Purina Mainstay?

[Roxyluvsme13]

Have you ever heard of it..? It's what my mom bought for Roxy.. I didn't get a full chance to look over all the ingredients yet, but it doesn't look great.

[zoomer]

No, I've never heard of it but it just doesn't sound like a real good food to me...

[Tralee]

I thought you fed raw?

[Roxyluvsme13]

I thought you fed raw?
My mom can't afford it at the moment.
(and yes I told her Roxy would get sick, but she doesn't care)

[zoomer]

My mom can't afford it at the moment.
(and yes I told her Roxy would get sick, but she doesn't care)

Your mom sounds careless :rolleyes:

[Tralee]

thats too bad

I looked on Purina's website and it wasn't listed under their brands of dog food. I didn't find an ingredients list anywhere.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Your mom sounds careless :rolleyes:
No, she just doesn't care too much about Roxy's dog food.. :/ and I guess she doesn't believe me either. She doesn't believe me on much of anything about Dog food/Raw.

thats too bad

I looked on Purina's website and it wasn't listed under their brands of dog food. I didn't find an ingredients list anywhere.
Yeah.. :(.
Ohh.. well.. It's a Purina food.. :confused:

[wolfsoul]

I found this...Doesn't sound too good.

Mainstay Brand
Ground Yellow Corn
Corn Gluten Feed Corn
Beef And Bone Meal
Soybean Meal
Ground Rice Hulls
Protein = 16%
Fat = 6%
Fiber = 8%
Moisture = 12%

[Roxyluvsme13]

I found this...Doesn't sound too good.

Mainstay Brand
Ground Yellow Corn
Corn Gluten Feed Corn
Beef And Bone Meal
Soybean Meal
Ground Rice Hulls
Protein = 16%
Fat = 6%
Fiber = 8%
Moisture = 12%
Exactly what I figured.. No wonder it was $3.49.. :/

[zoomer]

I found this...Doesn't sound too good.

Mainstay Brand
Ground Yellow Corn
Corn Gluten Feed Corn
Beef And Bone Meal
Soybean Meal
Ground Rice Hulls
Protein = 16%
Fat = 6%
Fiber = 8%
Moisture = 12%

Eeek sounds gross. It might make her sick (but I know you told your mom that). Why won't your mom buy a different food for her? How big as the food and how long will it last?

[Roxyluvsme13]

Eeek sounds gross. It might make her sick (but I know you told your mom that). Why won't your mom buy a different food for her? How big as the food and how long will it last?
It would only make her sick since she's been on Raw. The quality has nothing to do with it, since she's eaten worse than that before I was kibble knowledgable. Because my mom can't afford it. It's a 17.6 pound bag, and it will last from 2 weeks - 1 month.

[K9soul]

Jordan's info was all I could find too. Other than that it's called "generic Dog Chow" and is favored by farmers because of how cheap it is. It has less protein than Dog Chow or Beneful. In fact I think it's the first time I've seen a food with less than 20% crude protein. Interesting how Purina doesn't include it on their site.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Jordan's info was all I could find too. Other than that it's called "generic Dog Chow" and is favored by farmers because of how cheap it is. It has less protein than Dog Chow or Beneful. In fact I think it's the first time I've seen a food with less than 20% crude protein. Interesting how Purina doesn't include it on their site.
:eek:
That makes me feel just lovely about feeding it. My mom made a comment today about: You can choose Roxy's food when you can buy it.

I want her on Raw, but it's just not an option at the moment.

[K9soul]

Well hopefully you can go with her next time, and get something at least a bit better. All you can do is keep trying.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Well hopefully you can go with her next time, and get something at least a bit better. All you can do is keep trying.
I was with her.. but she doesn't listen to me on anything. I told her the first ingredient was corn (which is BAD) She goes: I thought vegetables were good for dogs? I said not like that.. :rolleyes:

[bckrazy]

Eeek sounds gross. It might make her sick (but I know you told your mom that). Why won't your mom buy a different food for her? How big as the food and how long will it last?

