Josera Kids review

Josera Kids lands in our Good band, the same band the middle of the puppy dry food field occupies. Value and transparency both read Good, with protein and processing and nutritional balance both Average, so there is no one flaw dragging an otherwise strong label down.

The reasons sit on the label itself. The meat is described by category, cereal carries an unusually large share of the recipe, and protein at 27.2% of dry matter is adequate for growth without being generous. What this label does declare, though, it declares properly. Calcium is printed, the 367 kcal per 100g is the maker's own declaration, and the additive panel is itemised right down to the microgram.

Ingredients, as declared: Poultry protein (dried); whole grain corn; rice; beet fibre; poultry fat; poultry protein (hydrolysed); minerals; yeast; chicory root, ground (natural source of inulin); New Zealand greenlipped mussel meat (Perna canaliculus), dried.

Dried poultry protein leads the recipe, and that word dried is worth unpicking. Its water is already gone, so the label's share of it survives into the baked kibble. What it does not do is name the bird. Under poultry you might find chicken, turkey, duck or goose. That leaves an intolerance prone pup without a species to check, and it lets the recipe move between birds from batch to batch.

Whole grain corn sits second and rice third, and between them they form the backbone of the food. Carbohydrate comes out at 46.0% as fed and an estimated 50.0% of dry matter, against 39.0% for the typical puppy dry food. That is a starchy build for a growth recipe, and more than anything else it shapes how the analysis reads.

The declared analysis is complete, and many labels manage less: protein 25.0%, fat 12.0%, fibre 2.5%, ash 6.5% and moisture 8.0%. Once the water is taken out that reads 27.2% protein and 13.0% fat. Energy is declared at 367 kcal per 100g, just under the 376 typical of a puppy dry food, so portion sizes land close to what most owners will be used to.

Calcium is the figure that earns this label its keep. It converts to 1.3% of dry matter, inside the range growth is planned around, and on a food sold for medium and large breed pups that is exactly the declaration you want to find. Bone minerals are where rearing a big dog most often goes wrong, and this bag gives you the number to work with.

Beet fibre is gentle and well tolerated. Ground chicory root follows as a natural source of inulin, the prebiotic that feeds useful gut bacteria. Yeast sits alongside them. Hydrolysed poultry protein appears further down as a broken down protein that mainly does palatability work. Dried New Zealand green lipped mussel meat closes the list in small measure, with no dose printed.

Generosity on this label shows up in the additive panel. Taurine at 1000 mg/kg and L-carnitine at 250 mg/kg are both dosed well past the token level, and vitamin C comes in at 200 mg/kg. The full run of B vitamins sits alongside chelated zinc, iron and copper with a figure beside each. Preserving is done with tocopherol extracts of natural origin.

£2.73 a kilo, sold in a 15kg bag.

A puppy's daily ration keeps moving, rising through the early months and settling back as growth slows. Go by the chart on the sack, and let the pup in front of you settle the final amount.