Pro Plan Original

[nanney1]

I know the email said that the Original Chicken and Rice formula would be back on the shelves by the end of January. However, should it really take that long?

Does anyone think that the big retailers will have it in stock sooner than that?

[ezzy333]

Yes it should take that long. They will have to set up the whole operation again at one of their plants. This includes making storage room for all of the ingredients, having all of the processing equipment in running condition, and doing the QC work on the product before it can be shipped, plus ship the product to the whole country. And then they will have to find room to make the new products if they take the space back for the old ones. Lots of work and expense to get a product on to the market. Most smaller companies wouldn't be able to do it.

Ezzy

[tenbearsviz]

In the mean time, they lost me as a customer!

[shootist]

Are they scrapping the new formula already?

[ezzy333]

Don't think so. They are just going to continue the old formula for the people who want it. Thats part of the time delay in getting it set up as they have to find a place and the equipment to make it.

Ezzy

[kninebirddog]

Plus they have to get bags made

they are only bringing it back in the 37.5 pound bag

yes it take a bit to gear it back into production

They should have done that to the ONE stuff and left the pro plan alone not smart on their behalf

[shets114]

They can take their time. Their misfortune and bad business decision has been a windfall for others.
Next thing you'll see is the CEO of Purina flying in the corporate jet to Congress asking for 25 billion to bale them out. Since sales were down last quarter.

[Sharon]

I would love to respond to that but there is no political talk allowed on this forum.

[shets114]

Ohhh come on let it rip... LOL....

[Sharon]

The Original never left the shelves in Ontario. Now both the new and the old are sold side by side - same price. This is at Ontario's big pet retailer, PetSmart.

[Benny]

AAH! I didn't even know there was a shredded kind until I just bought a 35 lb. bag tonight. What are the major differences that you guys seem to be worried about?

Should I take it back? They still have original in the smaller 15 lb. bags.

[drwindmill]

My dogs (Bulldog, Rat Terrier, and Neapolitan Mastiff)absolutely love the Shredded formula. I just purchased a GSP and should have him in January, and he will be getting fed Pro Plan as well. I use to feed raw meat and the uber premium foods exclusively that didn't contain corn and at the same time watching my dogs eat out of our calf feed buckets that only contained pellets and corn. I am not saying that Ol Roy dog food is as good as it gets, but IMHO in this economy $70 for a 25 lb bag of food is a little crazy, besides if it is that good for them it won't taste good anyway! I will continue feeding fresh-raw meat when I have it available and Pro Plan.

[ezzy333]

I have heard nothing but good reports on the new formula from people around here that are feeding it. Kind of surprised me as everything I had heard on here seemed to be negative but I don't think anyone had really tried it.

Ezzy

[Benny]

I didn't hear anything back on it for a while so I opened the bag and once those kibbles and chicken shreds hit the bowl it was gone in a flash. Unless there's nutritional concerns I don't think we'll be switching anytime soon.

[nanney1]

I wasn't crazy about the new formula at first. The main concern would be over the soy in the new product, as soy has been thought to be a possible contributor to bloat. Other concerns would be the smaller bags (35lbs), and a possible decrease in metablolizable engergy per lb???

I planned to go with with Performance or Original Puppy until the orginal Chicken and Rice made its way back to the shelves. However, the Shredded Blend was cheaper, and had a $5 off coupon inside. So, I decided to give it a try.

Dogs loved it and I'm feeding the same amount as before. Coats look great and energy is still good. At least good for my lazy breed of dog

As I've mentioned before, I have Bernese Mountain Dogs, and I don't hunt. I come here for the nutritional forums as I believe that the best info on canine nutrition can be gained from people who have true performance dogs.

I entered my puppy in a show last weekend. On one of the days she was entered, she came from the 6-9 month puppy class to take Winners Bitch and then took Best of Winners over the male from winners dog, receiving the first point toward a conformation championship in the process.

On a side note, the judge who put her up asked me what I fed. I told him Pro Plan and he responded by asking, "Chicken and Rice"? When I said yes, he simply said, "That's good stuff".

