Josera All Sizes Adult review

The typical adult dry food sits a band above this one, up in our Good band. Lifting it are the grain-free build and an animal protein side kept entirely to fish. Holding it below that are a starch-first ingredient list, with dried potato ahead of the salmon, and a protein figure that leans on potato protein as well as meat. Nutritional balance and protein and processing both read Average, transparency reads Good, and for a fish eater kept off grain this feeds without fuss.

Ingredients, as declared: Dried potato 38%, dried salmon protein 19%, poultry fat, dried tapioca, potato protein, beet fibre, carob flour, hydrolysed fish protein, minerals, ground chicory root (natural source of inulin), herbs, fruit 0.1%

Nothing on the list is bigger than dried potato at 38%, with dried salmon protein at 19% next. Dried is the useful word in that second figure. The water has long gone from it, so what the label counts is what the baked kibble keeps. Protein lands at 23.9% of dry matter. Carbohydrate at 52.1% is above the 46.2% typical for adult dry food, and that is potato leading the list.

Tapioca and carob flour make up the rest of the plant side. Neither brings a great deal beyond starch and a little fibre. Their job is holding a biscuit together when there is no grain to do it.

Potato protein is worth spotting. It lifts the figure on the analysis panel. Meat beats plant protein on amino acid quality and on digestibility, so read the 23.9% dry matter protein with that in mind.

Hydrolysed fish protein has been broken into small fragments, which makes it easy to absorb and very appetising, and it is often why a picky dog takes to this style of kibble. It also means fish appears in two places, so there is no way to feed this recipe and avoid it.

Beet fibre and ground chicory root look after the gut. Chicory is the inulin source, and inulin is what the good bacteria of the large intestine live on. The added fat is poultry fat, with no species on it. If you are keeping your dog off one particular bird, this label cannot clear it. Calcium sits comfortably for a grown dog at 0.92% of dry matter.

The herbs and the 0.1% fruit at the tail of the list are a flourish. The recipe stands up perfectly well without them.

£5.11 a kilo, sold in 3kg and 12.5kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 231 grams a day here, which works out at £1.18, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The energy figure behind that is an estimate rather than a declared one, so take the gram figure as a starting point and portion to the waistline.