James Wellbeloved Adult Grain Free Dry: Fish & Veg review

Three of the four varieties land in our Good band, level with the middle of the adult dry shelf. The fish recipe slips a step below into our Average band. Nothing changes philosophically between them. Every bag is built on the same frame of dried meat protein, potato and pea starch. The lamb simply declares far more protein and fat on its analysis than its siblings do, and that is what carries it up. Of the other three, the small breed turkey reads strongest. It has the biggest declared meat share here and the lightest starch load.

Ingredients, as declared: dried fish protein (24.8%), dried potatoes* (24.1%), pea starch, tomato pomace* (5%), poultry fat*, fish stock, whole linseed* (3.2%), fish oil, dried peas* (2.4%), sugar beet pulp*, alfalfa meal*, minerals, seaweed* (0.5%), dried carrots* (0.5%), nettles*, parsley*, chicory extract* (0.1%), glucosamine (0.045%), yucca extract* (0.02%), chondroitin (0.005%). *Natural ingredient.

Each recipe opens with a dried meat protein, and that changes how you should read the headline. Water is most of what fresh meat weighs, and the oven takes that off, so a fresh percentage shrinks as the kibble bakes. A dried percentage is already what ends up in the bag. Dried fish protein sits at 24.8%, dried lamb protein at 25.5% and dried turkey protein at 24.5%, rising to 31.8% in the small breed version. Those figures are therefore worth more than the same numbers on a fresh meat label.

Dried potatoes and pea starch stand in for the cereals. Potato is largely starch, with some fibre and potassium alongside. Pea starch is the refined binding fraction of the pea, not the whole vegetable. Grain free here means substitution, and the carbohydrate has not been cut back. Carbohydrate is estimated at 52.8% of dry matter in the fish recipe and at 53.1% in the standard turkey, against 46.2% typical for adult dry food. The small breed turkey lands right on that typical figure.

The supporting cast is small but chosen with a purpose. Whole linseed at 3.2% in the fish recipe and 3.4% in the lamb brings omega 3 in its plant form, and fish oil supplies the marine version. Seaweed at 0.5% is there for iodine and trace minerals. Chicory extract at 0.1% is a prebiotic fibre, and the bacteria it feeds live in the large intestine. Yucca extract at 0.02% is the label's quiet nod to what happens in the garden afterwards.

On the fish, the lamb and the standard turkey labels the joint pair is printed outright, glucosamine at 0.045% and chondroitin at 0.005%. These are supporting amounts rather than therapeutic ones, and seeing them declared beats reading a vague blend name, but the small breed turkey leaves both off entirely.

The one entry that never names its bird is poultry fat, and it runs through all four recipes alongside the fish oil. Neither troubles most dogs, and both are doing a real job on energy and palatability. They matter only if you are using a food to rule a protein in or out, because a lamb bag carrying poultry fat and fish oil is not a lamb only bag.

Dried fish protein at 24.8%, backed by fish stock and fish oil, so every animal entry except the poultry fat comes from the sea. Tomato pomace at 5% and dried carrots at 0.5% carry the vegetable side. It declares 21.0% protein and 10.8% fat, with carbohydrate estimated at 52.8% of dry matter and 349 kcal in every 100g.

Per kilo, the lamb is £5.70, the fish £8.53 and both turkey recipes £10.66. The lamb comes in a 10kg bag alone, the fish and standard turkey in 1.5kg, 4.5kg and 10kg, and the small breed turkey in 1.5kg, 4.5kg and 7.5kg.

Take a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, needing roughly 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at about £1.15 a day on the lamb, £2.05 on the fish, £2.55 on the standard turkey and £2.47 on the small breed turkey. The label's own table asks 205 to 230 grams a day for a dog that size. If the two figures disagree, go by your dog's shape.