Is Purina ProPlan any good?

[semo]

I got a bag from my vets office this morning free and noticed that the first ingredient is chicken, and remember this to be a good thing w/ my research. I was told that it is a decent food. Can anyone chime in and give me some feedback? I basically want to know if this will be a good quality food for a dog.

[Patch O' Pits]

Unfortuntely most vets know very little about canine nutrition and have hardly any training in it.

No That is not a great food IMO.

There are some great food posts up. I'm going vto pull up the ingredients of that food for you and go through it

[Patch O' Pits]

I highlighted what I don't like about the food. hERE YA GO. i HOPE THIS HELPS

First off the second two ingredients are grain and then their is a ton of corn not that much farther down. That is Too much fillers IMO. One grain and NO corn would be much better

Ingredients:
Chicken, brewers rice, whole grain wheat, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), corn bran, fish meal (natural source of glucosamine), animal digest, dried egg product, calcium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, Vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.
Q-4455

[SisMorphine]

Chicken, brewers rice, whole grain wheat, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), corn bran, fish meal (natural source of glucosamine), animal digest, dried egg product, calcium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, Vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.
Q-4455

Note the three different corn products. If they simply said "corn" instead of breaking it down into different parts, it would be #1 on the ingredient list. This is a sneaky way that pet food companies use to get around having to list it #1, and thus making their food look better.

I also stay away from wheat because it tends to be higher up on the allergy list

Brewer's Rice is the small milled fragments of rice kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled rice. It is a lower quality rice product that is missing many of the nutrients found in Ground Rice and Ground Brown Rice.

Poultry By-Product Meal is made up of ground, rendered, and clean parts of slaughtered poultry, such as undeveloped eggs, necks, feet, and intestines -- exclusive of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices. The ingredient is inconsistent because of the multiple organs used and their constantly changing proportions. The origin is from any fowl (turkeys, ducks, geese, buzzards, etc.) instead of a single source, like chicken. Poultry By-Product Meal is much less expensive and less digestible than Chicken Meal.

Animal Digest is a powder or liquid made by taking clean, under-composed animal tissue and breaking it down using chemical and or emblematic hydrolysis. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind or flavor, it must correspond thereto (i.e., chicken digest). Animal Digest is a cooked-down broth made from unspecified parts of unspecified animals. Any kind of animal can be included: goats, pigs, horses, rats, etc. The animals can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination.


That's just my quick look at it. The above list are things to stay away from when looking at dog foods.

[ABK]

Yeah, it's a good food if you like up cleaning up a lot of crap! lol.

But seriously. ProPlan is just like any other grocery store food - average at best. It's a lot better than Ol' Roy, Alpo or Kibbles & Bits, but on the flip side of the coin there are other food much better too.

And I most certainly would not take the vet's advice about food. As mentioned previously, most vets know little about food. A prime example is Science Diet. Most vets plug that like it's going out of style & that is some of the junkiest food around!

But back to ProPlan - they like to trick ppl into thinking it's a good food by listing chicken as the first ingredient. But what most ppl do not know is that dog food ingredients are listed by WEIGHT, not by percentage. Since a lb of chicken weighs more than a lb of corn, they can legally get away w/ listing chicken as the first ingredient when the feed is actually has much more grain in it than meat & in fact is not a meat based feed at all.

And most dogs cannot digest grains properly, so it in many cases of grain based feed - esp. corn based feed - just goes in one end & out the other. Hence my poop comment.

If you want to make sure your dog is getting a meat based diet look for chicken meal or beef meal, etc. as the first ingredient. This is just meat that has been dried & powdered. Since the meat is in it's dry state it will weigh less & you will actually get more meat in the feed due to the meat to grain ratio being more equal.

OK did that make any sense?? http://thorstenkaye.com/hmmm.gif

There is a website out there that rates dog foods by giving them "stars" i.e. Wynsong 5 stars, Field Master 1 star, etc. It is very helpful in comparing & choosing a food. I can't find it right now, but maybe someone will be kind enough to post it.

In the meantime this website might help: http://www.doberdogs.com/foodcht1.html

Good luck! :)

[bahamutt99]

I didn't like what I saw when I was feeding it. My dog's condition deteriorated and his coat looked horrible.

[semo]

tyvm..i am gonna look into dick van pattnes or something instead. ttyl

[MinorThreat]

www.canidae.com

probably the best kibble

[SisMorphine]

I feed Merrick and Nature's Variety. Yeah, I'd say Merrick, Nature's Variety, Timberwolf, Innova Evo, or Solid Gold.

[MinorThreat]

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

I dont agree with the highest rated kibbles, the all have way to high protein but have a look

[truegames]

What do you guys think of these ingredients.
<DD> </DD>Lamb meal, whole grain brown rice, white rice, cracked pearled barley, fish meal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), egg product, beet pulp, flaxseed, natural flavor, brewers dried yeast, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

[Suki]

this article will help to explain what's in your dog's food



http://www.game-dog.com/forums/article.php?a=232


this one will show you how to read and hopefully understand a label:
http://www.game-dog.com/forums/article.php?a=238


I personally wouldn't solely listen to just the advice of a vet in regards to my animals' nutritional needs. It's simply just one POV. Research dog food on your own, look thru some ratings/comparisons and you judge for yourself. I personally feed Dick Van Pattens' (Natural Blance) and couldn't be happier. But ask around and read any info you can get your hands on. Always best, imo, to learn the 'whys' yourself, as you remember it better, I think.
from the FDA:
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/animalfeed.htm

[bahamutt99]

Nature's Variety is a damn good feed if you can afford it.

[Michele]

Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers soul....great stuff

[Jake01]

I'm feeding daimond right now but after looking at Canidae's website I'll be switching to that as soon as this bags gone.

[jiu-pitsu]

tyvm..i am gonna look into dick van pattnes or something instead. ttylI have my dog on dickvan pattens natural balance ultra premium and he loves it. Its the top rated dog food in an article i found somewher on this site. also try the natural balance w/ duck.

[kane85]

what do you guys think of kirkland the brand from costco? can i get some feed back from any one i herd it was good my dog likes it i want some good opinions.

[Saiyagin]

what do you guys think of kirkland the brand from costco? can i get some feed back from any one i herd it was good my dog likes it i want some good opinions.
The Kirkland brand of Costco dog food is made by a related company of Diamond. The Chicken one has a good high rating. This is what Ive been feeding my dogs and the ones that are alergic to chicken eat the Kirkland lamb and rice one. Its also very affordable you get the most out of your buck. Plus the stools are pretty small and hard easy to pick up.

[kane85]

The Kirkland brand of Costco dog food is made by a related company of Diamond. The Chicken one has a good high rating. This is what Ive been feeding my dogs and the ones that are alergic to chicken eat the Kirkland lamb and rice one. Its also very affordable you get the most out of your buck. Plus the stools are pretty small and hard easy to pick up.thanks for the info yeah you do get the best for your buck we have to feed two pitts and an english mastiff.