# To all Purina feeders (question about Pro Plan, P. One and Dog Chow?)



## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Quite a few people here feed Pro Plan I think from what I can get in the various food posts. 

Those of you that feed Purina, do you think of Pro Plan, Purina One and Dog chow to be different quality foods?

How do you choose between the 3? And what are your reasons for feeding a particular one?


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

OK, I'm not a Purina feeder. But I like to answer food threads, so I thought I'd do the "are they differing in quality" thing. 

Main ingredients (chicken and rice formulas for ProPlan and Purina ONE), taken from the Purina websites so I know they're right:

ProPlan: Chicken, brown rice, corn gluten meal, pearled barley, chicken meal, dried egg product, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols, oat meal, fish meal, brewers dried yeast, dried beet pulp, natural flavor, fish oil, vitamins, etc......

Purina ONE: Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal, whole grain wheat, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols, animal digest, vitamins, etc.....

Dog Chow: Whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols, corn gluten meal, meat and bone meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, barley, whole grain wheat, animal digest, vitamins, etc.....

So, yes, I do see differences in quality.


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## sizzledog (Nov 23, 2008)

I feed Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach - which is a much different food than other Pro Plan formulas. I think ONE and the "basic" PP formulas are similar, but the PP SS&S isn't on the same level (it's better). Dog Chow isn't even close. 

I feed PP SS&S because it's got better ingredients than the standard Pro Plan, and dogs do wonderfully on it. Dobermans notoriously do very well on Pro Plan, for some unknown reason. Does it look good on paper? NO. Does it look good on the dogs? YES!

PP SS&S Ingredients:
Salmon, brewers rice, canola meal, oat meal, fish meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols, salmon meal, pearled barley, etc.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

I just looked at SS&S and it does look better than the other ones. 

dobies do well on PP? I never knew that! The breeder around here feed the Costco brand and chicken soup for the lactating/pregnant/in heat dogs. 

But to me, Dog Chow and Pro Plan do have a difference in quality, but not a huge difference. I can see some better ingredients in PP like chicken meal instead of meat and bone meal chicken plus brown rice instead of poultry by products but they still both have corn gluten meal and some other filler grains. 

I'm just curious what feeders of Purina think because lots of people that suggest dog food just lump all purina/iams/beneful/eukanuba together and I was wondering if the different sub-brands or different formulas made a difference.


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## sizzledog (Nov 23, 2008)

That's another reason I feed the SS&S - no gluten meal of any kind. 

And yes, dobes do very well on Pro Plan. It's one of the most popular foods on Dobe forums, and many many show dobes eat Pro Plan.

I've fed the gamut of quality - but I finally decided to go back to Pro Plan SS&S and haven't looked back. It's what they do the best on, can't argue with that.


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

Yes, the ingredients lists are somewhat different. I, too, have fed the Pro Plan SSS food and my dogs liked it, ate it, and did good on it. If I were to feed Purina, it would be this formula. I just hope they never get rid of it!


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## bully (Sep 16, 2009)

Michiyo-Fir said:


> And what are your reasons for feeding a particular one?


A combination of the following:
uninformed
lazy (to get informed)
can't afford good food. (they could if they were well-informed)


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## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

I have fed all 3 at different times under the direction of the professionals at service dog schools. As far as I could see, my dogs and the thousands of others I see in the programs all did very well. I don't think anybody can go wrong feeding their dog any of them. As you move up scale, you get less corn and smaller, firmer stools. You won't get bragging rights at Starbucks with any of them, but you can count on your dog getting the nutrition it needs. 

I would check the claims about better foods carefully for any evidence of anything beyond what they say is in them.


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## Foyerhawk (May 7, 2009)

I would NEVER feed Dog Chow. It's as poor quality as Pedigree and Ol Roy, which are all about the same. Look at the ingredients! 

Purina ONE and Pro Plan are not acceptable to me because of the grain content, but both are better than Dog Chow.


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## DobManiac (Aug 12, 2007)

sizzledog said:


> I feed PP SS&S because it's got better ingredients than the standard Pro Plan, and dogs do wonderfully on it. Dobermans notoriously do very well on Pro Plan, for some unknown reason. Does it look good on paper? NO. Does it look good on the dogs? YES!


