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The Comparison

Four Foods, One Method

The same five measures, applied to each food from its own figures.

These foods are different formats, so cost is shown but not ranked: wet and kibble are priced on very different amounts of water.

Prices are the lowest per pound we found across bag sizes, from our latest checks. Stores change prices often.

Four Foods, One Method. Each row is one measure; the best figure in a row is marked.
01 NutriSource Small & Medium Breed Puppy Swap Remove 02 NutriSource Element Series Outback Trails Swap Remove 03 K9 Natural Lamb Feast Grain-Free Swap Remove 04 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream. 01 Small & Medium Breed Puppy 35.6% 02 Element Series Outback Trails 37.8% 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free 44.6% 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 57.7% Best in this row
02 Carbohydrate Load, Dry Matter Lower Is Better Estimated, 6% ash assumed. Estimated, 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 Small & Medium Breed Puppy 29% 26.0% as fed 02 Element Series Outback Trails 32% 29.0% as fed 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free 9% 8.5% as fed Best in this row 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 12% 0.0% as fed
03 Named Proteins In The First Five Count of named animal proteins. The 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 Small & Medium Breed Puppy 4 of 5 02 Element Series Outback Trails 4 of 5 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free 5 of 5 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 5 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list. 01 Small & Medium Breed Puppy None 02 Element Series Outback Trails None 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free None 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen None
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe. 01 Small & Medium Breed Puppy 1 None in the last 3 years 02 Element Series Outback Trails 1 None in the last 3 years 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free None Best in this row 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row
Starch, As Fed Estimated, 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 Small & Medium Breed Puppy 26.0% 02 Element Series Outback Trails 29.0% 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free 8.5% 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%
Kcal / Cup 01 Small & Medium Breed Puppy 514 02 Element Series Outback Trails 494 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free -- 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes 01 Small & Medium Breed Puppy $2.38 26 lb bag, Grange Co-op 02 Element Series Outback Trails $4.41 24 lb bag, Petflow 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free $37.50 8 lb bag, Chewy 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.
Cost / 1,000 Kcal What the same amount of energy costs, so a denser food is not penalized for a higher price per pound. 01 Small & Medium Breed Puppy $1.27 02 Element Series Outback Trails $2.46 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free -- No calorie figure on file. 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients 01 Small & Medium Breed Puppy chicken meal, chicken, brown rice, chicken fat (preserved with tocopherols and citric acid), menhaden fishmeal 02 Element Series Outback Trails Deboned Lamb, Kangaroo, Deboned Wild Boar, Lamb Meal, Turkey Meal 03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free Lamb, Lamb Tripe, Lamb Heart, Lamb Lung, Lamb Liver 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen Chicken, Chicken Necks (bone in), Chicken Gizzards, Chicken Liver, Chicken Hearts

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The comparison holds four foods. Use Swap on a column to put a different one in its place.

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.

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