# And I thought I was feeding my dog good quality food



## John A Smith (Sep 7, 2015)

Hello, I found this site while researching dog food. Here is my first post.
I check the ingredients, meat first, no corn etc. The Purina commercials claim it's almost good enough for you to eat. Diet for our boy miniature American Eskimo has been primarily Purina Beyond Dry along with homemade chicken, brown rice with chopped up green beans. We always have a stock of Purina Beneful Prepared Meals for when the homemade runs out. This week we had the company of a brown girl Boston Terrier. For 2 days in a row they split containers of the Prepared Meals along with the Beyond Dry. Both of them got sick but primarily the Boston. She was spitting up all over the house but we didn't connect the dots until we found a chunk of what looked like rubber on the floor. It had mucus on it so we knew the Boston had spit it up. My wife then went into the backyard and was shocked at what she found. I attached photos. In vomit there were chunks of “meat” but really rubber like a pencil eraser only much tougher. I also have a video of my wife trying to break a piece apart but she couldn’t. Either something got into the food in processing or there is so much low quality gluten it literally turned to rubber. Is that possible? One of the photos shows a poop with a chunk that made it through his or her system. We aren’t really sure whether all were from the Boston or some from our dog since he was feeling very bad too. I have since done a lot of research and it seems most dog food is poor at best but I now have a better understanding of how to find the few that are good and nutritionally balanced. BTW, just in case Purina takes issue with my comments let me make it clear what I stated here is just my opinion. I am sharing what I observed only.


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## John A Smith (Sep 7, 2015)

Is there any way I can post the video? It is only 50 seconds long but 121 MB.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

I would stay away for anything called Beneful, but Purina Beyond and Purina One are not awful foods. I have feed them and one of my three would thrive on it today. The other two would not and, to keep life simple, they all eat the same thing.

With regard to your guest dog: Many dogs will not respond well to a food they are not accustomed to. Any change in diet is best handled gradually by mixing - increasing the percentage of new food while reducing the percentage of old food.

It's probably not necessary to post the video. We get the point.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

I wouldnt feed anything purina makes, I refuse to support a company who makes crap like beneful, then claims they are a "healthy" company, talk about talking out of both sides of their mouth!

Here is a graphic on who owns who:










That doesnt include merrick, and castor and pollux, who were bought out by purina not too long ago.

If you want a good food that is good, and cheap, try these:

Holistic select
earthborn holistic (slightly more expensive but still doable)
Victor dog food (my parents feed the grain free hero and everyone does well on it, even their 15 year old JRT who has allergy issues)
Pro Pac (dont listen to the dog food advisors rating on it, he doesnt like it because most of its protein is derived from plants, but for dogs who cant handle a lot of meat based protein ... like mine ... it would be perfect, I would feed anything except the chunk and mini chunk, due to the corn in it)
The honest kitchen (do my knowledge they havent been bought out by anyone that I know of)

These foods are good but can be more expensive depending on your area:
natures variety
Orijin
Acana
back to basics (used to be pricy but I dont know how, since I havent fed it in a while)


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## John A Smith (Sep 7, 2015)

I appreciate your point Ron but rubber? The video shows my wife trying to tear it and she can't. There is no way a dog could possibly digest it. Also, the Boston has visited us many times and has never had an issue with our dog food. She was with us recently for over a month while we dog sat.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

John A Smith said:


> I appreciate your point Ron but rubber? The video shows my wife trying to tear it and she can't. There is no way a dog could possibly digest it. Also, the Boston has visited us many times and has never had an issue with our dog food. She was with us recently for over a month while we dog sat.


In crap dog food everything goes into that render machine, they even toss expired supermarket meat still in the packaging! So any bits of ties or whatever might be on packaged meat gets tossed into the render right along with the meat, they cant be troubled with removing it, you know 

I am glad you noticed this before anything really bad happened to your pups, I would change food immediately and try one if the ones I listed. Even 4 health (TSC's brand of dog food) is better than this crap.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

John A Smith said:


> I appreciate your point Ron but rubber? The video shows my wife trying to tear it and she can't. There is no way a dog could possibly digest it. Also, the Boston has visited us many times and has never had an issue with our dog food. She was with us recently for over a month while we dog sat.


It's entirely possible the Boston actually ate rubber. I wouldn't feed Beneful, but who knows where that come from?


