Four Foods, One Method

• 01 NutriSource Grain-Free Senior Swap Remove
• 02 NutriSource Element Series Open Waters 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 TruDog Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free Swap Remove

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

	01 NutriSource Grain-Free Senior Swap Remove	02 NutriSource Element Series Open Waters 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 TruDog Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Grain-Free Senior 31.1%	02 Element Series Open Waters 37.8%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 57.7% Best in this row	04 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 43.5%
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 Grain-Free Senior 41% 37.0% as fed	02 Element Series Open Waters 32% 29.0% as fed	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 12% 0.0% as fed	04 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 9% 8.0% 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 Grain-Free Senior 2 of 5	02 Element Series Open Waters 4 of 5	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 5 of 5	04 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 5 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Grain-Free Senior None	02 Element Series Open Waters None	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen None	04 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free None
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Grain-Free Senior 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 BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row	04 Raw Beef 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 Grain-Free Senior 37.0%	02 Element Series Open Waters 29.0%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%	04 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 8.0%
Kcal / Cup	01 Grain-Free Senior 396	02 Element Series Open Waters 504	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen --	04 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 233
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Grain-Free Senior $3.00 26 lb bag, Petflow	02 Element Series Open Waters $4.41 24 lb bag, Petflow	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	04 Raw Beef 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 Grain-Free Senior $1.83 Best in this row	02 Element Series Open Waters $2.45	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products BioLogics Raw Chicken for Healthy Dogs Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	04 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Grain-Free Senior turkey, turkey meal, green lentils, red lentils, peas	02 Element Series Open Waters haddock, trout, duck, salmon, salmon meal	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 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free Beef, Beef Heart, Beef Liver, Beef Lung, Beef Kidney

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.