Is ProPlan quality or not? Answer really seems to vary.

We're bringing home our puppy in a few days, and the breeder swears by ProPlan, as it seems many on this site do. At the same time, having done other research online, and from the look on the face of some of our friends and the folks at Unleashed by Petco, there are lots of people who are very underwhelmed with this brand. I found lots of articles about the whole "animal digest" component, which does sound a bit scary and gross.

Has anyone spent time really researching foods? Puppy is only 8wks so we won't make any changes for at least a month or two, but wanting to do the best for her and I'm not sure I know what that is!

Our breeder, who has been breeding Labs for over 25 years (and who has a considerable reputation in the field), has all of her dogs on ProPlan. She asked us to keep our dog on that for at least a year, and to trust her and all of the years and dollars behind ProPlan rather than something trendy.

While I think research is a very good thing (and indeed researched breeders for six months before choosing one, and researched foods, as well), "research online" is next to useless, and the looks on the face of some friends should not be prioritized over the recommendation of your breeder (assuming she or he is a good one).

I've bred for 15 years and we swear by Pro Plan as well. We've tried most of the "fancy" brands but I get the best results on Pro Plan. It's a middle of the road food that's easily purchased everywhere and doesn't break the bank. I feed a "better" food to my oldest dog and my seizure dog. Having been on this board since 2003, I've seen people fall into the marketing ploys of the "best" foods out there and end up with a poor puppy with constant diarrhea. Listen to your breeder.

My girls' breeder also recommended Pro Plan Performance (Sport)
They are now 5 and have thrived on it. They love to eat it, have excellent poops and are very healthy.
You chose your Breeder for a reason, listen to him/her. A good breeder will remain a resource for you.

Ours kept us on Pro Plan focus puppy and he did great. When it was time to transition to adult food we went to one of the Sport lines and although his skin and coat looked fantastic, he had runny poops. We switched to the sensitive skin and stomach line (salmon based) and it's worked really well for him for the past year. We've never tried anything non-Pro Plan.

My two puppies are being raised on Pro-Plan and doing very well with it. All of mine have been raised on it as puppies, although the older ones eventually switched to other things for various reasons - nothing to do with the quality of Pro-Plan, just that they had specific needs that were easier to meet with other foods. When it came time to decide what to wean these puppies on to, I had no qualms using Pro-Plan for them.

It’s one thing for a food to look good on paper, but what really counts is how it looks inside the dog! What should theoretically be a “better” food doesn’t always produce the best results when actually fed.

Thank you all!

I just transitioned my dogs to Pro Plan (3yo Lab on Sensitive Stomach, and 9mo Husky-mix on Chicken & Rice Puppy). I had a tough time making this choice, and ultimately did it because we were having some issues, which I'll be writing a separate post about momentarily, but after everything I've read and learned about dog food, the ingredients make me want to run screaming in the other direction. BUT, I've been following these forums for a long time and I've seen soo many people on here swear by the brand. Plus, supposedly the last 9 Westminster Best in Show dogs have all been fed Pro Plan, and supposedly many of the other winners of other classes as well. (Could be a marketing ploy, I guess, though...) Since so many breeders and competitors use it, I figured it can't possibly be THAT bad, right?


And with that, I made the switch. We've only been on it a short time, so I don't have much to comment yet about it... but so far so good. :-)

Mine eat Pro Plan too, usually one of the Sport formulas, and have for years. Animal digest is the 9th listed ingredient, so there is actually very little of it in the food itself, and I believe is just added for flavor enhancement, so it does't bother me. Especially since my girls have eaten far worse things LOL

Jen, 15 years already? You must have had a litter before your 2008 Joey litter that I don't know about. :-)

Breeding is not all about spitting out litter after litter. It's about learning and preparing too. Doing clearances, gathering titles. But if you need to split hairs, yes, my first litter was in 2008.

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Originally Posted by JenC

Breeding is not all about spitting out litter after litter. It's about learning and preparing too. Doing clearances, gathering titles. But if you need to split hairs, yes, my first litter was in 2008.

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Hey Jen, my intent wasn't to offend you! I just thought I was missing something, honest! I don't think we knew each other 15 years ago, so I really didn't know if you'd had a litter before that or not.


I agree about mentorship, research, studying pedigrees, clearances, to prepare etc... leads up to actually breeding, and it is not an easy road. I also agree it's not about "Spitting out litter after litter", I believe in quality over quantity, thats why I haven't had a ton of litters and each one is carefully planned.

So sorry to high jack the post, my apologies!

