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The Comparison

Four Foods, One Method

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

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 Large Breed Beef & Rice Swap Remove 02 NutriSource Element Series Open Waters 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 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 Large Breed Beef & Rice 24.4% 02 Element Series Open Waters 37.8% 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 53.6% Best in this row 04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 46.7%
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 Large Breed Beef & Rice 49% 44.0% as fed 02 Element Series Open Waters 32% 29.0% as fed Best in this row 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 7% 0.0% as fed 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. 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 Large Breed Beef & Rice 2 of 5 02 Element Series Open Waters 4 of 5 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 4 of 5 04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 3 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list. 01 Large Breed Beef & Rice None 02 Element Series Open Waters None 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen None 04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb None
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe. 01 Large Breed Beef & Rice 1 None in the last 3 years 02 Element Series Open Waters 1 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 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 2 None in the last 3 years
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 Large Breed Beef & Rice 44.0% 02 Element Series Open Waters 29.0% 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0% 04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 0.0%
Kcal / Cup 01 Large Breed Beef & Rice 400 02 Element Series Open Waters 504 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- 04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes 01 Large Breed Beef & Rice $2.42 26 lb bag, Theisen's 02 Element Series Open Waters $4.41 24 lb bag, Petflow 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file. 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 Large Breed Beef & Rice $1.41 Best in this row 02 Element Series Open Waters $2.45 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file. 04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients 01 Large Breed Beef & Rice beef, brown rice, barley, oatmeal, menhaden fishmeal 02 Element Series Open Waters haddock, trout, duck, salmon, salmon meal 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 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb Cage-Free Chicken, Chicken Broth, Beef Broth, Pumpkin, Organic Carrots

Add A Food

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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