Purina Dog Food Reviews

Purina has 19 product lines being covered in this review. They include Purina One, Purina Pro Plan, Purina Chow and Purina Beyond. There are 12 lines of dry dog foods with 46 recipes, and 7 lines of wet dog foods with 21 recipes. The dry foods are ultra processed and their scores are considered high risk to very high risk according to our evaluation criteria.

Only the Purina One True Instinct wet dog food is considered a low risk dog food. The other lines of canned dog food are considered moderate risk, except for Proplan Focus wet dog food which is considered high risk. The canned foods score better than the dry foods as they are a little less processed, but still have high carbohydrate levels.

Of particular concern is the lowest scoring line which is Purina Puppy Chow dry dog food with a score of 1.25/10 so it’s considered a very high risk dog food. Like the other dry foods in this brand, it is ultra processed, high in carbohydrates, uses inflammatory seed oil and uses artificial colors. Three of its top 5 ingredients are corn and soybeans which are high in carbohydrates and are known GMO crops subjected to high pesticide use. Purina Puppy Chow doesn’t have whole food sources like fruits and vegetables to provide naturally occurring nutrients so vitamins and minerals are added in synthetic form to these recipes, and all recipes in the Purina brand. Purina Pro Plan Development Puppy dry food doesn’t fare much better with a score of 1.6/10 for similar concerns. 

It’s stated that several lines of dry and wet foods don’t include wheat, corn or soy in the recipes. However, that does not mean they have low carbohydrates. In fact, recipes include several starches like barley, oats, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas and rice. In most recipes, carbohydrates are higher than the protein content. In the case of Purina Dog Chow, they are twice as high with average carbs of 46% as calculated while average protein is 21%. 

Average carbohydrates as calculated in the dry recipes never dip below 30% and go as high as 46%. Canned foods generally have lower carbohydrates but most of the canned lines are much higher than we’d like to see ranging fro 18 to 25%. However the exception is Purina One True Instinct canned dog food with average carbohydrates of 9% as calculated on a dry matter basis, also Purina’s highest scoring line. 

Other quality concerns throughout the dry and wet foods include the use of plant protein which are the least expensive substitute for quality animal protein. Also used are unnamed animal products like fish meal, poultry by-product, poultry digest, meat by-product, and meat and bone meal. Using an unspecified protein is also a less expensive and lower quality source of protein or fat. You want to see beef, salmon or chicken, not animal, fish or poultry. Meat and bone meal is a very broad definition that allows for tissues from any mammal from any known or unknown source. 

Several recipes also have added amino acids, which indicates there’s less animal protein and more plant protein in the recipes. Other ingredients that raise quality concerns include the use of sugar that dogs don’t need, and heavily processed, inflammatory seed oils.

There are similar concerns for ingredient safety regarding both canned and dry recipes. In fact, most of the dry foods score 0/10 for ingredient safety. Dry foods are ultra processed, with several stages of heating that causes a loss of nutrients. Canned foods are less processed but still involve several stages of heating.

It should be pointed out that the website notes some of its lines are free of artificial colors or preservatives or don’t use poultry by-product meal. But other Purina lines include these questionable ingredients so there is no brand-wide commitment to this practice and no consistency throughout the brand. They note they don’t use artificial flavors but many recipes use natural flavor which is often made of animal digest or MSG, which are low quality ingredients with limited safety studies.  

When it comes to ingredient safety, all lines include ingredients known to have high pesticide or herbicide residues, and some 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 post a significant health risk to plants, animals and soils. GMO foods have limited safety studies and they lack nutrients compared to non GMO foods. 

Other safety concerns are the use of carrageenan in canned recipes, an ingredient that’s been linked to intestinal inflammation and other negative health effects. Rice is also a concern as it can be contaminated with arsenic, which is linked to chronic health issues. Many 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.

Purina doesn’t state whether fish or fish oil is from farmed or wild caught sources. Wild caught fish is more nutritious and has a better fatty acid balance providing healthy omega-3s. 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 foods and each sub-brand are listed below. Click on any line to view the individual foods and scores.