Three Foods, One Method

• 01 Royal Canin Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce Swap Remove
• 02 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
• 03 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove

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

	01 Royal Canin Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce Swap Remove	02 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove	03 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove	+ Add A Food
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce 34.4%	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 56.5% Best in this row	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 26.1%
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 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce 29% 2.2% as fed Best in this row	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 13% 0.0% as fed	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 40% 4.8% 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 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce 3 of 5	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 3 of 5	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 0 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce None	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen None	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None
05 Brand Recall History Level Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce None	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen None	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce 2.2%	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 4.8%
Kcal / Cup	01 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce --	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen --	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce $8.15 5.3 oz bag, PetSmart	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- 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 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce $17.38	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Canine Care Nutrition Beauty Adult Loaf in Sauce Water sufficient for processing, chicken, pork by-products, pork liver, corn meal	02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen White fish (Pollock), Turkey neck, Turkey heart, Broccoli, Sweet potato	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Vegetable broth, chickpeas, potatoes, pea protein, carrots

+ Add A Food

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.