Purina One True Instinct Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 1.7/10, Purina One True Instinct Dry is considered a very high risk dog food based on our criteria. There are 5 recipes that average 31% protein and 30% carbohydrate as calculated.

These recipes have high carbohydrates and include grains and starches like soy flour, wheat, corn, corn meal, soy flakes, oat meal, rice flour and canola meal at the top of the list of ingredients. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but starch is required for extrusion in dry foods. 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. 

Also high on the ingredient list are plant proteins, which 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.

The recipes contain excessive vitamins and minerals to meet nutrient requirements. This usually indicates 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. 

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. 

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. 

Soybean oil is an inflammatory seed oil that is highly processed and may contain trans fats. Studies show that ultra processed foods are linked to a higher rate of all-cause mortality in humans. These recipes contain fish oil which is an unnamed animal ingredient. This is a sign of low quality and can be made from any type of fish. Unnamed animal ingredients are often a less expensive, low quality ingredient that can be made from rendered waste of many proteins. 

There are 2 “high protein” recipes in this line but they aren’t markedly different from the protein levels of the other recipes. These recipes are also described as having no poultry by-product meal, an ingredient that figures prominently in recipes in other lines. 

On the ingredient safety side, 4 of these 5 recipes score 0/10 which is concerning. This is 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 include wheat in the top 5 ingredients which is a crop known to contain higher pesticide/herbicide residues. 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.  

Soy flour and soybean meal are GMO ingredients included in the top 5 ingredients of these recipes. 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. 

Caramel color has been added to these foods. It’s often added to make them look more appealing to consumers. They are often used to hide the grey color of rendered ingredients and are linked to 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 following concerns don’t cost points but should be noted. 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 the fish oil is 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. 

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