# Why do a lot of people 'hate' on Purina?



## megthechamp (Jun 14, 2018)

My 5 month old golden, Apollo, is currently on Purina One Smart Blend Large Breed puppy. I hope to eventually switch him over to Purina pro plan (either SSS or normal focus blend, not sure yet - is it bad to go on SSS if your dog doesn't seem to have _that_ sensitive of a stomach?) I haven't switched him to pro plan since I know I'll be eventually switching him to adult food in several months and didn't want to switch his puppy food if I'm just going to switch him later anyway.


Anyway - so obviously the internet/social media isn't the best place to find advice, but so many people seem to HATE on purina/Nestle (who owns purina). I guess this started to come up when it was announced that Nestle may be purchasing Orijen and Arcana breed foods, so people who feed those were in uproar about how it means it'll stoop to "purina quality." 



First of all - can I just say, I knew mommy-shaming was a thing, I had no clue "dog mommy-shaming" was. It's all over. Let's just not judge and be nice, okay? We all can agree we went our pups to be healthy, fed, and happy, and there may be different ways of doing that...just like people eat different things and manage up just fine.


But is there a reason people seem to really hate on Purina in particular? I thought it was a pretty reputable brand, especially the pro plan variety, so I was surprised to see so much hate.


Thanks for any advice!


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

megthechamp said:


> First of all - can I just say, I knew mommy-shaming was a thing, I had no clue "dog mommy-shaming" was.
> 
> But is there a reason people seem to really hate on Purina in particular? I thought it was a pretty reputable brand, especially the pro plan variety, so I was surprised to see so much hate.


"Dog-mommy shaming" is totally a thing. We are all (myself included) guilty of it at times. And its the internet, we are all WAY more comfortable expressing our opinions because we forget that behind that protective computer screen is a real, oxygen breathing human (and dog!). At minimum, you want a good quality dog food that gives your dog all the nutrients and vitamins they need in healthy ratios. The rest I think can be based on your own philosophy towards pet food/food (grain free, raw, home-cooked, whatever). 

Dog food companies brand themselves in ways that make you want to buy them. We want to do the best things for our dogs. Companies can capitalize on this by setting themselves apart because of X-Y-Z thing, tell us its the best. Convince customers that its the best, make customers feel like they are better than everyone else for using your product, and the customers will do even more marketing for you. 

People hate on Purina because its mass produced, sponsors vet nutrition education, and includes things we have decided are "bad" for our dogs, like corn and chicken and things that sound unpalatable to us. 

I like Purina Pro Plan personally--my dog eats PPP SSS (lamb & rice) and loves it! She doesn't have THAT sensitive of a stomach (compared to my last dog who needed hypoallergenic food), but poultry was a problem for her. It gives her everything she needs to be healthy. I think you can feed it to any dog, even if they don't have a sensitive stomach. 

I like that Purina has been around for a long time, does real research on its foods, etc. It works for my dog. If she needed to be on a grain free or raw diet, she would be on that. 

If you ask my dog Piper, though, she vehemently believes that she should be eating everything her mom eats, but with all the bacon and dog treats and chocolate she wants. Especially all the dog treats. Shame on ME for not providing her what she needs .


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

IMO it's leftover from Nestle hating... 
they supplied formula in very poor countries to mothers who then stopped nursing, which caused ovulation to start earlier, which then caused further nutritional deficits when mama got pregnant again sooner than nature would have allowed without the introduction of formula... not to mention the lack of clean water playing into infants getting sick... this was maybe the late 70's- 80's... I remember Nestle being boycotted, etc.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

OH MAN, I remember that! I don't know anything about their products... 

Dog food is a personal decision and what works for one dog doesn't necessarily work for another, this doesn't make it bad... just bad for your pup.

My only issue with any of the foods is being able to trust the label. I want to know what is in the food, where it is processed and where the indg. came from. But shoot, these days you can't by a head of lettuce without a recall for salmonella so it would seem like this problem is much larger than Purina.