Seriously, the pot is calling the kettle black. :p Dog Chow is not the healthiest kibble out there either, but she isn't calling your kibble gross.

I think we have all spoken to her about the kibble her Mom chooses to buy, many times. Honestly, I feel sorry for her & for her pups, we all know she tries. Just keep asking, do chores & help out more if that means even a slightly better food for Roxy. The protein & fat in that is extremely lacking, she will most definitely need a ton of that kibble to keep weight on, so make sure you are upping her food and even try to feed her cooked meat scraps from dinner & such to add some more meat to her diet.

[caseysmom]

Your mom sounds careless :rolleyes:


Many of us disagree with Bri's mom's choices for Roxy but I would never tell someone her mother sounds careless. She has been out of work lately and trying to make ends meet and doing the best she can. I just think its disrespectful to say that about somebody's mother.

Sorry Bri that Roxy is on the junk food, hopefully it is just temporary.

[bckrazy]

Many of us disagree with Bri's mom's choices for Roxy but I would never tell someone her mother sounds careless.

Totally agreed, as usual. :)

[IRescue452]

Mainstay is actually a very good food. It isn't marketed so you don't pay for advertising. Its scores a B+ on that rate your dog food chart. I used to feed it to Autumn and she did wonderful on the food. I recommended it once on here as a note to people who can't afford most foods but I didn't get any replies and it was lost in the threads. If this is what your mom wants to buy, encourage it, this food is so much better than stuff like Iams and whatever else she might be tempted to buy. They have different varieties of mainstay including lamb and rice, beef, and chicken, but I've only found the beef in local stores.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Mainstay is actually a very good food. It isn't marketed so you don't pay for advertising. Its scores a B+ on that rate your dog food chart. I used to feed it to Autumn and she did wonderful on the food. I recommended it once on here as a note to people who can't afford most foods but I didn't get any replies and it was lost in the threads. If this is what your mom wants to buy, encourage it, this food is so much better than stuff like Iams and whatever else she might be tempted to buy. They have different varieties of mainstay including lamb and rice, beef, and chicken, but I've only found the beef in local stores.
Really? o_O

caseysmom and bckrazy, thanks. I'm pretty sure I can get her back on Raw once my mom gets all her bills and stuff caught up.

[Vela]

Honestly, Purina Mainstay is not a good food. It's probably one of the worst I have ever seen. I know you have no control over what she gets at this point, but just for the future, I would run so far from that so fast. I hope she doesn't get too sick.

[K9soul]

Mainstay is actually a very good food. It isn't marketed so you don't pay for advertising. Its scores a B+ on that rate your dog food chart. I used to feed it to Autumn and she did wonderful on the food. I recommended it once on here as a note to people who can't afford most foods but I didn't get any replies and it was lost in the threads. If this is what your mom wants to buy, encourage it, this food is so much better than stuff like Iams and whatever else she might be tempted to buy. They have different varieties of mainstay including lamb and rice, beef, and chicken, but I've only found the beef in local stores.

You must be thinking of a different Mainstay formula.. I just can't imagine thinking a food with ground corn as the first ingredient, and 16% crude protein, is a good food. When I did a search on it I found people talking about it who mentioned how their dogs' waste had lots of undigested food in it, and complaining how MUCH waste their dogs produced on it.

Anyway, I certainly disagree with making rude statements against other's parents. And I encourage Briana to keep up her efforts to provide a healthier life for her dogs.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Honestly, Purina Mainstay is not a good food. It's probably one of the worst I have ever seen. I know you have no control over what she gets at this point, but just for the future, I would run so far from that so fast. I hope she doesn't get too sick.
Yeah. I figured it wasn't for $3.95. But at least Roxy has something to eat.. I'll be getting birthday money from the family in a few days, so I'll see if I can get some Raw or something for her. I already said that all my birthday money was going to the animals..

