# Anyone else feed Purina Pro Plan?



## SusanG

I used to give my girls grain free, but the vet recommended Purina formulated and a couple of others that have not been identified with cardiomyopathy. I was feeding Zignature, and before that Merrick. I was skeptical, but decided it couldn't hurt to switch if it removed a few of the ingredients they suspect cause the cardio (peas&lentils)
I cannot believe the change in Callie (who just turned 9) She is eating Pro Plan Bright Eyes for small dogs and all of a sudden she is more alert, looks better and has much for energy. (I do mix her night meal with about 1/4 - 1/3 can Wellness Core Healthy Cuts) 
Molly who is only 5 gets Pro Plan Savor and loves it. It has bits of dehydrated chicken or lamb. She seems to be doing well on the new food also. I do have to give her probiotics from time to time as she develops pudding poops - which no one can explain because it happens despite no changes in food and has always been that way for years. After a couple of days on probiotics sometimes comes back, sometimes not. I'm beginning to think it will never change since it doesn't matter what I do or don't feed her.
Anyone else have good results with Pro Plan?


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## Dechi

Yes I do and I know others have chosen it too since the cardiopathy awareness. I have been feeding Pro Plan sensitive skin and stomach, salmon and rice formula for close to a year now I think. Both my dogs do well on it.


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## Fenris-wolf

I'm glad to hear it's good? I'm going to be buying it for Sisko today.


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## PeggyTheParti

The owner of a lovely local pet food store warned me that Purina has close ties to the FDA, and their lobbiests and researchers have very deep pockets. 

Honestly, I don't know _who_ to believe these days. 

But she also warned me away from mainstream grain-free foods, explaining grain-free formulas were initially developed for dogs with specific intolerances, and that the mainstream sale of these foods just replaces ingredients that were problematic for one small set of dogs with ingredients that are problematic for even _more_ dogs.

Again. I don't know who to listen to anymore. But I'm not jumping ship to Purina any time soon. I tend to think human-grade food might be the way to go, but I'm still feeding Nutro for the time being.


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## Fenris-wolf

PeggyTheParti said:


> The owner of a lovely local pet food store warned me that Purina has close ties to the FDA, and their lobbiests and researchers have very deep pockets.
> 
> Honestly, I don't know _who_ to believe these days.
> 
> But she also warned me away from mainstream grain-free foods, explaining grain-free formulas were initially developed for dogs with specific intolerances, and that the mainstream sale of these foods just replaces ingredients that were problematic for one small set of dogs with ingredients that are problematic for even _more_ dogs.
> 
> Again. I don't know who to listen to anymore. But I'm not jumping ship to Purina any time soon. I tend to think human-grade food might be the way to go, but I'm still feeding Nutro for the time being.


I hope that's not true ? I'd be really mad if it is ?.

I don't know who to trust either these days. 

Wow?

I think I'll try Nutro for Sisko instead.


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## PeggyTheParti

It's definitely frustrating. 

For the record, I'm not saying Nutro is the better choice, just that I've used it now for a decade or so and haven't found anything comparable that's convinced me to make the switch.


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## MustLoveDogs

I've been feeding Cleo Pro Plan Focus for 5 months now, and when we started it, it was the only food she did well on of those we had tried. i switched her off the grain-free food she came to us on right away b/c it turned out peas/legumes gave her runny stools. Even so, before going to Pro Plan, i tried the higher-rated brands, but they were just as bad for her as the grain-free food. Only when she started the Pro Plan did she have normal stools. I have been very happy with it until recently. Unfortunately, just in the past few weeks she has apparently stopped tolerating something in that food. Since she's 9 months old, i'm now transitioning her to an all life stages food, and i'm trying a smaller-scale brand with fewer ingredients and a different type of meat.

I also have a wonderful independent pet supply store where i shop often, and i value their advice. I would ask their opinions about the different "boutique" brands, but i don't ask them if i want advice about mainstream brands b/c they don't sell them. As for Purina lobbyists and the FDA--i'm not sure how what difference that would make, exactly. The FDA doesn't test dog food pre-market. They have requirements in terms of cleanliness, safety, certain ingredients that are considered additives, etc. All companies have to meet those req's. The reason vets like Purina is that they've done years of research--this is not an FDA requirement. If Purina had a problem, i doubt that so many dogs would have done well on their food for decades and so many high-level breeders wouldn't feel good about feeding their food to their dogs. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. The independent stores also pushed grain-free for a long time, but it turns out that's probably not great. I listen to my vet about what to pay attention to in the way of ingredients, protein and fat levels, etc. when i'm deciding, even if i don't always take her advice about specific brands. The goal after all is to find a food on which the dog will thrive, whatever brand that happens to be. The vet herself acknowledges that what she recommends won't be tolerated by every dog, and for us it has apparently stopped working, which is frustrating, but at least there are plenty of options out there!