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

We're bringing a new puppy home in a few weeks and I plan to feed Purina Pro Plan based on the many recommendations on this forum. Our last two dogs were on Blue Buffalo and did just fine as well. Our first Golden was on Eukanuba and lived to be 13. Some people prefer other brands, or feed raw, and that's fine with me. I don't care for the shaming that happens on many sites, and this forum is pretty shame-free from what I've read in the few months I've been onboard.


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## photoweborama (Dec 6, 2007)

When my son lived with us, his dog constantly had open sores on her legs. We just assumed she cut them on rocks in the back yard. 

She was always on edge and irritable with the other dogs. She had a hair trigger so to speak.

We were feeding them A taste of the wild, and other “boutique” dog foods. Lamb and rice, chicken and rice, salmon and pea, and Bison and....

By accident, my wife grabbed Purina One lamb and rice at Sam’s club.

All of her sores cleared up. Her temperament improved, no more fights. She’s still hyper, but she’s not mean anymore!

As they say: “YMMV”.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

I know that people hate the poor quality foods they make. Dog Chow comes to mind. Has (or at least used to have) a lot of corn in it. I work near a corn processing plant that smells exactly like Dog Chow. I think it’s really what’s best for your dog. I have 2 dogs that do great on Pro Plan Sport. I have 2 other dogs that thrive on Diamond. It’s the only thing that one of them doesn’t turn her nose up to.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Try feeding Nutro. :laugh:

FWIW - I've been feeding Nutro for forever. 

The same people hating on food products because of Nestle ALSO hate on food products because of Mars. It's assumed really big corporations cut corners and get sloppy after acquiring what had originally been small boutique foods. 

It can be said (probably) that Nutro had most of their problems after being acquired by Mars. They also became a much bigger company after being acquired by Mars though.... 

Currently, you have people whose dogs get sick for other reasons or who buy food from crappy places and keep the food in crappy conditions (metal garbage cans in their hot garages) and complain when the dogs get sick and the kibble shows signs of mold or bugs.  

A lot of anxiety/fear stuff happens because there ARE things that happen to damage the trust people have in big dog food companies. 

Me personally - I pay attention to the food quality and keep an eye on my dogs. Because the food is kept in the bags in closed containers in a controlled temperature area (pantry in the kitchen) and I never buy more than I can use up in about 45 days with my dogs, I never see signs of mold or bugs. 

But I know people who buy the food and dump it in metal drums in their garages and scoop it out there for the dogs. <= And you see signs of mice and bugs in their garages because of the kibble! That's not even talking about what happens when those metal drums heat up in temperatures like we have this week (disgustingly hot). <= Those cases, people are just kinda asking for their dogs to get sick! 

About Purina One Smart Blend - My sister was feeding that to her Saint pup. He's been switched over to Nutro Essentials.... because he likes the taste of the Nutro kibble better. He LOVES the Nutro Ultra which I feed my dogs, but it's a smidge to expensive for my sister's family (and huge dog that eats a lot more food than my dogs combined). 

The Purina One Smart Blend... to me... had a metallic smell, stale kibble, and rubbery chicken pieces designed to "look" palatable, but actually were kinda gross. 

The saint pup didn't seem to like the food. He was a very poor eater on it. Devours the Nutro kibble.

My next pup will be kept on whatever the breeder will be feeding the pups at the point for a couple months - which I suspect will be Taste of the Wild (TOTW). I'll switch him over to Nutro Ultra adult kibble by 4-5 months. If I had my preference, wouldn't mind PP Focus Puppy which smells good, but is more important not to switch puppy's food around on them early on.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

People hate on Purina because they think it makes them appear smart and knowledgeable about canine nutrition. They couldn't be more wrong!


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## rabernet (Feb 24, 2015)

I became interested in the Purina ProPlan lines of foods when I started to volunteer for Canine Assistants, which raises and trains service dogs. They fed ALL of their dogs this line. From large breed puppy up to an all life stages (at the time, they didn't have as many varieties to choose from). This was back in the late '90's. 