[Roxyluvsme13]

You must be thinking of a different Mainstay formula.. I just can't imagine thinking a food with ground corn as the first ingredient, and 16% crude protein, is a good food. When I did a search on it I found people talking about it who mentioned how their dogs' waste had lots of undigested food in it, and complaining how MUCH waste their dogs produced on it.

Anyway, I certainly disagree with making rude statements against other's parents. And I encourage Briana to keep up her efforts to provide a healthier life for her dogs.
I knew I'd heard of another Mainstay thing, but apparently it's not what my mom bought. Ick, corn. I dread feeding it to Roxy.. (she still has a little more Raw left) I hope she doesn't get sick, if she does I'm going to blame myself. :(

Thanks. I'm trying. :)

[Lori Jordan]

Really? o_O

caseysmom and bckrazy, thanks. I'm pretty sure I can get her back on Raw once my mom gets all her bills and stuff caught up.

I hope so too we all have hard times in our life,now i know it's not the best of food but the good thing is that her tummy will not be empty.Your mother could of choosen not to buy food but she did.As a mother i can understand at times things can get rough...But she does have a heart.I'm sure she is not happy having money problems i wouldn't pry her she must feel bad enough.

[Vela]

Mainstay Brand
Ground Yellow Corn
Corn Gluten Feed Corn
Beef And Bone Meal
Soybean Meal
Ground Rice Hulls
Protein = 16%
Fat = 6%
Fiber = 8%
Moisture = 12%

Ground yellow corn...no need to explain why that's bad as a first ingredient.

Corn gluten feed is a byproduct of the wet milling process. Wet milling separates the corn kernel into starch, oil, protein, and bran. First, the corn is soaked in sulfurous acid. The resulting steep liquor contains protein, minerals, vitamins and energy sources. The starch and oil are extracted from the swollen kernel. The remaining fiber or bran is mixed with the steep liquor. This product, wet corn gluten feed, contains about 40 percent dry matter. The wet corn gluten feed can be dried to about 90 percent dry matter and is called...Dry Corn Gluten Feed!

Corn gluten feed should not be confused with corn gluten meal. Corn gluten meal has 2 times the protein content of corn gluten feed. Also the protein in corn gluten feed is degraded relatively rapidly in the rumen versus the protein of corn gluten meal is degraded relatively slowly (more by-pass potential).

Soybean meal is the product remaining after extracting most of the oil from whole soybeans. The oil may be removed by solvent extraction or by an expeller process in which the beans are heated and squeezed.

ugh about ground rice hulls
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC33127

and more about what rice hulls are used for...growing plants...after parboiling.

Fresh rice hulls have typically not been used as a horticultural substrate component because of weed seed and the potential for nitrogen tie-up in the substrate. However, we have demonstrated that parboiled fresh rice hulls are free of viable weed seed and do not cause nitrogen tie-up in the substrate. Parboiled fresh rice hulls have a higher total pore space and a higher air-filled pore space than horticultural perlite (8mm), and we have demonstrated that parboiled fresh rice hulls can be effectively used as a lower-cost alternative to perlite in horticultural substrates. We are currently conducting research to develop a replacement for Sphagnum peat from waste rice hulls.



Not picking on you Briana, just putting the info up there for any who might wonder. Irescue, are you sure this is the same food? I'm sorry but if so I just can't see how it could be good.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Mainstay Brand
Ground Yellow Corn
Corn Gluten Feed Corn
Beef And Bone Meal
Soybean Meal
Ground Rice Hulls
Protein = 16%
Fat = 6%
Fiber = 8%
Moisture = 12%

Ground yellow corn...no need to explain why that's bad as a first ingredient.

Corn gluten feed is a byproduct of the wet milling process. Wet milling separates the corn kernel into starch, oil, protein, and bran. First, the corn is soaked in sulfurous acid. The resulting steep liquor contains protein, minerals, vitamins and energy sources. The starch and oil are extracted from the swollen kernel. The remaining fiber or bran is mixed with the steep liquor. This product, wet corn gluten feed, contains about 40 percent dry matter. The wet corn gluten feed can be dried to about 90 percent dry matter and is called...Dry Corn Gluten Feed!