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## Dogs4Life

It's my understanding, based on what I have read on this forum, that some really good breeders feed their dogs and puppies Purina. I fed Purina for a while, but I then switched to another grain inclusive food. I might switch back to Purina for the next bag. While I used to feed my dogs the same brand of food and just switch the protein every other bag, I have seen some good in switching between brands. One of my dogs struggles with food intolerance, so I have to watch him closely.


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## Fenris-wolf

PeggyTheParti said:


> It's definitely frustrating.
> 
> For the record, I'm not saying Nutro is the better choice, just that I've used it now for a decade or so and haven't found anything comparable that's convinced me to make the switch.


Yeah, it is.

Okay. I remember us feeding our old cat Nutro and he did well on it.

I was thinking about getting Blue Buffalo too, but just not sure.


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## Zesti_V

Jessie likes and does well on PPP, and she likes Purina One for that matter too. I prefer to stay with the big brands becasue they actually do test their food, but I don't believe big companies are evil like many do.


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## SusanG

MustLoveDogs said:


> I've been feeding Cleo Pro Plan Focus for 5 months now, and when we started it, it was the only food she did well on of those we had tried. i switched her off the grain-free food she came to us on right away b/c it turned out peas/legumes gave her runny stools. Even so, before going to Pro Plan, i tried the higher-rated brands, but they were just as bad for her as the grain-free food. Only when she started the Pro Plan did she have normal stools. I have been very happy with it until recently. Unfortunately, just in the past few weeks she has apparently stopped tolerating something in that food. Since she's 9 months old, i'm now transitioning her to an all life stages food, and i'm trying a smaller-scale brand with fewer ingredients and a different type of meat.
> 
> I also have a wonderful independent pet supply store where i shop often, and i value their advice. I would ask their opinions about the different "boutique" brands, but i don't ask them if i want advice about mainstream brands b/c they don't sell them. As for Purina lobbyists and the FDA--i'm not sure how what difference that would make, exactly. The FDA doesn't test dog food pre-market. They have requirements in terms of cleanliness, safety, certain ingredients that are considered additives, etc. All companies have to meet those req's. The reason vets like Purina is that they've done years of research--this is not an FDA requirement. If Purina had a problem, i doubt that so many dogs would have done well on their food for decades and so many high-level breeders wouldn't feel good about feeding their food to their dogs. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. The independent stores also pushed grain-free for a long time, but it turns out that's probably not great. I listen to my vet about what to pay attention to in the way of ingredients, protein and fat levels, etc. when i'm deciding, even if i don't always take her advice about specific brands. The goal after all is to find a food on which the dog will thrive, whatever brand that happens to be. The vet herself acknowledges that what she recommends won't be tolerated by every dog, and for us it has apparently stopped working, which is frustrating, but at least there are plenty of options out there!


I was leery at first, but did some reading and talked to our vet. His practice has 10 vets and connections with Cornell Vet Medicine. They put out a communication to all patients and explained that Purina has been working with vets all along designing food for special diets. (Evidentally Royal Canin and Science Diet do also - but I won't feed them) The vets go to Purina when they need specially designed food for specific illnesses, so Purina has done a lot of research and is not based solely on regular food for all dogs like the other companies are.
Its hard to know what to do, but I'm going to have to trust my vet for now and since they keep up with everything and have better sources. They are not saying it is definitely peas and legumes but that it is the suspected culprit and only been around since the growth of grain free and are used heavily as a binder to replace grains. There are a couple of other brands that are low in them - I think it was Fromm Gold - which I tried, but for some reason my girls refused to eat any of the Fromm foods.
I buy my products from a wonderful small pet chain, but unfortunately they don't carry any Purina, so therefore are pushing other products. I've found Pro Plan in Tractor Supply which is where I buy it now. So tired of the chains like Petsmart and Petco which charge several dollars more for it.