I saw how well all the dogs were doing, and switched our dog at the time to it as well. Then came Noah, and we raised him on Purina ProPlan Large Breed Puppy, then switched to the Sensitive Skin and Stomach for one large bag (I don't even remember why I chose that particular one at the time), and finally landed on the Sport 30/20. 

We are just about done transitioning Moses from Life's Abundance, which he was fed at Robin's, to the Large Breed Puppy, and he'll transition to the Sport 30/20 as well. 

I can say this about Noah - he's never in 3 1/2 years ever had itchy skin, allergies, hot spots or ear infections - and he swims frequently (dock diving). I do also clean his ears with a prescribed solution after each time he takes a class, or swims. I also don't blow dry his coat after these - he has a nice field type coat which dries pretty quickly on its own. 

I got into one of these debates on FB with a gal who simply wrote "bad" when I said what I feed on a GR focused page. I asked her why - she said too many recalls. I told her to show me any recall on the Purina ProPlan dry foods. She kept throwing up links to other Purina foods, or the canned foods - she finally just went radio silent after each one I said "again - show me Purina ProPlan dry food recalls". She couldn't. She said she sells dog food, and her Purina rep feeds his dogs something else (I forget what now). I simply said "good for him to choose what works for him. Purina ProPlan works for me and countless others". 

You'll drive yourself crazy chasing the boutique foods in your quest to feed what others say is the best food to feed. I decided to stick with what was working, with what I've seen personally in over 20 years at Canine Assistants and with my own dogs.


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## megthechamp (Jun 14, 2018)

Thanks for all your advice - because my pup is young, my main concern is just a history of "bad" stuff occurring with Purina that I didn't know about. I had heard of the bugs being found in the bags a long time ago, but each bag I've gotten looked fairly fresh to me. I'd like to step it up to Pro Plan eventually, but didn't want to do so if I was going to eventually have to switch him to something else in the future (I'd like to just find one good food he can be on).


I know the dog chow line really isn't all that great, but for now, smart blend seemed like a good middle ground until I made the transition to adult food. I just feel like there are so many choices nowadays!! Back when I was a kid, my folks fed our dogs Iams and it seemed like a pretty simple choice, but now that I'm older and have my own dog I'm trying to navigate the minefield and Iams didn't seem like the best. But, who knows. My lab had been fed Iams all her life and lived to be 14 with minimal health issues.



Oh - and I've never felt judged on these forums, by the way!! I was just saying on social media as a whole. Someone I follow on instagram was in an uproar about Nestle as a company taking control of Orijen since that's what she feeds her german sheperds. I just wasn't positive on the history of Nestle.


Thanks for all the "food for thought" (hah).


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

I've been feeding PPP SSS-salmon to my guys for the last 7 years and they have done very well on it. A lot of members recommend it when my boy was having stomach issues and I was trying different brands and formulas. The PPP SSS was the only one that worked for him. One of the Vets at the clinic I go to also feeds it to her dogs. 

I would have never considered trying it if the members hadn't recommended it. I've stayed with it because it works for him and he's doing great on it.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

FWIW - if it wasn't clear from my post yesterday - I'd say feed whatever you want. Most people can recite how well their dogs are doing on whatever food they are feeding. Whatever makes them feel good about spending money at the end of the day is fine. 

I glaze over when people start talking about poop sizes and consistencies with the implication that they think it's more normal for dogs to barely poop at all than to have 2-3 bowel movements a day (while eating a lot of food). LOL. 

I feed Nutro Ultra because I like what my dogs look like + their health while eating it. You've gotta let that be your guide as well whatever you happen to feed. Some people have really sticky brand loyalty to the extent that it's ALL OR NOTHING. So if feeding Fromm grain free fails, they are switching to homecooked or raw options instead. 

And vets feed the hysteria sometimes when they blame everything on food allergies. Even though dogs (like people) are more prone to environmental allergies. It should be more practically normal for dogs as a scavenger type animal to be able to eat ANYTHING without any harm done. And some dogs do. 

