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 Wellness Complete Health Large Breed Adult Swap Remove
- 02 Wellness Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice 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 Wellness Complete Health Large Breed Adult Swap Remove | 02 Wellness Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice 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 Complete Health Large Breed Adult 28.9% | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice 36.7% | 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% 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 Complete Health Large Breed Adult 47% 42.0% as fed | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice 37% 33.0% as fed Best in this row | 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 40% 36.0% as fed | 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 Complete Health Large Breed Adult 2 of 5 | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice 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 Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list. | 01 Complete Health Large Breed Adult None | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice None | 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free None | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen None |
| 05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe. | 01 Complete Health Large Breed Adult 2 None in the last 3 years | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice 2 None in the last 3 years | 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 Complete Health Large Breed Adult 42.0% | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice 33.0% | 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 Complete Health Large Breed Adult 340 | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice 424 | 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free 406 | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen -- |
| Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes | 01 Complete Health Large Breed Adult $2.10 38 lb bag, Amazon | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice $4.00 12 lb bag, Amazon | 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free -- No price on file. | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef 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 Complete Health Large Breed Adult $1.36 Best in this row | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice $2.37 | 03 PureVita Puppy Lamb & Pumpkin Entree Grain-Free -- No price on file. | 04 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file. |
| First Five Ingredients | 01 Complete Health Large Breed Adult Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal (source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate), Peas, Sorghum, Brown Rice | 02 Core Digestive Health Small Breed Chicken & Brown Rice Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal (source of Glucosamine), Turkey Meal (source of Chondroitin Sulfate), Brown Rice, Oatmeal | 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.
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.



