Is Purina One a good food for a 4.5 month only puppy?

Is Purina One a good puppy food?

 

What kind of puppy?
My berner was on the Purina ProPlan puppy for a few months and then we had problems with it.
But, I did like being able to buy it at my local grocery store.

 

She is a Lab and blue heeler mix from what we can tell. I just want to use a good food that is good for her but not too expensive.

 

I know a lot of people and breeders like the Wal-mart and Sam's Club brands.
I use Science diet and Iams for my dogs. Science Diet I have to get at a pet store but my grocery store carries the Iams.
I think that most of the commercially prepared higher end grocery and pet store foods are nutritionally balanced for most dogs. I do "supplement" (my dogs think they are treats!) with fresh carrots.
I don't ever give them table scraps or canned food. The dry kibble is great for them and affordable and convenient for me.
My dogs have good weights and good teeth. And good poop!!!

 

Purina, Science Diet, and Iams aren't really good brands. The best brands aren't found in grocery stores. I feed my St. Bernards Timberwolf Organics and California Natural. They are both great foods. Also there is Innova, Natural Balance, Canidae, Newman's Own, Wellness. The food you feed them shouldn't have any or at least not a lot of corn or wheat products in it. If it is the first or second or in like the top 5 ingredients, don't buy that food. It is a filler and it is not good for them. You can find the top foods at specialty pet stores or some health food stores. The salespeople could help you find the best food for them.

Cost really isn't that big of a factor. You have to take into account that with the super premium pet foods, you feed less food b/c there are no fillers. The foods I feed are about $40 for a big bag (I think 30 or 40 lbs). The bag lasts my 100+++lb St. Bernard's about one month. So for a smaller dog, probably two months or more. So...$20 a month is nothing.

 

avoid all store brands....they are cheaper for a reason - junk food.
I do feed my cats Purina One cause it's the easiest to find around here. They love the Chicken Soup foods but I can only get the small $2.99 sample bags at my local pet shop and that size lasts about 2 days w/4 cats!!! Purina One (for cats) does a great job for their coats and if you have to get food in a grocery store it's probably one of the better ones.
Not sure about the dog type though.
I feed my 8 old month GSD pup Nutra Max Natural line and she's doing well on it. I only pay $2 more for a 6 lb. bag than I would for similar size bag of Purina One in the grocery store - and it's better quality food. I'm not even sure if Purina One is a 6 lb. bag or 4.5 lb. bag. I pay about $1.75/can for the wet food.
If you can get a better quality food you save money in the end as you don't have to feed as much cause the better quality ingredients fill the dog up whereas with cheaper foods made with fillers the dog is only full for a little while. If you look at the suggested feeding amounts of quality food versus cheaper foods you'll also see the quality foods suggest smaller amounts.

 

I knew I would get all sorts of flack about the commercially prepared grocery store kibble!!!

Talk to your vets --- not too many of the vets I have talked to feed their dogs those fancy brands. I haven't seen any research that can support the fact that the average pet (which is really what most of us have ---let's be honest here!) is benefited by these fancy brands. A lot of these companies are exploiting human emotions and trying to make people feel guilty if they don't feed their little poochy their special food.
Com'on ladies -- it's the same thing with our make-up. Do you want to wear the drug and discount store Maybelline mascara that costs $3.00 or do you deserve (to spend) more on the lastest D'or or Estee Lauder mascara that costs $15-$20 for a tube!!!! Overall it's the same stuff -- same results -- just different marketing techiques and packaging.

What is important is the dogs bloodline -- it genetic make-up.

Besides, kibble - plain or fancy - sure is better for dogs now than what their ancestors were eating.

 

makeup can't be compared to food. We can live w/out the makeup (or at least most of us can) but when it comes to food you are what you eat.
Imagine living life on nothing but potato chips and donuts washed down with soda....
read the ingredients....that's what it is all about.

 

a good comparison chart
ask yourself....if you had to eat any of these which would you rather put into your body.
http://www.mypethaven.com/pet_food_comp ... e=10027549

 

O.K. Mary you didn't like the simple make-up comparison -- how about milk and produce? There are no studies that show that buying the much more expensive or hormone free milk or any organic food for that matter - is healthier for you than the grocery store milk and produce!!

It is all about marketing. It is all about money and corporate profits.

Now I am not suggesting the cheapest no brand dog foods - just like I don't buy my family ground beef to make hamburgers. I do think that the big companies like (I am not trying to endorse or advertise for them - I am just using them as an example) Purina have years and years of research behind them and can offer consumers a stable good quality product at a reasonable price.

Your best bet to having a healthy dog is good nutrition (you don't have to go overboard with high priced foods or a B.A.R.F. diet), good exercise, good veterinary care, doing your research on the dogs bloodline, and lots of love.

Did you know that dogs that get a lot of petting and rubbing behind their ears live longer than dogs that don't?