Corn gluten feed should not be confused with corn gluten meal. Corn gluten meal has 2 times the protein content of corn gluten feed. Also the protein in corn gluten feed is degraded relatively rapidly in the rumen versus the protein of corn gluten meal is degraded relatively slowly (more by-pass potential).

Soybean meal is the product remaining after extracting most of the oil from whole soybeans. The oil may be removed by solvent extraction or by an expeller process in which the beans are heated and squeezed.

ugh about ground rice hulls
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC33127

and more about what rice hulls are used for...growing plants...after parboiling.

Fresh rice hulls have typically not been used as a horticultural substrate component because of weed seed and the potential for nitrogen tie-up in the substrate. However, we have demonstrated that parboiled fresh rice hulls are free of viable weed seed and do not cause nitrogen tie-up in the substrate. Parboiled fresh rice hulls have a higher total pore space and a higher air-filled pore space than horticultural perlite (8mm), and we have demonstrated that parboiled fresh rice hulls can be effectively used as a lower-cost alternative to perlite in horticultural substrates. We are currently conducting research to develop a replacement for Sphagnum peat from waste rice hulls.



Not picking on you Briana, just putting the info up there for any who might wonder. Irescue, are you sure this is the same food? I'm sorry bit if so I just can't see how it could be good.

:eek: :( :(

[Vela]

Well at least you can say you have learned a lot about different foods and can make better decisions on food when you are grown up and have a say in it. That's much better than continuing to think those types of foods are good for your future pets and continue to feed them. Hopefully soon you can get her something else, but I'm sure you'll try to do the best you can. We don't always get to choose how things get done when we aren't the ones in charge.

[elizabethann]

even try to feed her cooked meat scraps from dinner & such to add some more meat to her diet.

That was what I was going to suggest.

Roxyluvsme13, just think, when you're older & out on your own, you're going to have a wealth of information on how & what to feed your dogs. You know so much about dog food at such a young age! Good for you!

[Roxyluvsme13]

Roxyluvsme13, just think, when you're older & out on your own, you're going to have a wealth of information on how & what to feed your dogs. You know so much about dog food at such a young age! Good for you!
Aww, thank you. When I'm on my own, Roxy's going to be a house dog, too. :D

[IRescue452]

This post will make that stupid grade your dog food post come to light as being inaccurate.
Here are the ingredients in order: Ground yellow corn, corn gluten feed, beef and bone meal, soybean meal, ground rice hulls, animal fat +preservs., salt, dicalcium phosphate, animal digest.
Now to tell you what you are missing by just being a normal person reading a label.
When chicken is the main ingredient in a food, feathers, beaks and gravel/beddings are counted as protein. A chicken food that claims 20% protein is not exactly telling the truth. With beef, more of the cow is an edible source of protein including horns and hoofs. 16% protein is perfectly acceptable. In fact, for dogs, 0% protein is acceptable.
Corn as the first ingredient is a good thing sometimes. Most companies do what is called splitting, they take that 49% corn and split it into smaller groups. Corn is listed a few times, but much further down on the label so it looks like there is less corn. Purina rarely does this. Proctor and gamble does this on almost every label.
Ground rice hulls are 8% of the ingredients and are used as a source of fiber.
Purina does NOT use beet pulp. This is a reason why some dogs have questionable poop. Beet pulp is an artificial binder to create good looking stools. Any food that says beet pulp in the ingredients should be considered suspect and I would not use them because you don't know what they are trying to cover up.
Corn and beef are not bad ingredients either. No ingredient is to be blamed for allergies or other medical conditions. The reason most dogs develope allergies is because they are fed the same crap over time. As their immune system falters from being fed kibble, they are more likely to suffer allergies.
Another good thing about mainstay is that it tests negative for pentobarbitol. Proctor and gamble and nutro both test positive. This is a big red flag about dog foods that are considered good brands (by people who know squat about nutrition and the labeling games).

