Hill's Pet Nutrition Puppy Small Bites Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe

Dry Extruded complete

38out of 100

Poor

our rating

Is Hill's Pet Nutrition Puppy Small Bites Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe a good dog food?

We score it 38/100 (Poor). The main reasons are set out in "Why you might not" below, and every step of the calculation is shown under "How we calculated this score".

How we score

Why this score?

This recipe achieves an overall rating of 38 out of 100 based on several key factors. The overall quality of the ingredient list contributed +3.1 points to the total. However, the presence of ingredients without printed percentages reduced the score by -10.6. Furthermore, the processing format decreased the score by -6.7, and the carbohydrate content lowered the final result by -3.8.

100% of this recipe has no printed percentage. Estimated shares are model estimates, not label facts.

Recipe
38
Nutritional
Not recorded
Transparency
40
Safety
100
Evidence
Not recorded

The Recipe score measures how attractive and transparent the declared ingredient list is. It is not, by itself, proof that the food is nutritionally appropriate for long-term feeding. The Nutritional and Evidence scores measure what we can verify towards that stronger claim.

Why you might choose it

Nutritionally complete: formulated to be fed as the whole diet.

Why you might not

No analytical breakdown is published.
100% of the recipe mass has no printed percentage, so the exact split cannot be verified.

View the source page

Estimated composition

carb30.7%

meat19.8%

oil12.4%

fibre11.6%

supplement10.8%

veg6.7%

unknown4.2%

additive3.9%

Typical analysis (as fed)

No analysis recorded yet.

Dry matter basis

Protein: 27.80%
Fat: 19%
Fibre: 2.50%
Carbohydrates: 42.40%

Additives & feeding info

No additives recorded yet.

Feeding guide

Weight of Dog - lbs (kgs) | Amount per Day - cups (grams) - Growth less than 4 months (Pregnancy weeks 7 - 9) | Amount per Day - cups (grams) - Growth 4 to 9 months (Pregnancy weeks 5 - 6) | Amount per Day - cups (grams) - Growth 10 to 12 months (Pregnancy weeks 1 - 4) 2 (0,9) | 1/2 (50) | 3/8 (40) | 1/3 (35) 5 (2,3) | 1 (105) | 7/8 (90) | 2/3 (70) 8 (3,6) | 1 3/8 (145) | 1 1/8 (120) | 7/8 (90)

Reviews

Trustpilot: 3.0/5 · 3 reviews

Who is this food for?

Suits

Labelled by the manufacturer for puppies
Doesn't list beef, turkey, lamb, venison, duck as ingredients

Consider something else if:

Your dog avoids chicken: the label lists chicken
Your dog avoids fish: the label lists fish oil
Your dog avoids pork: it is listed as an ingredient
Your dog avoids grain: the label lists rice - brown / whole grain
You want a single-protein recipe: this one lists more than one animal protein

These points are derived from declared ingredients and analysis, not a substitute for veterinary advice. If your dog has a diagnosed condition, food choice is a medical nutrition decision: speak to your vet. Use the homepage filter to find foods that fit your dog.

Ingredients (23)

#	As declared	Matched	Category	Tier	Declared %	Est. %
1	Chicken	Chicken	meat	medium	-	5.7
2	Brown Rice	Rice - brown / whole grain	carb	medium	-	5.6
3	Whole Grain Wheat	Wheat	carb	poor	-	5.5
4	Chicken Meal	Dried chicken protein	meat	good	-	5.3
5	Chicken Fat	Chicken Oil and Fat	oil	medium	-	5.2
6	Whole Grain Corn	Whole Grains	carb	good	-	5.1
7	Whole Grain Oats	Oats	carb	medium	-	5.0
8	Pea Protein	Pea protein	carb	medium	-	4.8
9	Soybean Meal	Soybean Meal	carb	poor	-	4.7
10	Hydrolyzed Chicken Flavor	Chicken	meat	medium	-	4.6
11	Ground Pecan Shells	Ground Pecan Shell	fibre	poor	-	4.5
12	Dicalcium Phosphate	Dicalcium phosphate	supplement	medium	-	4.3
13	Lactic Acid	unmatched	-	-	-	4.2
14	Pork Liver Flavor	Liver	meat	good	-	4.1
15	Soybean Oil	Soybean oil	oil	medium	-	4.0
16	Iodized Salt	Salt	additive	medium	-	3.9
17	Flaxseed	Linseed	veg	good	-	3.7
18	Dried Beet Pulp	Beet Pulp	fibre	medium	-	3.6
19	Dried Citrus Pulp	Citrus Pulp	fibre	medium	-	3.5
20	Potassium Chloride	Potassium Chloride	supplement	medium	-	3.4
21	Fish Oil	Fish Oil	oil	good	-	3.2
22	Choline Chloride	Choline	supplement	good	-	3.1
23	Pressed Cranberries	Cranberries	veg	good	-	3.0

Brand

Hill's Pet Nutrition

Website: https://www.hillspet.com/
Contact page: www.hillspet.com

Trust and provenance

Recall history: No recalls recorded in our database
Label data last checked: 2026-09-18
Scored with: Model v3 (methodology)
Product page: www.hillspet.com

Recall history is presentation-only and never affects the score. Dates are when we recorded the data, not when the manufacturer last changed the recipe.

