Four Foods, One Method

• 01 Taste of the Wild Ancient Wetlands Canine Swap Remove
• 02 Taste of the Wild Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine Swap Remove
• 03 K9 Natural Lamb Feast Grain-Free Swap Remove
• 04 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove

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

	01 Taste of the Wild Ancient Wetlands Canine Swap Remove	02 Taste of the Wild Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine Swap Remove	03 K9 Natural Lamb Feast Grain-Free Swap Remove	04 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Ancient Wetlands Canine 35.6%	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 35.6%	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free 44.6% Best in this row	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 26.1%
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 Ancient Wetlands Canine 34% 31.0% as fed	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 33% 30.0% as fed	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free 9% 8.5% as fed Best in this row	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 40% 4.8% 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 Ancient Wetlands Canine 3 of 5	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 2 of 5	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free 5 of 5	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 0 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Ancient Wetlands Canine None	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine None	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free None	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Ancient Wetlands Canine 1 None in the last 3 years	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 1 None in the last 3 years	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free None Best in this row	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 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 Ancient Wetlands Canine 31.0%	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 30.0%	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free 8.5%	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 4.8%
Kcal / Cup	01 Ancient Wetlands Canine 425	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine 422	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free --	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Ancient Wetlands Canine $2.11 28 lb bag, Amazon	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine $2.86 14 lb bag, Amazon	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free $37.50 8 lb bag, Chewy	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.
Cost / 1,000 Kcal What the same amount of energy costs, so a denser food is not penalized for a higher price per pound.	01 Ancient Wetlands Canine $1.24	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine $1.69	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free -- No calorie figure on file.	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Ancient Wetlands Canine Duck, duck meal, chicken meal, grain sorghum, millet	02 Appalachian Valley Small Breed Canine Venison, lamb meal, garbanzo beans, peas, lentils	03 Lamb Feast Grain-Free Lamb, Lamb Tripe, Lamb Heart, Lamb Lung, Lamb Liver	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Vegetable broth, chickpeas, potatoes, pea protein, carrots

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.