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.
Open Your Saved Comparison- 01 NutriSource Super Performance Swap Remove
- 02 NutriSource Element Series Coastal Plains Swap Remove
- 03 OC Raw Dog Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
- 04 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
| 01 NutriSource Super Performance Swap Remove | 02 NutriSource Element Series Coastal Plains Swap Remove | 03 OC Raw Dog Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove | 04 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream. | 01 Super Performance 35.6% | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains 37.8% | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen 56.3% Best in this row | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 53.6% |
| 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 Super Performance 29% 26.0% as fed Best in this row | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains 33% 30.0% as fed | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen 0% 0.0% as fed | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 7% 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 Super Performance 3 of 5 | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains 5 of 5 | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen 5 of 5 | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 4 of 5 |
| 04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list. | 01 Super Performance None | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains None | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen None | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen None |
| 05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe. | 01 Super Performance 1 None in the last 3 years | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains 1 None in the last 3 years | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support 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 Super Performance 26.0% | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains 30.0% | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen 0.0% | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0% |
| Kcal / Cup | 01 Super Performance 531 | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains 493 | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen -- | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- |
| Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes | 01 Super Performance $1.80 40 lb bag, Theisen's | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains $4.42 24 lb bag, Amazon | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file. | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- 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 Super Performance $0.94 Best in this row | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains $2.39 | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file. | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file. |
| First Five Ingredients | 01 Super Performance chicken meal, chicken, brown rice, chicken fat (preserved with tocopherols and citric acid), barley | 02 Element Series Coastal Plains Deboned turkey, salmon, whitefish, turkey meal, salmon meal | 03 Complete Meals Beef & Produce Grain-Free Frozen Beef, Ground Beef Bone, Beef Tripe, Beef Liver, Beef Heart | 04 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 |
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.
Think You Know What Your Dog Can Eat?
Ten everyday foods. Safe, In Moderation or Never. No googling, no second guesses. Then share your score with your friends, however embarrassing it turns out to be.
115 foods in the deck. Grapes are in there. So is cheese.
Think You
Know?
Ten foods, one at a time. Call each one Safe, In Moderation or Never, then flip the card to see if you had it right. The ones you miss are listed at the end.
Keys: 1 Safe 2 Moderation 3 Never Enter Next
Copied. Paste it anywhere your friends will see it.
Want the reason behind every answer? The 80-page e-book, $7.99
Now, is your dog's food any good?
Look it up: estimated starch, calories per cup and every ingredient, for 3,207 foods.



