Lily's Kitchen Dry Adult: Wild Woodland Walk review

Four of these five reach our Good band, the same placing the average adult dry food reaches, while the lamb recipe stops a step behind in our Average band. What earns the higher four their placings is a large declared share of freshly prepared meat and a label that puts numbers against its supplements instead of naming them and moving on. Water is what keeps the range from climbing further, because a fresh meat declaration counts the water that bakes off. Protein converts to between 22.8% and 26.6% of dry matter once the sums are done, and the starch side stays busy behind it. Protein and processing reads Average right across the five, while transparency reads Outstanding on every one of them.

Ingredients, as declared: 35% Freshly Prepared: Duck (20%), Salmon (10%), Venison (5%). Potatoes, Pea Protein, Whole Lentils, Whole Peas, Egg, Flaxseed, Minerals, Lamb Gravy, Nutritional Yeast, Botanicals & Herbs* (1%), Prebiotics (Mannan Oligosaccharides 1.8g/kg, Fructooligosaccharides 1.1g/kg), Carrots, Apples, Joint Care Mix (Methylsulfonylmethane 200mg/kg, Glucosamine 170mg/kg, Chondroitin Sulphate 125mg/kg), Cranberries, Blackberries, Spinach. *Botanicals & Herbs: Alfalfa, Chickweed, Cleavers, Goldenrod, Nettles, Seaweed, Dandelion Root, Celery Seeds, Milk Thistle, Burdock Root, Marigold Flowers, Rosehips.

Every recipe opens with freshly prepared meat, and the percentage is printed, not implied. That is 43% beef in the ancient grains recipe, 42% chicken and duck in the casserole and 40% salmon in the fish one. The woodland recipe shares 35% between duck, salmon and venison. The shepherd's pie declares 32% lamb. Fresh meat is largely water, and most of that goes during baking, which leaves the finished kibble holding less animal material than the headline figures suggest. The declared analysis bears that out, with protein landing at between 22.8% and 26.6% of dry matter across the five.

Liver earns a mention of its own. The beef, chicken and lamb recipes each name it separately, at 7%, 3% and 5% in turn. For sheer nutrient density, liver is hard to beat. Liver is rich in vitamin B12 and vitamin A, with copper and iron in it too, and dogs love the taste.

The starch is where the recipes really differ. Only the beef recipe uses grain, with rye at 13% and spelt at 4%, plus amaranth and quinoa at 2% each, both of them pseudocereals and not true grains. The other four build on sweet potato, potato, peas and lentils. Of that group, sweet potato is the best of them. It is not a true potato at all, and it brings considerably more fibre and vitamin A than the ordinary sort. Estimated carbohydrate runs between 46.8% and 53.8% of dry matter across the range, where the typical adult dry food sits at 46.2%.

The joint care mix is the part of the label most worth reading. Each component carries its own figure on every bag: methylsulfonylmethane from 175 to 200 mg/kg, glucosamine from 150 to 200 mg/kg and chondroitin sulphate from 125 to 200 mg/kg depending on the recipe. A dosed prebiotic pair sits beside it: mannan oligosaccharides and fructooligosaccharides, both working on the large intestine's bacteria.

The twelve botanicals, from alfalfa and chickweed through to marigold flowers and rosehips, are identical on every bag and add up to 1% between them. Treat them as the house flourish, not the substance. The fruit and vegetable tail of carrots, apples, cranberries and spinach is small too. The meat is what these recipes stand on, and that is the right place for the weight to sit.

A word of housekeeping for anyone avoiding fish. Salmon oil appears in the beef recipe, the chicken and duck casserole and the salmon one, and the woodland recipe uses salmon itself. That leaves the lamb shepherd's pie as the only variety here with no fish anywhere on its list. Pea protein and potato protein also appear across most of the range, and they prop up the protein figure with plant material. Keep that in mind when you read the panel.

Three animals in one bowl, freshly prepared between them: duck at 20%, salmon at 10% and venison at 5%. Venison is a genuinely uncommon meat, which helps when a dog has already been through the usual ones. Lamb gravy also appears on this list despite the front of the bag naming duck, salmon and venison, so read it twice if lamb is being kept out.

£10.50 a kilo across the range, sold in 1kg bags.

As a guide, feeding a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition takes between 220 and 242 grams a day depending on the recipe. That assumes about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate), and puts the day rate between £2.31 and £2.54.