Four Foods, One Method

• 01 Acana Highest Protein Wild Atlantic Swap Remove
• 02 Orijen Regional Red Grain-Free Swap Remove
• 03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
• 04 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove

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

	01 Acana Highest Protein Wild Atlantic Swap Remove	02 Orijen Regional Red Grain-Free Swap Remove	03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove	04 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic 37.5%	02 Regional Red Grain-Free 43.2%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 53.6% Best in this row	04 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 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic 30% 26.0% as fed	02 Regional Red Grain-Free 25% 22.0% as fed Best in this row	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 7% 0.0% as fed	04 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 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic 4 of 5	02 Regional Red Grain-Free 5 of 5	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 4 of 5	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 0 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic None	02 Regional Red Grain-Free None	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen None	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None
05 Brand Recall History Level Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic None	02 Regional Red Grain-Free None	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen None	04 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 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic 26.0%	02 Regional Red Grain-Free 22.0%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 4.8%
Kcal / Cup	01 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic 392	02 Regional Red Grain-Free 483	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen --	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic $7.55 4.5 lb bag, Amazon	02 Regional Red Grain-Free $5.53 47 lb bag, Chewy	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	04 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 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic $4.84	02 Regional Red Grain-Free $3.16 Best in this row	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Highest Protein Wild Atlantic Whole mackerel, whole herring, redfish, silver hake, mackerel meal	02 Regional Red Grain-Free Beef, wild boar, lamb, pork, beef liver	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen White Fish (Pollock), Turkey Neck, Turkey Gizzard, Beef Liver, Broccoli	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Vegetable broth, chickpeas, potatoes, pea protein, carrots

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.