Four Foods, One Method

• 01 Merrick Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato Swap Remove
• 02 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove
• 03 K9 Natural Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish Swap Remove
• 04 Stella & Chewy's Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 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 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove	03 K9 Natural Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish Swap Remove	04 Stella & Chewy's Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 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 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 26.1%	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 44.4%	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 46.7% 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 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 40% 4.8% as fed	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 24% 21.5% as fed Best in this row	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 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 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 2 of 5	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 0 of 5	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 4 of 5	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 3 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 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None Best in this row	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish None Best in this row	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 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 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None Best in this row	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish None Best in this row	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 2 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 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 40.5%	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 4.8%	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 21.5%	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 0.0%
Kcal / Cup	01 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato 376	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based --	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 423	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Real Salmon & Sweet Potato $3.45 22 lb bag, Amazon	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish $7.87 16 lb bag, Chewy	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb -- 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 Best in this row	02 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish $4.43	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb -- 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 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Vegetable broth, chickpeas, potatoes, pea protein, carrots	03 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish Salmon, Herring, Cod, Whitefish, Dehydrated Herring	04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb Cage-Free Chicken, Chicken Broth, Beef Broth, Pumpkin, Organic 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.