Spotted a mistake in this listing? Report it here and we'll take a look.

Recipe: how the 1-100 score is calculated

Scored with model v3 on 2026-09-26. Each component is the feature value for this product multiplied by the model's published coefficient.

Component	Input	Coefficient	Contribution
Base score	-	30.909	+30.91
Average ingredient quality	0.3	9.191	+3.14
Carb share of dry matter	33.4%	-0.115	-3.85
Oil share of dry matter	15.2%	-0.092	-1.40
Vegetable share of dry matter	4.7%	-0.005	-0.02
Additive share of dry matter	4.3%	0.163	+0.70
Supplement share of dry matter	12.3%	-0.012	-0.15
Unrecognised share of dry matter	2.6%	-0.027	-0.07
Recipe graded poor	14.7%	-0.065	-0.95
Number of poor ingredients	3	-0.876	-2.63
Largest single poor ingredient	5.5%	0.060	+0.33
Undeclared quantities	100.0%	-0.106	-10.56
Low meat (under 10% of dry matter)	yes	-3.158	-3.16
Additive penalty	-4.70	0.222	-1.04
Processing multiplier	0.98	33.786	+33.11
Processing: Dry Extruded	yes	-6.713	-6.71

Show all 40 components

Component	Input	Coefficient	Contribution
Base score	-	30.909	+30.91
Average ingredient quality	0.3	9.191	+3.14
Meat share of dry matter	0.0%	0.096	+0.00
Carb share of dry matter	33.4%	-0.115	-3.85
Oil share of dry matter	15.2%	-0.092	-1.40
Vegetable share of dry matter	4.7%	-0.005	-0.02
Additive share of dry matter	4.3%	0.163	+0.70
Supplement share of dry matter	12.3%	-0.012	-0.15
Other share of dry matter	0.0%	-0.375	+0.00
Unrecognised share of dry matter	2.6%	-0.027	-0.07
Recipe graded poor	14.7%	-0.065	-0.95
Poor-quality meat in recipe	0.0%	-0.179	+0.00
Number of poor ingredients	3	-0.876	-2.63
Largest single poor ingredient	5.5%	0.060	+0.33
Undeclared quantities	100.0%	-0.106	-10.56
Prints ingredient percentages	no	0.000	+0.00
Complete diet	no	2.294	+0.00
Frozen or chilled fresh	no	0.000	+0.00
High meat (30%+ of dry matter)	no	0.707	+0.00
Low meat (under 10% of dry matter)	yes	-3.158	-3.16
High carb and low meat	no	-1.180	+0.00
Meat share × printed percentages	0.0	0.000	+0.00
Meat share × fresh	0.0	0.000	+0.00
Fresh × high meat	0.0	11.084	+0.00
Additive penalty	-4.70	0.222	-1.04
Processing multiplier	0.98	33.786	+33.11
Processing: Raw	no	-0.054	+0.00
Processing: Fresh Chilled	no	-2.354	+0.00
Processing: Fresh Frozen	no	-2.354	+0.00
Processing: Fresh Refrigerated	no	0.000	+0.00
Processing: Fresh Shelf	no	-0.672	+0.00
Processing: Dry Freeze Dried	no	6.629	+0.00
Processing: Dry Air Dried	no	6.331	+0.00
Processing: Dry Cold Pressed	no	-6.713	+0.00
Processing: Dry Baked	no	-6.713	+0.00
Processing: Dry Extruded	yes	-6.713	-6.71
Processing: Dry Semi Moist	no	-6.174	+0.00
Processing: Dry Muesli	no	-10.146	+0.00
Processing: Wet Pate	no	-0.672	+0.00
Processing: Wet Chunks	no	-0.672	+0.00

Processing-type offset: +0.02
Subtotal: 37.7
Final score: 38/100

Contributions are rounded to two decimals, so they may not sum exactly to the subtotal. The full coefficient table is published on the methodology page.

Nutritional: declared analysis vs reference ranges

Analytical constituents not declared

Transparency: what the label discloses

How much the manufacturer discloses, measured against the FEDIAF Code of Good Labelling Practice and Regulation 767/2009. Mandatory items dominate the weighting.

Item	Points
✓ Ingredient list on the label (mandatory)	10/10
✗ Printed percentages on the label (voluntary) - not on file	0/20
✗ Analytical constituents declared (mandatory) - not on file	0/15
✗ Additives declared (mandatory) - not on file	0/10
✗ Energy value declared (voluntary) - not on file	0/5
✓ Complete/complementary designation (mandatory)	5/5
✓ Feeding guidance given (mandatory)	10/10
✓ Manufacturer identity and address (mandatory)	5/10
✓ Country of manufacture stated (voluntary)	10/10
✗ Batch and date labelling (mandatory) - not on file	0/5

Capped at 60: mandatory items missing (Analytical constituents declared, Additives declared, Batch and date labelling).

Safety: recall history

Recall and safety-notice history, time-decayed. This dimension is shown alongside the score and never feeds the headline number.

No recalls recorded in our database.

Evidence: what the brand claims, and what supports it

No on-pack claims on file: nothing to verify.

The full scoring method is published. See the methodology for exactly how the headline score and each dimension are calculated.

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