Four Foods, One Method

• 01 NutriSource Grain-Free Lamb Meal & Peas Swap Remove
• 02 NutriSource Element Series Coastal Plains Swap Remove
• 03 TruDog Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free Swap Remove
• 04 K9 Natural Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish Swap Remove

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

	01 NutriSource Grain-Free Lamb Meal & Peas Swap Remove	02 NutriSource Element Series Coastal Plains Swap Remove	03 TruDog Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free Swap Remove	04 K9 Natural Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Grain-Free Lamb Meal & Peas 31.1%	02 Element Series Coastal Plains 37.8%	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 43.5%	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 44.4% Best in this row
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 Lamb Meal & Peas 37% 33.0% as fed	02 Element Series Coastal Plains 33% 30.0% as fed	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 9% 8.0% as fed Best in this row	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 24% 21.5% as fed
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 Lamb Meal & Peas 3 of 5	02 Element Series Coastal Plains 5 of 5	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 5 of 5	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 4 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Grain-Free Lamb Meal & Peas None	02 Element Series Coastal Plains None	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free None	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish None
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Grain-Free Lamb Meal & Peas 1 None in the last 3 years	02 Element Series Coastal Plains 1 None in the last 3 years	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free None Best in this row	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 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 Lamb Meal & Peas 33.0%	02 Element Series Coastal Plains 30.0%	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 8.0%	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 21.5%
Kcal / Cup	01 Grain-Free Lamb Meal & Peas 480	02 Element Series Coastal Plains 493	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free 233	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish 423
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Grain-Free Lamb Meal & Peas $3.00 26 lb bag, Amazon	02 Element Series Coastal Plains $4.42 24 lb bag, Amazon	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free -- No price on file.	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish $7.87 16 lb bag, Chewy
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 Lamb Meal & Peas $1.67 Best in this row	02 Element Series Coastal Plains $2.39	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free -- No price on file.	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish $4.43
First Five Ingredients	01 Grain-Free Lamb Meal & Peas lamb meal, peas, garbanzo beans, chicken fat (preserved with tocopherols and citric acid), salmon meal	02 Element Series Coastal Plains Deboned turkey, salmon, whitefish, turkey meal, salmon meal	03 Raw Beef Meal Bites Grain-Free Beef, Beef Heart, Beef Liver, Beef Lung, Beef Kidney	04 Baked & Coated Wild-Ocean Fish Salmon, Herring, Cod, Whitefish, Dehydrated Herring

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.