[IRescue452]

Would it make you happier if purina combined the first two ingredients? You seem to think it matters how many times corn is listed in the first 3 ingredients. If it were only listed once all the sudden this would be the best food right? Some companies do this. Gives you a false sense of security since it is only up there once. Purina would have every right to combine these two into one and make their product look better. They don't though. Why not? You put so much merit in the foods that play this little labeling trick, mainstay could join in.

[Kfamr]

I personally prefer no corn on the ingredients list - it serves no purpose other than a filler. This food is crap.

Vela is correct and put it nicely, I agree with her post explaining the ingredients.

Roxy may be okay though, as far as I recall she wasn't fed raw for long and not consistantly thru that time, either. It may be easier for her to adjust back to low-grade kibble. Hopefully you'll be able to convince her to get a higher quality food. Even something like Purina One or Nutro would be better than this. Good luck.

[Giselle]

If Mainstay combined all the corn ingredients, you'd end up with a very short ingredient list: corn, soybeans, beef and bone meal. I don't know. It still looks pretty yucky to me.

I'm also curious where you got your chicken definition from. This is what I found:

Chicken is the clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken- exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, and entrails. - AAFCO's definition

I also can't see how 0% protein is beneficial for a dog. Even dogs raised on vegetarian diets need substantial protein. How can a dog possibly survive and thrive on a 0% protein diet? I agree with Kay. I prefer to see no corn at all in a dog food. It doesn't matter how they space out their ingredients on the list. The fact is that corn is an undesirable ingredient and I would not feed anything that listed corn on the list.

Bri, can you buy Pro Plan? It's not the best, but it is loads better than other Purina products and it's fairly easy to find. I'm not sure how expensive it is, but I imagine no Purina product would be that costly.

Also, while it is claimed that Mainstay tested negative for pentobarbitol. It is undeniable that Mainstay and other Purina brands contain BHA. Hmm, carcinogens or anesthetics? It's up to you to choose the worse of two evils.

[IRescue452]

AAFCO also accepts dehydrated garbage as a proper ingredient. You really want to take their definition for something?
Kfamr, why would you want to feed anything with pentobarbitol? Doesn't that raise any red flags to you at all?

[Giselle]

AAFCO is currently the most reliable source for the validity of dog food ingredients unless you can show me some other organization that dedicates itself to verifying the quality of dog food. I'm curious, what ingredient is "dehydrated garbage"?

That reminds me, is Mainstay even tested by the AAFCO?

IRescue, in the same sense, why would you feed anything containing BHA/BHT/ethoxyquin/propylene glycol?

Bri, I don't want to hijack your thread, but I hope this is a neat education process ;)

[Kfamr]

I"rescue"452, I don't feed and well never feed any of the foods mentioned in this thread - but, thanks for your concern.

[Vela]

AAFCO also accepts dehydrated garbage as a proper ingredient. You really want to take their definition for something?
Kfamr, why would you want to feed anything with pentobarbitol? Doesn't that raise any red flags to you at all?

Kay doesn't feed food with phenobarbitol in it....neither do a good portion of those of us in this thread. I have fed three foods to my dogs in their lifetimes, Canidae, Chicken Soup, and now Innova EVO, neither of those three have any of those offensive things you mentioned. I also prefer to feed food with no corn in it. It's not really a good food for animals or people. It won't kill you but it is VERY often a source of allergies in dogs from their food. Not sure where you get your facts but 0% is not okay and beet pulp is used as filler, just like corn, just like the "fiber". Dogs don't NEED all that fiber. If they are fed a good diet, raw, or HIGH QUALITY kibble, their stools are fine without needing all that fiber, which is really just another name for filler, to make the dog feel full without actually giving it any kind of nutritional value at all. If that is all someone can afford to feed their dog okay, at least it's being fed, but to truly beleive it's a good quality food boggles my mind.

