The American Beagler Forum

I switch my Shepherd off between Purina One & Pro Plan and am really pleased with the results. Since the price is fairly good and I could get a better discount with Purina's Pro Club membership, I am thinking about switching some of the Beagles over to Purina foods.
Has anyone had any experience with either of these brands and what did you think? How were stools, coats, and energy levels?
Thanks for any help!!!!!!

It's alright if you're into feeding corn based foods.

I feed Pro Plan. Pro Plan is the best feed I have ever fed. Bar none!
I have feed everything. Dogs look & act great on it! Plus the reason I like it so much. LESS STOOL!!!!

Pro Plan is the best I have found.

When I first tried it, my dogs got fat quick. You don't have to give the dogs near as much, which I think is a big reason for less stool. I went from 1 1/2 to 2 cups per day on Hi-Pro to about 1 to 1 1/4 cups per day on Pro-Plan. The dogs looked good on it, and had noticeably more energy.

It is pricey, but feeding less combined with the weight circles, its not that much more per year.

What do you pay for a 50# bag? What is the protien and fat content?

I am not sure what the cost is per bag but here are the fat and protien contents.

PP Puppy Chicken and Rice 28/18
pp Chicken and Rice 26/16
PP Beef and Rice 26/16
PP Lamb and Rice 26/16
PP Performance 30/20

The one thing I don't like about PPP is the false advertising. They try to dupe the buyer into thinking meat is the 1st ingredent when it isn't. That's not cool.

Furthermore, look at the price. PPP is a corn based food. For what you pay for PPP you could feed a meat based food, which is better for your dog.

But if any of you out there are feeding PPP & like it, go w/ what you like.

MSU DAWG,

WHAT MAKES YOU THINK PRO PLAN IS CORN BASED? IT LISTS CHICKEN(NOT CHICKEN BY PRODUCTS OR CHICKEN MEAL)AS IT'S FIRST INGREDIENT. IF IT'S NOT, THEN PURINA HAS BEEN FOOLING A LOT OF PEOPLE FOR A LONG TIME. I KNOW THAT PURINA HI-PRO AND DOG CHOW ARE CORN BASED, AND THEY LIST CORN AS THE FIRST INGREDIENT.

Currently I am only buying the 20# bags of Purina One or Pro Plan, which run me about $17. I have seen the 41.25lb bag go for about $33 or a few dollars less on sale. theres cheaper out there, but I think the cheap comes out expensive in the end. JMHO.
Thanks for all the input about the food, and I did want to add that in the two formulas I mentioned the #1 ingredient is meat. Dog Chow, however does not have meat as the first ingredient.

Pro Plan Chicken & rice ingredients

Chicken, brewers rice, whole grain wheat, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), whole grain corn, corn bran, fish meal, natural flavors, egg product, dicalcium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), calcium carbonate, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, ascorbic acid (source of Vitamin C), ferrous sulfate, riboflavin supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.

Ingredients in dog food are listed by weight, NOT by the order they appear in the food. Chicken (or any meat) weighs more than corn meal b/c meal is dry, while meat has water weight to it. Because the meat weighs more than corn meal, the dog food companies can get away w/ listing it as the 1st ingredient. For example, say a feed has 70% corn meal & 30% meat. Since the meat weighs more than the corn meal they can list the meat as the 1st ingredient, even though the food is obviously corn based.

That is why you always want MEAT MEAL as your 1st ingredient, not meat. All meat meal is is dried out, ground up meat. Since it doesn't have the water weight meat does, meat meal weighs the same as corn meal. So a feed w/ meat meal as the 1st ingredient is actually a meat based feed, whereas a feed w/ meat as the 1st ingredient is a corn based feed since the 2nd ingredient is almost always some type of corn meal.

But, since the ingredients are listed by weight, Purina can legally say "meat as the 1st ingredient." But if you will notice, no where does Purina say their food is MEAT BASED. That's b/c it's not. It's grain based (corn, wheat or rice based depending on the type - I call any grain based food corn based since the majority of them use corn). But knowing this, the Purina ppl still tout that MEAT AS THE 1ST INGREDIENT in their PPP. Meat may indeed be the 1st ingredient listed, but meat certainly doesn't make up the base of their food. And they know it. It's just a hook to get ppl who don't know any better to buy their product.

So in short, yes, Purina has been fooling a lot of ppl for a long time. But that's what they bank on. A fellow beagler posted above that they were buying 20lbs of PPP for $17. So he's getting 40lbs of corn based feed for $34. But one can buy 50lbs of Diamond or Black Gold (neither are cheap feeds & both are meat based) for $13 to $18!

If consumers were to find out the truth about dog food there is no telling how much revenue Purina would lose. So they create this catchy hook, such as MEAT AS THE 1ST INGREDIENT. So buyers arrive in droves, Purina pockets the profit & the consumer ends up feeding his dog the same thing he was before - a corn based feed.

Now let me say if any of you out there are using PPP & like it, stay w/ it. PPP is probably one of the best corn based feeds out there. But when it comes to PPP I just think you can feed a better food for the money & I am against their their sneaky advertising.

Hope this helps!

Something Like This MSU Dog
Chicken , Chicken By-Products Meal , Corn Meal, Fish Meal, Poultry Fat(Preserved with MixedTocopherols - Source of Vitamin E), Brewer's Rice,Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Dried Beet Pulp, Vegetable Oil, Natural Poultry Flavoring, Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Brewer's Dried Yeast, Salt, Fructooligosaccharides, Essential Vitamins, & Proteinated Minerals.

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein, min... 31.0%
Crude Fat, min ........ 21.0%
Crude Fiber, max..... 3.0%
Moisture, max.......... 12.0%
Calcium, min............ 1.0%
Phosphorus, min....... 0.9%
Omega 6 min........... 3.0%
Omega 3 min........... 0.3%

Around $25 for a 40 lb. bag.
Black Gold Signature Series Ultimate Performance
Wayne

Ain't payin that much.

Not all Black Gold food is that high MGB. Black Gold makes several different styles of food. Some of it's cheap, some is not. The one I feed costs $18 per 50lbs. If you still don't want to spend that much you can get Maxximum Nutrition. Last time I looked, it's comparable to Black Gold but costs less. If you are REALLY a tightwad, you can always go w/ Diamond Hi-Energy at $13 per 50lbs. (Last I looked, all these foods are meat based BTW)

LITTLE DAB A DO YA! Put two pups in a pen. Feed one the feed I mentioned above and the other yours and you won't believe the difference. This is fact. Wayne

some interesting info for the discussion

http://www.boxerworld.com/feeding/