McAdams

McAdams Raw Preserve: Free Range Chicken review

Name: McAdams Raw Preserve: Free Range Chicken
Brand: McAdams

87/100Outstanding

Freeze-driedAdult

Flavour

Raw food with the water taken out and nothing else altered, and both flavours sit high in our Outstanding band. If your dog thrives on raw but your freezer has other plans, this keeps in a cupboard. It is very rich food, so a dog arriving from a leaner bowl needs a slow change over a week or so.

Where to buy: coming soon

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Our view

Likely to suit

Raw feeders with no freezer space and no patience for thawing
One named bird and nothing else from an animal
Older dogs and working joints, with glucosamine and chondroitin dosed in print
Travel, since a sealed bag needs only water and a bowl
Small and large dogs alike, with two pack sizes on each recipe

Worth watching

Listed for adults, so a growing puppy is not the audience
Portions look small on the scales by design; most dogs do better with warm water added at the bowl
The boneless turkey reads higher for calcium than the bone-in chicken, a question for McAdams if minerals are being managed

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

87/100Outstanding

Protein and processingOutstanding

Nutritional balanceOutstanding

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueOutstanding

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adult dogs of every size. Introduce it gradually over about a week, and weigh the dry portion before adding water.

Food type

Freeze-dried

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Chicken

The score, in context

Free Range Chicken 87.0
Free Range Turkey 85.9

All two Outstanding. Typical dry food: Good.

Neither flavour finishes ahead of the other, so the bird decides it.

What's in it

Whole British free range chicken86%Bone included, which puts calcium at 0.84% of dry matter with no top up.
Sweet potato5%
Carrots5%
Cranberries1%A long reputation for supporting the urinary tract.
Glucosamine, chondroitin sulphate750mg/kg eachThe figure is printed, not gestured at.
Yucca, green tea, dandelion root, hawthorn leafCharacter, not pharmacy.
Seaweed0.15%

Vitamins A, D3 and E with biotin, zinc as a chelate and selenium as selenised yeast, the form absorbed more readily, preserved with mixed tocopherols.

Named ingredients

Whole British Free Range Chicken 86%, Sweet Potato 5%, Carrots 5%, Cranberries 1%, Glucosamine (750mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (750mg/kg), Yucca, Green Tea, Dandelion Root, Hawthorn Leaf, Seaweed 0.15%.

Against the range

Meat: Whole chicken, bone in, 86%; Boneless turkey at 86.5%.
Protein, dry matter: 45.3%; 35.7% in the turkey.
Fat, dry matter: 37.9%; 41.8% in the turkey.
Energy: 508 kcal per 100g; 543 in the turkey.
Biotin: Added; Not on the turkey's panel.

The higher-protein, gentler-fat choice of the pair.

Freeze drying freezes the food and turns the ice straight to vapour, so nothing is cooked and the raw recipe keeps in a cupboard. Each bag is one free range bird in the mid eighties, then sweet potato and carrots at 5% each and cranberries at 1%.

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate are printed at 750mg per kilo on both, selenium comes as selenised yeast and zinc as a chelate. A herbal tail of yucca, green tea, dandelion root and hawthorn leaf closes each list at fractions of a percent. The bone, the moisture and the fat are what differ.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

508 kcal/100g

Protein

43%

Fat

36%

Fibre

1.5%

Ash

Moisture

Dry weight

Protein

45.3%

Fat

37.9%

Fibre

1.6%

Ash

8.4%

Carbs

6.8%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

86%

Carbs

Veg

5.4%

Other

3.6%

Pricing & size