Purina ProPlan - have you tried it or heard about it?

[Lucy, Mila & Issy]

I was wondering if anyone has heard Purina ProPlan or even tried it. I still have Issy & Mila on Orijen but am looking for more affordable dry food to mix in with it when the budget gets a little tight. The ingredients look great but can anyone offer any ideas or feedback on it?

I tried California Natural Lamb & Rice but found that they ate a lot more or were hungry more often so the price difference really didn't add up like I would have liked.

Suggestions???

Thanks!

Lucy

Here's a link to ProPlan:

 

[Lucy, Mila & Issy]

http://www.proplan.com/products/puppy/dry/

[Merrill Kirkpatrick]

I use Purina ProPlan shredded blend for Emma and Sully. My vet thinks Purina products are the best. They love the shredded blend because it has little tender pieces of meat (kind of like Kibbles and Bits). I feed them the ProPlan with shredded chicken. They absolutely love it.

We have a dear friend was was Assoc. Dean of Agriculture at Texas A&M He worked closely with Purina and says they do more great research on pet food than any other company and have for years. He totally trusts them and feeds it to his dogs too.

[Lucy, Mila & Issy]

Thanks, Merrill!
I have been mixing in the Puppy formula 2:1 and they seem to enjoy it. I just worry about ingredients that I can't begin to pronounce but they don't seem to be in the ProPlan. It's just so hard to compare labels on some of these.

[Dixie Moore]

Here is what I copied from www.dogfoodanalysis.com on the ProPlan Puppy with chicken. Also, I noticed on some of the other foods that they use synthetic vitamin K, which has been linked to liver problems in dogs:


The first ingredient in the food is a named meat product, but since this is chicken inclusive of its water content (about 80%) and this ingredient will weigh only about 20% of its wet weight once water is removed (as it must be to make kibble) it is unlikely that this is the true first ingredient in the food. It is the sole named meat product in the food.


The next ingredient is a low quality grain and this makes up the major portion of the food. Brewers rice is a low quality grain and by-product.


The next ingredient is by-products, of unidentifiable source. It is impossible to ascertain the quality of by-products and these are usually products that are of such low quality as to be rejected for use in the human food chain, or else are those parts that have so little value that they cannot be used elsewhere in either the human or pet food industries. The AAFCO definition of poultry by-product meal is “a meal consisting of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.”


Corn is a problematic grain that is difficult for dogs to digest and thought to be the cause of a great many allergy and yeast infection problems. We prefer not to see this used in dog food. In it's gluten form, it is also a waste product for which the AAFCO definition is "the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm". Corn appears further on the ingredient list at 7th and 8th.


The use of wheat is a significant negative: wheat is believed to be the number one cause of allergy problems in dog food. This is another ingredient we prefer not to see used at all in dog food.


Beef tallow is a very low quality fat obtained from the tissue of cattle in the commercial process of rendering.

[Dixie Moore]

Some foods that have higher ratings that may be less expensive than Orijen:

Wellness - I think this is available at Petsmart now?
Avoderm
Taste of the Wild

Dixie

[Lucy, Mila & Issy]

Thanks, Dixie!!

It's so hard to make a decision. They all have such convincing lingo on the packaging now.

I'll look at the 3 you listed!!

[Elizabeth & Cosmo]

I know I'm a little late chiming in on this, but I wanted to suggest that you consider Canidae Grain-Free All Life Stages. The 30-pound bag is often priced about $12 or $15 less than Orijen, and it has 5-star rating on dogfoodanalysis.com (Orijen has 6 stars.)

I'm not sure which stores might carry it, but I believe Aggie Pet Zone in College Station carries it--so perhaps other pet stores will, too!

[Lucy, Mila & Issy]

No, not late at all

[Merrill Kirkpatrick]

After reading Dixie's article and visiting with her on E-mail...I switched my dogs to Blue Buffalo.  It is highly rated and they are really liking it.  The trainers at Pet Smart highly recommended it and said that it was a little less expensive than Wellness and had the same ingredients.  My dogs are doing very well on it.!