In any event, the short term experience with the Shredded Blend has been positive.

[Coveyrise64]

Has anyone seen the ProPlan Chicken and Rice original formula back on the shelves?

Coveyrise64

[Sharon]

It has never left the shelves in Ontario,Canada but I'm sorry you're too far away.

[Sonny Hawkins]

Pro Plan lost my business when performance went to 40 bucks for 37.5 lbs.----sonny

[PntrRookie]

Sonny what did you go to? Something similar? I have two dogs on PP Performance and the price is tough to swallow, yet I do not want to upset their stomachs with a change.

[Benny]

Just switched to PP Performance a week ago from Original. Wanted to maintain and add a pound or two onto my dog, and she's just too active to do so on a regular diet.
I've heard there are other 30% protein and 20% fat foods out there, Black Diamond I believe?

[Sonny Hawkins]

I fed EXCEED from Sams club 30/20 for awhile which has real chicken and other ingredients to compare with pro-plan. It is 44 lb. for 26.--plus tax. A few weeks ago a friend told me about SPORTMIX which he has fed for years and liked it very well. I am now feeding Sportmix, good stools and the dogs love it. I am feeding less per dog than pro-plan. Its made by midwest feeds in Evansville Indiana. Blue bag-26/18 $19. plus. Black bag 24/20 $20. plus. These bags are 50lb. I am very pleased with sportmix and also pleased with the price. I really think this is the quality feed and (priced right) that I have been looking for.----Sonny PS, Friend also said he feeds Black bag during trial season and Blue bag in the off season with no upset to the dog, and that sounds good to me.---Sonny

[nanney1]

Update: I fed two bags of the new Shredded Blend to my two Bernese Mountain Dogs. Halfway through the first bag, I found that my puppy had maintained her weight even though she had been on a slow, steady gain. No big deal as they eventually do plateau on weight gain and she was around 8 months. A couple of weeks later, she had lost two pounds. I upped the amount and got her back to the original weight, but had to feed her 6 cups per day to get her back going on a slight weight increase. She had previously eaten around 4 1/2 cups of the original per day split over two meals.

I don't normally weigh my older Bernese, but after seeing my pup lose weight, I took him in for a weigh, and he had dropped around 4 lbs from the last time I weighed him.

With the Shredded Blend coming in a 35lb bag and my local retailer (Petsmart) now running out of bags with the $5 coupons inside the bags, I decided to switch. I decided to go with Pro Plan Puppy Chicken and Rice as it has a similar ingredient list, is slightly higher in protein/fat, and Kcals are very close to the original formula. The only down side is that the kibbles are very small. The result is that my older dog with a massive head drops food and makes a mess. My pup seems to inhale without chewing sometimes.

The shredded blend was a favorite as both dogs ate with enthusiasm. Not that they have turned their noses up at any other food, they just got really excited over this food. Their energy seemed good on the Shredded and I can't say that I saw any difference in coat. It just wasn't worth feeding a greater volume of food when it came in a smaller bag. When the coupons ran out, so did the value.

[slistoe]

Just switched to PP Performance a week ago from Original. Wanted to maintain and add a pound or two onto my dog, and she's just too active to do so on a regular diet.
I've heard there are other 30% protein and 20% fat foods out there, Black Diamond I believe?

There are lots of dog foods marked 30/20 on the bag, but my experience is that they do not all feed the same. A cheaper bag of dog food is not always cheaper to feed.

I would recommend ProPlan Performance, Euk Pink, Eagle Power Pack if you are trying to get more out of your dog. I have fed Hy Ration, Kasco, NutraNuggets, Nutram, Nutro and Prism performance rations as well - although the bags read the same the dogs did not get the same out of them.

[High Roll-N-Angel]

We fed Purina's Original Blend Lamb & Rice to our two pet boxers and we had our GSP's on Purina PP. When the Shredded Blend came out we did that as the Original was off the shelf for a while.....mistake for us feeding the same quanity of food as the Original formula our boxers lost weight quick and we couldn't get them back up. So we put everyone on the Purina PP and all is well now weight wise. I will not feed the Shredded Blend ever even though it was a favorite with our older boxers.

