Pro Plan Specialized Dog Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 1.4/10, Purina Pro Plan Specialized Dog Dry is considered a very high risk dog food based on our criteria. Contributing to that is the ingredient safety score of 0/10 for 11 of the 12 recipes. These 12 recipes average 27% protein and 37% carbohydrate as calculated. 

These recipes include 3 that are labeled for weight management and 4 for sensitive skin and stomach. The weight management foods are excessively high in carbohydrates with an average of 40% as calculated. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but starch is also required for extrusion in dry foods like these. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of lower food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. Foods that are high in carbohydrates can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

The 4 recipes for sensitive skin and stomach are also high in carbohydrates and cause the same concerns. Within the top 9 ingredients you’ll find inflammatory grains and starches like corn gluten meal, wheat, whole grain corn, corn germ meal, oat meal, barley, canola meal and rice, which can negatively affect digestive health.

The recipe Calm & Balanced Chicken & Rice Formula is exceptionally high in carbohydrates at 48%. It’s noted on the website that the recipe includes antioxidants and yet there are no whole food fruits or vegetables in any of these recipes, especially this one, so it’s assumed these are synthetic additives. Glucosamine is highlighted on the website, but chicken feet (a good source of glucosamine) are not included in the description of the poultry by-product meal or chicken meal in these recipes.

All recipes include soybean oil, a GMO crop, and sunflower oil, both inflammatory seed oils that are highly processed and may contain trans fats that affect gut health and digestion. Studies show that ultra processed foods are linked to a higher rate of all-cause mortality in humans. 

Also high on the ingredient list are plant proteins like corn, oat and canola meals, which also contribute to the high carbohydrate level. Plant proteins are a less expensive substitute for quality animal protein. You want to see animal sources because they’re more digestible and contain a wider array of amino acids than plant based protein sources.

An excessive amount of vitamins and minerals have been added to meet nutrient requirements in these recipes. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from added vitamin premixes, so it’s preferable that most or all vitamins and minerals come from real foods. A few amino acids have been added to 2 foods. Foods with lower amounts of animal protein often need to add amino acids to compensate, so 2 or more added amino acids can be a marker of cheap, lower quality ingredients.

It’s also worth noting that the line contains sodium selenite as a source of selenium. Dogs need selenium, and it’s usually added in very small amounts. However some research suggests that sodium selenite may be associated with potential toxicity, so selenium yeast is the preferred form of this mineral. 

Fish meal, fish oil and poultry by-product meal are unnamed animal proteins, which are a sign of low quality and can be made from any type or types of fish or poultry. Unnamed animal ingredients are often a less expensive, low quality ingredient that can be made from rendered waste of many proteins. Another quality concern is the use of glycerin, which is a sugar often found in pet food to increase the palatability or as a preservative or humectant. It is a low quality ingredient that can cause unwanted gut changes, obesity and insulin spikes. 

It’s worth noting that these recipes include probiotics and the amount of CFUs (colony forming units) is guaranteed. 

On the ingredient safety side, kibble is an ultra processed dog food which costs a loss in points across the line. The individual ingredients in dry dog foods are heated several times during processing, which can cause a significant loss of enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species.

These recipes also use ingredients known to contain higher pesticide/herbicide residues, like wheat, barley and corn in the top 5 ingredients. Crops that are spray-dried with Roundup contain more glyphosate/herbicide residue than other crops, even genetically modified ones. Glyphosate is an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases.  

Corn, soybean and canola are GMO foods included in the top 5 ingredients of each recipe. There are limited safety studies on genetically modified and Roundup Ready crops, although they are lacking in nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. GMO crops also strip nutrients from soils, require increased pesticide risk and may be involved in bee die-off. 

Recipes in this line contain natural flavor, which is added to make processed food more palatable. But natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies. The use of rice in several recipes costs ingredient safety points because of potential arsenic contamination. This is a significant concern with rice since it naturally absorbs arsenic that can contaminate the water it’s grown in. Arsenic is linked to chronic health issues.  

Lastly, these 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. 

The concerns below don’t cost points but are worth noting.

There is ingredient splitting in these recipes. That’s the practice of splitting ingredients into subcategories to make them appear lower on the list. This can also move more desirable protein ingredients higher.  

These recipes don’t specify whether fish products are from farmed or wild caught fish. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

Lastly, Purina doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.