Pro Plan Dog Food Review

WebsitePurina
Available fromPet Circle  

Nestle brand Purina Pro Plan isn’t as great as you think, which is surprising with this being one of the more “premium” offerings from the company. They trick you into believing it’s meaty, when the reality is it’s mostly grain. It’s not even good grains either, with brewers rice and problematic wheat being prominent ingredients.

Pro Plan Dog Food Review

When we account for the top five ingredients being four grains to one meat ingredient it really highlights how grain-heavy this food is. The protein and fat percentages are mediocre which further suggests a high amount of carbs in this food, and that isn’t good for your dog.

There aren’t any inclusions to boost the health of your dog. In many premium foods these days we find inclusions such as pro and pre-biotics, tumeric, omega fats, or a whole host of other nice inclusions. That’s sadly not the case with this food.

Pro Plan Dog Food Review

Some minor credit is due with the use of natural antioxidants, but it’s ominous that they don’t say what’s actually used.

I’ll leave it up to you whether you feed this to your pooch or not. I don’t feed it to mine.

Ingredients

Chicken (dehydrated chicken-natural glucosamine source, chicken); brewers rice; whole grain wheat; Oats; Barley; animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of vitamin E); animal digest; minerals, vitamins, amino acids, organic acids and natural flavours (including calcium, phosphorous, sodium, chloride, potassium, magnesium, vitamin E, vitamin B12, zinc, iron, vitamin B3, vitamin C, vitamin D, choline, manganese, vitamin B5, copper, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin A, iodine, aluminosilicate, selenium); beet pulp; fish oil and natural antioxidants.

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3.9 Total Score

PROS
  • Natural antioxidants (small pro)
CONS
  • Brewers rice
  • Wheat
  • Grain heavy

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14 Comments
  1. Any thoughts, or have you heard about anything in Australia in relation to reports of dogs getting very sick in the US on this food? I think people are reporting other brands too. But no official recall as yet…maybe they don’t know they actual cause as yet????

  2. This is a review of Purina one, can’t find it, so I’ll post it here for the lols.

    You can tell Purina is made from quality ingredients just by looking at it, it’s not crumbly or overly powdered like some of the cheaper brands and smells a lot more appealing too. My cat loved this food so Ill probably buy it again when it’s on special as it is quite a bit more expensive than my usual brand, but worth the extra price.

    Ran out of things to look at, while at a friends house Alan gave me the idea to look up reviews, I can learn some stuff and just generally lol at every good review Purina gets, facepalms included.

    Wish I could look at the ingredients, they don’t appear to want to show them.

    Wtf spelling haha. FARBALL FLOVOUR

  3. Purina Pro Plan have up graded all their Pro Plan formula’s & they’re called Opti????? this formula above is called Adult OptiLife now & has NO yellow corn, NO corn gluten meal, beef and/or lamb tallow, these ingredients have been replaced with Dehydrated Chicken, Barley and Oats, whole grain wheat, then it starts going back down hill, animal fat, bran, soybean protein, the OptiDigest Digestion & OptiRestore Sensitive Skin has a bit only a bit better ingredients….

    • At least their making an effort to be better, of course it’s because sales have dropped but still!
      Dogs will be healthier on these new ones either way.

      • Yes when you go to Pet Barn the Purina Pro Plan bags don’t get touched cause I go weekly I noticed the same 2 bags Pro Plan Sensitive Digestion still sitting there but the Puppy Sensitive skin/stomach is always gone but that could just the shop assistant telling the person this is good for dogs with diarrhea or if their puppy is scratching, cause there’s so many better kibbles Purina would be noticing business dropping….. in America Purina have worse ingredients our Pro Plan was up graded probably like you said no one wants to pay $35 x 2 kilos of crap.

  4. Thank you very much for your help and concern. I certainly won’t give him any more Purina. Home cooked food seems like the best option for the time being, at least until he’s fully recovered.

  5. Hi Petra, I have a 6 year old cavoodle with a sensitive stomach. Due to advice given he has been fed Purina Pro Plan Salmon and Rice since very young. Over the past year he has suffered bouts of bleeding accompanied by a temperature. Diagnosed as hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. I am at a total loss to work out where he picks it up. Do you think it could be caused by the dried dog food? It was represented to me as “top of the range” and suitable for sensitive stomachs and allergies.

    • Hi Margaret sounds like your dog has food sensitivities & an ingredient is irritating his intestinal tract…When I rescued my boy he was having the same problems at first I thought he had Parvo….Patch has been diagnosed thru biopsies to have IBD & skin allergies.. Freshly cooked balanced diet is the best for these dogs….or a gluten free hydrolysed kibble like “Meals for Mutts” or “Ziwi Peak” wet tin or Air Dried if you don’t want to cook & freeze meals, I feed kibble for breakfast & a cooked meal that has been thawed over night in the fridge for dinner….This way Patch isn’t eating kibble all the time & his stomach/bowel has a break from kibble & he gets some freshly cooked meals…

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) March 8, 2016 at 10:35 am

      Hi Margaret, this can certainly be caused by diet. Pro Plan may be top of the range as far as Purina products go, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good product. Given the severity of this condition I’d stop feeding Pro Plan immediately. Switch to one of the foods on the best rated list, perhaps something like Ziwipeak or K9 Natural for the short term instead of a kibble, or investigate home made diets. If the condition continues make sure you keep your vet involved.

  6. Hi, I have just been reading up on your reviews. We have a one year old cavoodle whose breeder is DETERMINED that raw is best. Unfortunately, feeding just raw chicken necks doesn’t agree with our dog’s stomach, very loose, watery stools so on vets advice has been put on Purina Pro Plan Salmon and Tuna. It has sorted out his stomach problems but needs encouragement to eat it. Having read your reviews we are going to try Ivory Coat Lamb and Kangaroo. What are your thoughts on the Purina Pro Plan salmon and tuna? Thanks

    • Although I know it’s super late and it probably won’t get seen by Petra since it’s not a disqus comment but hell that breeder sucked, who wouldn’t explain what raw fed actually is to someone whose new to it?

      I’ve read a lot of comments and stories of people changing to raw necks or raw wings and thighs only and than having severe problems from it.

      Raw isn’t just one type of meat, it’s several with pulverised veges and fruits, yoghurt/kefir, olive or fish oils, vitamin powders for dogs if necessary, bones and you get the idea, you can’t not tell people this it’s a very dangerous thing to do.

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) January 12, 2016 at 9:23 am

      Hi Petra, my thoughts on Purina are very very negative and I’d suggest your vet does a little more investigation into what they’re recommending. Sorry, that probably sounds very radical, but I’m not a big fan of the Purina company and their products.

      I’d say try the Ivory Coat as a base diet and supplement it with the chicken necks.

  7. why are you so concerned that wheat causes allergies in animals? I thought that gluten sensitivity was only recognised in irish terriers and english setters? almost all other dogs don’t suffer with gluten issues or have you some different reference ?

    Andrew

    • Reply
      Pet Food Reviews (Australia) December 8, 2015 at 12:44 pm

      Hi Andrew, wheat is one of the prime causes of allergies in dogs. Not always from the grain itself, but also from mites found in such an inclusion. I’ve known many dogs to have skin irritations that have cleared up when wheat has been removed from the diet, particularly with staffies who are most prone.

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