Look at that list, IMO the Premium and super premium and performance foods are even still a whole bunch of crap, but still better than the bottom dregs. Look at what's at the bottom, that food is even at the bottom of the "crappy food list". So I just can't see how anyone can really truly think it's a great food.

Dehydrated garbage is okay for some....because that's what this stuff is, IMO.

Not to mention, splitting the corn up doesn't really help their food any, if you add it all up there is more corn in it than anything else. How about you eat mostly corn and tell me how healthy you are. It's not digestible by humans or dogs in any unseful form and is actually on of the worst vegetables for people or dogs to eat, if you want to get down to brass tacks. Why do you think it comes out whole on the other end???

http://www.gooddogmagazine.com/drydogfood.htm

[K9soul]

Wow, I'm not even going to begin addressing all those statements, I honestly just don't have the time, though I hope others will (some already have). I just want to say if you think Purina doesn't use beet pulp you might want to look through more of their formulas. They don't use it in all formulas but they most certainly do in some of them. I know for sure some of the Pro-Plan and Selects formulas do as I just looked at their ingredients the other day when someone asked about Selects.

[IRescue452]

I agree that corn isn't an ingredient you look for, but I don't agree why you are saying mainstay is a bad food based on corn, it has the same amount of corn as the other foods mentioned in this thread. I'm not saying its the best food, I'm just defending the fact that it is an ok kibble to feed.

Yes its aafco tested and conforms with aafco, what does aafco mean about anything? Aafco says that dog foods should say 100% complete on the bag even though new nutritional info is found everyday. As far as I'm concerned, AAFCO on the label means nothing about quality. Here's a better authority, Common Sense. Thats why I feed raw and why she tried feeding raw, AAFCO doesn't approve that dogs should be fed raw, they only approve kibble.

Quote: "Not to mention, splitting the corn up doesn't really help their food any, if you add it all up there is more corn in it than anything else"
I meant splitting it up on the label, mainstay DOESN'T do this while other companies do.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Roxy may be okay though, as far as I recall she wasn't fed raw for long and not consistantly thru that time, either. It may be easier for her to adjust back to low-grade kibble. Hopefully you'll be able to convince her to get a higher quality food. Even something like Purina One or Nutro would be better than this. Good luck.
She's been fed Raw for 2 weeks, then back on kibble for 3 days, because she wouldn't eat the Raw. Then, I started feeding it to her frozen, and she's been on it 3-4 weeks. I will most definitely switch her back to Raw when I can, seeing as I found a place that's perfect for getting different varieties of meat.

[bckrazy]

Irescue, I don't really understand your praising Mainstay for dividing three equal sources (ground yellow corn & corn gluten & feed corn) instead of combining them. Actually, by seperating those 3 sources, it makes it seem like there is less of each, when actually at least 50% of this kibble is feed-grade corn, period. Purina One is not 50% corn... it isn't a premium kibble, but it's leaps and bounds better than Mainstay. There CANNOT possibly be a large amount of beef & bone meal if the protein level is 16%. I would consider this one of the worst dog foods out there... might as well praise Ol Roy as species appropriate! The fact is that Briana has no choice what her Mom buys, but hopefully she can begin to save up money to pay the difference between cheap brands and a higher quality brand.

Briana, I honestly think you should make a gradual change to raw. Raw chicken quarters are good for acclimating, but feeding just that for a month (I might be wrong about that, but that's all that I gathered) is not a balanced diet. Remember that quarters are very boney, and at least 1 muscle meat meal should be fed per week. Additionally, so should an offal meal, with half of that being liver. I'm glad you are waiting, but I don't understand why your Mom would pay around $1/lb for raw, but refuses to buy a kibble that is around $1/lb? You can get wonderful brands such as Innova for $1/lb.