Nourish Grain Free Adult Large Breed: Turkey With Sweet Potato & Cranberry review

Both bags come out in our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food. Half of each recipe declared as a named animal, a joint package with real figures next to it and a fully dosed mineral panel are what carry them there. The starch behind the meat is what stops them going further. Carbohydrate reads 42.4% of dry matter in the turkey recipe and 47.3% in the salmon, against the 46.2% typical for a dry food. For a big adult with joints to look after, the dog these bags are drawn for, that balance is a sensible one.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey 50% (including Freshly Prepared Turkey 28%, Dried Turkey 18%, Turkey Fat 2% & Turkey Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (24%), Peas (7%), Potato, Beet Pulp, Pea Protein, Potato Protein, Omega 3 Supplement, Vegetable Stock, Linseed, Minerals, Vitamins, Cranberry (0.2%), Glucosamine (170mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (170mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (125 mg/kg), FOS (96 mg/kg), MOS (24 mg/kg)

Both labels declare 50% of the recipe as a named animal and then break that share down into a freshly prepared part and a dried one. Freshly prepared meat sheds its water during baking, and the dried entry ends up doing more of the finished work than its smaller percentage suggests. Protein lands at 26.1% of dry matter in the salmon recipe and 31.5% in the turkey.

Sweet potato at 24% is the leading plant entry in both. Potato follows, with peas at 7% to 9%. Neither label carries a cereal, and dried beet pulp supplies the fibre.

This range exists as a separate thing because of the joint package, and that package is dosed in print: glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 170 mg/kg each, chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg. Those are figures you can hold a manufacturer to, which is more than a bullet point on the front of a bag ever gives you.

Linseed appears on both lists as a plant omega 3 source, and the turkey recipe also names turkey fat at 2%, which is the one animal fat in the range pinned to a species. Both labels then carry an entry called omega 3 supplement with no source attached. On an exclusion diet, that stops either recipe from counting as strictly fish free.

Fructooligosaccharides at 96 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 24 mg/kg feed the gut bacteria in both bags. The vitamin panel runs down to 95 IU of vitamin E, and the trace minerals give zinc and iron 50 mg each, manganese 35 mg and iodine 1 mg per kilo. The turkey label adds copper at 15 mg and selenium at 0.3 mg, while the salmon panel stops short of both. That is a difference in the labelling and not anything to worry about in the bowl.

Turkey at 50%. Freshly prepared turkey takes 28%, dried turkey 18%, turkey fat 2% and turkey stock 2%. Every named animal ingredient here is turkey, and even the fat is pinned to the species. It reads stronger on paper at 31.5% protein and 42.4% carbohydrate on a dry matter basis. The recipe also leans on pea protein and potato protein behind the meat, and that lifts the figure. Cranberry at 0.2% and 367 kcal per 100g complete it.

£4.07 a kilo for either recipe, sold as a 200g sample, a 1.5kg bag, a 6kg bag and a 13.5kg sack.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats about 232 grams a day of the salmon and 229 of the turkey. The figure behind it is around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to £0.94 and £0.93 a day. A big dog gets through considerably more, and the label asks 415 grams for a 40kg dog and 620 grams at 70kg.