Three Foods, One Method

• 01 Instinct Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken Swap Remove
• 02 Instinct Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken Swap Remove
• 03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove

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

	01 Instinct Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken Swap Remove	02 Instinct Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken Swap Remove	03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove	+ Add A Food
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken 40.0%	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken 38.6%	03 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 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken 30% 2.0% as fed	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken 18% 0.0% as fed	03 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 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken 2 of 5	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken 3 of 5	03 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 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken None	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken None	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen None
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken 2 None in the last 3 years	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken 2 None in the last 3 years	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row
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 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken 2.0%	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken 0.0%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%
Kcal / Cup	01 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken --	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken --	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken $9.99 11.2 oz bag, Chewy	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken $9.38 5.4 oz bag, PetSmart	03 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 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken $24.74	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken $20.02 Best in this row	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Freshly Crafted Meals Cage-Free Chicken Chicken, Chicken Broth, Peas, Carrots, Kale	02 Original Food for Small Breed Dogs Real Chicken Chicken, Chicken Broth, Chicken Liver, Cod, Peas	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen White fish (Pollock), Turkey neck, Turkey heart, Broccoli, Sweet potato

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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.