Purina Alpo Dog Food Reviews

Alpo is a Purina brand with a line of dry and a line of wet dog food. Alpo dry dog food has 2 recipes that are considered very high risk. Alpo wet dog food has 8 recipes that are considered high risk. 

Alpo dry dog food scores very low due to a list of concerns that include high carbohydrates, use of natural flavor, artificial color, ultra processing, and use of high pesticide/herbicide and GMO foods in the top 5 ingredients. They have low protein levels and use low quality proteins like plant proteins in place of better quality animal protein. 

Low quality proteins are also found in Alpo wet recipes that include meat by-products. Using an unspecified protein is a less expensive and lower quality source of protein or fat. 

Average carbohydrates as calculated in the dry recipes are excessively high at 50%, with very low protein averaging 18%. Wet foods generally have lower carbohydrates but these wet foods are much higher than we’d like to see with a range of 19 to 25%, as calculated on a dry matter basis. However, the wet foods contain decent average protein of 46%, which is what is expected in wet dog foods. 

Dry foods are ultra processed, with several stages of heating that causes a loss of nutrients. Wet recipes are less processed but still involve several stages of heating. Both lines share several common quality and safety concerns. 

Both lines have minimal or no whole food ingredients like fruits and vegetables that would provide micronutrients and antioxidants. Like all Purina foods, these recipes have been supplemented with an extensive list of added vitamins and minerals to balance these foods to nutritional standards. It’s preferred that vitamins come from whole food sources that include the full spectrum of cofactors, which makes them safe and bioavailable. While a couple of added vitamins are acceptable, five or more implies the food is of poor nutritional value. 

When it comes to ingredient safety, Alpo wet has ingredients known to have high pesticide or herbicide residues, and both lines have ingredients known to be genetically modified (GMO). These are important safety concerns, especially when they appear in the top 5 on the ingredient list, meaning they’re included in higher amounts. Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers pose a significant health risk to plants, animals and soils. GMO foods have limited safety studies and they lack nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. 

Alpo dry recipes contain menadione, a synthetic form of vitamin K that is not required in dog food. It may be linked to immune system dysfunction, oxidative damage to cells, liver toxicity, and allergic reactions. Food colorings have been added to make the food look more appealing to people snd to hide the grey color of rendered ingredients. Food dyes are linked to health issues.

Purina doesn’t state the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their recipes. While this is true of most companies, it’s a concern because AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.

The average score of Purina Alpo sub-brands are listed below. Click on any line to view the individual foods and scores.