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Beneful wet foods aren't horribly terrible---sure, the artificial colors and flavors aren't great, and wheat gluten as the #2 ingredient is far from impressive, but for occasional use I wouldn't say it's harmful (also, wet foods don't use rendered meats). Beneful dry food is awful though.

Yeah, the dog might have chewed up something that was actually rubber. Dogs do stuff like that. Plus she could have eaten it a few weeks ago and is just now expelling it. My dog once ate a food wrapper and threw it up 2 weeks later (I was wondering what happened to it!). The only thing I can think of that might be rubbery in dog food is cartilage but I doubt they'd get away with much of that in the little trays (old ladies, who tend to feed their little dogs little trays of food, have plenty of time to poke through and complain about products, LOL).


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

Willowy said:


> Beneful wet foods aren't horribly terrible---sure, the artificial colors and flavors aren't great, and wheat gluten as the #2 ingredient is far from impressive, but for occasional use I wouldn't say it's harmful (also, wet foods don't use rendered meats). Beneful dry food is awful though.
> 
> Yeah, the dog might have chewed up something that was actually rubber. Dogs do stuff like that. Plus she could have eaten it a few weeks ago and is just now expelling it. My dog once ate a food wrapper and threw it up 2 weeks later (I was wondering what happened to it!). The only thing I can think of that might be rubbery in dog food is cartilage but I doubt they'd get away with much of that in the little trays (old ladies, who tend to feed their little dogs little trays of food, have plenty of time to poke through and complain about products, LOL).


Ewww no Beneful is BAAAAD any way you look at it, and yes, in wet food the meat is still "cooked", just not baked.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

OwnedbyACDs said:


> Ewww no Beneful is BAAAAD any way you look at it, and yes, in wet food the meat is still "cooked", just not baked.


Yes, of course it's cooked. But "fresh" by-products (not by-product meal) are not rendered. So they can't use 4D animals (which by law must be rendered), so it's somewhat higher-quality animal protein. I'm comfortable with by-products in a wet food. 

And, well, I'd be OK with giving my dogs Beneful wet food occasionally, if it didn't come in teeny little expensive trays. No sugar, reasonable amounts of animal protein. . .much better than the dry food, comparatively. Of course there are a lot of better wet foods so I wouldn't buy it, but if I got a free sample, sure, I'd feed it to the dogs (but not Beneful kibble, nope. When Shug came to us with a bag of Beneful, I even felt guilty about putting it in the yard for the birds and squirrels )

At any rate, to stay on topic---I don't think the food was the source of the rubbery bits. I'd be looking for something around the house that might have gotten eaten.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

Sorry ... I refuse to give my money to that evil company. And I wish no one else would either.


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## sandylab (Jun 25, 2014)

OwnedbyACDs said:


> Sorry ... I refuse to give my money to that evil company. And I wish no one else would either.


Agreed, thats why I switched from Merrick, even if they do not change their ingredients or the source of them (which I doubt will be true for too long) I will not give a penny to Purina.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

sandylab said:


> Agreed, thats why I switched from Merrick, even if they do not change their ingredients or the source of them (which I doubt will be true for too long) I will not give a penny to Purina.


absolutely!!! I feed pro pac now, but I might if they dont do well on this, switch to victor.


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## LeoRose (Aug 20, 2015)

This is a good place to start comparing brands. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ I've tried the Purina grocery store brands in the past, but my animals have never really done well on them. I've had better luck with their Pro Plan line.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

LeoRose said:


> This is a good place to start comparing brands. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ I've tried the Purina grocery store brands in the past, but my animals have never really done well on them. I've had better luck with their Pro Plan line.


dog food advisor is a good springboard for research, but it shouldnt be taken as gospel. I mean the guy is a human dentist, andd he has foods listed as "not recommended" that are actually not bad, like pro pac, it is heavy on the plant protein, and he frowns upon that, but my dog cant handle a meat rich protein based food.


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## LeoRose (Aug 20, 2015)

OwnedbyACDs said:


> dog food advisor is a good springboard for research, but it shouldnt be taken as gospel. I mean the guy is a human dentist, andd he has foods listed as "not recommended" that are actually not bad, like pro pac, it is heavy on the plant protein, and he frowns upon that, but my dog cant handle a meat rich protein based food.