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## SusanG

MustLoveDogs said:


> I've been feeding Cleo Pro Plan Focus for 5 months now, and when we started it, it was the only food she did well on of those we had tried. i switched her off the grain-free food she came to us on right away b/c it turned out peas/legumes gave her runny stools. Even so, before going to Pro Plan, i tried the higher-rated brands, but they were just as bad for her as the grain-free food. Only when she started the Pro Plan did she have normal stools. I have been very happy with it until recently. Unfortunately, just in the past few weeks she has apparently stopped tolerating something in that food. Since she's 9 months old, i'm now transitioning her to an all life stages food, and i'm trying a smaller-scale brand with fewer ingredients and a different type of meat.
> 
> I also have a wonderful independent pet supply store where i shop often, and i value their advice. I would ask their opinions about the different "boutique" brands, but i don't ask them if i want advice about mainstream brands b/c they don't sell them. As for Purina lobbyists and the FDA--i'm not sure how what difference that would make, exactly. The FDA doesn't test dog food pre-market. They have requirements in terms of cleanliness, safety, certain ingredients that are considered additives, etc. All companies have to meet those req's. The reason vets like Purina is that they've done years of research--this is not an FDA requirement. If Purina had a problem, i doubt that so many dogs would have done well on their food for decades and so many high-level breeders wouldn't feel good about feeding their food to their dogs. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. The independent stores also pushed grain-free for a long time, but it turns out that's probably not great. I listen to my vet about what to pay attention to in the way of ingredients, protein and fat levels, etc. when i'm deciding, even if i don't always take her advice about specific brands. The goal after all is to find a food on which the dog will thrive, whatever brand that happens to be. The vet herself acknowledges that what she recommends won't be tolerated by every dog, and for us it has apparently stopped working, which is frustrating, but at least there are plenty of options out there!


I was leery at first, but did some reading and talked to our vet. His practice has 10 vets and connections with Cornell Vet Medicine. They put out a communication to all patients and explained that Purina has been working with vets all along designing food for special diets. (Evidentally Royal Canin and Science Diet do also - but I won't feed them) The vets go to Purina when they need specially designed food for specific illnesses, so Purina has done a lot of research and is not based solely on regular food for all dogs like the other companies are.
Its hard to know what to do, but I'm going to have to trust my vet for now and since they keep up with everything and have better sources. They are not saying it is definitely peas and legumes but that it is the suspected culprit and only been around since the growth of grain free and are used heavily as a binder to replace grains. There are a couple of other brands that are low in them - I think it was Fromm Gold - which I tried, but for some reason my girls refused to eat any of the Fromm foods.
I buy my products from a wonderful small pet chain, but unfortunately they don't carry any Purina, so therefore are pushing other products. I've found Pro Plan in Tractor Supply which is where I buy it now. So tired of the chains like Petsmart and Petco which charge several dollars more for it.


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## MustLoveDogs

SusanG, if it helps, I've found better prices for Pro Plan at Chewy and even occasionally on Amazon.

And now it looks like i might be giving the Pro Plan sensitive stomach salmon and rice a try! The other brand i was transitioning Cleo to has turned out to be too rich for her. It is a lot higher in protein than the pro plan, and it gave her an upset stomach, apparently. I'm still not sure that going to another pro plan variety is the answer, but i guess i'll find out.


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## SusanG

MustLoveDogs said:


> SusanG, if it helps, I've found better prices for Pro Plan at Chewy and even occasionally on Amazon.
> 
> And now it looks like i might be giving the Pro Plan sensitive stomach salmon and rice a try! The other brand i was transitioning Cleo to has turned out to be too rich for her. It is a lot higher in protein than the pro plan, and it gave her an upset stomach, apparently. I'm still not sure that going to another pro plan variety is the answer, but i guess i'll find out.


Molly has a sensitive stomach. She throws up on occasion in the morning. Part of her problem is she eats like a lab, gulps it down, barely chews it. TOW canned makes her vomit half the time, so we gave that up. She also has pudding poos and I can't figure out why. I tried her on the Pro Plan sensitive, but she didn't like it much, ate very little, so I never could tell if it would have helped. It does smell - like fish! I hope it helps your Cleo. I'm sure it would have helped Molly if she ate it like she should. Mine seem to do ok with some of the Purino Pro canned as well. I pay 15.95 at Tractor Supply for a bag of Pro Plan Savor for small dogs, I think the Sensitive and Bright Mind (senior) is about 18.95. I'll have to check Chewy prices on the kibble. I buy the Wellness Core Healthy Cuts for 2.74 in the Country Store and its over $3 in our pet shop and Chewey. Expensive!


