Fidelis Fresh Menu (grain inclusive recipes): Rabbit with Brown Rice, Carrot and Cranberries review

Both jars land in our Outstanding band, and the typical fresh food lands there too, so this is a strong pair sitting comfortably in strong company. The Rabbit edges ahead of the Chicken on our scoring, though not by enough to override what your dog actually does well on. Both labels read Outstanding for protein and processing and for transparency. Nutritional balance is Outstanding on the Rabbit and Excellent on the Chicken, which is what happens when a label names everything in it and prints a figure against nearly every entry.

Ingredients, as declared: Fresh Rabbit Meat (45%), Fresh Rabbit Carcasses (20%), Fresh Rabbit Liver (5%), Whole Grain Rice (6%), Fresh Carrot (6%), Fresh Courgette (2%), Pumpkin Seeds (2%), Fresh Kale (2%), Fresh Pear (2%), Fresh Blueberries (2%), Hemp Seed Oil (2%), Brewer's Yeast (2%), Fresh Cranberries (1.6%), Wheat Germ Oil (1%), Algae Powder (0.6%), Rosehip Shells (0.4%), Rosemary (0.3%), Seaweed Powder (0.1%).

Grain inclusive here means one grain, named and measured. The Chicken recipe uses whole grain rice at 8% and the Rabbit at 6%. Whole grain keeps the fibre and B vitamins that milling usually strips away. Rice is also among the gentlest cereals on a dog's digestion. A vet after a settled stomach will often reach for it.

The animal share works out at 70% on both jars, arranged differently. Chicken breast at 58% is topped up with 12% chicken liver, while the Rabbit splits into 45% rabbit meat, 20% rabbit carcasses and 5% rabbit liver. Carcasses bring bone and connective tissue with them, so the Rabbit takes much of its mineral content from the animal itself. On both labels the liver is where the copper, vitamin A and B12 arrive.

Fruit and vegetables are fresh and modest. Courgette at 6% and mango at 4% shape the Chicken recipe, with pear, kale and blueberries behind them. The Rabbit leans on 6% carrot with cranberries at 1.6%, and it has a scatter of pear, kale and blueberries of its own. None of it is there for bulk, and every entry is recognisable as food.

The oils tell the two apart. The Chicken uses algae oil at 2%, an omega 3 source grown in tanks. The Rabbit puts hemp seed oil in the same slot. Both then add wheat germ oil, at 1.3% and 1% respectively, which brings vitamin E and unsaturated fat and also puts the wheat name onto a label that is otherwise free of it.

Brewer's yeast at 2% closes both lists alongside rosehip shells and seaweed powder, the seaweed supplying iodine for thyroid work in a very small dose. The declared mineral panel is short and printed per 100g, covering vitamin D, manganese, copper, selenium and zinc, with the Rabbit's vitamin D printed at 100 IU against the Chicken's 35 IU.

Rabbit three ways: 45% meat, 20% carcasses and 5% liver, with no other animal anywhere on the label. For most dogs rabbit is a genuine novel protein, so this is the jar to open once the familiar meats have all been tried. Whole grain rice at 6% and carrot at 6% lead the plant side, hemp seed oil supplies the fats, and protein converts to 42.3% of dry matter with fat at 25.2%.

Each recipe comes in a 400g jar, with packs of 6, 12 or 18.

Water makes up most of the weight of a fresh food, so the daily figure is a big one. Working from roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition works through about 560 grams a day on the Rabbit. The Chicken comes to 571 grams.