Nope, never take it as gospel. That's why I said it was a good place to start. I'm fine feeding a 3 star rated food, and have actually had a couple of dogs have problems with higher rated foods. I also take into account that there have been _thousands _of generations of healthy dogs raised on Dog Chow and Pedigree, neither of which I would feed.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

LeoRose said:


> Nope, never take it as gospel. That's why I said it was a good place to start. I'm fine feeding a 3 star rated food, and have actually had a couple of dogs have problems with higher rated foods. I also take into account that there have been _thousands _of generations of healthy dogs raised on Dog Chow and Pedigree, neither of which I would feed.


Oh I know, I just wanted to clarify for the general public , I didn mean to insinuate that you took it as gospel


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## FaithFurMom09 (Oct 24, 2009)

I dont think the rubber is from the food. I think your dog got into something.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

FaithFurMom09 said:


> I dont think the rubber is from the food. I think your dog got into something.


True, but that food is crap all the same LOL, and I am glad they are switching.


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## philovance (Jan 7, 2009)

TL;DR: you may not like the ingredients in Purina feeds but their quality control is (with very few exceptions) the gold standard for an industry that has had more than its share of manufacturing screw-ups.

Say what you will about Purina (and I have no intention of stepping into a food p*ss*ing match) their quality control is second to none. I am totally aware of what I believe to be an unfounded lawsuit against Beneful, the Waggin Tails treat recall and (I think) a recall of Beyond but for the most part, for a company that sells millions of pounds of food internationally their record on recalls is just about perfect. The vast majority of dry foods that are considered superior by dogfoodanalysis.com are co-packed by another company, usually Diamond (who despite their problems I really have no problem with) and the level of quality control is left almost entirely to the co-packer. 

To get the same level of quality oversight Purina exercises over its products you have only a few very "holistic" options: Dr. Tim's, Annamaet, and (perhaps) Blackwood manufactured by Ohio Pet Foods, who have never had a recall. And Fromm, who own their own plant and have never had a recall. Perhaps Orijen is just as good. I think of them as a price point in search of a justification. I think Canidae owns their own plant now and I guess Farmina does. Anyway it's a pretty short list.

As for Purina destroying Merrick, Merrick built its business on a food that looks to be as bad as Ol' Roy, Beef 'n More.

Here's an example of Merrick's quality control: Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats » Blog Archive » Texas Dog Owner Finds Piece Of Plastic In Beef N’ More Dog Food - http://is.gd/UxF9Ih

The original Merrick family business was Hereford By-Products, a rendering plant. They built their reputation for "quality" selling expensive treats made of animal parts that are the very definition of by-products. They had the foresight to re-purpose some of the most disgusting "waste" into very high margin treats. Marketed with all the aggressive savvy of a Blue Buffalo, who as we all know has always been and will always be free of by-products. From the subjective, uninformed pov of DFA Merrick at its core represents the very worst of manufacturers; there is absolutely nothing whatsoever "human grade" about their sources. And *there's nothing wrong with that.* I enjoy a good marketing success story and "Before Grain" wasn't the same food as Beef 'n More.

If anything, being associated with Purina will probably improve Merrick's quality control and the smaller company may eventually benefit from Purina's investment in research, which contrary to the opinion of some, is not wholly devoted to increasing their profits by using "inferior" ingredients. 

Lastly, the problem with Beneful's wet food (and I would not feed the dry food) is that it is really overpriced. Bear in mind that all foods with gravy, whether they are from Purina, Wellness, Merrick, etc. do not include chunks of "real" beef and chicken. The chunks are reconstituted from highly processed meat to resemble a human stew. While the dogs like the gravy this type of food in general is pure anthropomorphism.

If you want to feed a wet food, try one that is 95% meat from Wellness, Hound and Gatos, Wysong, Evo and the very well priced, Dave's. I'm sure there are others. I usually buy Dave's. If your dog likes "gravy" put a little water in it before serving.

I agree with the other posters that the rubber probably was not in the food. The odds of discrete pieces surviving the manufacturing process are very slim, even if the process was sloppy. Purina may be killing your pets but they are not sloppy. I wonder if the same thing had happened after the dogs ate Wellness if the same degree of skepticism and cynicism would be expressed. Wellness, you may wish to keep in mind, is owned by venture capitalists who I'm sure stay awake nights trying to think of new ways to keep your pets healthier while keeping profits to a reasonable minimum. 