[remmy]

As of today Petco near my house does not have the original back on the shelf. The manager there doesn't know anything. She wasn't even aware that Purina was bringing back the original formula.

I read on another forum that we should start expecting it back on the shelf the end of January. I'll believe it when I see it.

[ezzy333]

Remmy,

Try and check with the corporate head quarters. I am sure that is where the decisions are made and they also make the purchases. The local people probably don't have a clue. This would be my guess.

Ezzy

[nanney1]

I received an email yesterday evening from the Pro Club stating that the Original Chicken and Rice would start arriving at:

"Select Farm and Feed stores and most distributors beginning in February
Pet Supplies Plus beginning in April"

The only change will be to the bag. It will now say All Life Stages just like Pro Plan Performance.

I called Pro Plan and asked if Petsmart would carry it and they said I would need to call Petsmart. I called Petsmart customer service. The person I spoke with said that if the old formula was coming back, as it is essentially now a new product, that they should carry it. The person I spoke with had not heard anything about them only carrying the Shredded Blend. We'll see.

[glk7243]

Petco has an email contact for new product suggestions. It might help if everyone that is interested sent them a note.

[MTO4Life]

It has never left the shelves in Ontario,Canada but I'm sorry you're too far away.

Are you talking about the Chicken and Rice feed (as opposed to the shredded chicken and rice). If so, I bought the orginial chicken and rice (not shredded) and my dog did great on it! I also know quite a few people that fed the same, so maybe it was only in your area of Ontario where it didn't leave the shelves!! (Unless you are talking about a different type I'm not away of, but I thought that it was original)....

[nanney1]

I went to my local Tractor Supply and Petsmart yesterday. Neither had the Original Chicken and Rice back on the shelves.

Has anyone seen it?

[nanney1]

I was at the Greenville Kennel Club dog show in Greenville, SC this weekend. It is a large show and the show sponsor was Pro Plan. They had a huge booth at the main entrance and were giving out samples and pushing product. I saw that they had bags of the original Chicken and Rice. I spoke with a Pro Plan Rep who was able to answer some questions about the availability in my area.

He said that Petsmart had made a decision not to bring back the original Chicken and Rice and only carry the Shredded Blend.

He said that Tractor Supply had not made a decision either way.

My local feed store would carry it if I requested it.

O.K. I can get it if I really, really want it. However, the reason I don't buy Pro Plan from my local feed store is that they were much higher in price than Petsmart. The original was selling at Petsmart for $36.99, but with your Petsmart discount card, I could get it for $33.99. I always have a $2 off coupon so I was out the door for $31.99 and sometimes, Petmsmart had additional discounts on top of that. At my local feed store, the price for the Pro Plan Original was $42.99 and my only discount was my $2 off coupon.

The rep told me that I could get it from my local feed store and that he guessed they would charge around $42 per bag. Exactly what they have been charging.

Finally, he told me that the Original Chicken and Rice would be sold at the same price as Pro Plan Performance. So, no cost savings versus their 30/20 Performance.

I've been feeding Pro Plan Puppy Chicken and Rice in the meantime, waiting to see on the availability of the Original. Given my options, I guess I'll switch to Pro Plan Performance.

[Sharon]

That's interesting . The Original has never left the shelves in Ontario. It is stocked right along with the Shredded. This is at Petsmart. We Canadians must be special.

[remmy]

I just received an email back from Petco's home office and they stated the original will be back on the shelf shortly but with a new name....Performance Maintenance. Anyone else here about the new name?

[nanney1]

The email I received noted the only change would be that the bag would now say "All Life Stages" just like Pro Plan Performance. I saw a bag of the original Chicken and Rice at the Greenville show and it looked like the old bag, except for the bottom of the bag where it normally said "Adult" and it had the "All Life Stages".