# Are you KIDDING me?????



## Kassandra

So last night while I was volunteering my usual shift at a rescue, one of the foster parents who I knew came in to get some more food. She knows the food they get isn't the greatest quality food (usually pedigree, sometimes they will get some better donations) but that is what they give her to feed so that's what she gets. 

Anyways, this particular dog usually ate Beneful. We didn't have any Beneful in the food room so the 'executive' who came in with the foster mom (she wasn't sure if a keyholder, aka me, would be there) was asking if we had anything similar to it there. I suggested the Alpo we had there (if I were to donate to a rescue I would still donate better quality food than that my goodness!). ANYWAYS she went off her head saying how Beneful is so much better than Alpo. She knew it still wasn't the greatest food but it was 5 star compared to Alpo. 

OH MY GOD. LOOK AT THE INGREDIENTS WOMAN. I agree that yeah I would probably feed Beneful over Alpo but there still isn't much of a difference.

Rant over. Someone please agree with me so I don't start to think I'm crazy for comparing these foods.


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## RawPitbulls

I completely agree! A crappy food is a crappy food EOS!


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## Losech

Heh, NASTY on both of them. I'd rather feed chicken quarters and beef liver over either of those. Oh wait, I do...


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## lovemydogsalways

Both foods suck if you ask me.


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## rannmiller

Yeah both are pretty equally awful, I agree with you. Although Beneful's packaging is prettier, maybe that's what she was talking about! haha


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## lauren43

That's like comparing apples to apples--no comparison...they both suck and I don't think I could give either as even a treat for Avery. It would kill my conscience...


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## Kassandra

Thanks guys. I like comparing apples to apples, too. She went on and on and on about how Beneful was such better quality. I actually laughed at her. I wish they could afford better food for the dogs but sadly with so many animals going through and vet care, etc, there is just no extra money for it. Most of the dogs come in that I deal with are starved with ribs showing, hips jutting out etc so not only are they getting regular meals it probably is better than what they were being fed. I can't get mad at the rescue for what they feed but I am just confused as to how someone doesn't think the same quality/price/ingredients/company foods are the same


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## Unosmom

I always feed bad when I see what kind of food rescues get, I know most people don't know any better, but last thing those poor malnourished animals should be eating is corn. Especially since you can get better food for $5 more. Heck, wal-mart started selling a holistic food recently thats like $30 for a big bag, thats not much more expensive than beneful. Purchase the Pure Balance Dog Food, Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe for less at Walmart.com. Save money. Live better.


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## Georgiapeach

I tried to give a bag of premium food to a rescue in my town b/c it didn't agree with my dog (the bag was almost full, too). Sadly, they refused the food, b/c they said that the dogs they get in can't handle a premium food. The dogs they get are used to grocery store food, and the rich, premium food would make them sick for the short term they'd have them. They wanted Pro Plan, if possible, which is better than some other kibbles, I guess.


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## RawPitbulls

When I volunteered at a shelter in Tennessee, we didn't use food donations for the kennels. We had a contract with Hill's Science Diet, they brought that stuff in by the Semi-Load, and all the shelter had to do was pay for shipping. And, if they ever saw us using any other food, our contract would be destroyed. All of the food donations were either given to fosters, or the local soup kitchen.


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## starturtle

My first foster was on Beneful at it about killed me to feed him that. My dogs were on Orijen at the time. The rescue told me he had issues when they tried to feed him anything else. After a few months I transitioned him to Orijen with out any issues. 

Usually Dog Chow is what is we get donated. I think most people think they are helping because they can get a big bag. We don't have a facility all of our dogs are in homes so when a foster needs more food they may not always get what they got last time depending on recent donations. I go to Sam's and can get Purina One Chicken and Rice or Lamb and Rice for $39 for a 44lb bag. It's not the best but at least I can keep my fosters on the same food consistently.


