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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 Solid Gold Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple Swap Remove 02 Solid Gold Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable Swap Remove 03 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple 28.9% 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable 28.9% 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 26.1% 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 53.6% Best in this row
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 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple 47% 42.0% as fed 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable 43% 39.0% as fed 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 40% 4.8% as fed Best in this row 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 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple 3 of 5 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable 2 of 5 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 0 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 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple None 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable None 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple 1 None in the last 3 years 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable 1 None in the last 3 years 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple 42.0% 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable 39.0% 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 4.8% 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%
Kcal / Cup 01 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple 355 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable 388 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes 01 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple $4.09 11 lb bag, Chewy 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable -- No price on file. 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- 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 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple $2.77 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable -- No price on file. 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- 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 Mighty Mini Toy & Small Breed Beef, Sweet Potato & Apple Beef, Ocean Fish Meal, Lentils, Pea Protein, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols) 02 Leaping Waters Sensitive Stomach Cold Water Salmon & Vegetable Salmon, Ocean Fish Meal, Chickpeas, Lentils, Peas 03 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Vegetable broth, chickpeas, potatoes, pea protein, carrots 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.

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