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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 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy Swap Remove 02 NutriSource Choice Chicken Meal & Barley Swap Remove 03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs 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 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy 31.1% 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 26.7% 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 57.7% 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 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy 41% 37.0% as fed Best in this row 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 47% 42.0% as fed 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 12% 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 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy 2 of 5 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 1 of 5 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 5 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 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy None 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley None 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs 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 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy 1 None in the last 3 years 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 1 None in the last 3 years 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs 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 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy 37.0% 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 42.0% 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 0.0% 04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 0.0%
Kcal / Cup 01 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy 428 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 394 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen -- 04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes 01 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy $3.30 26 lb bag, Discover NutriSource Pet Foods 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley $1.65 40 lb bag, Feeders Pet Supply 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs 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 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy $1.87 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley $0.96 Best in this row 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs 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 Grain-Free Large Breed Puppy turkey, red lentils, garbanzo beans, whitefish meal, green lentils 02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley chicken meal, whole grain sorghum, barley, pea starch, dried yeast 03 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 04 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb Cage-Free Chicken, Chicken Broth, Beef Broth, Pumpkin, Organic Carrots

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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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