Many many breeders feed a Pro Plan product, like Jen said, is moderately priced and easy to find, and most of all, it works!

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Originally Posted by JenC

Breeding is not all about spitting out litter after litter. It's about learning and preparing too. Doing clearances, gathering titles. But if you need to split hairs, yes, my first litter was in 2008.

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Hmm .... using that way of looking at it (which does make a lot of sense) I’ll have been doing this for 20 years (in June), even though we had our first litter this past summer! A lot of preparation led up to that though, LOL.

Another ProPlan user here. I've had my labs on it since the 90s, and they've always thrived.

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Originally Posted by Shelley

Especially since my girls have eaten far worse things LOL

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Uh, yeah. Like cat poop (she did look guilty). Dirt. Lumber.

I eat very healthily (mainly vegetarian, we don't keep junk food around the house, nothing with additives, no soda, little to no refined sugar), but... how do I want to say this? I know vegetarians whose diets are crap—no protein, not enough greens, lots of sugars, loads of junk food. They think they are healthy ("no additives!" "no meat!"—though lots of vegetarians eat food with loads of additives) but they are missing the point. I know people who eat very very expensive food whose diets are crap. I know people who are on trendy diets that are making them sick.

ProPlan is balanced. Animal digest sounds like something it isn't, and has received really bad press from trendy, non-tested or under-tested food companies whose only job is to sell their food (and that should be there job; they are a company). Think of all the trends in human food: non GMO (I have various opinions on this, but am not solidly against), organic (I generally buy organic, but not because it's healthier for me—it usually isn't), or no BGH (I don't buy dairy w/ BGH), or "gluten free" (I won't get into this one here). Heck, the whole "fat free" thing was only a scam to sell diet products (which make you want to eat more, which actually kind of contributes to weight gain). Fat is good for you. It fills you up, and is good for your skin. It's a good idea not to eat too much, but "fat free" was nothing but a marketing trend.

There are similar trends w/ pet foods. It's very easy to read articles online and get scared about all the descriptions of the horrible ingredients. If you pay attention, however, you can almost always see that there is another company behind the scare tactics.

You can feed your dog well in a variety of ways. But for now, I'd follow what your breeder recommends.

Sam's breeder fed Pro Plan and I raised Sam on it. I had dogs for years and never fed It because I was a dog food snob. Not anymore. Pro Plan is my go to food. I've tried a couple different brands since Sam is not a puppy anymore but he does best on Pro Plan.

Mine did great on Pro Plan. Ava was raised on it. I only switched to Victor to save money and they still look good. If I could not get Victor, I'd go back to Pro Plan.

Maverick and Mia loved it. We switched Maverick to grain free, not because we're dog food snobs on the new fad, but because he had recurrent yeast infections in his ears. He also had itchy feet/body and a gross coat. He doesn't like salmon or lamb based foods so.......grain free it was.

He he did not come to us on pro plan....he came to us on nutro maxx large breed. It isn't sold in this area so we switched. I do think that dogs best with as few switches as possible.

We now have a 1 1/2 year old English yellow lab....a very mellow fellow....and has been on Pro Plan all his life. Switched from the Focus large breed puppy to adult at about a year..
But lately, his poops have been a bit soft. Wondering if switching to another, like the sport formula might be better. BUT I think it is for "active" dogs. Robbie is a couch potato, but will run and play with other dogs when given the opportunity. Goes for walks in the am and long walks in the evening...but otherwise would prefer to curl up in his chair.!! Any suggestions??

I would try one of the Sport formulas with your boy. I like the Sport 30/20 or 28/18 because of the fat levels, I feel Labradors need a good level of fat for healthy coats and skin.

If you are feeding one of the formulas with the 'shreds' not very many dogs do well on that, so I would switch to something else anyways. I feed Sport 30/20 to everyone here, even to my older girl that isn't super active, they all have good coats and skin, but that could be hereditary too.

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Originally Posted by old dogmom

We now have a 1 1/2 year old English yellow lab....a very mellow fellow....and has been on Pro Plan all his life. Switched from the Focus large breed puppy to adult at about a year..
But lately, his poops have been a bit soft. Wondering if switching to another, like the sport formula might be better. BUT I think it is for "active" dogs. Robbie is a couch potato, but will run and play with other dogs when given the opportunity. Goes for walks in the am and long walks in the evening...but otherwise would prefer to curl up in his chair.!! Any suggestions??

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When my girls slowed down, I switched from Performance/Sport 30/20 formula to the 26/20.

