Flourish Grain Free Light: Turkey with Sweet Potato & Cranberry review

Our scale reads this Good, the same as the middle of the adult dry category, and its transparency reads Outstanding. The lift is straightforward. Half the recipe is declared as one named bird, with the fresh share and the dried share printed separately, and every added mineral dosed line by line.

The shape of a light recipe is what holds it back from climbing higher. Fat is deliberately low. The carbohydrate estimate comes out at 47.9% of dry matter, in much the same territory as the 46.2% typical of adult dry food. That is the trade a weight recipe makes, and it is the right trade for the dog this bag is aimed at.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey 50% (including Freshly Prepared Turkey 27%, Dried Turkey 21% & Turkey Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (16%), Potato, Peas (8%), Beet Pulp, Linseed, Omega 3 Supplement, Minerals, Cranberry (0.2%), Glucosamine (170 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 96 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 24 mg/kg)

Turkey at 50% is 27% freshly prepared, 21% dried and 2% stock, and printing that split is more useful than it looks. Fresh meat is full of water, and the oven boils it off. What survives into the finished kibble is largely the 21% dried share. Protein lands at 29.3% of dry matter, a solid adult figure for a recipe that is holding its fat down.

Turkey is a deliberate choice here rather than a flavour decision. It is naturally leaner than chicken. That is how it comes to be on so many light and senior labels, and it is easy on most digestions.

What holds the kibble together is sweet potato at 16% with potato, and behind them sit peas at 8% and beet pulp for fibre. Wheat, rice and maize are all absent from the list.

The weight machinery here carries real doses. L-Carnitine arrives at 500 mg per kilo. It is an amino acid, and its job is to help a dog draw on its own fat for fuel while holding on to lean muscle. Fat itself is kept to 9.8% of dry matter. FOS at 96 mg/kg and MOS at 24 mg/kg sit alongside the beet pulp as prebiotics for the gut.

The joint trio is on the label with figures attached: glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 170 mg/kg each, chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg. Added minerals carry figures too: zinc and iron at 50 mg, manganese at 35 mg, copper at 15 mg, iodine at 1 mg and selenium at 0.3 mg per kilo.

Two entries repay a careful read. Cranberry appears at 0.2%, a seasoning level and nothing more. The omega 3 supplement is listed without a source, so the recipe cannot be called fish free even though no fish is named on it. Linseed sits just above it, bringing the plant form of omega 3. A dog converts that into the forms skin and coat actually use, though not quickly, so judge the difference over weeks.

£4.75 a kilo, sold in a 12kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 245 grams a day of this recipe, which works out at £1.16 a day. That assumes around 840 kcal a day, the standard maintenance estimate of 110 × bodyweight^0.75, and a dog already at a settled weight.