Four Foods, One Method

• 01 Health Extension Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice Swap Remove
• 02 Health Extension Lite Chicken & Brown Rice Swap Remove
• 03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
• 04 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove

Four Foods, One Method. Each row is one measure; the best figure in a row is marked.

	01 Health Extension Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice Swap Remove	02 Health Extension Lite Chicken & Brown Rice Swap Remove	03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove	04 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice 28.9%	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice 26.7%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 56.0%	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 56.5% Best in this row
02 Carbohydrate Load, Dry Matter Lower Is Better Estimated, 6% ash assumed. iEstimated, not measured. It is what is left of the guaranteed analysis once protein, fat, fiber and moisture are taken out, with ash assumed at 6%. That leftover is mostly starch but also carries sugars and the fiber a crude-fiber test misses, so read it as a close estimate rather than an exact figure. Measured as fed, the same basis as the bag.	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice 43% 39.0% as fed Best in this row	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice 54% 48.5% as fed	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 12% 0.0% as fed	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 13% 0.0% as fed
03 Named Proteins In The First Five Count of named animal proteins. iThe count matches any named animal word in the opening five ingredients, so it also counts animal fats and flavourings as proteins. It is shown because it is one of the five measured lines, but it is too rough to call a winner on.	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice 3 of 5	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice 3 of 5	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 3 of 5	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 3 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice None	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice None	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen None	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen None
05 Brand Recall History Level Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice None	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice None	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen None	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen None
Starch, As Fed iEstimated, not measured. It is what is left of the guaranteed analysis once protein, fat, fiber and moisture are taken out, with ash assumed at 6%. That leftover is mostly starch but also carries sugars and the fiber a crude-fiber test misses, so read it as a close estimate rather than an exact figure. Measured as fed, the same basis as the bag.	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice 39.0%	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice 48.5%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%
Kcal / Cup	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice 411	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice 288	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen --	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice $1.33 30 lb bag, My Health Extension	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice $2.53 30 lb bag, Amazon	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.
Cost / 1,000 Kcal Lower Is Cheaper To Feed What the same amount of energy costs, so a denser food is not penalized for a higher price per pound.	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice $0.82 Best in this row	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice $1.74	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Ancestry Chicken Meal and Rice Chicken meal, whole ground brown rice, ground oats, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and ascorbyl palmitate), menhaden fish meal	02 Lite Chicken & Brown Rice Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols)	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen Antibiotic-Free Meat (72.41%): Ground Lean Beef Meat, Beef Hearts, Beef Livers. Organic Vegetables (24.43%): Cabbage, Lettuce, Squash (seasonal)	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen White fish (Pollock), Turkey neck, Turkey heart, Broccoli, Sweet potato

Every figure here is the food's own. Protein and carbohydrate are converted to dry matter so foods of different moisture can be set beside each other; starch is estimated from the guaranteed analysis with ash assumed at 6.0%, and the recall record belongs to the manufacturer rather than to the recipe. Two rows are printed but never marked: the named-protein count, because the detection behind it is too rough to call a winner on, and calories, because neither more nor fewer is better without knowing the dog.