Purina Beneful?????????????????

**LilacDragon** · 09-08-2006, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by dragondawg

Your puppy appears to be in excellent shape, and there is no need to switch from what you are currently feeding. The usual problem with a puppy formula is that due to the high protein and fat content as the dog becomes a young adult it may gain weight- or again it may be just fine. My 3 yr olds are on a Large Puppy formula 27% protein 15% fat. You may wish to consult with your Vet as to any particular problems a high protein/fat diet might cause in a boxer.

Here is the ingredients list for puppy chow as listed on their website:

Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), pearled barley, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, animal digest, salt, egg product, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, zinc proteinate, choline chloride, DL-Methionine, vitamin supplements (E, A, B 12, D 3), manganese proteinate, ferrous sulfate, copper proteinate, added color (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2), niacin, brewers dried yeast, calcium pantothenate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.
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Four of the first five ingredients are fillers - corn, corn gluten meal, and soy go in your pups mouth and come right out the other end! On the way through - you get gas. Anyone who knows Boxers knows that they sure don't need help creating gas!

Chicken by product meal is garbage. Literally. The parts of a chicken that can't be used for anything else.

Here is the ingredients list for Canidae:

Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Brown Rice, White Rice, Lamb Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Herring Meal, Flax Seed, Sun Cured Alfalfa Meal, Sunflower Oil, Chicken, Lecithin, Monocalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Linoleic Acid, Rosemary Extract, Sage Extract, Dried Enterococcus Faecium, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Inulin (from Chicory root), Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Solubles, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Mixed Tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Cobalt Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (source of B2), Beta Carotene, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, D-Biotin, Sodium Selenite, Papaya, Vitamin B12 Supplement.

© 2006 CANIDAE Corporation

Three of the first 5 ingredients are a meat - not a by product but actual MEAT. No corn, no soy = less gas.

**dragondawg** · 09-10-2006, 09:22 PM

Four of the first five ingredients are fillers - corn, corn gluten meal, and soy go in your pups mouth and come right out the other end!

You really need to define what you consider a filler to be??? Apparently you believe corn and soy just transit the digestive system providing little if any nutritional value- except for gas. If so then you are wrong.

Shall we start with Corn?

Nutritional value of yellow corn

Shall we do the math per 100gms: Fat 5 gms, Carbohydrates 74 gms (mostly starch), Protein 5 gms. That accounts for 84 out of the 100 gms as being utiliizable.

The digestibility of the protein content of corn is approximately: 66.4% for the essential amino acids, 62.4% for non-essential aimno acids, and 64.0% for the total amino acid content of the corn protein(s).

One scientific study of the digestibility of corn protein

But clearly the value of corn is in the carbohydrates, where sugars are a part of this nutritional categoy. Corn is not an inert filler in foods.

I'm not here to defend any dog food that has no meat listed as the first ingredient. But I'm not going to assume the puppy chow is Purina until the original poster makes that claim.

BTW- the Canidae seems to have excellent ingredients per their order. My Propet Large Puppy has in order: Lamb meal, brewers rice, ground yellow corn, chicken, corn gluten meal, chicken fat (etc etc), ground wheat, dried beet pulp, chicken meal, dried egg product, natural flavors (whatever that is), fish meal, brewers dried yeast etc. The point there are some foods that have corn right up there as a main ingredient, and yet my 3 yr olds (as my prior dog of 10 yrs did) thrive on it.

What might be of value would be for the dog food makers to put in percentages for each ingredient. For example is the Propet 90% lamb meal (doubtful), and 10% everything else. Is the Canidae 10% Chicken meal, 9.9% Turkey meal, 9.8% brown rice, 9.79%white rice, with the remaining 4% and below for each. All we get to know is the order, but not the exact amount. It might be surprising.

The puppy is 9 weeks old and is a high energy breed, I doubt she's going to get too fat on puppy food not for quite some time at least.

And neither did I state a 9 week old puppy that is actively growing is likely to become fat. But once that puppy reaches 1 yr of age a change in volume diet may be needed. My prior dog which was 1/2 Lab lived up to her Lab reputation and at 1 yr on free choice was 90 lbs. She pigged out on her food. I quickly got her down with scheduled feedings to her ideal weight of 72-74 in the summer, and 80 in the winter. No, never had any arthritis problems. My current two I regulated the amount once they got to about 6 months of age and avoided all weight problems.

