Pro Plan Selects (Natural Turkey & Barley Formula)

[dogsbestfriend]

Got a free sample and $3 off coupon in the mail of this. Although I feed raw, I was checking out the ingrediants and it sounds pretty good (considering it's by Purina). What do you think?

Turkey, brewers rice, pearled barley, chicken meal, corn gluten meal, oat meal, animal fat, dried egg product, fish meal, pea fiber, dried beet pulp, fish oil, natural flavor, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, salt, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, calcium carbonate, dried tomatoes, blueberry pomace, dried sweet potatoes, vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, manganese proteinate, choline chloride, ferrous sulfate, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, niacin, copper proteinate, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, sodium selenite.

Crude Protein (Min) 27.0%
Crude Fat (Min) 17.0%
Crude Fiber (Max) 4.0%
Moisture (Max) 12.0%

 

[dogsarebetter]

doesnt sound too good to me

 

[Bobsk8]

Me either

 

[gia's stepmom]

purina pro plan selects turkey

Dogs all loved the sample so I picked up a bag and they love it. Maybe one of the rotation foods here. No adverse reactions. Haven't fed Purina Pro Plan since the 1980's and none of the dogs I had ever really liked it. My 3 here sure liked this.opcorn:

 

[showpug]

Turkey, brewers rice, pearled barley, chicken meal, corn gluten meal, oat meal, animal fat, dried egg product, fish meal, pea fiber, dried beet pulp, fish oil, natural flavor, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, salt, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, calcium carbonate, dried tomatoes, blueberry pomace, dried sweet potatoes, vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, manganese proteinate, choline chloride, ferrous sulfate, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, niacin, copper proteinate, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, sodium selenite.

The worst ingredients are in bold. I personally would not feed this food. There are worse foods out there, but there are also WAY better foods that cost a LOT less than Pro Plan. Check out Canidae.

Example : Found on Amazon.com
Pro Plan Selects Natural Turkey Flavor Dog food. 33 lbs. for $41.99 = $1.27 per lb.
Canidae All Life Stages 40 lbs for $29.99 = $0.75 per lb.Now why would you want to pay that much more for Pro Plan when it's a poorer quality food and has some potentially harmful ingredients

 

[~Jessie~]

It doesn't sound good to me at all:

Turkey, brewers rice, pearled barley, chicken meal, corn gluten meal, oat meal, animal fat, dried egg product, fish meal, pea fiber, dried beet pulp, fish oil, natural flavor, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, salt, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, calcium carbonate, dried tomatoes, blueberry pomace, dried sweet potatoes, vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, manganese proteinate, choline chloride, ferrous sulfate, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, niacin, copper proteinate, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, sodium selenite.

There are a lot of fillers, first off. Brewers rice is a cheap, processed rice product which lacks many of the nutrients that are found in white and brown rices. Also, there are a lot of unidentifiable animal products, such as animal fat (which can be obtained from any source, such as 4-D animals, euthanized pets, etc), fish meal (again, we don't know what this is and where it is coming from), and fish oil (same as fish meal, do not know its source). I do not like the beet pulp (artificial stool hardener), the blueberry pomice (leftovers, inexpensive by-product). Also, the menadione is synthetic vitamin K which can cause a lot of serious side effects (including death).

 

[papillon806]

Beet pulp is not "artificial." It is a natural stool hardener and is rather beneficial.

 

[Herschel]

Also, salt ranks pretty high in the ingredient list. An unnecessary ingredient added to increase palatability.

 

[ToscasMom]

This is not a food I considered in my choices, I eliminated it early in my research process. Too many fillers/grains. Animal fat is a scarey term, ranks up there with "byproducts" in my mind. What Pea Fiber? Skins? I see no whole fruits or vegetables in this food. Corn is hard to digest. Dairy/egg products can be the source of allergies, gastro problems. At least I have seen it with cats. I think Jessie is right about the fish oils. Some fish oils are rich in Omega fatty acids. Some are not.

I also see no taurine in this mix and that is not a good thing. For its price, I think there are far better foods on the premium market. But that's just my two cents.

 

[Mordy]

Dairy/egg products can be the source of allergies, gastro problems.

Depends on the individual dog. Egg is very digestible and a valuable source of protein that's generally well tolerated. The same goes for fermented dairy products (e.g. yogurt).

Everything in a food can be a potential allergen, from chicken to various grains to minor ingredients like vitamin and mineral supplements, therefore I don't think it's a relevant argument.

There is also nothing wrong with corn per se, as long as it is used appropriately in reasonable amounts, meaning as a source of carbs and not protein. It's not any more difficult to digest than any other grains.

 

[dogsbestfriend]

It doesn't sound good to me at all:

Turkey, brewers rice, pearled barley, chicken meal, corn gluten meal, oat meal, animal fat, dried egg product, fish meal, pea fiber, dried beet pulp, fish oil, natural flavor, calcium phosphate, potassium chloride, salt, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, calcium carbonate, dried tomatoes, blueberry pomace, dried sweet potatoes, vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, manganese proteinate, choline chloride, ferrous sulfate, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, niacin, copper proteinate, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, sodium selenite.

