Post
by birddogger2 » Wed Jun 24, 2020 7:53 am
marketing, marketing, marketing.
All natural, no antibiotics EVER, grain free, non GMO,first ingredient is real meat etc, etc. It is all marketing BS.
PPP is indeed an excellent feed, complete and absolutely uniform.
One of the ways dogfood companies control their costs is to vary the formula, depending on the cost of the various ingredients. If the price of wheat is up and the price of barley is down, many producers will tweak the recipe to add more barley and less wheat. Purina Pro Plan does not do that, as I understand, so the diet the dog experiences is uniform, reducing incidence of loose stools, etc.
Most major dogfood manufacturers have gone the"boutique" route due to the ability to charge more for these"specialty feeds, but their performance feeds are all pretty good. Most any feed with 30% Protein and 20% fat will do a hardworking dog just fine. Animal feed suppliers have also take to adding things like joint supplements, antioxidants and such. Unfortunately, most of those additives are present in amounts which are too small to have benefit. Again...marketing BS over substance. If your dog needs chondroitin or glucosamine(or both)for their joints...buy the supplement and give it to them in the medically recommended amounts.
Also. beware of suppliers like Taste of the Wild, which do not have a single manufacturing facility, but instead have a huge marketing budget. Their quality control is in the hands of the subcontractor...the one that submitted to lowest bid.
A previous poster hit on something that has bothered me for a long time. The SOURCE of the various ingredients in the formula is unknown and honestly, with the track record of toxic contaminants in products from countries like China and the lack of QC from countries like India...that makes me waaay more uncomfortable than whether or not the meat ingredient was antibiotic free or not.
As has been said, the marketing is for us humans. I'd turn the bag over, look at the ingredients and the percentages and go from there.
FWIW, I use a Sportsman's Pride product, 26/18, and my dogs do just fine on it.
RayG