Or if you swear by Blue Buffalo and think Purina deserves to pay them damages for defamation, here's BB founder Bill Bishop bragging to the business press (I think it was the Wall St. Journal):

_Bishop saw parallels to sweetened beverages [which was his expertise]: high margins and low barriers to entry. “You can get into the market small with contract manufacturers making the stuff,” he says, displaying an easy candor. “Slap on a good label, come up with a slogan, and off you go,” he says. “There were already a lot of smoke and mirrors in how pet food was advertised, and that was the sort of stuff we were good at.”_ He must be exhausted from touring BB's half dozen co-packers making sure they live up to his high standards.

Disclosure: I have recently started feeding both my cats and my dog Pro Plan for various reasons I outlined in an earlier post here. I am completely happy with my choice. It is possible that I own Nestle stock in one of my mutual funds. I hope it goes up.

This is not my first rodeo so please don't waste your breath trying to convince me that if I only knew better I'd feed Blue Buffalo.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

philovance said:


> TL;DR: you may not like the ingredients in Purina feeds but their quality control is (with very few exceptions) the gold standard for an industry that has had more than its share of manufacturing screw-ups.
> 
> Say what you will about Purina (and I have no intention of stepping into a food p*ss*ing match) their quality control is second to none. I am totally aware of what I believe to be an unfounded lawsuit against Beneful, the Waggin Tails treat recall and (I think) a recall of Beyond but for the most part, for a company that sells millions of pounds of food internationally their record on recalls is just about perfect. The vast majority of dry foods that are considered superior by dogfoodanalysis.com are co-packed by another company, usually Diamond (who despite their problems I really have no problem with) and the level of quality control is left almost entirely to the co-packer.
> 
> ...


If their quality control was so good, then they wouldnt make crap like benefu, sorry but I call BS on that one.

And the joke's on you, because I dont (and wouldnt) feed blue buffalo, diamond, Ole Roy or beef N more.

But you own stock in the company, so your view is bias.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Making a food that's deliberately low-quality doesn't mean their quality control is bad . They fully intended to make it that way!

I have no idea what my retirement fund invests in. For all I know, Purina is in there too. I just look at the statement; I don't go into the details. I don't think that would make me biased toward any of the companies that are included in the fund.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

Willowy said:


> Making a food that's deliberately low-quality doesn't mean their quality control is bad . They fully intended to make it that way!
> 
> I have no idea what my retirement fund invests in. For all I know, Purina is in there too. I just look at the statement; I don't go into the details. I don't think that would make me biased toward any of the companies that are included in the fund.


And that is why I refuse to associate with them or give them my business, because they make crap and they know they make crap.

I look forward to hearing more of philovance's hilarious shenanigans on this subject.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Having an informed opinion that differs from yours is not "hilarious shenanigans". Purina is a well-established company that has a long record of excellent quality control and is respected in the industry. Those are facts. Whether you personally like/use their products is whole different thing. 

I dislike Beneful kibble (and Kit 'n' Kaboodle and the Be Happy line) too but they make what sells. Pretty sure the other companies would do the same if they thought that's what their customers wanted. I doubt you boycott Nestle because they make Hot Pockets, even though they make crap and know it's crap .


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

Willowy said:


> Having an informed opinion that differs from yours is not "hilarious shenanigans". Purina is a well-established company that has a long record of excellent quality control and is respected in the industry. Those are facts. Whether you personally like/use their products is whole different thing.
> 
> I dislike Beneful kibble (and Alley Cat and the Be Happy line) too but they make what sells. Pretty sure the other companies would do the same if they thought that's what their customers wanted. I doubt you boycott Nestle because they make Hot Pockets, even though they make crap and know it's crap .


Thanks but I dont eat hot pockets, totino's pizza rolls, or anything else like that. We dont eat much processed food, we usually make all our meals and when we dont, we go out.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

OwnedbyACDs said:


> Thanks but I dont eat hot pockets, totino's pizza rolls, or anything else like that. We dont eat much processed food, we usually make all our meals and when we dont, we go out.


But I bet you don't boycott the companies that make them either. . .Nestle does make things that even people who don't eat processed foods would use.

LOL, Purina is a Nestle brand. I forgot .

