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The Comparison

Four Foods, One Method

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

Four Foods, One Method. Each row is one measure; the best figure in a row is marked.
01 Purina Dog Chow Natural Plus Vitamins & Minerals Swap Remove 02 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove 03 NutriSource PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free Swap Remove 04 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream. 01 Dog Chow Natural Plus Vitamins & Minerals 28.4% 02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 56.5% Best in this row 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 30.0% 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 56.0%
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 Dog Chow Natural Plus Vitamins & Minerals 47% 41.5% as fed 02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 13% 0.0% as fed 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 40% 36.0% as fed Best in this row 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 12% 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 Dog Chow Natural Plus Vitamins & Minerals 2 of 5 02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 3 of 5 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 2 of 5 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 3 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list. 01 Dog Chow Natural Plus Vitamins & Minerals 1 Menadione 02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free None Best in this row 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe. 01 Dog Chow Natural Plus Vitamins & Minerals 6 None in the last 3 years 02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 1 None in the last 3 years 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef 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 Dog Chow Natural Plus Vitamins & Minerals 41.5% 02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0% 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 36.0% 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%
Kcal / Cup 01 Dog Chow Natural Plus Vitamins & Minerals 413 02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen -- 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 406 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen --
First Five Ingredients 01 Dog Chow Natural Plus Vitamins & Minerals Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Beef Fat Naturally Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Soybean Meal 02 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Joint Support Grain-Free Frozen White fish (Pollock), Turkey neck, Turkey heart, Broccoli, Sweet potato 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free lamb, lamb meal, garbanzo beans, chickpea flour, dried plain beet pulp 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen Antibiotic-Free Meat (72.41%): Ground Lean Beef Meat, Beef Hearts, Beef Livers. Organic Vegetables (24.43%): Cabbage, Lettuce, Squash (seasonal)

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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