Purina Pro Plan VD Therapeutics Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 1.8/10, Purina Pro Plan VD Therapeutics 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 8 of the 16 recipes in this line. However, the others don’t fare much better. There are 16 recipes that average 23% protein and 42% carbohydrate as calculated, which is excessively high.  

This line is geared toward special needs that include dental, skin, digestive, joint, brain, kidney and urinary health, and weight management. As noted with the Purina Essentialcare line, the guaranteed analysis has some minor differences, but the majority of the 16 specialized recipes are similar, as are the ingredients. They appear to share the same vitamin and mineral premix and standard list of grains and starches. 

However, the main exception is the kidney diet with 12.5% protein and 55% carbohydrates. Veterinarians often recommend low protein foods for dogs with kidney disease, but what is more important is quality protein, as dry foods stress the kidneys even further.

Several recipes don’t have a definable source of animal protein but list poultry by-product meal, hydrolyzed soy protein isolate and assorted meals and plant proteins. This contributes to the low average protein and the high level of average carbohydrates in these recipes. 

Like most Purina recipes, these are high carbohydrate, high starch recipes. While dogs are omnivores and can digest some starch, their digestive systems are better suited to a carnivorous diet. A high starch diet can lead to digestive upset, obesity and allergies and sensitivities. And there is nothing noteworthy within the ingredient lists that differs from other recipes in the Purina veterinary and non-veterinary lines. 

The high average carbohydrates are from rice, barley, corn, peas, potato and soybean – and those recipes that don’t include corn or soy still include substitute starches. Soybean hulls are also in some recipes. This is industry waste added to the foods as fiber instead of obtaining it from fruits and vegetables that are noticeably missing from the ingredient list. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but starch is required for extrusion in dry foods. Excessive carbohydrates are an indicator of lower food quality as they 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 also contribute to the high carbohydrate levels. 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.

As noted, an excessive amount of vitamins and minerals, plus some amino acids, 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. 

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. 

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. 

Some recipes also include cellulose, another source of fiber, and sugar which appears as glycerin. Cellulose is an insoluble fiber made from wood pulp and is the least expensive and least functional form of fiber since it’s very poorly fermented. Sugar is 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.

There are also unnamed animal proteins that are a sign of low quality and can be made from any type of fish or poultry. Unnamed animal products are often a less expensive, low quality ingredient that can be made from rendered waste of many proteins. One recipe also cites an unspecified vegetable oil as a source of MCT oil, making it difficult to determine the quality.

The concerns about ingredient safety begin with kibble being 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 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.  

There are also GMO crops 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 since rice naturally absorbs arsenic that can contaminate the water it’s grown in. Arsenic is linked to chronic health issues.  

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 are worth noting. 

There is ingredient splitting in these recipes. That’s the practice of splitting ingredients into subcategories (like peas, pea fiber and pea protein, or corn and corn gluten meal) to make  them appear lower on the list. This can also move more desirable protein ingredients higher. 

There is also coconut oil, which has been shown to cause undesirable changes in the gut lining.

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.