Anyway, the point being, there's no reason to say "Purina is horrible because they make lower-quality products" if the product YOU use is one of their better products. I have no problem with Pro Plan or Purina ONE. I feed my cats canned Friskies. I use Tidy Cats litter. Purina has a lot of different products.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

There is a reason Purina is cheaper in price then some of the others and Willowy hit the nail on the head. Purina and others are formulating cheap food to feed the masses, kind of like McDonalds has the dollar meal. Dogs can utilize corn gluten meal and by product meal but not as well as chicken meal. Purina is making cheap food - ALL - dog food companies are in it for the money otherwise they would make small batches for a select few people. If a dog does OK an it then so be it; Maggie was extremely healthy eating Purina, Nutro and Authority - she was in great shape and had a beautiful coat. As bad as Kibbles and Bits is - it flies off the selves faster then the higher end food. I certainly would feed Purina if I needed to and Zoey did well on it - at least they do (maybe did) some kind of analysis on the food.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Kibbles 'n' Bits is made by Del Monte . 

Purina doesn't ONLY make lower-quality foods. Some of the Pro Plan formulas fit all the "rules". The price reflects that of course. They're a large company and need to satisfy a lot of customers at all price points.


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Dog Person said:


> There is a reason Purina is cheaper in price then some of the others and Willowy hit the nail on the head. Purina and others are formulating cheap food to feed the masses, kind of like McDonalds has the dollar meal. Dogs can utilize corn gluten meal and by product meal but not as well as chicken meal. Purina is making cheap food - ALL - dog food companies are in it for the money otherwise they would make small batches for a select few people. If a dog does OK an it then so be it; Maggie was extremely healthy eating Purina, Nutro and Authority - she was in great shape and had a beautiful coat.* As bad as Kibbles and Bits is - it flies off the selves faster then the higher end food*. I certainly would feed Purina if I needed to and Zoey did well on it - at least they do (maybe did) some kind of analysis on the food.


But that's largely because (a) it's easily accessible, (b) most people don't know what it's dog food or what should be in dog food, and (c) most people don't see a lot of point in spending money on their pets. If it's cheap and the dog is alive, cool. Kibbles N Bits, Beneful, Purina's grocery store lines, etc. all benefit from an astounding ignorance on the part of dog owners concerning nutrition. There's also a widespread belief that companies can't sell anything that isn't safe and beneficial to dogs. Oftentimes, if you tell people "rawhide can cause intestinal blockages" or "OTC flea control really doesn't work anymore" they react with disbelief. "Well, how can they sell it, then? Surely that would be illegal?"


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

Willowy said:


> Kibbles 'n' Bits is made by Del Monte .
> 
> Purina doesn't ONLY make lower-quality foods. Some of the Pro Plan formulas fit all the "rules". The price reflects that of course. They're a large company and need to satisfy a lot of customers at all price points.


I used Kibbles and Bits because I think we can agree that it is not a good food :0 Although my sister was feeding it to her dog 

But they do use lower quality ingredients in all their foods : Pro Plan Sport 28/18

Ingredients

Chicken, brewers rice, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), whole grain corn, corn germ meal, brewers dried yeast, fish meal (natural source of glucosamine), animal digest, fish oil, dried egg product, wheat bran, calcium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, Vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, manganese sulfate, niacin, calcium carbonate, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite

Annamaet Extra 26/16

Ingredient List:

*Improved Formula - Now with Algae!*

Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Sorghum, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E)), Rolled Oats, Dried Beet Pulp, Menhaden Fish Meal, Menhaden Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E)), Brewers Dried Yeast, Flax Seed Meal, Carrot, Celery, Parsley, Lettuce, Watercress, Spinach, Lecithin, Fat Product (Algae, Source of Fatty Acids), Salt, Calcium Carbonate, DL Methionine, L-Lysine, Cranberries, Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product Dehydrated, Oligofructose, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, L-Carnitine, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Choline Chloride,Potassium Chloride, Zinc Proteinate, Betaine Anhydrous, Iron Proteinate, Selenium Yeast, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Calcium Iodate.


They do need to pacify shareholders (I own a few mutual funds and stocks as well so yes I want my companies to make money) and they charge almost the same for their food above as Annamaet does (Annamaet is a little more expensive) but I would think that they maximizing profits. Are they the evil empire to me? - No, I believe they actually have Animal Nutritionists and Veterinarians on staff but they are using inferior ingredients but if someone's dog does well on it that's great.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

Amaryllis said:


> But that's largely because (a) it's easily accessible, (b) most people don't know what it's dog food or what should be in dog food, and (c) most people don't see a lot of point in spending money on their pets. If it's cheap and the dog is alive, cool. Kibbles N Bits, Beneful, Purina's grocery store lines, etc. all benefit from an astounding ignorance on the part of dog owners concerning nutrition. There's also a widespread belief that companies can't sell anything that isn't safe and beneficial to dogs. Oftentimes, if you tell people "rawhide can cause intestinal blockages" or "OTC flea control really doesn't work anymore" they react with disbelief. "Well, how can they sell it, then? Surely that would be illegal?"