There are a lot of fillers, first off. Brewers rice is a cheap, processed rice product which lacks many of the nutrients that are found in white and brown rices. Also, there are a lot of unidentifiable animal products, such as animal fat (which can be obtained from any source, such as 4-D animals, euthanized pets, etc), fish meal (again, we don't know what this is and where it is coming from), and fish oil (same as fish meal, do not know its source). I do not like the beet pulp (artificial stool hardener), the blueberry pomice (leftovers, inexpensive by-product). Also, the menadione is synthetic vitamin K which can cause a lot of serious side effects (including ).

You have oat meal in bold. I thought oat meal was good for dogs. Don't alot of people on this forum who home cook for their dogs give oat meal???

 

[papillon806]

There is nothing wrong with oat meal...there is also nothing wrong with dried egg product and dried beet pulp as they have listed in bold.

 

[~Jessie~]

Didn't mean to say beet pulp is artificial... it is natural, yes, but I see it as an unnecessacery ingredient. Oat meal isn't awful... but it is a filler. I didn't mean to highlight the egg either, just the ingredient to the right of it.

 

[gia's stepmom]

beet pulp has been found to help with anal glands

 

[sam]

It's a very low end food with some sketchy ingredients. 'Egg' is different than 'egg product'. A specified fat ie 'chicken fat' or even 'poultry fat' is very different from 'animal fat'.
Menadione which is a suspected carcinogen banned in other countries as well as in human food.
Just because your dog ate it and liked it and didn't have a bad reaction to it, doesn't mean it's remotely close to being a decent food. My toddler loves MacDonalds but I would call that a healthy meal that he should eat regularly.

None of the grocery store foods are good quality. A few of the foods available at places like Ptsmart/ Petco are OK. If you want good quality kibble go to a good pet food store. The general concensus in the US seems to be that the cheapest / best value good quality dog food is Canidae. I'm not sure it's as well priced in Canada. If you are willing to spend a bit more then you can go up to Innova, Evo, Eagle pack Holistic, Solid Gold etc

 

[papillon806]

The AAFCO definition of "egg product"

"Egg Product: Eggs that are dehydrated, liquid, or frozen, and labeled as per USDA regulations governing eggs. They must be free of shells."

What's wrong with that?

Also, I don't think beet pulp is an unnecessary ingredient. It is a good source of fiber which regulates the GI tract (same concept as to why fiber is good for us). There are other sources of fiber other than beet pulp, but for some dogs beet pulp works best.

 

[Mordy]

Didn't mean to say beet pulp is artificial... it is natural, yes, but I see it as an unnecessacery ingredient. Oat meal isn't awful... but it is a filler. I didn't mean to highlight the egg either, just the ingredient to the right of it.

Beet pulp is a good source of fiber with very specific properties and supports the beneficial bacteria in the digestive tract. It's not any worse than other types of fiber, which have to be present in something as artificial as dry dog food (it's not like if you are feeding a dog dry kibble you are feeding in a particularly natural way to begin with) to make the grain-based formulation work. To many people who don't know a whole lot about commercial food something like rice bran may look to be "better quality", but in fact it's very irritating to many animals, unlike beet pulp.

Oatmeal is also not a "filler", it's a nutrient rich source of carbohydrates that is easily digested and well tolerated by most dogs, unlike other grains such as wheat or barley for example.

In a food like Pro Plan I'd be much more concerned witht ruly low quality ingredients, such as generic animal fat and fish meal, corn gluten meal as a main ingredient, menadione and the simple fact that chicken is present in a formulation that's touted as "turkey & barley".

As for the "egg product", it's another one of those ingredients that can be of good or bad quality, depending on just what exactly the manufacturer uses.

Here's the definition from the official 2006 AAFCO publication:
Egg Product is product obtained from egg graders, egg breakers and/or hatchery operations that is dehydrated, handled as liquid or frozen. These shall be labeled as per USDA regulations governing eggs and egg products (9CFR, Part 59).
This product shall be free of shells or other non-egg materials except in such amounts which might occur unavoidably in good processing practices, and contain a maximum ash content of 6% on a dry matter basis.

So basically this could be the same high-quality liquid or powdered egg used in the human food industry, or it could be stuff that has been rejected as unfit for human consumption after inspection.

And just a note on "eggs" (or any other ingredient that just appears by itself on a dog food ingredient list) - this does not have to be the fresh item, it can also be dehydrated, dehydrated and reconstituted etc., so just because a food lists for example "eggs" or "blueberries" or "apples" etc. that doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't been processed in some way already.

 

[ToscasMom]

It is true that anybody can be allergic to anything. But dairy products, wheat, and corn are often mentioned as culprits in dog food. In fact, they are often a source of allergies in humans as well.

 

[Mordy]

Then there's the fact that many, many dogs are intolerant to poultry in general, or chicken specifically, but since it's one of the cheapest meat ingredients available and has a large profit margin, you don't see that publicized a lot.

The same goes for barley, which is a high-gluten grain source that some dogs don't do particularly well on, yet it's present in many commercial foods out there touted as a very healthful ingredient.

As long as an individual dog isn't sensitive or allergic to a particular ingredient, there is no reason to avoid it.

 

[papillon806]

As long as an individual dog isn't sensitive or allergic to a particular ingredient, there is no reason to avoid it.

I agree completely