We're on ProPlan Sport 26/16.

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Originally Posted by Abulafia

We're on ProPlan Sport 26/16.

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Same with us ... knowing their mother’s metabolism (or lack thereof, LOL), I just don’t think the puppies need more protein/fat than that. Their growth has slowed a bit in the last month, but they are doing well.

Yeah. Hoku went to this (on breeder's rec.) when she was about 12 weeks old. She hasn't been on puppy food for a dog's age (as it were). With her gigantic weight gain at about 5 - 6 months, I can only imagine if she'd still been on the puppy food.

Although I was annoyed by the Vet, I'm glad that we checked in on her weight when we did. Her gain has slowed considerably, and she's slimmed down / muscled up (or at least, you can see the muscles more). She looks absolutely like the dogs in her line, but it's clear that an unwatchful eye could lead to weight gain with this line. Without any scraps or snacks, she's a big girl.

Just going to chime in and agree about Pro Plan Sport. Daisy has been on Pro Plan since she was a puppy and her breeder recommended it.
I kept her on it but when she was about 1 year and a half I switched her to the lightest version of Pro Plan Sport. Daisy always gets compliments on her shiny coat and has always done well on the food.

Sam was raised on Pro Plan Focus large breed puppy then we switched to the Focus large breed adult. Frank is on the Focus all life stages small bites lamb and rice formula. I was actually wondering if Pro Plan is going to be changing packaging/names again. The new bag of the Lamb and rice I just bought had purple on the packaging and it used to be pink.

Humm.. It was my understanding that the Pro Plan Sport was for very active dogs... My guy can be active if we go to the park, or play with some neighboring dogs, but generally, would prefer to curl up on his chair! He eats and poops fine, I was just interested if the Sport formula might give more solid poops! (like when he was on puppy food)

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Originally Posted by old dogmom

Humm.. It was my understanding that the Pro Plan Sport was for very active dogs... My guy can be active if we go to the park, or play with some neighboring dogs, but generally, would prefer to curl up on his chair! He eats and poops fine, I was just interested if the Sport formula might give more solid poops! (like when he was on puppy food)

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There are 3 Sport varieties with varying levels of protein and fat- 26/16, 28/18, 30/20. The protein and fat content of Focus Adult large breed is 26/12, so little more fat is in the lower Sport choice. A lot of people use the 26/16 for your average pet who gets average exercise and the higher protein and fat varieties for more active dogs.

Not sure what you're feeding now that doesn't give you firm enough stools. Many things can contribute to sub-optimal poops, including feeding a little too much food or whatever treats or toppers you're feeding in addition to his regular food. Some people don't realize the ProPlan Savor varieties have soy in the shreds and have some issues there. The Sport 26/16 variety is OK to try but may or may not help his poops firm up. You could also try cutting back slightly on the food you're giving him, say 1/4 cup per day, to see if that makes a difference in his poops without causing unwanted weight loss.

Thanks very much for the analysis...maybe I will try the Sport 26/16 at some point...does this usually produce lovely poops?

My 14 week old yellow is on Proplan focus puppy and my 3 adult dogs all eat Proplan products. Proplan works for most dogs and all breeds

Most of the better breeders around here feed ProPlan Sport. I fed it to mine as youngsters. I think they did well on it nutritionally, but both ended up with some sort of mild food sensitivity. One had a goopy ear and the other was prone to goopy eyes. It all went away when I switched to a corn-free (and grain-free) food.

I think Purina has a lot of history and money in their research on the nutritional needs of the animals they provide feed for (is there a type of food they don't make?). Personally, I don't like all the corn filler they put in the food. Is it a bad thing? Probably not. But, at the end of the day, I don't want to feed my dogs a lot of corn, just in case.

I am trying to research the best food for my 19 month old lab Oliver who since 2 abdominal surgeries, now has a very sensitive stomach.
I'm torn between the ProPlan Focus and Wellness Simple.
I had my previous lab on Wellness food and was always happy with how he did but have always stayed away from brands like Purina.
Any feed back on the Wellness Simple?

I am trying to research the best food for my 19 month old lab Oliver who since 2 abdominal surgeries, now has a very sensitive stomach.
I'm torn between the ProPlan Focus and Wellness Simple.
I had my previous lab on Wellness food and was always happy with how he did but have always stayed away from brands like Purina.
Any feed back on the Wellness Simple?

What is he on now that isn't working?

PropPlan has a sensitive skin and stomach formula—I assume that's the one you mean?

I have no knowledge whatever of Wellness.