Josera Mini Junior review

Our Good band is where Josera Mini Junior comes to rest, level with the middle of the puppy dry food field. Behind that headline, protein and processing, nutritional balance and value all read Good, and transparency alone falls back to Poor.

The gap comes from how the label is built, not from anything the analysis gets wrong. The meat is grouped under a category name even though duck and salmon are broken out inside it, and plant proteins do a share of the work. Moisture and energy are both missing, so both have to be filled in. The nutrition on offer, with protein at 31.5% of dry matter and a carbohydrate estimate of 39.4% against the 39.0% puppy norm, is perfectly respectable.

Ingredients, as declared: Dried poultry protein (poultry 22.0%, duck 4.0%), rice, poultry fat, dried potato, potato protein, beet fibre, dried salmon protein 4%, hydrolysed poultry protein, locust bean meal, hydrolysed animal protein, minerals (sodium tripolyphosphate 0.35%), yeast, herbs, fruit 0.1%, ground chicory root (natural source of inulin), dried protein from New Zealand green-lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus). Note. vetsend files this page under the breadcrumb "Grain free", but the composition's second ingredient is rice.

The headline ingredient is dried poultry protein, and Josera does something useful by opening it up: poultry at 22.0% and duck at 4.0% are declared inside it. Dried protein comes with its water gone, so those shares reach the baked kibble much as the label prints them. Duck being named is a genuine plus. Poultry, on the other hand, is a category covering chicken, turkey, duck and goose. The bird behind most of the meat stays unidentified.

Rice comes second, with dried potato and potato protein behind it and beet fibre for gentle fibre. Potato protein comes out of potato processing, and it is doing protein work here at plant level. Plant protein never matches meat for digestibility, so it is worth knowing where part of the 29.0% headline comes from. Locust bean meal sits lower down, a traditional binder and gut steadier.

Dried salmon protein at 4% is the second declared animal source and brings marine nutrients into a recipe that is otherwise poultry led. Fish therefore shows on the allergen picture, which matters if you are working around a fish sensitivity.

Protein 29.0%, fat 18.0%, fibre 2.0% and ash 6.7% is what the label prints. Moisture is not printed, so the dry matter column works from the standard 8% that dry foods are assumed to hold, giving 31.5% protein and 19.6% fat. That fat level is high for a growth kibble and the estimated 382 kcal per 100g follows from it, which is why this is a food for busy pups more than for placid ones.

Calcium converts to 1.52% of dry matter. It is declared and it sits inside the growth range, a comfortable place for a small breed pup. The minerals block also declares sodium tripolyphosphate at 0.35%, a mineral salt used at trace level in the mix.

The tail of the list is a short one. Yeast, unspecified herbs and fruit at 0.1% close it out. Ground chicory root brings a natural source of inulin, and the last entry is dried New Zealand green lipped mussel protein. The mussel and the chicory root are the two worth caring about, the first for joints and the second as a prebiotic, and both are there in small measure rather than at a working dose.

£6.65 a kilo, sold in a 3kg bag.

Portions for a junior dog keep shifting, since daily needs rise through the early months and then ease off as the growing slows. The maker's chart and a regular hand along the ribs will serve you better than a fixed scoop.