I agree 100% - I was (am?) one of those people. I just assumed that the food was good and safe. When all that food was recalled years ago Maggie was on Hills and wasn't affected and thought that I was feeding such a great food as to not be affected.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

I should add that I was paying just as much for Nutro as I do for what I feed now - so I understand that mentality. Heck when Maggie stopped eating I would have fed her anything to eat, if I remember correctly I did try to feed her Kibbles and Bits and I think I even looked for Gaines Burgers ... After all they are selling stuff that meets AAFCO guidelines!


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

Dog Person said:


> I should add that I was paying just as much for Nutro as I do for what I feed now - so I understand that mentality. Heck when Maggie stopped eating I would have fed her anything to eat, if I remember correctly I did try to feed her Kibbles and Bits and I think I even looked for Gaines Burgers ... After all they are selling stuff that meets AAFCO guidelines!


Shoot i remember when Nutro was a good food, sadly, so many are biting the dust  ... and have bit the dust over my years of owning dogs.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

OwnedbyACDs said:


> Shoot i remember when Nutro was a good food, sadly, so many are biting the dust  ... and have bit the dust over my years of owning dogs.


35 years ago we owned a Beagle and there was a canned food on the market that looked like human stew (can't remember the name) - it wasn't disgusting looking, we didn't mind feeding it and she loved it ... I don't know if it was any good or not but I remember that the Vet said to stop feeding her that because she was going to get (or was) fat. It probably went out of business/bought out years ago and that was one of the foods that I was looking for with Maggie, ultimately I just gave her chicken mixed into her kibble as it was less expensive than wet dog food.

Unfortunately a lot of things go the way of becoming crap, I was very upset to hear that Hershey PA is no longer the town for the Hershey factory. Heck I drink Poland Springs water ... it's owned by Nestles these days.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Cycle. I don't know who made it or what the ingredients looked like, but Willow did awesome on it. And then they changed the formula (new and improved! they said :/) and she had a major allergy flare and couldn't eat it anymore. But, if I remember correctly, the canned version did look/smell like Dinty Moore beef stew, LOL.


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

Willowy said:


> Cycle. I don't know who made it or what the ingredients looked like, but Willow did awesome on it. And then they changed the formula (new and improved! they said :/) and she had a major allergy flare and couldn't eat it anymore. But, if I remember correctly, the canned version did look/smell like Dinty Moore beef stew, LOL.


I didn't remember Cycle until you mentioned it but it wasn't that food, I think we fed our dogs Cycle dry food back in the day. I remember the food being in a brown gravy with slices of meat and veggies and smelled pretty good too! I tried looking up on Google - canned foods from the 1980's but no luck. In the scheme of things I guess it doesn't matter as it is no longer sold.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

Dog Person said:


> I used Kibbles and Bits because I think we can agree that it is not a good food :0 Although my sister was feeding it to her dog
> 
> But they do use lower quality ingredients in all their foods : Pro Plan Sport 28/18
> 
> ...


That I what I bolded is the main reason why I will not feed anything Purina or low end, because it has that awful artificial vita k in it that kills dogs.


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## John A Smith (Sep 7, 2015)

It was suggested by a responder that the visiting Boston must have eaten something rubbery possibly days, or even a couple of weeks, before she took sick. That was our first thought too but the facts pretty much eliminated that possibility. 
1: My wife reminded me that she had been visiting us for 3 weeks and never once left our house, or backyard, during that time.
2: She has never chewed on anything in our house, or yard, other that her toys which her owner always bring for her. Her owner also states that she never chews on anything at her home other than her toys. 
3: We have repeatedly searched our house, and our back yard, for any sign of anything that had been chewed on and damaged, including her toys.
4: The throw-up in the yard looked exactly like the food in the container along with meaty appearing pieces which are like chunks of rubber. I saved it in a fridge but I think I will freeze it just in case Purina hears about this and would like to see it. 
I don't deny there could be another explanation other than defective dog food but I haven't found a single clue to follow other than that.


