Picking the proper food for your pet can take a lot of research, trial, and error. With so many pet foods out there, it's often stressful picking the one that will give your pet the right amount of nutrients and energy, while also matching their individual needs.
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Purina, one of the most popular pet food brands out there, has received a flood of criticism after customers claimed their pets became sick after eating the Purina Pro Plan food. Many have been wondering if Purina is good for dogs — here's what you need to know.
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Is Purina good for dogs?
Many vets assert that Purina is good for dogs. In fact, it ranks at the top of PetMD's list of "8 Best Puppy Foods in 2024 Recommended by Vets." However, several online videos alleging that Purina's Pro Plan pet food has made pets sick have led to rumors that the food is unsafe.
According to CBS News, the posts include claims that dogs have experienced diarrhea, vomiting, seizures, and even death from eating Purina Pro Plan food. Purina made a statement on Jan. 15, 2024, responding to the posts, which the company referred to as "rumors."
"In light of the rumor, our Quality Assurance team has reviewed all incoming consumer contacts, manufacturing, and quality assurance data ... for the past year, and we have found no data or trend that would indicate an issue."
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In March 2023, Purina Pro Plan's Veterinary Diets EL Elemental dog food was recalled due to its too-high vitamin D content. However, as of Feb. 6, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration has not recalled the Purina Pro Plan pet food, per CBS News.
IF YOU USE PURINA PRO PLAN PLEASE DONT!!!!! Just a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT for anyone who uses Purina Pro Plan food, DON’T. Our vet recommended us to get this food for our 7+ year old dogs, and when we got our puppy we put her on the plan also. The last couple of bags we’ve purchased we noticed that when we would get to the bottom of the container there were these worm like things in it. My first logical thought was that they were probably from inside the house or maybe my plants even. We do live on a nature preserve and trust me the bugs in our area are WILD. So we did our research and bought a safer air tight heavy duty container. We bought brand new food (which by the way is about 80$ a BAG) and put it in our new containers. Three days later we found live bugs in the food again moving around confirming it was in fact the food. Then we started breaking open pieces of the food and THE BUGS ARE INSIDE THE FOOD!!! This made me so sick to my stomach to think my dogs have been eating this food. Anyone who knows me knows these three ARE MY LITERAL CHILDREN AND I WOULD KILL SOMEONE FOR MY DOGS NO QUESTIONS ASKED! I spent ALL day researching and finding people all over the world who have had this problem with Purina Pro Plan and have posted videos, pictures, etc. I messaged a few of them just to chat and hear their stories. When I first started them on the food 3+ years ago, I DID MY RESEARCH and there’s was nothing like this about the food that I could find, from what I’ve gathered this has been going on for the last year or year and a half. Anyways I went to our local pet store I bought the food at and shout out to the girl that helped me because she was amazing and just returned the food for me even though I didn’t have it with me and told me that this brand of food gets returned the most because of the bugs inside of it. Her mom is a vet and she literally CALLED her and let me speak with her and she said my dogs are gonna be fine it’s no biggie (I wasn’t super concerned for them since they are up to date on dewormers and shots) and she recommended food that’s off large scale production and was SO sweet and helpful. I messaged Purina Pro Plan and the first thing they said was that “This probably happened after the food left the factory but we’ll have a manager reach out to you. Because of the high quality measures we put in place it couldn’t have come from us. Infestation can happen anywhere.” BUT ALL THE SAME BUGS IN THE SAME FOOD ACCROSS THE WORLD GOT INFESTED AFTER THE PRODUCTION LINE?!?! I don’t think so, but nice try. I don’t care about speaking to a manager I don’t care about my money I care about my dogs. I’ll ask everyone what food they feed their dogs and I’ll share my story I already got some people at work today to switch foods. Thanks for coming to my ted talk. 🙃 Absolutely sick. Please share this and get everyone off this food!!! #purinaproplan#bugs#infestation#purinadogfood#purinainfestation#dogfood#blowthisup#pleaseshare#dogsoftiktok#pitbullsoftiktok
Pedigree is another prominent pet food brand, and is generally considered good for dogs,according to Veternarians.org. The article, which was reviewed by a vet, asserts that Pedigree dog food is a good budget-friendly option that includes "average-quality" ingredients to cover all the bases of nutrition. However, like Purina, pet parents have mixed reviews of the food.
Within the Q&A forum of Rover, a pet-sitting and dog-walking service website, most of the Pedigree reviews are cautionary, often criticizing the brand's use of corn and meat byproducts.
According to Dog Food Advisor, Pedigree has 1 star out of 5. The dog food rating website references Pedigree's use of anonymous bone meals for protein, which are often slaughterhouse byproducts, and sometimes do not digest well. Because of this, along with the use of artificial coloring such as red dye No. 40, and the lower quality fat and grain ingredients, Dog Food Advisor does not recommend Pedigree.
It's important to remember that no matter what pet food brand you buy, there are likely going to be contesting opinions about which is best. This is why it is always a good idea to ask a veterinarian any pet food questions you have, and to heed their recommendations based on the specific needs of your pet.
