Four Foods, One Method

• 01 Merrick Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato Swap Remove
• 02 Blue Life Protection Formula Beef 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 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free Swap Remove

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

	01 Merrick Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato Swap Remove	02 Blue Life Protection Formula Beef 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 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 27.0%	02 Life Protection Formula Beef 26.7%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 53.6%	04 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free 54.3% 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 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 46% 40.5% as fed	02 Life Protection Formula Beef 46% 41.0% as fed	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 7% 0.0% as fed	04 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free 16% 15.0% as fed Best in this row
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 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 2 of 5	02 Life Protection Formula Beef 2 of 5	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 4 of 5	04 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free 4 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 1 Menadione	02 Life Protection Formula Beef None Best in this row	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row	04 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free None Best in this row
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 1 None in the last 3 years	02 Life Protection Formula Beef 2 None in the last 3 years	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row	04 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free 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 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 40.5%	02 Life Protection Formula Beef 41.0%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%	04 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free 15.0%
Kcal / Cup	01 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 376	02 Life Protection Formula Beef 391	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen --	04 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free 231
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato $3.45 22 lb bag, Amazon	02 Life Protection Formula Beef $2.24 40 lb bag, Amazon	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	04 Raw Turkey Meal Bites 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 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato $2.15	02 Life Protection Formula Beef $1.36 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 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato Deboned Salmon, Salmon Meal, Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Peas	02 Life Protection Formula Beef Deboned beef, chicken meal, brown rice, oatmeal, barley	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 Raw Turkey Meal Bites Grain-Free Turkey, Turkey Heart, Turkey Liver, Herring Oil (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Mixed Tocopherols (preservative)

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.