Question about Pro Plan

[Axel]

I currently have my two boys on Pro Plan Lamb and rice. After reading a lot of posts on here it seems that Pro Plan isn't that popular with most members. Just wondering why. What makes it a bad food? Here is the ingredients:

Lamb, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, chicken meal, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), oat meal, pearled barley, fish meal, dried beet pulp, natural flavors, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, salt, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), zinc sulfate, ascorbic acid (source of Vitamin C), ferrous sulfate, riboflavin supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite. H-4470

 

[littleone]

Hi Axel,

If you do a search on BW on Purina Pro Plan you'll find quite a few posts about it. Some of the sources of protein in this food aren't the best, same for some of the carbs used. A number of the ingredients cause problems for allergic dogs or can be difficult for some dogs to digest (specifically corn, wheat, tallow/fat, beet pulp). We have 2 dogs (Mastiff & Boxer), we feed them a human grade kibble along with adds of things like egg, yogurt, canned salmon/mackeral, fresh fruit & veggies, oatmeal. We've been using Solid Gold kibble now for some time and find it works the best for our two.

Hope this helps,
Penny

 

[courtney323]

The first negative thing I see is Corn gluten as the 3rd ingredient and Wheat as the 4th ingredient. Those are cheap fillers that have NO nutritional value for your dog. In fact, corn is something they have trouble digesting and you should stay away from it altogether. Also, I'm not sure about the "brewers rice". Stay away from white rice, but brown rice is fine (that's my understanding anyway).

Good luck switching to a higher quality food, and I'm sure you will notice great results in doing so. I think it's great that you are doing the research!

 

[EMWAZ]

As I've said before we use the Pro Plan sensitive skin and stomach and we are very happy with it. Sure its not the most expensive but its not the cheapest food either.

 

[Axel]

Thanks for the input, I didn't know about the rice or the wheat. I have been struggling with the food thing for a while. Another question that I have with Ingredients is what is the difference between Chicken, and Chicken meal?

 

[Amanda22]

chicken v. chicken meal

I was actually under the impression that meal is slightly better, chicken minus the water...

If I'm wrong, please correct.

Amanda

 

[littleone]

The way I understand it is that meal means the protein source has been processed (generally by some type of cooking) before it is added to the other ingredients of the kibble. I wouldn't worry since the protein source is clearly stated. Chicken (beef, lamb, etc.) means uncooked clean meat. Brewers rice, corn gluten meal, beef tallow (this is rendered fat), dried beet pulp: all of these are by products that are not fit for human consumption. Egg product can mean broken eggs (which could be contaminated with fecal matter or bacteria), fertilized eggs, egg shells. Natural flavors always makes me wonder, why was this added and what "natural" flavors were used; I tend to think the dog wouldn't eat the food otherwise. Adding salt or fat is done for the same reason, to make it more palatable. Salt really isn't needed since enough occurs naturally in all foods for the dog's needs. Too much salt in the diet can stress the kidneys and digestive system as well as raising blood pressure.
I tend to agree with Courtney & Soupie on the points they make regarding fillers, they're cheap and there isn't any nutrition in them. The Solid Gold formula ingredients (Wolf Cub) that we're now using for our two has:


Bison | Salmon Meal | Brown Rice | Millet | Cracked Pearled Barley | Rice Bran | Canola Oil | Flaxseed Oil | Garlic | Amaranth | Blueberries | Yucca Schidigera Extract | Taurine | Carotene | Choline Chloride | Vitamin E Supplement | Iron Proteinate | Zinc Proteinate | Copper Proteinate | Manganese Proteinate | Potassium Iodide | Thiamine Mononitrate | Ascorbic Acid | Vitamin A Supplement | Biotin | Calcium Panthothenate | Selenomethionine | Pyridoxine Hydrochloride | Vitamin B12 Supplement | Riboflavin | Vitamin D Supplement | Folic Acid |

Human grade kibbles are more expensive, but, since they are nutrient dense, you end up needing to feed less and your costs usually end up lower. We've found this to be the case and we also now have fewer vet visits. Our Mastiff has a # of food allergies. We easily spent $1000+ plus before he was 8 months old trying to find out what was causing the diarrhea, rashes, shedding, ear infections, vomiting, secondary skin infections due to his scratching; since we've made the switch to human grade, the only vet visits are annual check-ups.

Penny

 

[littleone]

Solid Gold has a some info regarding ingredients, see this link for more on brewers rice, beet pulp, etc:

http://www.solidgoldnorthwest.com/products/pro_dry/pro_dry.html

Hope this helps,
Penny

 

[DeucesMomma]

We had Deuce on Pro Plan for quite a while and he did really well on it -- we decided to switch to Nutro Natural Choice after reading some negative things about Pro Plan on BW and I do think he had more energy after switching but I really don't think Pro Plan is a bad food altogether. Also, he was recovering from Demodex when we switched and his coat improved really quickly after switching but it's hard to say if that was related or just a coincidence.

 

[harleyboxer]

My opinion on kibble is that dogs have been bred and raised on it for so long that their body's have adjusted to it, just like horses have adjusted to eating grain. You don't see bags of grain laying out in the wild, but most horses nowadays wouldn't survive very long without it. I'm not sure that raw is a good thing for a lot of dogs, most dogs these days have to many stomach and allergie issues. I also don't really believe that your dog needs to have a "super premium kibble" to live a long healthy life. As a kid I had a yorkie who ate kitten chow her whole life and lived to be 17 yrs. old. She had to be put to sleep because of arthritis and a collapsing trachea that she had since she was a puppy. My boss also raises a breed of pointers and his dogs regularly live to be from 16 to 18 years old and all are on eukanuba or science diet products. He has a female who is 18 yrs. old and still gets around great. These are large breed dogs too. I don't think that you should feed your dog kitten chow, but most of the dog foods like eukanuba, science diet, and Nutro that get such a bad rap are really not bad foods. My dog never looked better than when he was on Science diet, unfortunately he has so many stomach issues and allergies that I had to switch him. I've tried most of the "super premium kibble" and have not had good results with them. My boston terrier who had no stomach or allergie issues tried most of them. I never saw any difference. Sorry, I get irritated by people who say bad things about vets using Euk. and Science Diet. They use them because they can see them work.