40 rows · high to low
Most calorie-dense
Ordered by metabolisable energy per kilogram, 3,688–5,400 kcal/kg across the rows shown.
Highest-protein dog foods, on a dry-matter basis
Captured
Ranking by the label's as-fed percentage would put every kibble above every fresh food, which is an artefact of water, not protein. This ranks by dry-matter protein instead. Foods whose manufacturer publishes no protein figure are excluded rather than assumed to be zero.
The order is one number the manufacturer published, sorted high to low. It is not a score, not a shortlist and not a recommendation: no row here is endorsed over any other, and a food's position tells you what its label says, not whether it suits your dog.
Highest protein 40 Most calorie-dense 40 Least calorie-dense 40 Highest fat 40 Lowest carbohydrate 40 All foods 122
Rows ranked
40
of 113 foods that publish it, from 16 brands
Protein, dry matter
31.8–50%
median 34.5% across the rows shown
Highest published
50%
Beneful With Beef, Carrots, Peas & Barley
No protein published
9
foods left out of the sort, never ranked as zero
What the order does not mean
High protein is not automatically better. It is a number on a label, ranked; what an individual dog needs is a veterinary question.
How to read a protein ranking
The sorted column is crude protein on a dry-matter basis — the guaranteed analysis figure with the water taken back out, DM% = as-fed ÷ (100 − moisture) × 100. Moisture across this database runs from 5% to 82%, so ranking the printed as-fed percentages would mostly rank water and would put every kibble above every fresh recipe for reasons that have nothing to do with protein.
It is still a label number, with a label's limits. A guaranteed analysis states a minimum, so what is in the bag is at or above the figure printed, by a margin nobody discloses. Nothing in a guaranteed analysis describes protein quality, digestibility or amino acid profile, and none of that can be recovered from the percentage.
9 of the 122 formulas in the database publish no protein figure at all, so they are absent from the table rather than parked at the bottom of it: a value nobody published is not a zero, and we name every manufacturer that withholds one. 28 of the 40 rows share their value with at least one other row, and ties are broken alphabetically, which means the order inside a tie carries no information. The table stops at 40 rows; the other 73 eligible formulas are in the full index.
What the order does not mean: that the food at the top is better than the food at the bottom, or that more protein is better for a dog. Sorting the same 40 rows by protein per 1,000 kcal — the basis AAFCO's own profiles use — reshuffles them, because a calorie-dense food delivers its percentage in a smaller portion; that column is in the table so you can see it happen. How much protein a particular dog should eat depends on age, condition and kidney and liver function, and that is a veterinary question rather than a sorting question.
The other rankings
40 rows · low to high
Least calorie-dense
Ordered by metabolisable energy per kilogram, 922–3,550 kcal/kg across the rows shown.
40 rows · high to low
Highest fat
Ordered by dry-matter fat, 16.7–31.8% across the rows shown.
40 rows · low to high
Lowest carbohydrate
Ordered by estimated dry-matter carbohydrate, 13.6–37.2% across the rows shown.
Method
How every number is produced
Sourcing, dry-matter conversion, the carbohydrate estimate and its ash assumption, and what we refuse to guess.
Captured 2026-07-25 Methodology