Is Purina Beneful Good For Dogs:
Should you feed your dog Purina Beneful dry food?
For most pet owners, the answer to that question is YesNo.
If you are not familiar with this dog food, it is actually a mix of meats, grains, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.
The Purina beneful brand was developed by a company called Purina which is an American pet food manufacturer.
You may be thinking that it is great to give your dog these healthy foods, but if you dont give it the essential nutrients, then what is the point? And if it is good enough for humans, why not for our pets?
Well, if we are going to feed our pets, why shouldnt they befed better than what they get in their normal diets? The answer is simple: dogsare not humans.
What I mean is that pets have been eating bad foods in the past and today, we are finally starting to help them with a good diet. Lets face it: dogs are like children.
They are in constant need of exercise, love, care, and attention which makes them have high requirements in nutrition.
To meet these needs, there is no better choice than to introducesome new things to their diets such as good food such as the Purina beneful.
This food actually contains proteins, vitamins, minerals, andcarbohydrates which are helpful to their immune system and maintain theiroverall health. It also helps them feel good about themselves because of itsvarious ingredients.
There are many others that can meet your needs and you can choose which one to give your dog.
Purina Beneful High Protein Chicken & Beef
Purina Beneful High Protein Chicken & Beef is a product for dogs that need quite a lot of protein in their diet, whether they exercise often, they are older and need more strength, they are younger and need to grow, or they are new mothers or mothers to be.
This product features chicken, whole grain corn, whole grain wheat, corn gluten meal, beef fat, canola meal, soybean meal, chicken by-product meal, oatmeal, natural flavor, mono And dicalcium phosphate, glycerin, barley, brewers rice, beef, calcium carbonate, salt, malted barley flour, dried sweet potatoes, dried spinach, potassium chloride, vitamins, minerals, choline, and chloride.
It features around 26% protein content which is not a very good percentage. This is because the beef, which is advertised in the name of the product, is actually a ridiculously low percentage. This is very deceiving on the part of Beneful. Also, much like many of this companys products, it contains corn gluten meal.
This is often used as a meat substitute and a plant-based protein source yet it does not add any real nutritional content to the meal. In the specific product, brewers rice is also used, which are just the milled fragments of rice kernels. They also provide very little nutritional value. It also includes whole-grain corn, which is hard for dogs to digest.
Is Their Packing Environmentally Friendly
In their FAQ page, FreshPet notes that their products are free from toxins and chemical preservatives, but they do cook and pasteurize their products to kill bacteria.
They use mainly plastic packaging to keep the food fresh and safe until it is opened unfortunately, you may not be able to recycle these materials.
That being said, FreshPet does have a commitment to sustainability in their practices.
They use 100% renewable wind energy to power their kitchens and make every effort to recycle wooden pallets, light tubes, and ballast in their facilities.
The work with dedicated green partners and are working on replacing their existing refrigerators with more environmentally friendly models.
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Purina Dog Chow Complete With Real Chicken
Its proudly tagged as having 23 vitamins and minerals as well as containing real chicken, so youd expect it to be a healthy chicken-based dish for your pup. But that would be wrong.
There is no chicken to be found within the first five ingredients. But wheres the chicken? Its in the 7th slot, after the corns and legume.
Well list down the first five ingredients here: Whole Grain Corn, Meat And Bone Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Beef Fat Naturally Preserved With Mixed-Tocopherols, Soybean Meal. Thats a significant amount of corn and soybean when put together.
We dont have a problem with corn. We recognize that corn contains nutrients and is not a filler. In most cases. However, for a recipe thats not formulated to target specific canine medical conditions, wed expect the corn to be merely a supporting ingredient and not the main one. Quality dog food should always contain more meat than carbohydrates.
The second thing weve noticed is that most of the meats are unnamed. Thats a red flag in dog food. While an unspecified meat ingredient will not harm your pup, its kind of worrying that you dont know whats going in your pets food. Itll even be more worrying if your pet turns out to be sensitive to the ingredient included.
Theres Meat And Bone Meal and Poultry By-Product Meal. What meat do these refer to? Pork, beef, chicken? What kind of poultry? Turkey or chicken?
Purina Beneful Healthy Weight With Real Chicken Dry Dog Food
Like humans, its important for dogs to maintain a healthy weight, as obesity can cause a variety of health issues. If your pooch could stand to lose a few pounds or if you have a breed that is prone to weight gain, offering him a dog food for weight loss will help to keep his weight in-check.
Purina Beneful Healthy Weight with Real Chicken Dry Dog Food is a nutritionally balanced, low-calorie formula that will keep your pet satisfied while helping him maintain a trim physique.
The first ingredient in this Beneful formula is real farm-raised chicken, a premium source of protein that provides the amino acids canines need to support lean muscle mass and promote strong, healthy joints.
Other wholesome ingredients include fresh green beans, spinach, apples, and carrots, which offer a bevy of essential vitamins and minerals and add to the palatable flavor. With 10 percent fewer calories than Beneful Originals with Real Beef and no added sugar, this recipe will keep your pup trim.
