James Wellbeloved

James Wellbeloved Adult Dry: Fish & Rice review

Name: James Wellbeloved Adult Dry: Fish & Rice
Brand: James Wellbeloved

54.1/100Good

DryAdult

Flavour

One named dried meat on top of a grain base, built the same way across five animals and all in our Good band. The point of it is a short, legible list for a dog that struggles with more complicated food. Seaweed, chicory extract and yucca extract turn up in the small print of every bag.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Dogs that do better on one named meat. Every recipe but the Fish names its single animal
Owners who want grain in the bowl. Here it is naked oats, barley and two rices
Dry skin or a dull coat, with whole linseed high on every list and fish oil behind it
A picky eater. Five animals share one base, so swapping changes little else
Dogs that suit a gentler fat level, between 12.1% and 12.6% of dry matter

Worth watching

Poultry fat on all five labels, lamb and fish included. A strict exclusion diet cannot use any of them to rule out a bird
Fish oil in every recipe, and the fish recipe never names its species
A big grain share. Carbohydrate is estimated at 49.5% to 53.0% of dry matter

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

54.1/100Good

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balanceAverage

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueGood

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adult dogs of every size, toy to giant. If your dog is on an exclusion diet, check the poultry fat first: it is on every bag.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Fish

The score, in context

Duck 58.4
Chicken 57.3
Turkey 56.7
Lamb 54.2
Fish 54.1

All five Good. Typical dry food: Good.

The five sit close together, held back by how much of the bowl is grain, with the Duck and the Chicken a few points ahead.

What's in it

Dried fish protein20%Fish, with no species named. It cannot tell you which fish a sensitive dog is meeting.
BarleyAhead of the oats here. It carries gluten.
Naked oats
Brown rice, white rice13% each
Whole linseed3.9%The plant omega 3, with fibre alongside.
Fish stock
Poultry fatCould be chicken, turkey, duck or goose; the label never says which. An exclusion diet hunting a problem bird cannot use it.
Dried peas, alfalfa meal, chicory pulpDried peas stand in for the pea fibre used elsewhere.
Fish oilMarine omega 3.
Seaweed, chicory extract, yucca extract, minerals0.5%, 0.1%, 0.02%Iodine and minerals, a prebiotic, and yucca for how the other end smells.

Zinc as a glycine chelate at 100 mg per kilo and vitamin E at 165 mg. No iodine or selenium in this panel, unlike the others. Preserved with citric acid and tocopherol extracts.

Named ingredients

Dried fish protein* (20%), barley*, naked oats*, brown rice* (13%), white rice* (13%), whole linseed* (3.9%), fish stock, poultry fat*, dried peas*, fish oil, alfalfa meal*, minerals, chicory pulp*, seaweed* (0.5%), chicory extract* (0.1%), yucca extract* (0.02%). *Natural ingredient.

Against the range

Meat: 20% dried fish, no species named; Every other recipe names its animal.
Ash, dry matter: 8.3%; Second highest; only the Turkey runs higher.
Protein, dry matter: 24.3%; Lowest of the five; the Turkey leads at 26.4%.
Fish on the label: Fish protein, fish stock, fish oil; Fish oil only on the other four.

Best for a dog that does better off land meats, and a weak tool for testing one fish.

Every recipe opens on one dried named meat, from 19% on the Lamb to 24% on the Duck and Turkey. The grain base is the same throughout: naked oats, barley, and brown and white rice at 13% each. Whole linseed runs from 3.9% to 4.5%. Poultry fat and fish oil are on all five labels, and none carries wheat or dairy.

What changes is the fibre source, the meat share and the carbohydrate, an estimated 49.5% to 53.0% of dry matter against 46.2% for a typical adult dry food. Every panel doses its zinc as a glycine chelate at 100 mg per kilo.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

360 kcal/100g

Protein

22.4%

Fat

11.5%

Fibre

2.7%

Ash

7.6%

Moisture

Dry weight

Protein

24.3%

Fat

12.5%

Fibre

2.9%

Ash

8.3%

Carbs

52%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

20%

Added water

8.2%

Carbs

61.7%

Veg

1.9%

Oils

3.8%

Other

4.4%