McAdams Raw Infused Medium/Large Breed: Free Range Turkey review

This lands in our Good band, alongside most of the adult dry shelf, though how it gets there is the interesting part. The analysis argues for better: protein converts to 32.4% of dry matter, fat to 21.1% and carbohydrate to 36.2%, against a 46.2% carbohydrate typical of adult dry food. Pulling the other way is how the recipe is declared. The meat headline pools meat with fat and gravy instead of standing on meat alone, and tapioca contributes starch and little else. That long list of named plants at the end serves the reader, and does little for the dog. The transparency pillar comes back Outstanding, so nothing is being hidden, while protein and processing reads Good and nutritional balance does the same.

Ingredients, as declared: Free Range Turkey with Turkey Fat and Gravy (64.5%), Freeze-Dried Turkey Bites (8%), Sweet Potato (25%), Tapioca (5%), Lentils (2%), Minerals (2%), Vegetable Fibres (1%), Algae Oil, Prebiotics (FOS (0.15%), MOS (0.15%)), Yucca Extract, Dried Marigold, Hand Cut Seaweed (0.03%), Dried Orange, New Zealand Green Lipped Mussel, Camomile, Carrots, Cranberries, Spinach, Tomatoes, Lavender, Dried Rosemary.

Raw infused here is a real thing, not just a name on a bag. Freeze dried turkey bites make up 8% and they go in after the kibble is baked, so they arrive at the bowl having never been through the oven. Freeze drying takes the water out and leaves the structure behind, which is why those pieces smell and taste far stronger than the biscuit around them. For a dog who picks at plain kibble, that is often the whole difference.

The main entry is turkey with turkey fat and gravy at 64.5%, and reading it precisely matters. It is one animal, which is exactly what an owner watching for reactions wants. That figure counts rendered fat and cooking liquor alongside the meat itself. The lean share is smaller than the headline suggests. Turkey itself is a mild, digestible meat, lower in fat than chicken in its raw state, and it is a sensible spine for a recipe like this.

Sweet potato at 25% does the binding, with tapioca at 5% and lentils at 2% behind it. Sweet potato carries fibre and micronutrients on top of its starch, and lentils add plant protein with fibre and B vitamins. Tapioca is starch and almost nothing else. Even together they leave carbohydrate at 36.2% of dry matter, low for a kibble, which is the direct result of how much of the bag is turkey.

The oil is the unusual choice. The long chain omega 3s that most kibbles take from fish oil come here from algae oil, with no fish entering the recipe at all. Green lipped mussel is still on the list as a shellfish, and hand cut seaweed at 0.03% brings iodine and a wide mineral spread. So there is marine content here, just no fish oil.

FOS and MOS, both prebiotic, are declared at 0.15% each, and the large intestine's bacteria are what they feed. Vegetable fibres at 1% keep the stool sensible on a diet this rich. Everything after that, from dried marigold and orange through camomile, carrots, cranberries, spinach, tomatoes and lavender, is at trace level. On the mineral side, calcium converts to 1.19% of dry matter, an unremarkable and entirely sensible figure for an adult.

£19.00 a kilo, sold in 1.5kg and 5kg bags.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition needs about 207 grams a day, assuming around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That works out at £3.93 a day. This is a dense food, so the scoop for a given dog is smaller than a lighter kibble would need, and the waistline is the measure that matters.