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## MustLoveDogs

SusanG, fyi, Chewy has good sales--the last big bag i bought was 30% off! Cleo had those pudding poos when she was really young, and it turned out to be giardia and worms. When that was treated and better, her stools again got worse from peas/legumes in the food. When we switched to PP she did great...for a while. So i really don't know what it is that's bothering her now. I'm sorry to hear the sensitive salmon smells fishy...she'll probably like it in that case!


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## Dogs4Life

SusanG said:


> Molly has a sensitive stomach. She throws up on occasion in the morning. Part of her problem is she eats like a lab, gulps it down, barely chews it. TOW canned makes her vomit half the time, so we gave that up. She also has pudding poos and I can't figure out why. I tried her on the Pro Plan sensitive, but she didn't like it much, ate very little, so I never could tell if it would have helped. It does smell - like fish! I hope it helps your Cleo. I'm sure it would have helped Molly if she ate it like she should. Mine seem to do ok with some of the Purino Pro canned as well. I pay 15.95 at Tractor Supply for a bag of Pro Plan Savor for small dogs, I think the Sensitive and Bright Mind (senior) is about 18.95. I'll have to check Chewy prices on the kibble. I buy the Wellness Core Healthy Cuts for 2.74 in the Country Store and its over $3 in our pet shop and Chewey. Expensive!


My dogs used to eat Taste of the Wild kibble, and then I tried the canned version with my Jasper (he doesn't have many teeth left), and I was very, very disappointed with the canned version of the food. Made him vomit as well.

Have you thought about trying dehydrated food, like The Honest Kitchen? 

Definitely check out Chewy; prices are sometimes better than a pet store, there is a wide selection, and you are able to search foods based on certain filters (no peas, etc). Also, if a food doesn't work out, they typically refund your money.


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## SusanG

Dogs4Life said:


> My dogs used to eat Taste of the Wild kibble, and then I tried the canned version with my Jasper (he doesn't have many teeth left), and I was very, very disappointed with the canned version of the food. Made him vomit as well.
> 
> Have you thought about trying dehydrated food, like The Honest Kitchen?
> 
> Definitely check out Chewy; prices are sometimes better than a pet store, there is a wide selection, and you are able to search foods based on certain filters (no peas, etc). Also, if a food doesn't work out, they typically refund your money.


I did check and the Pro Plan Savor & Bright Mind are a lot cheaper on Chewy so I know where to get my next bags! Thanks for the idea! I checked the Healthy Cuts (Wellness Core) canned, and that is more expensive than where I get it - maybe due to the weight, 
I tried Honest Kitchen and bought a lot of it but Callie wouldn't eat it and it didn't agree with Molly. I'm not sure what to do with it now so put it in with my emergency food supply that I keep for us (just in case)


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## Newport

A couple comments about ordering dog food online in the U.S.: Chewy has rapid shipping. I don't pay extra for overnight, but the longest I ever wait is two days for food. For toys or other supplies shipping time is normal, but food comes lightening fast. 

Amazon seems to have spotty quality/freshness when it comes to dog food. I don't order dog food from them anymore.


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## Jan Ann

SusanG said:


> I was leery at first, but did some reading and talked to our vet. His practice has 10 vets and connections with Cornell Vet Medicine. They put out a communication to all patients and explained that Purina has been working with vets all along designing food for special diets. (Evidentally Royal Canin and Science Diet do also - but I won't feed them) The vets go to Purina when they need specially designed food for specific illnesses, so Purina has done a lot of research and is not based solely on regular food for all dogs like the other companies are.
> Its hard to know what to do, but I'm going to have to trust my vet for now and since they keep up with everything and have better sources. They are not saying it is definitely peas and legumes but that it is the suspected culprit and only been around since the growth of grain free and are used heavily as a binder to replace grains. There are a couple of other brands that are low in them - I think it was Fromm Gold - which I tried, but for some reason my girls refused to eat any of the Fromm foods.
> I buy my products from a wonderful small pet chain, but unfortunately they don't carry any Purina, so therefore are pushing other products. I've found Pro Plan in Tractor Supply which is where I buy it now. So tired of the chains like Petsmart and Petco which charge several dollars more for it.


FYI Petco has price match. You just show them a photo or on line price and they will match it. I go to pet smart on line print out the price and name of the food and they match the price.


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## pudelgirl

We feed our female toy PPP SSS. So far, she loves it. Switched from 6 years of various grain-free brands and pray it is not too late to reverse any damage that grain-free may have caused.


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