The addition of antioxidants and 23 essential vitamins and minerals will ensure that your pup is getting the vital nutrition that he needs. Plus, the unique blend of crunchy kibble and meaty morsels make this recipe extremely palatable.
What We Like About It
- No added sugars
- Contains real farm-raised chicken, as well as fruits and vegetables
- Fortified with antioxidants and 23 essential vitamins and minerals
- Offers a palatable flavor
Reasons to Complain
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Kal Kan Complete Adult Food For Dogs
Touted as a complete and balanced dog food diet, the Kal Kan Complete Adult Food For Dogs is advertised to contain all the protein necessary to provide dogs with enough stamina and energy.
While it does make good on its promise, we cant help but check the label to see if it really is as good as it sounds. And thats where it went downhill.
The first ingredient in this recipe is ground yellow corn. Now a dish that doesnt start with meat is already low-quality in our opinion , but the corn is supported by many more carb ingredients in the food.
Aside from corn, there is one more corn product , two grain products , and one legume ingredient. Three of them are in the first five of the ingredients list.
Now lets move on to the meats. Theyre both unspecified. Meat and bone meal does not refer to which animal contributed to the meal.
Its a vague term that could mean either one type of animal meat was used or a lot. If your pet is particularly sensitive to some types of animal protein, then it becomes even more worrying. You dont know what youre feeding your pup.
Another thing is the use of the term chicken by-product meal. When meat is simply stated as chicken then it refers to the chickens muscle meat.
Throw in the word by-product and that becomes open to interpretation. Anything leftover from processing meat is considered a byproduct. So you can get meat and organs, but you could also be getting entrails, feathers, and more.
Recall Info: None yet.
Original Line Of Diamond Dog Food
The Diamond Pet Food Company is owned and produced by Schell & Kampeter, and comprises three product lines.
The original Diamond line of dog food lacks the desired nutritional content you should be looking for in your dogs food.
A review of several Diamond dog food products reveals the use of corn, soy and wheat ingredients.
Many of the meat-based ingredients come from unnamed sources like fish meal or meat by-products of questionable quality.
They dont use many artificial flavors and colors like other bad dog food brands on this list, so thats a plus.
Still, it would be good to avoid any brand that makes heavy use of wheat, soy and corn.
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Evangers Dry Dog Food
Evangers Chicken Dry Dog Food is formulated to meet the nutrition levels determined by the AAFCO dog food profiles for all life stages.
Fresh chicken is the first and main ingredient. There is zero corn, soy fillers or wheat.
Other quality ingredients are oatmeal, dried egg, carrots, Vitamin A supplement, d-calcium pantothenate , chicken, chicken meal, dried kelp, cranberries, blueberries, brown rice, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress, spinach, potassium chloride, Vitamin E supplement, Vitamin B12 supplement, Niacin supplement.There is no doubt this product can be considered a good diet plan for your dog.
Homemade Dog Food For Renal Disease Recipe
You NEED to consult with a vet or canine nutritionist before switching your dog to a kidney-friendly diet. The professional you work with will likely recommend either a low protein homemade dog food diet or some low protein dog food brands with lower phosphorus levels and are made with high-quality proteins.
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Worst Wet Dog Food: Cesar Filets
Cesar Filets is considered one of the worst dog foods because of its high salt content .
It has sufficient water for processing, animal liver, chicken, beef and meat by-products, wheat gluten, ground wheat flour, cornstarch, salt, pea fiber, sodium tripolyphosphate, calcium carbonate, added color, choline chloride, magnesium.
It helps if you also understand that the quality of ingredients cannot tell the whole story, but the amount of meat in the dog food is critical to consider before determining whether it falls in the best or worst category.
The amount of protein in Cesar filet is about 44%, with 22% fat and 25% carbohydrates.
This analysis shows that this dog food includes an above-average level of protein intake and just near-average fat. At the same time, the carbs are below average compared to a portion of typical canned dog food.
Another factor making it a low-quality dog food is that it has artificial colorings added to it, which is useless and not preferred.
Merrick Brand Dog Food
The ingredients that make Merrick a great choice include deboned duck, deboned chicken, turkey meal, salmon meal which is a source of omega 3 fatty acids, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, potato protein and lamb meal.
Merrick dog food also uses duck fat and chicken fat preserved with mixed tocopherols, blueberries, apples, salmon oil, organic alfalfa, natural flavor and salt.
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Sportmix Premium High Energy 26/18
This makes the top of our worst dog foods list because of the sheer number of dogs that were affected by the aflatoxin levels found in several Sportsmix products, including this one.
Many pets have died and many more were left ill.
But even without the aflatoxin situation, this recipe was not a particularly good one to begin with. We normally like dog foods that start with a meat ingredient because that shows that meat makes up the most volume in the recipe. However, we arent sold on byproducts, and this recipe starts with one.
When byproducts are mentioned, it means this is what is leftover after the meat is removed. So a chicken byproduct meal is essentially dried out chicken leftovers that may include organs but also other stuff like hide, hair, or intestinal contents .
Are these harmful to your dogs? No. Are these nutritious? They can be. But are these high-quality ingredients? Definitely not.
