Josera Active Nature review

Our Good band is where this lands, and the typical adult dry food sits there too, though the two get there by different routes. This is built on substance, with dried poultry protein at 28.0% opening the list and 30.4% protein and 17.4% fat once the moisture is taken out. Estimated carbohydrate is 41.5% of dry matter, comfortably below the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. Naming holds it back, and the nutrition is not the problem. Poultry never becomes chicken or turkey, the hydrolysed poultry protein carries no species either, and herbs and fruits stand in for ingredients the label chooses not to list. The same recipe with a more specific label would read very differently.

Ingredients, as declared: poultry protein (dried) 28.0 %; rice; poultry fat; potato starch; lamb protein (dried) 9.0 %; beet fibre; pea starch; poultry protein (hydrolysed); apple fibre; minerals; yeast; herbs; fruits; chicory root, ground (natural source of inulin); carob meal; New Zealand greenlipped mussel meat (Perna canaliculus), dried.

Dried poultry protein at 28.0% is the engine of the recipe. Dried matters here: the water has gone before the mixer, so what the label counts is concentrated meat. Dried lamb protein at 9.0% joins it. The pairing is unusual and it works, because lamb sits alongside the bird with its own amino acid and mineral profile. The analysis comes out at 28.0% protein as fed, 30.4% with the moisture taken out.

Rice and potato starch carry the base, with pea starch behind them. Potato starch is the refined binding fraction of the potato, and its work here is holding the kibble together, not feeding the dog. Pea starch does much the same job. Even so, carbohydrate works out at an estimated 41.5% of dry matter, on the lower side for a dry food.

The fibre and gut entries are thoughtfully chosen. Beet fibre and apple fibre between them cover the soluble and insoluble sides. Ground chicory root brings in inulin as a natural prebiotic, and carob meal is a traditional binder that firms things up. Yeast adds B vitamins and a little palatability.

The finishing list is where the character shows. For a food this rich, L-carnitine at 250 mg is exactly the right supplement: it helps the body convert fat into energy it can use. Vitamin C is declared at 200 mg. Zinc at 160 mg and copper both arrive as glycine chelates, forms generally absorbed more readily than plain sulphates. Dried New Zealand green lipped mussel closes the list, a well regarded joint ingredient, though its place at the very end tells you the amount is small.

Three entries leave the label vaguer than it needs to be. Poultry is the family name, so the bird could be chicken, turkey or duck. Hydrolysed poultry protein is in there for palatability, and it carries the same ambiguity. Herbs and fruits are umbrella terms that could cover a great deal. None of it makes the food worse in the bowl. It does mean that a dog with a diagnosed poultry problem cannot be fed on this safely.

£3.53 a kilo, sold in a 15kg bag.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition, needing around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), works out at about £0.77 a day. The label's own table is built around activity. Its less active column asks 135 grams a day for a 20kg dog, so an active dog of that size will want more than that.