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

The lamb, the salmon and the turkey land in our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food, while the beef and the chicken step up into Excellent. The gaps are small enough that the ranking is not the thing to choose on. A named meat at half the recipe or more, a declared prebiotic pair and a fully dosed mineral panel are what carry them there. Holding them back is simply the sweet potato and potato sitting behind the meat. Carbohydrate lands between 41.4% and 48.2% of dry matter against the 46.2% typical for a dry food.

Ingredients, as declared: Turkey 50% (including Freshly Prepared Turkey 28%, Dried Turkey 20% & Turkey Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (26%), Peas (9%), Potato, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Omega 3 Supplement, Minerals, Vitamins, Vegetable Stock, Cranberry (0.3%), FOS (96 mg/kg), MOS (24 mg/kg)

On every label the meat is split in two, one entry freshly prepared and one dried, and that split is the part worth reading. Most of the weight in a freshly prepared entry is water, and cooking removes it. What survives into the kibble is the dried entry, and it carries the protein. Across the five, protein finishes between 28.3% and 31.5% of dry matter, which is a respectable adult level for a food of this construction.

Sweet potato leads the plant side in every recipe, at 23% to 26% depending on the variety. Potato sits behind it, and peas run from 6% to 9%. Not one of the five labels carries a cereal, so the grain-free promise holds throughout. Beet pulp adds the fibre that keeps digestion steady.

Linseed is on every list as a plant source of omega 3, and each recipe also carries an entry simply called omega 3 supplement. That one is the range's least communicative line, since it could be marine or plant in origin and the label does not say. Most dogs will never care, but it does mean none of these recipes can be called strictly fish free for the purpose of an elimination trial.

Both prebiotics carry a figure of their own, fructooligosaccharides at 96 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 24 mg/kg, and they work alongside the beet pulp to feed the bacteria deep in the gut.

The vitamin and mineral panels are printed with figures, not left as a list of names. Vitamin E is at 95 IU. Zinc and iron are at 50 mg, manganese at 35 mg and iodine at 1 mg per kilo. They are not identical across the five, though, and copper at 15 mg and selenium at 0.3 mg appear on some panels and not others, which is a labelling inconsistency rather than a recipe fault. Every trace mineral is in sulphate form.

The named flourishes at the bottom of each list, carrot, herbs, mint, cranberry and asparagus, come in at a fraction of a percent apiece. They give each recipe its name and its smell, and the food underneath them stands on the meat.

Turkey at 50%, made up of freshly prepared turkey at 28% with dried turkey at 20% and turkey stock at 2%, and cranberry at 0.3% supplies the name. Turkey is the leaner bird, and that shows in a recipe of 12.0% fat on a dry matter basis and 357 kcal per 100g. That suits a dog whose energy needs have started to level off. Calcium works out at 1.63% of dry matter.

£4.00 a kilo across all five recipes, 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 works through roughly 230 to 235 grams a day depending on the variety. The energy basis for that is around 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). That comes to between £0.92 and £0.94 a day. Its own table asks 150 grams for a 10kg dog and 250 grams for a 20kg one. If the two disagree, go by the waistline.