There is also a slow trend developing to adding more raw meat to their diets. Or even a raw diet all together. I have seen a couple of breeders and handlers in Texas that prefer a raw diet, and I have seen a noticeable difference in the dogs. And it decrease the amount of effort needed to keep the dog in condition.


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## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

I think the OP was wanting information from those feeding the different Purina products. Too bad every food thread here is filled with emotional ranting and raving.


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## sheltiemom (Mar 13, 2007)

I've been staying out of the food forum lately because I find it tiresome and pretentious, but I do feed Purina One and have for nearly two years now. I am very pleased with it, poops are good, coats are good, energy is good. I first tried it out of desperation after trying several more expensive foods with supposedly better ingredients and getting varying degrees of runny poop and gas. I have tried Dog Chow too and I don't like it as well but I would feed it in a pinch...the dogs poop was ok on it but after a couple of months their coats looked dry. Pro Plan imo is overpriced, much more expensive than One but not much quality difference.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Now I'm curious. 

How are the 3 priced? Dog chow (regular), Purina One (regular adult chicken), Pro Plan (regular chicken), and PP SS&S?


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## bully (Sep 16, 2009)

Labsnothers said:


> As far as I could see, my dogs and the thousands of others I see in the programs all did very well. I don't think anybody can go wrong feeding their dog any of them.


We once thought the earth was flat and didn't move. We just recently realized smoking was bad for your health. Soon we should all be able to agree 2 things: Religion is a joke and Dog Chow isn't good food.

Baby steps.


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

bully said:


> Soon we should all be able to agree 2 things: Religion is a joke and Dog Chow isn't good food.
> 
> Baby steps.


Careful, now, Bully. While I may agree with you, you are treading a fine line here.

I have an uncanny ability to predict which members are going to be banned (I'm not the only one, I know it isn't hard to do  ) And I'm afraid you may be next on the list.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

To all of you arguing over Dog Chow and other foods. Stop!

I made this thread to get what people think of the quality of those 3 specific foods. Not for everyone to argue if those 3 are bad, good, whatever!


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## bully (Sep 16, 2009)

GroovyGroomer777 said:


> Careful, now, Bully. While I may agree with you, you are treading a fine line here.
> 
> I have an uncanny ability to predict which members are going to be banned (I'm not the only one, I know it isn't hard to do  ) And I'm afraid you may be next on the list.


I'm just spreading the good word of the lord. And that is all three of these foods are on the "least best choice" list when it comes to dogs nutrition. Here's my scripture on the new bible we call forums.

Nail me on the cross now, but it's for the good of "dog kind".



Michiyo-Fir said:


> To all of you arguing over Dog Chow and other foods. Stop!
> 
> I made this thread to get what people think of the quality of those 3 specific foods.


sorry.. Bad.


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## Pai (Apr 23, 2008)

This is what I picture going on in their house whenever I see Bully's posts:


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## DJsMom (Jun 6, 2008)

Pai said:


> This is what I picture going on in their house whenever I see Bully's posts:


Sorry to get off topic ... but *LMAO*!!! I am saving that 1 for future use


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## Hallie (Nov 9, 2008)

I think Pro Plan is the best and it's the one I would feed. I do a rotational diet most of the time but I think I may try Pro Plan one of these days. I fed Pro Plan to a dog I had a good while back and she seemed to do quite well on it. Once I tried a 4lb bag of Puppy Chow with Hallie and she got tear stains and an oily coat before we finished the bag , she did just fine on Purina ONE.


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## sizzledog (Nov 23, 2008)

Thankfully I'm mature enough to be comfortable with what I feed, and to not get upset over what someone on the internet thinks my dogs should eat. 

Honestly, I used to be swayed by the fear of being unpopular on internet forums for what I feed. Not anymore. I'd rather be unpopular on an internet forum and have beautiful healthy dogs, than be praised online for what I feed but have dogs that don't look or feel good.


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## chriley58 (Mar 9, 2009)

If I were to pick, I would go with the ProPlan. Simply because I have seen my fathers three English Pointers. Two of them are heavily used for hunting, his old girl is retired now. They all look amazing. They have great coats, shiny and smooth. They are able to maintain their weight, they have incredible stamina, they just look fantastic. Both have been eating ProPlan since they were pups. All his hunting buddies feed ProPlan as well, and they all have gorgeous high performing dogs.
I have used the sensitive stomach formula in the past with great results as well.


