James Wellbeloved Puppy Dry: Fish & Rice review

Three of the four recipes settle in our Good band, level with the typical puppy dry food, and only the fish sits a step under them in Average. Transparency reads Outstanding on all four, while protein and processing is the reading that lags, Average on three of them and Poor on the fish. The pattern behind that is consistent. A named dried meat opens each list, then rice, oats or barley and pea protein take over quickly, so the meat share is more modest than the front of the pack implies. The turkey recipe carries an extra difficulty, since its analytical panel is not published and nothing in it can be converted or compared.

Ingredients, as declared: dried fish protein* (20.5%), white rice* (16%), barley*, brown rice* (13.4%), pea protein, poultry fat*, fish oil, fish stock, whole linseed* (3.6%), dried peas*, minerals, alfalfa meal*, seaweed* (0.5%), chicory pulp*, chicory extract* (0.25%), yucca extract* (0.02%). *Natural ingredient.

Each bag leads on a dried meat protein named for the flavour. The dried form matters here. Weighing happens after the water has gone, so the ingredient brings more protein into the kibble than fresh meat at the same percentage would.

The carbohydrate side takes up most of the room in these recipes. Rice does the bulk of it in every bag, joined by naked oats in three of them and by barley in the fish recipe. Pea protein follows close behind, a plant protein propping up the analysis.

Poultry fat supplies the added fat throughout. It goes further than a bare animal fat line without ever naming the bird. A household avoiding chicken, duck or goose in particular cannot rule them out from the label.

Whole linseed appears in every recipe at between 3.5% and 3.9%, and fish oil is on all four lists, so plant and marine omega 3 arrive together. That is a sound fat picture for a growing coat and brain. It also explains why fish shows on the allergen reading of every bag, the meat ones included.

The tail of each list follows the same order: alfalfa meal, then sugar beet pulp or dried peas for fibre, then minerals and seaweed at 0.5%. Chicory extract at 0.25% does the prebiotic work, and yucca extract at 0.02% is there to help with stool odour. It is a tidy, well-itemised finish.

Three of the four recipes declare calcium converting to 1.63% of dry matter. Growing bones need calcium in quantity, and small and medium pups will handle that comfortably. Plans for large breed growth usually aim lower, so ask your vet about portions if your pup is heading for 30kg or more. The turkey recipe prints no analytical panel at all, so it offers no calcium figure to weigh either way.

Several things set the fish recipe apart. Dried fish protein at 20.5% is the smallest meat share here. Barley joins white rice at 16% and brown rice at 13.4% on the carbohydrate side, and fish stock rather than a meat gravy carries the flavour. Protein is declared at 28.5%, converting to 31.0% of dry matter, with fat at 16.0% and energy at 385 kcal per 100g. Chicory pulp appears in this bag alongside the extract, adding a little more fibre than its siblings carry.

The chicken recipe is £7.00 a kilo; the fish, lamb and turkey recipes are £8.00 a kilo.

Bags run 2kg and 8kg across the range, with 12kg on the turkey recipe and 15kg on chicken, lamb and turkey.

Puppy feeding is a moving thing, not a fixed daily figure, since the same dog eats quite differently at three months and at nine. Follow the chart on the bag by weight and age, and trust your eye on condition.