 

Mary - I've seen that chart --- it is an advertisement for Life's Abundance.

Alpo has a similar chart that shows their food is the best for dogs.

I'ts all about marketing and money.

 

this one is probably better as it's not furnished by a particular pet food company. http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2001/301_pet.html
And yes I do by store brands for my family....milk, canned foods, etc. But I know what's in them. Not much one can do about a gallon of milk or can of beets.
BUT meat is different for me. I will not buy WalMart meat (for instance) cause it's package in some other state and shipped there and who knows how long it's been standing around. Fresh produce is another thing I'm careful about and in the summer I grow my own.
There are some items I do insist on being name brand and others I don't care....shampoo for instance I'm just as happy with store brand as I am with some over priced stuff from a hairdresser (happier in fact cause I saved $$). But again that is stuff I don't eat.
And no I don't buy the top-of-the-line dog/cat food...I won't buy store brands and I try to be an informed pet person when it comes to this stuff. My previous dog (she would have been 12 on friday and we had to have her PTS last OCtober) ate Pedigree. When she developed multiple stones (5 blocking her urethea and up to 30 in her bladder) it was determined that food was most probably the culprit.
Do I want to put another dog through that so I can save pennies? No....so if I can feed something that might be healthier for my pets I will do it. I wouldn't skimp on the quality of food for my family either. Shampoo yes :mrgreen:

 

Good post Mary.
I won't have much time the rest of the afternoon to continue this age old discussion but I will add a few more thoughts.

I had time today to be on the computer because it is a cool rainy day here in the midwest. I baked (from scratch) a batch of banana raisin bread (bananas were on sale last week!) a loaf of whole grain bread to go with the pot of turkey soup I made -I'll put tortellini's in when it is dinner time. The dogs helped me with the celery and carrot part!!

I'm sorry about losing your pet. What breed was she? Some breeds are prone to develop different contidions - not necessarily because of diet but because of their genetic disposition! Most of the pedigree purebred dogs out there are inbred. Especially the more popular breeds. This close breeding has developed in some ways a better looking, healthier dog but as you know in other ways, undesired genes have become dominant.

I'm with you about skimping on things like shampoo and I agree totally with you about Wal-mart meat. Ucky thought. Fortunately we don't have any Wal-marts around here that have a grocery department.

But I do think that there are a lot of companies out there that are taking advantage of consumers emotions and human by trying to offer them a "Better" dog food.

Basically, all I wanted to say was that you can offer your dog a good well balanced food without breaking the bank.

Good discussion.

 

How can you say it is all about marketing and money??????? That is absolutely absurd. The foods I feed do basically NO marketing. Alpo, Purina, Pedigree, Iams - those are the ones who do marketing. Science Diet markets to vets. They spend all that $$ marketing to consumers and vets b/c they need to b/c the food is crap.

And your analogies are way off. You are comparing two different things. The food I feed is better b/c the ingredients are better. It isn't milk vs. milk. It is salmon vs. mystery meat and by-products and corn.

A more accurate analogy is eating a balanced, whole-foods, whole-grains diet vs. eating fast food every meal. Yes you can eat it and not die (soon anyway) but it is AWFUL for you.

It is about quality. QUALITY. Genetic makeup is only part of the picture. It is the same with humans. You can have perfectly fine genetics and eat yourself to death, literally, if you eat foods that are bad for you. I can't even believe I'm arguing this.

All kibble is not the same. It all has to do with the ingredients. LOOK AT THE FREAKING INGREDIENTS. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Yeah the're both fruit but not the same thing. Ok, I just realized I said like the same thing 100 different times but I just can't get over it.

If you haven't seen any research that shows pets do better with high quaity kibble, try doing some of your own. Give your dogs high quality kibble for a month or two and you will see a difference.

And you keep going back to the cost, it is not that much more expensive. And I'd rather spend a bit more money and give my dog the best possible chance at having a healthy, long life than bitch about a few dollars and my convenience. I'm only 23 but I've had a difficult life and I know what is important and what isn't. I'd rather drive a little further to get my dog good food than have regrets that they died too soon b/c of their diet. Or pay more. It is just money. Money vs. your dog's health. If you choose money and your own personal convenience, you don't deserve to have a dog.

 

When I bought my dog he was being fed Purina One. I tried switching to Innova, all his hair fell out. Tried Evo, his hair fell out. Tried California Natural, his hair kept falling out. Tried raw, got pancreatitis and more hair falling out.

Now he eats Purina One. He has a great coat, his weight is good. He's not vomiting, no diarrhea. He's happy and active, maybe a bit too active.

When it works, don't fix it.