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## nico8 (Jul 16, 2009)

Pai said:


> This is what I picture going on in their house whenever I see Bully's posts:



Every time someone submits a pic like this in their thread I crack up(the one concerning Labsnothers also comes to mind)...funny stuff people


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## HersheyPup (May 22, 2008)

I have never fed Dog Chow or Purina One, but I have fed Pro Plan (original), Pro Plan Shredded Blend and Pro Plan Selects.
I thought that the stool volume on the Shredded Blend was too much, so I switched. Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach has produced incredible results. I really like what this food has done for my dogs. I also have fed the Select formulas and the result is the same as with the SS&S formula. The only difference is slightly smaller stool on the Select. 
My dogs have great energy, solid stool, no eye discharge (and that is saying alot for one of mine!), very shiny coats, not too chunky looking, no ear problems (but they never have had ear problems, anyway). However one of my dogs has had some kind of dermatitis on her paws for quite some time, it is not related to Pro Plan, because she had it long before she was eating the food. Today I had her at the Vet for the 2nd time regarding her paws. She is going on her 2nd round of anitibiotics. The Vet said I could try a Hypoallergenic diet (Hill's Z/D), but she really did not believe it to be a food allergy, but some kind of contact dermatitis. If the problem returns after this round of anitibiotics I may be tempted to try the Z/D with her. 

Anyway, I really have been 90% happy with the results of some of the ProPlan line...


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## tirluc (Aug 29, 2006)

bully said:


> A combination of the following:
> uninformed
> lazy (to get informed)
> can't afford good food. (they could if they were well-informed)


i beg to differ on this and i _really_ am getting sick of hearing from "the all mighty beings" that they know what is best for mine or anyone else's dogs....i don't feed mine Purina One b/c i'm "uninformed" (i know all about the "better" foods...been there, done that and my dogs looked like $%!^), "lazy (to get informed)" [see above], or "can't afford 'good' food" (again, been there, done that and they ate 2x the amount of the "good" stuff)...

just b/c something works for you dog/s, doesn't mean that it will work for all dogs.....

as for answering the OP ?....yeah, P.O. and PP are the only ones of Purina i will feed b/c of the ingredients list....


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## meandean (Aug 31, 2009)

been feeding our pup purina one puppy for large breeds. no problems at all. only gas once which turned out to be his consumption of berries from the back yard. coat is shiny, when he isn't covered in dirt, and his energy is through the roof. of course he is still just a pup. lol.


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## Pai (Apr 23, 2008)

Icesis came to me eating ProPlan. Her breeder swears by it, and her dogs are all beautiful. Icesis never looked or felt 'bad' on it, and I only changed brands because_ I _felt better doing it. So changing from PP did not achieve a drastic change, in my own case. For other dogs it may, though.


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## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

I want to thank Brian for his information and his honesty about who he is. I think it adds to his credibility. 

I agree it is all largely marketing. I had thought there was significant differences in the ingredients. Of course, I don't pay that much attention to what I see as minor details. 

Doesn't P&G do about the same with Iams and Eukanuba?


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## Pai (Apr 23, 2008)

Labsnothers said:


> I want to thank Brian for his information and his honesty about who he is. I think it adds to his credibility.
> 
> I agree it is all largely marketing. I had thought there was significant differences in the ingredients. Of course, I don't pay that much attention to what I see as minor details.
> 
> Doesn't P&G do about the same with Iams and Eukanuba?


Pretty much all 'special formula' foods are just marketing, they're not actually all that different from each other.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Michiyo-Fir said:


> Now I'm curious.
> 
> How are the 3 priced? Dog chow (regular), Purina One (regular adult chicken), Pro Plan (regular chicken), and PP SS&S?


Ummm...regular Dog Chow is around $22 for a 44-pound bag at Sam's Club. More expensive elsewhere but I don't pay attention. Purina ONE is about $36 for 44 pounds at Sam's. ProPlan is pretty expensive....I looked at it once at PetCo, and I know it was in the same price range as Solid Gold and Natural Balance. I want to say about $1.25 a pound? 

