Four Foods, One Method

• 01 Beneful Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef Swap Remove
• 02 Beneful Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food Swap Remove
• 03 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Beneful Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef Swap Remove	02 Beneful Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food Swap Remove	03 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef 30.2%	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food 29.5%	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 26.1%	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 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef 44% 38.0% as fed	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food 44% 38.5% as fed	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 40% 4.8% as fed Best in this row	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 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef 2 of 5	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food 1 of 5	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 0 of 5	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 3 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef 1 Menadione	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food 1 Menadione	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None Best in this row	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef 6 None in the last 3 years	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food 6 None in the last 3 years	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None Best in this row	04 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 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef 38.0%	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food 38.5%	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 4.8%	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%
Kcal / Cup	01 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef 346	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food 376	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based --	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef -- No price on file.	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food $1.01 15.5 lb bag, Chewy	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- 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 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef -- No price on file.	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food $0.61	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- 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 Purina Beneful Playful Life Farm-Raised Beef Beef, whole grain wheat, chicken by-product meal, barley, whole grain corn	02 Purina Beneful IncrediBites Small Farm-Raised Beef Dog Dry Food Beef, whole grain corn, barley, soybean meal, whole grain wheat	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Vegetable broth, chickpeas, potatoes, pea protein, carrots	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.