 

You have to find what brand works best for your dog. When I tried to put Indy on Natural Balance, a great brand, his hair started falling out. ? So I put him back on Calif Natural. It just wasn't right for him. Innova, Evo, & Calif Natural are all made by the same company so that could be part of it. You could look at the ingredients and the nutritional ratios and compare that with the Purina One to see what the difference is. Then find a higher quality food that is similar to the Purina One. I just don't think it means that you have to settle for a lower quality food.

 

I think a more apt anology is a balanced diet versus a fortified cereal...sure you can get all of your nutrients from a fortified cereal, but you would be far healthier and nutirents are more easily procesed and absorbed with the variety of a well balanced diet.

 

I agree. Most not all but most grocery store bought foods are crap. Dogs naturally don't eat corn meal, rice, and fillers... just isn't going to happy... neither do people (preferably). But package it in a fancy bag, make it shiny and taste good (like most junk food does) and hell yeah they'll buy it and eat it!!!

Now my girls are eating Pedigree Lg breed and I'm trying to switch them over to a nautral diet, just isn't happening. They flat out refuse to eat anything BUT pedigree. They're doing wonderfully on it, but with the added help of raw food, suppliments and extras.

I agree with most vets reccomending Science Diet, Iams ect... their getting paid and making profits off of it... why not promote it if your getting paid for it! makes perfect sense.

But I guarantee you that MOST (with the exception of very few) would benifit more from a wholesome NATURAL diet, than a fancy grocery store bought premade food like Purina, Pedigree, Iams Science Diet, ect..

There is one brand on the market that is most readilly available at Wal-mart called Maximum Nutrition. By far its the best you can buy at those type stores.

 

There are many very good dog foods that are conveniently purchased at the grocery store - and Wal-mart! I still believe that some of those high end foods are not worth the price and are not any more nutritious that the the regular dog foods.
It was interesting to hear that people have had problems with the "gourmet" foods and found the regular brands to be better for their dogs.
I have noticed respectible breeders feeding their dogs (not pups or pregnant or lactating dames) Old Roy brand - which I consider to be a very cheap, generic type of food!
My vet and the kennel feed their visitors Science diet. Yeah, they get a kick back for selling and promoting the stuff -- but if it was so terrible, I don't think these vets are all so unethical that greed would cause them to promote a subpar food.
I asked my vet what he feeds his giant breed dogs at home --- he told me he feeds them the Purina line. I didn't ask which variety.

We have a fancy dog store in town that sells the little shih tsu canopied beds, jeweled collars, velvet pillows, doggy birthday cakes and fancy treats. They sell the "gourmet" kibble. I got samples. One of the samples had all sorts of dehydrated veggies. It looked and smelled good to me - but my dogs weren't interested in it - even offered as a treat!

I went to the International show in Chicago and there were vendors showing their fancy foods!! Some of the canned foods looked and smelled better than most human foods! But is it really better? I don't think so. These are companies that are playing with human emotions. Making people feel - that if they really loved their pets, they would feed them this yummy looking stuff. The same thing with the "gourmet" kibble.

I love my pets. Often times more than my family! I feed them a good grocery store dry kibble. I buy my dogs food at the same place I buy my families food!

I guess I am lucky that I have plain and simple dogs that like milk-bone treats, and big human hugs and pets!

 

I come from a family with a long history of feeding Pedigree, havent seen too many health problems in any of the dogs (that I recall) until they were in their later year.

I did switch about 10 years ago to Breeders Choice (APD) after I'd done some nutritional research, one of the dogs I had a the time was a Cocker Spaniel/Setter mix, he had that wispy, easily matted hair down his legs, tail and under his belly, in just a couple of weeks of the APD his coat was gleaming, no more wispy matted hair, less stool from both dogs, it did cost more per bag but the food lasted longer.

I have used Pedigree and Purina One though (APD was hard to get when I moved to another area and I cant get it here in Germany).

I do, and always have fed 'scraps' although I dont know if you could call them scraps....I dont feed the skin, fat or bones (after its cooked). Some of my dogs have liked veggies othes didnt.

What Ive found (just a personal observation and through talking to clients and vets) the pets that come down with Pancreatitis are more commonly dogs who are on a strict 'dog food only' diet and then suddenly get into the trash or theres a BBQ or family party and guests are giving the dogs foods that they have never or very rarely eaten before. Ive noticed just a small percentage of dogs that from day 1 cannot handle any change in diet at all, even a gradual change to another dog food is enough to set them off.

Of all the dogs that Ive had, all the dogs that have 'passed through my house' as either strays or fosters only 2 were ever on a strict diet, my Whippet who was on a diet to lose some weight (long term on again off again Pred 'victim') and my Rott who was Diabetic. None have ever come down with Pancreatitis.

Last night my dog had her dry food, a tablespoon of canned food, a sausage and a fishfinger....I usually take the breadcrumbs off the fishfingers, I forgot, I looked over and she was gently pulling off the layer of breadcrumbs and dropping out of her bowl then ate the fish :shock: