# Purina Pro Plan Natural



## Skipper Jay (Feb 21, 2015)

Hello Dog Food Chat People,
This is my first post on this forum. We will soon be adopting a new yellow lab puppy when he turns 8 wks from a very reputable breeder in Oregon. She feeds her dogs, including her young puppies Purina Pro Plan Natural which is grain free. She highly encourages me to do the same at least for the first year as she believes
this formula has proven best for her labs. I was a bit surprised by this as Purina does not seem to get very good reviews from the two Dog Food Reviews I visited, Dog Food Reviews and Ratings and Dog Food Reviews and Analysis. Now I am confused. 
In the past I have fed my last lab Origin for large puppies. Sadly, we lost our beautiful puppy to an aggressive for of lymphoma at 1 1/2 years of age. We were naturally devastated but I know this loss had nothing to do with his diet. Just bad luck and likely carrying a genetic time bomb.
I now feed our 7 y/o Miniature Schnauzer Merritts and have been transitioning him to a frozen raw food. He is doing very well on this diet.
I naturally want to feed our new puppy when he arrives a very high quality food but am very hesitant not to feed him the food as instructed by the breeder.
Would appreciate any thoughts on Purina Pro Plan Natural.

Skipper Jay


----------



## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

You will get some answers that support Purina and also tear down Purina. It's nutritionally a good food with good profiles (especially minerals). 
Foods like Merrick and Orijen have high levels of minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium) which some dogs do well with and other dogs develop kidney issues over time. 

Bottom line is how does the dog do on it? Plenty of hunters with real working dogs swear by Purina and will only feed that. These dogs spend hours out in the field working. 


With puppies, I keep them on the food they started on for several weeks, get them settled in and into a routine before I even consider changing foods. Pups can get diarrhea fairly easily with all the switching. 

Me personally I feed Fromm and love it because all 4 of my dogs do well on it, with good annual bloodwork, healthy skin, coat, ears, stools, and good energy. 
So... I think Purina Pro Plan is a decent food.


----------



## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

To be frank, I wouldn't feed it. I agree with shamrockmommy who said if the dog does well on it except that we don't know whats going on inside our dogs to know how its working. IMO, a puppy especially needs the best start in life.

I suggest you go to the Dog Food Advisor's forums (you'll find the link in the red line on top), then go to the Diet & health forum. On top, in yellow, is a stickie of Large Breed Puppy nutrition. Its a very long thread but start at the most current page and look for the list of appropriate foods for large breed puppies.


----------



## Skipper Jay (Feb 21, 2015)

Thank you for your replies. I found them to be very helpful. I have misgivings about Purina Pro Plan but since that evidently is what the breeder starts her puppies out on
I will continue until our puppy is "settled" in to his new home. Once that occurs, I will likely slowly transition to a higher quality food.


----------