Also keep in mind that while vets are a wealth of information on the HEALTH of your pet, vets are NOT canine nutritionalists.

I wonder where one can find the courses and the colleges that offer a degree as a Canine Nutritionalist? I did come across some canine nutrition classes taught by Vets. Now getting a Vet to talk about dog food and nutrition without fast shufflling you out the door might be a trick. But a Vet DOES know food nutrition, else they would be at a loss in treating metabolic disease.

**LilacDragon** · 09-10-2006, 10:07 PM

Dogs can thrive on Ole' Roy, but that doesn't mean that it is good for them. Heck, I fed my dogs Purina for years before doing my research and learning about what was going in my dog. Since I didn't go to medical school and am not a scientist - I am sorry to say I didn't understand a word of your link to a "scientific study of the digestibility of corn protien (and I am talking about the nutritional value of corn as applies to dogs so the E-Look link for nutritional value in humans is pointless as far as I am concerned.)

I can tell you from experience, when I removed all corn and soy products from my older rottweiler's diet it was easier to manager her weight, she had more energy, her coat looked better, she farted much less and pooped less.

And yes, I do believe (though of course, can not prove) that the food she ate before I put her on a premium food was in some way, if slight, the reason that I lost her to cancer instead of old age.

**timlewis** · 09-12-2006, 12:29 PM

Please Help

**JenBKR** · 09-12-2006, 12:55 PM

I'll agree with the Nutro suggestion, it's a much healthier food. Arguments can be made for cheaper foods with lots of fillers, but the truth is that they just do not give as much nutrition, and in the end a better food will give you a healthier dog...not to mention a cheap food may lead to many more health problems when your dog gets older. The others mentioned such as Solid Gold, Canidae, etc. are awesome foods too of course

**MajesticCollies** · 09-12-2006, 01:23 PM

I can't put this any blunter. Without sounding rude......If you buy it from the grocery store it isn't worth feeding. Alls it does is put substance in your dogs belly. Not the proper nutrients he needs. I feed Solid Gold. You will be surprised the little private kennels and breeders close to you that are retailing the holistic and quality foods.

**LilacDragon** · 09-12-2006, 01:41 PM

Ok - here is the skinny.

You should avoid foods with lots of fillers, ie: corn, soy, brewer's rice, and other things along this line. You should also avoid foods with meat-by-products. If you must shop at your local grocery for foods then you are going to have to do your research and read labels.

If you live in the sticks, then chances are there is a feed store near you somewhere. Most feed stores carry some of the better foods. Also, if you live in the sticks, chances are you are going to "the city" every once in a while. While you are there - get dog food.

**Tralee** · 09-12-2006, 04:55 PM

Originally Posted by MajesticCollies

I can't put this any blunter. Without sounding rude......If you buy it from the grocery store it isn't worth feeding. Alls it does is put substance in your dogs belly. Not the proper nutrients he needs. I feed Solid Gold. You will be surprised the little private kennels and breeders close to you that are retailing the holistic and quality foods.

I beleived that, untill I was looking at the health food section in Hannaford and discovered they were selling Wysong dog and cat food, and a few other brands of natural dog food. Most of the brands did contain corn, but they are still much healthier than the foods found in the dog asile. Unfortunately the bags were quite small.

**mugsy** · 09-12-2006, 01:47 PM

Originally Posted by JenBKR

I'll agree with the Nutro suggestion, it's a much healthier food.

I am going to respectfully disagree with this statement (although it IS significantly healthier than Beneful). Nutro has changed their formulation and has added soybean oil which is one of the top 3 allergens. Mike has converted 11 dogs from Nutro onto better (and in some cases, cheaper) food and the owners came in 2 weeks later falling all over themselves thanking him for saving the dog...they had runny, seepy ears and coat issues. Now, if your dog doesn't have allergies, then you probably won't see a difference. So....if you need Nutro come to Ft Wayne to the store and buy what we have left...the Nutro Max is marked down to $17.99 for a 35 pound bag so we can get it out of the store. Also, you will begin finding this at your local Wal-mart anytime, which is a sure sign they have lowered the quality of the food. Just an FYI (Mike gets this info from periodicals that he gets at the store).