Aside from the byproduct meal ingredient, this recipe also contains meat meal. But that ingredient is ambiguous. What animal was used? Which part/s?
The thing about unnamed ingredients is that it could mean anything. The meat could be sourced from one animal or it could be sourced from several. Its not a quality ingredient, thats for sure.
The recall involved 50- and 44-pound bags of Premium High Energy with an expiration of either March 2 or 3, 2022. The recall was later expanded to include more recipes and the updated toll numbered over 70 dogs dead and at least 80 more ill.
A Deeper Dive Into The Brand
Purina has a long history, being founded in 1894 by William H. Danforth, George Robinson, and William Andrews. The company was created with the purpose of feeding farm animals. They changed their name to Ralston Purina in 1902.
1926 saw them open a pet nutrition and care center in Missouri, which served to confirm the nutrition and value of their pet foods. Purina was the first company to produce dry dog food in the form of kibble, with Purina Dog Chow being launched in 1956 .
They were also the first to make it known that puppies need somewhat different nutrients to adult dogs, and introduced their first dedicated puppy food in 1963. 1986 was an important year in the company, as they developed a process to make it possible to use real meat as the first ingredient in their kibble. Purina Pro Plan was the first food introduced that used this innovative process and could boast real meat as ingredient number one.
1986 was also the year that Ralston sold their animal feed business and committed themselves to making dog and cat food. In the years to follow, they launched an important study on dog feeding, introduced a hypo-allergenic dog food formula and a diabetic cat food formula, and established a Canine Reference Family DNA Distribution Center.
2001 marked a change when Ralston Purina was acquired by Nestlé. They continued to refine their procedures and produce new pet food formulas, and keep doing so even now.
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Beneful Originals With Real Salmon:
Beneful Originals With Real Salmon is made with salmon, whole grain corn, barley, rice, whole grain wheat, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, beef fat, oatmeal, soybean meal, poultry by-product meal, glycerin, egg and chicken flavor, mono And dicalcium phosphate, soybean oil, poultry and pork digest, calcium carbonate, salt, potassium chloride, dried sweet potatoes, dried green beans, dried carrots, minerals, iron oxide , vitamins, choline chloride, and L-lysine monohydrochloride. The total protein content is 24%, which again, is quite low.
As we have mentioned before, corn is hard for dogs to digest. It is also one of the most common food allergies for dogs so if you are worried your dog might be sensitive to certain foods, you should definitely avoid recipes that include corn. This recipe does, however, meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO . The manufacturer has also claimed that the recipe has recently been updated and approved as of 2016 to keep up with Benefuls new commitment to quality proteins, although protein level is still low.
Key Differences Between The Worst And Best Dog Foods
- The best dog food will exceed the minimum nutritional requirements Whilst all commercially available foods will reach the minimum required nutritional levels, the minimum is not enough to make your dog fully thrive.
- Protein According to Kate Barrington at Petsumer.com, the best dog food will have over 25% protein. This should be ideally from all animal sources, without using vegetable protein.
- Fat The best foods will have at least 10% fat content.
- Enriched with Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.
- The first five ingredients on the label should not contain any fillers, by-products, or additives.
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Merrick Real Texas Beef & Sweet Potato Recipe
If you are specifically looking for grain-free canine formula, then you can’t go wrong with this Merrick recipe.
It’s perfect for all breeds, ages, and sizes and is available in a variety of different flavors. We recommend the beef and sweet potato recipe as it is poultry-free .
Containing a whopping 38% protein and 15% fat, Merrick’s philosophy is that these two properties in combination with a host of vitamins and minerals will do wonders for promoting the overall dog’s health.
They are extremely transparent with regards to the ingredient composition, choosing only the best available products and containing no corn, wheat, soy or gluten ingredients.
This helps give us tremendous confidence in recommending the brand. At $60 for a 25-lb bag, this does fall into the premium category.
Whether the exceptional nutritional content is worth the increased price is up to you.
Worst Dog Treats: Sportmix Wholesomes Biscuits
Sportmix biscuit treats are on the list of dog food brands to avoid because it is made of unwanted dry leftovers and includes preservatives and fats harmful to dogs.
If we estimate the products meat content, it shows that it contains about 24% protein content, 13% fat, and about 54% carbohydrates.
After analyzing these numbers, it is clear this is a poor choice and is just a bit above average compared to other high-quality dog foods.
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About Beneful Dog Food
Our Purina Beneful dog food review as revealed that the price point of Beneful dog food is very appealing, as they are considered one of the least expensive choices on the market. The delicious taste is irresistible to a lot of dogs, even the finicky and picky eaters cant resist!
There was a controversial formula change not too long ago, and this raised many questions with consumers. Some even reported their dogs refused to eat the new recipe. Beneful claimed these changes were due to an endless tweaking process they undergo to always exceed expectations.
Their dog food is made in the Purina facilities that exceed FDA, USDA, and AAFCO standards. Beneful claims to hold themselves to very high standards when it comes to dog food safety. Purina consistently performs quality checks to further guarantee the quality of their pet food.