Here are the petfooddirect prices, though I think they charge more than a lot of pet stores:
Dog Chow: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf_id=2013603&dept_id=1&brand_id=221&Page= ($34.89 for 44-pound bag)
Purina ONE: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf_id=20147301&dept_id=1&brand_id=680&Page= ($45.09 for 34 pounds)
Pro Plan: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf_id=20114117&dept_id=1&brand_id=17&Page= ($54.39 for 37.5 pounds)


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

Not too long ago, my boss and I were comparing the ingredients of Eukanuba and Iams. They are 99% the same food! They have switched some of the ingredients around, but very, very similar. At our store Eukanuba costs 10.00 more a bag than Iams! Like I said before, I have fed Pro Plan (SSS) and might again (you never know), but for right now I feel very comfortable with the food I'm feeding (Nature's Variety Instinct). I will admit to trying lots of different foods for my gang and I like quite a few of them. My philosophy is:
Feed your dog/cat the best food you can afford, you feel comfortable with, and most important of all..they do the best on! Also, I firmly believe in doing my own research re: ingredients and the company making the food. That entails lots of reading, asking questions and trying different foods for my dogs. As you can see, I do like to get on the internet and read various forums, but I use common sense when deciphering all the info. Good luck to everyone in their quest for the right food for their dog.


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## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

My wife just paid $42 for a 35 pound bag of Pro Plan growth formula. I recently paid $35 for a 35 pound bag of the adult locally. My wife hits a pet store with better prices on her way home from work when we are able to plan ahead. There have been times we take in a dog out of the dog guide program with only hours notice. Mostly they are eating the adult Pro Plan which we often have on hand. If not, we have to go pay whatever for what we find. I had to buy a 35 pound bag for a dog we would only have a few weeks because that was all the store had in the adult chicken and rice. 

We were feeding Tux Purina 1 lamb and rice a year ago, but I am not going to dig up what we paid. Wal*Mart had it likely for less than the Pro Plan. 

We haven't fed the adult regular Purina since 1994, and I am sure it is less than the Purina 1 at Wal*Mart. 

I think the stores tend to stock more of chicken and rice Pro Plan and lamb in the Iams and Purina 1. I really get sick of picking through dozens of different things to find exactly what I have been feeding and the size I want. Without color coded bags, it would be a nightmare. 

You can do better on Pro Plan at the farm type stores than many of the pet stores.


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## Michiyo-Fir (Jul 25, 2009)

Wow I never knew Pro Plan was so expensive!!

It's almost the same price as Innova.

I'm always a bit wary when companies put out a lot of lines of food. Like I can understand if they have lamb, chicken, puppy, large breed, etc. But I start to think it's really weird when they put out like 3 or 4 different chicken formulas under different names. Especially if the ingredients are similar! Natura Pets does this as well with their Innova, EVO, Cal Nat, Healthwise but most of the ingredients are very different. Innova is normal with grains, EVO completely grainless and high protein, Cal Nat limited ingredients but Healthwise and I think they have something called Karma is beyond me. 

I personally only feed food that have companies with their own processing plant instead of buying from place like China so I probably will never try Pro Plan but my gosh it's really pricey! Is the sensitive skin and stomach one even more expensive?


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## Labsnothers (Oct 10, 2009)

You really think Nestle and other large companies outsource the production of their major products? Yes, they were caught up in the recall with the minor products they do outsource like everyone else was. They produce their own dry kibble, and none of it was recalled. Even much of what was recalled had nothing wrong with it. They just pulled it off the shelf until they could verify it. 

The price I posted was for the more expensive growth formula and what I had to pay at one of the highest priced places around. 

We were paying $25 for a 30 pound bag of Iams at Wal*Mart and likely the grocery stores have it for about the same.


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## sheltiemom (Mar 13, 2007)

I paid $22 for a 50 lb bag of dog chow at BJ's (like sams), and $34 for a 44 lb bag of Purina One.


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## DogPaw (Jan 11, 2009)

My GSD had horrible skin problems, eye goop and ear infections. I tried several different so called good quality food and someone suggested Purina Pro Plan for SS&S and guess what it cleared up all his issues. 

My pup that I have now I have tried a couple of different foods and his stools have been runny and was scratching a lot. I put him on Purina and his poops are firm and he has stopped scratching.

Our male English Bulldog lived to be 12 and had no health issues. He ate Purina One.


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