I had a boy years ago who ate ANY frogs he ran across. He would literally hunt for them based on some weird frog-eating craving that he had.  

This same dog and his bro were also bunny poo eaters. 

My Jacks - most disgusting thing he ever did was eating the entrails of some unknown animal that a carrion bird dropped in our yard. He apparently thought that was manna from heaven. 

And bottom line as well, my grandma used to get dog food every few months. Her dogs would eat scraps and leftovers as their main food source. If there were no leftovers, that was when they got kibble. That was apparently the norm way back then before we all switched gears to not having big family dinners with lots of leftovers. 

Not saying I would feed just anything or recommend people feeding just anything (if they ask). But bottom line is before you take advice from a person who sells expensive dog food for a living or a vet who doesn't even own a dog but has all kinds of ideas about what other people should buy or feed their animals.... feed your dogs a food that they do well on.


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## Gleepers (Apr 20, 2016)

The nutritionist I follow recommends Fromm and that is what I buy most of the time. It works for us and the basic flavors are similar in price to Pro Plan. But I also tend to change brands and flavors a lot. My pup came home on Pro Plan and it does get into my rotation now and then. My last bag was pro Plan. 

Purina sells a lot of different foods and label reading there is a lot of variation in the ingredients between those brands. I once picked up a bag of the yellow small breed to use as training treats and was a bit shocked to find that the ingredients were essentially meat flavored fruit loops (corn, wheat and corn syrup)

I drove past the purina manufacturing plant for some 10 years and it smells very much like fermenting corn. 

My advise is to read the labels. But at the end of the day do the best you can and choose a food that your dog likes and does well on.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

I think some of the hate comes from the general increase in a distrust of science. People don't trust the science on climate change, nevermind on dog nutrition. They would rather trust an anonymous dentist on the internet making declarations about what foods are good or bad based on nothing but opinion, rather than decades of solid nutritional research, done by animal nutrition scientists. Or, they decide that because carbs are "bad" for humans, that they must be bad for dogs (and there you have grain-free). Or, they decide that dogs should only eat a list of ingredients that "I would eat myself." None of it has any science behind it - just claims on the internet. Or by people who just believe. There was a post earlier this week right here by someone asking about what his breeder told him - that most Goldens have allergies or sensitivities to chicken. Based on no research whatsoever. 

A woman came up to me at the Canadian Pet Expo a few weeks ago to marvel at my beautiful dog, but it quickly became clear she just wanted to push her feeding beliefs on me. You know what it was based on? ONE guy on the internet whose dog had cancer - and he started to feed whatever it was she was pushing, and the dog was CURED. CURED, I say. 

One. Anonymous. Guy. On. The. Internet. With. One. Dog.

She changed what she fed her perfectly healthy dog and started preaching because of one, non-scientifically proven experience, which might have been a bunch of lies. But her dog will never get cancer, no way, no how.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

What she said^^


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## Tennyson (Mar 26, 2011)

My boy came home from the breeder's on Purina Pro Plan SS&S. All her dogs are on it. I stayed with it and Deaglan loves it, no ear infections, no hot spots, great shiny coat, does circle when I scoop it onto his dish. I also live a few miles from where it's processed. Toured the facility many times (unannounced.) It's immaculate. I keep it in the bag in an air-tight container.
One thought on internet sites that grade animals food. The dope on food advisor.com is a dentist.


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## Mirinde (Jun 8, 2011)

The food debates get pretty heated, I remember it was a very, VERY frequent topic here way back when! It's interesting to see that it's mellowed out. 

Folks get weird about food in general; think about how bent out of shape some folks get about people food! There's just something about it that hits a button. There's nothing objectively wrong with Purina. The best food for your dog is the food your dog does best on. Your dog will probably do great on more than one kind of food! 