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## sandgrubber (May 21, 2014)

John A Smith said:


> It was suggested by a responder that the visiting Boston must have eaten something rubbery possibly days, or even a couple of weeks, before she took sick. That was our first thought too but the facts pretty much eliminated that possibility.
> 1: My wife reminded me that she had been visiting us for 3 weeks and never once left our house, or backyard, during that time.
> 2: She has never chewed on anything in our house, or yard, other that her toys which her owner always bring for her. Her owner also states that she never chews on anything at her home other than her toys.
> 3: We have repeatedly searched our house, and our back yard, for any sign of anything that had been chewed on and damaged, including her toys.
> ...


The frustrating thing here is that there has been pathetically little good research on canine nutrition, especially long term studies. It may be that there are significant differences in requirements from breed to breed. It's undeniable that some dogs have problems with some foods. Allergies seem to be pretty common, possibly due to inbreeding and it's effects on the genetics of the immune system. On the other hand, you can find hundreds, thousands . .. probably tens or hundreds or thousands depending on how hard you look . . . of anecdotal accounts of dogs fed 'crap' dog foods and living to 15+ years of age with no significant health problems. Furthermore, dog foods don't have a great history with regard to truth in labelling, regulation and enforcement are lax, and obfuscation is widespread (browse thesciencedog.wordpress.com or read Linda P. Case's book on Canine Nutrition).
As for dogs puking stuff up. . . or passing it . . . forget your human biases. Dogs are really good at ejecting things that don't agree with them. Unless the 'thing' is sharp and/or permanently lodges in the digestive tract and turns into a blockage this is not a big problem. I once had a bitch who used to eat chicken carcass and other raw foods. Then, when she had pups, she would very systematically puke it up to feed her pups. Gross? Yes. But dogs are often gross. They don't think about food the same way we do . . . and likewise, they are not real bothered by puking or passing things that don't digest.
As for 'evil' corporations . . . if they're answerable to either shareholders and the stock market or to some private family or institution that is out for money, they are unlikely to put dog health as first priority. However, they may view consumer attitudes toward health as a great marketing point. I have no problem with Purina. . . it's so big it get looked at. Having taken a few graduate level courses in marketing, I am more skeptical of the smaller companies who pretend to market health and capitalize on people's love of their companion animals based on absolutely no scientific evidence.
Unfortunately, you gotta be skeptical. There's a lot of bull sh#t out there.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

sandgrubber said:


> The frustrating thing here is that there has been pathetically little good research on canine nutrition, especially long term studies. It may be that there are significant differences in requirements from breed to breed. It's undeniable that some dogs have problems with some foods. Allergies seem to be pretty common, possibly due to inbreeding and it's effects on the genetics of the immune system. On the other hand, you can find hundreds, thousands . .. probably tens or hundreds or thousands depending on how hard you look . . . of anecdotal accounts of dogs fed 'crap' dog foods and living to 15+ years of age with no significant health problems. Furthermore, dog foods don't have a great history with regard to truth in labelling, regulation and enforcement are lax, and obfuscation is widespread (browse thesciencedog.wordpress.com or read Linda P. Case's book on Canine Nutrition).
> As for dogs puking stuff up. . . or passing it . . . forget your human biases. Dogs are really good at ejecting things that don't agree with them. Unless the 'thing' is sharp and/or permanently lodges in the digestive tract and turns into a blockage this is not a big problem. I once had a bitch who used to eat chicken carcass and other raw foods. Then, when she had pups, she would very systematically puke it up to feed her pups. Gross? Yes. But dogs are often gross. They don't think about food the same way we do . . . and likewise, they are not real bothered by puking or passing things that don't digest.
> As for 'evil' corporations . . . if they're answerable to either shareholders and the stock market or to some private family or institution that is out for money, they are unlikely to put dog health as first priority. However, they may view consumer attitudes toward health as a great marketing point. I have no problem with Purina. . . it's so big it get looked at. Having taken a few graduate level courses in marketing, I am more skeptical of the smaller companies who pretend to market health and capitalize on people's love of their companion animals based on absolutely no scientific evidence.
> Unfortunately, you gotta be skeptical. There's a lot of bull sh#t out there.


Yep. The only way I would feed anything sold at walmart is if it was the zombie apocalypse and that was the only thing left on the shelf to grab ... then we might BOTH be eating it lmao, but at least it wouldnt be putting money in nestle's pocket because I wouldnt be paying for it haha.


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