I believe you are correct, aquariangt. Protein is not the culprit. Overall calories is the culprit and fats contribute more calories to a food than protein does. On a 1 gram basis, fats contribute 9 calories and protein contributes 4 calories. Higher protein foods tend to have more fat as well so they are naturally more calorie dense. I personally would not feed a food with only 18% protein. That is way too low in my opinion, especially for an adult dog. I have been feeding my Dane foods with 30-38% protein for the last 6 years. Granted every dog is different, but I wouldn’t rule out high protein foods unless your dog doesn’t do well with them.
