Three Foods, One Method

• 01 Instinct Original Small Breed Grain-Free Swap Remove
• 02 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Original Small Breed Grain-Free Swap Remove	02 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Original Small Breed Grain-Free 38.9%	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 26.1%	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 Original Small Breed Grain-Free 29% 26.0% as fed Best in this row	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 40% 4.8% 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 Original Small Breed Grain-Free 3 of 5	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 0 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 Original Small Breed Grain-Free None	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Original Small Breed Grain-Free 2 None in the last 3 years	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None Best in this row	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 Original Small Breed Grain-Free 26.0%	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 4.8%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%
Kcal / Cup	01 Original Small Breed Grain-Free 476	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based --	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen --
First Five Ingredients	01 Original Small Breed Grain-Free Chicken, Chicken Meal (source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate), Chickpeas, Tapioca, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid)	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Vegetable broth, chickpeas, potatoes, pea protein, carrots	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.