Four Foods, One Method

• 01 Diamond Performance Swap Remove
• 02 Diamond Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs Swap Remove
• 03 Science Diet Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice Swap Remove
• 04 Castor & Pollux Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal Swap Remove

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

	01 Diamond Performance Swap Remove	02 Diamond Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs Swap Remove	03 Science Diet Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice Swap Remove	04 Castor & Pollux Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Performance 33.3% Best in this row	02 Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs 24.4%	03 Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice 22.2%	04 Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal 31.5%
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 Performance 34% 31.0% as fed Best in this row	02 Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs 51% 45.5% as fed	03 Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice 53% 47.5% as fed	04 Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal 41% 36.5% 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 Performance 3 of 5	02 Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs 1 of 5	03 Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice 1 of 5	04 Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal 3 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Performance None	02 Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs None	03 Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice None	04 Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal None
05 Brand Recall History Level Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Performance None	02 Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs None	03 Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice None	04 Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal None
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 Performance 31.0%	02 Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs 45.5%	03 Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice 47.5%	04 Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal 36.5%
Kcal / Cup	01 Performance 448	02 Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs 328	03 Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice 371	04 Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal 376
First Five Ingredients	01 Performance Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Whole Grain Ground Corn, Wheat Flour, Egg Product	02 Care Sensitive Skin Formula for Adult Dogs Peas, Pea Flour, Hydrolyzed Salmon, Sunflower Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Flaxseed	03 Hill’s Science Diet Adult Small Paws Chicken Meal & Rice Chicken Meal, Brewers Rice, Whole Grain Wheat, Soybean Meal, Whole Grain Sorghum	04 Pristine Wild-Caught Salmon & Oatmeal Salmon, Whitefish Meal, Organic Oatmeal, Organic Barley, Lamb Meal

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.