We switched to Acana a couple years ago, but not for any super intense reason. His condition wasn't as great as I felt it could be on the food he was eating, and our cat had just passed way so our "pet food" budget could be increased a little. I wanted to give it a try. Things have been about as good on it as they were on Euk... no magic transformation. 

There hasn't been a food so far that has kept his allergy-prone ears under control, so I think we're going to try SS&S this year. 

The only thing that matters is your dogs condition and your comfort level, in that order. In my opinion, even if you despise Purina and hate feeding it, if it's THE ONE FOOD your dog does super great on, it should be the food you're feeding. Nothing comes before the dog's condition.


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## Ivyacres (Jun 3, 2011)

Megora said:


> Try feeding Nutro. :laugh:



Honey was eating Merrick for years after the big TOTW recall. After it was sold (don't remember who bought it) her coat became rough and she wasn't her happy self. Not sick, just not herself so the search was on. Thanks to Megora sharing her experience with it, we tried Nutro Ultra and my happy alert playful Honey is back! I was happy to find what works for Honey.


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## Coltsfans2007 (Jun 5, 2018)

Im going to go against the wind here and state that the hate for Purina mostly stems from the fact that historically they have offered junk dog food and marketed it as a quality product. Ive rescued a number of Goldens and Aussies over the years who had terrible gas and poor health and many of them were on Purina's lower end products. Once we switched them to better food, like Fromm's , or even Blue, we saw immediate benefits. 

Im not saying ALL their products are junk, but they have a lot of VERY low quality foods within their product lines ( any of their Chow, or Alpo mixes, etc). Theres no debating that. For me, any company that's willing to do that is forever off my list.


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

Coltsfans2007 said:


> Im going to go against the wind here and state that the hate for Purina mostly stems from the fact that historically they have offered junk dog food and marketed it as a quality product. Ive rescued a number of Goldens and Aussies over the years who had terrible gas and poor health and many of them were on Purina's lower end products. Once we switched them to better food, like Fromm's , or even Blue, we saw immediate benefits.
> 
> Im not saying ALL their products are junk, but they have a lot of VERY low quality foods within their product lines ( any of their Chow, or Alpo mixes, etc). Theres no debating that. For me, any company that's willing to do that is forever off my list.


So I've been thinking about this comment and I think it's important to consider that not everyone has the financial freedom to pay for premium dog food brands. I would be thrilled if every company offered their very best food at the most economical price point, but in reality companies like Purina are looking to meet needs across a spectrum of customers. They offer lower quality, less expensive foods for people who can't afford to purchase the premium brands. I'm fortunate that my family can afford to spend a little more on a quality brand but I can't judge others that do the best they can for their pets within their budget.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Could also be that it is not a question of 'affordability' but that consumers have been led to believe that Purina, through massive advertising campaigns is a quality product, 'Puppy Chow for a whole year' jingle, and have no idea what they are buying when they buy the 'cheaper' ones. They are assuming it is a good food for their dog simply due to the package/label. Most dog owners don't know there is a difference in dog foods and that that difference can impact their dogs lives. 
Bottom line I think Purina could do better in providing a quality dog food, even at the low end of their 'quality' scale, without jacking the price out of reach for those who cannot afford higher end products.


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## pawsnpaca (Nov 11, 2014)

This article comes from one of my favorite websites. It goes into a lot of detail about what should NOT be in a quality dog food and why, and includes lots of links to additional information. There are so many great foods out there, and even more terrible ones, that the best thing you can do is to educate yourself on how to read a label and then go from there.



Based on what I've read, and with guidance from my holistic vet, I've made a personal decision to feed primarily a commercial raw diet. I also use a rotation of high-quality kibbles for training and in treat dispensing toys. That said, I have several friends with obviously healthy, robust dogs who have always been fed one of the higher-end ProPlan products (and that's also what I fed my first, and longest-lived, Golden and she did fine on it for most of her life). I used to be one of the Purina-haters, but I temper my opinions on it these days. :wink2:

The best advice I've heard is "The best food for your dog is the food he does best on..." 

Good luck!


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