I hope I didn't offend you!!!

**JenBKR** · 09-13-2006, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by mugsy

I am going to respectfully disagree with this statement (although it IS significantly healthier than Beneful). Nutro has changed their formulation and has added soybean oil which is one of the top 3 allergens. Mike has converted 11 dogs from Nutro onto better (and in some cases, cheaper) food and the owners came in 2 weeks later falling all over themselves thanking him for saving the dog...they had runny, seepy ears and coat issues. Now, if your dog doesn't have allergies, then you probably won't see a difference. So....if you need Nutro come to Ft Wayne to the store and buy what we have left...the Nutro Max is marked down to $17.99 for a 35 pound bag so we can get it out of the store. Also, you will begin finding this at your local Wal-mart anytime, which is a sure sign they have lowered the quality of the food. Just an FYI (Mike gets this info from periodicals that he gets at the store).

I hope I didn't offend you!!!

Oh no, I'm not offended! I've been feeding Nutro for a little while now, and I'm very pleased with how Roscoe is doing on it. I don't know how to read labels extremely well, but what little I do know I researched and I'm comfortable with Nutro (although I hadn't heard that they changed the formula). I am curious though, you said that Mike converted some dogs off of Nutro and onto other brands, and some of them are cheaper. Mind me asking what brands those are? If something is healthier and cheaper, and I can find them anywhere around here, I might consider switching. Thanks!

**coco-bean** · 09-12-2006, 01:35 PM

I personally dont like Beneful because we got it for coco and she ate it for about a week and didnt like it, it startd making her very sick, she would throw up and the pieces of food would still be whole when they came out, and she was no longer excited to eat food anymore! She use to jump around and be excited then after she ate that for a while she turned her nose up to it and dreaded when she had to it that!

**labmomma** · 09-13-2006, 10:16 AM

After a lot of research I chose to go with Flint River Dog Food due to the quality of their product. They have free shipping and I'm on the autoship option where they automatically ship to me according to a schedule we arrived at. I live 45 minutes from the closest pet store so this is my best and healthiest option for my Labs.
Labmomma

www.flintriver.com

**Logan** · 09-13-2006, 10:36 AM

FRR is my food of choice, too, but it got too expensive with 4 big dogs. Now I have 3, one puppy, and two big dogs and I might consider going that route again. It certainly was nice to have the UPS man (poor guy) bringing it to my door!

My big dogs are eating Purina One Barley and Lamb, right now. It is the one in the white bag, and they are doing just fine on it. Puppy Mack is still on Iams Puppy food, which is what the breeder was using, but in time, I may switch all 3 of them back to FRR.

Good luck!

Logan

**elizabethann** · 09-13-2006, 01:29 PM

I had a coupon for Beneful & bought Fenway a couple. I love their packaging and they were great to use when we were on vacation. Of course, Fenway thought he died & went to heaven & ate it all up. Would I personally buy Beneful as his regular daily canned food? No.

He's back to his Merrick canned food. Actually, another reason I bought the Beneful was that Merrick only had large cans. But they recently came out with small (cat sized) travel cans. So I take those on vacation now. Easy and good stuff!

Buying our animals pet food is such a hard decision. If I could only tell you how long it took me to decide what to feed my animals. And now with one of my cats with kidney disease, I've probably spent over $100 trying to find a food that he will eat.

**Lescoop77** · 09-29-2006, 10:18 AM

ok, I have to add my two cents here. I have read all your posts, and though I do agree with 90% of what has been said here...let me start off by saying I feed my two labs Nurto and switch on/off with Beneful. I switch to give them variety...they also get raw eggs every now and then and 1/2 can of wet food in the mornings.

I know that Beneful may contain some "fillers" etc, etc but....you have to realize..that dogs eat bugs, grass, sticks, dead animals, and sometimes even their own feces. As long as you are feeding your dog....and it isn't making them sick and they are staying at their ideal weight they are FINE!

Hope I didn't offend anyone ..just had to let it out. LOL