal Canin's table moves to Maxi Adult at 16 months.
• James Wellbeloved's table says change at 7 to 8 months for the smallest adults, 9 to 10 months for 10 kg, and 11 to 12 months for 15 kg. Its table stops at 14 months for bigger dogs.
• Wagg's table ends at 12 months.
• Lily's Kitchen says up to 12 months, depending on breed, and the zooplus page has no gram table at all.
• Dogs Trust ties the change to when growth stops, and sends you to the maker's guidance and your vet.

A vet can settle it for your dog. This site's pet cost calculator leaves puppies out, for that reason among others.

About Lily's Kitchen

It's last on this measure, at £1.83 per 1,000 kcal. Its zooplus score is 3.0 out of 5 from 4 reviews, two at 5 stars and two at 1 star, which is too few to mean much. Royal Canin Maxi Puppy has 4.5 from 995.

Whichever bag you choose, change foods slowly, since Battersea says sudden swaps can upset a puppy's stomach. Food is one line in the first year, and the first-year kit list prices the rest. All four bags sit with other options in the puppy food list.