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The Comparison

Three Foods, One Method

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

Three Foods, One Method. Each row is one measure; the best figure in a row is marked.
01 Wysong Optimize Beef Heart & Liver Grain-Free Swap Remove 02 Stella & Chewy's Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb Swap Remove 03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove + Add A Food
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream. 01 Optimize Beef Heart & Liver Grain-Free 45.8% 02 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 46.7% 03 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 Optimize Beef Heart & Liver Grain-Free 18% 17.5% as fed 02 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 13% 0.0% as fed 03 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 Optimize Beef Heart & Liver Grain-Free 2 of 5 02 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 3 of 5 03 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 Optimize Beef Heart & Liver Grain-Free None 02 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb None 03 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 Optimize Beef Heart & Liver Grain-Free None Best in this row 02 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 2 None in the last 3 years 03 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 Optimize Beef Heart & Liver Grain-Free 17.5% 02 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb 0.0% 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%
Kcal / Cup 01 Optimize Beef Heart & Liver Grain-Free -- 02 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb -- 03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Intelligent Design for Dogs Comprehensive Cancer Support Grain-Free Frozen --
First Five Ingredients 01 Optimize Beef Heart & Liver Grain-Free Beef Heart, Beef Liver, Green Lipped Mussel, Cheddar Cheese, Monterey Jack Cheese 02 Stella & Chewy’s Wild Red : Whole Prey Chicken & Lamb Cage-Free Chicken, Chicken Broth, Beef Broth, Pumpkin, Organic Carrots 03 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

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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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