Four Foods, One Method

• 01 Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural Grain-Free Swap Remove
• 02 Taste of the Wild Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine Swap Remove
• 03 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove
• 04 NutriSource PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free Swap Remove

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

	01 Earthborn Holistic Primitive Natural Grain-Free Swap Remove	02 Taste of the Wild Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine Swap Remove	03 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove	04 NutriSource PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Primitive Natural Grain-Free 35.6% Best in this row	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 35.6% Best in this row	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 26.1%	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 30.0%
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 Primitive Natural Grain-Free 32% 29.0% as fed Best in this row	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 33% 30.0% as fed	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 40% 4.8% as fed	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 40% 36.0% 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 Primitive Natural Grain-Free 3 of 5	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 2 of 5	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 0 of 5	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 2 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Primitive Natural Grain-Free None	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine None	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free None
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Primitive Natural Grain-Free None Best in this row	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 1 None in the last 3 years	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None Best in this row	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 1 None in the last 3 years
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 Primitive Natural Grain-Free 29.0%	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 30.0%	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 4.8%	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 36.0%
Kcal / Cup	01 Primitive Natural Grain-Free 365	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 422	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based --	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 406
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Primitive Natural Grain-Free $2.40 25 lb bag, StatelineTack.com	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine $2.86 14 lb bag, Amazon	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free -- 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 Primitive Natural Grain-Free $1.43 Best in this row	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine $1.69	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Primitive Natural Grain-Free Turkey Meal (Natural Source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin), Chicken Meal (Natural Source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin), Tapioca, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Sweet Potato	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine Venison, lamb meal, garbanzo beans, peas, lentils	03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Vegetable broth, chickpeas, potatoes, pea protein, carrots	04 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free lamb, lamb meal, garbanzo beans, chickpea flour, dried plain beet pulp

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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.