Four Foods, One Method

• 01 Acana Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch Swap Remove
• 02 Acana Light & Fit Swap Remove
• 03 K9 Natural Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish Swap Remove
• 04 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove

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

	01 Acana Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch Swap Remove	02 Acana Light & Fit Swap Remove	03 K9 Natural Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish Swap Remove	04 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch 37.5%	02 Light & Fit 37.5%	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 44.4%	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 53.6% 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 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch 30% 26.0% as fed	02 Light & Fit 35% 31.0% as fed	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 24% 21.5% as fed Best in this row	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 7% 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 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch 5 of 5	02 Light & Fit 4 of 5	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 4 of 5	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 4 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch None	02 Light & Fit None	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish None	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen None
05 Brand Recall History Level Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch None	02 Light & Fit None	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish None	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer 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 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch 26.0%	02 Light & Fit 31.0%	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 21.5%	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%
Kcal / Cup	01 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch 388	02 Light & Fit 344	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 423	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch $3.72 25 lb bag, CountryMax	02 Light & Fit $3.20 25 lb bag, Amazon	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish $7.87 16 lb bag, Chewy	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer 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 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch $2.41	02 Light & Fit $2.34 Best in this row	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish $4.43	04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Highest Protein Appalachian Ranch Beef, pork, lamb, lamb meal, beef meal	02 Light & Fit Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, turkey meal, whole red lentils	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish Salmon, Herring, Cod, Whitefish, Dehydrated Herring	04 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

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.