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## Sapphire-Light

In my opinion alpo is mush less worse than beneful, I know of many reports of people finding maggots and bugs in freshly opened bags GROSS Contaminated Purina Beneful "Weight Watch" Dog Food from PETCO December 2012 - YouTube

In my childhood we had a GSD/ huskie mix and he ate alpo sometimes (we didn't know better at the time) and at least none of the bag has bugs inside.


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## Kassandra

Sadly it is try that a lot of the dogs can't handle the richer foods. Yes we could transition them but since there are usually different people feeding them it would be hard. A lot of the fosters will buy their own food, usually kirkland or whatever you get at costco. It's better than the foods that are donated but I still feel terrible about it. I can't get mad at the rescues, they rescue a lot of the death row dogs in shelters and they do a lot of home rescuing I guess? They check out every complaint they get about skinny dogs, dogs outside, etc. They really are an excellent rescue. It's just too bad people couldn't donate better foods.


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## Herzo

Ok sad story. So two weeks ago I am down at the neighbors that I go clean house and do laundry for the 94 year old man. He has a mini Aussi and it had been throwing up and having diarrhea. So I was trying to think of what had changed and then I remembered his one son had bought Beniful instead of the pedagree it had been on.

So I say maybe you should get the pedagree back because that's the only thing that has changed. Well it worked no more messes, I was tired of cleaning them up. How do you think that felt..... yuk! I can't believe I said that.

They know how I feed and they see nothing wrong with there way. Lots and lots of dogs in the family and they love there dogs. I don't get it, they laugh at me.

To be honest I don't know which one is worst, I may have to give it a look today. I'm guessing there is not much difference.


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## Kassandra

That is pretty sad. I know most don't know the difference but when your dog is acting like that come on you have got to know the difference then. 

Herzo I can't get over how nice of a person you are all the time!!! You really are something special.

In my opinion Alpo has the worse ingredient list but better track record. Benefuls ingredients look better on paper, but then again there have been bugs found in the food etc. I really think they are equals.


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## Georgiapeach

As a rescue worker told me (and I agree), at least the dog is now eating, which is better than some of them came to them doing...


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## rannmiller

Ahhhh I just talked to a guy at the dog park today who said he mixes cheap kibble with expensive/good kibble to keep costs down... I asked him what the "good" kibble is and he went on and on about Beneful Healthy radiance, "It has salmon in it and the fish oil is sooooo good for them!" and so on. Ugh, in this guy's eyes, Beneful is a good and expensive food! I let him finish his thought before I talked about how much corn and dyes it has in it. I kept it simple, mentioned how my dogs are on raw and how cheap it is and he got really excited. He asked me all sort of questions about raw and was really excited to go home and do some research (I told him about pretymodelraw.com). Hopefully something comes of it!


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## Kassandra

Good job possibly recruiting more crazies lol! I can't believe someone considers Beneful expensive?? I wonder what the cheap food is then!?!!!!!!?


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## lovemydogsalways

RawPitbulls said:


> When I volunteered at a shelter in Tennessee, we didn't use food donations for the kennels. We had a contract with Hill's Science Diet, they brought that stuff in by the Semi-Load, and all the shelter had to do was pay for shipping. And, if they ever saw us using any other food, our contract would be destroyed. All of the food donations were either given to fosters, or the local soup kitchen.


Same with a shelter I worked at here in Iowa.


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## MNBark

I worked at a shelter. There was no point in caring when a good brand came in, because it would be just a blip. Maybe I could snag it for whatever I was fostering. I took satisfaction in knowing none of the animals there were starving, and accepted they were eating about as well as the average owned dog. Often, a full belly was a precious enough thing. 

When I did adoptions, I tried to steer people to some better brands, but I knew that they usually didn't hear me in the excitement of the day. What I mostly tried to get across was to research, and to never, ever feed Ol' Roy. 

To put it in perspective, this is back when I had my first Sheltie, and I'd made myself ill during the time between meeting him and being able to take him home over the fact he was being fed Puppy Chow. So, my accepting the World of Purina at the shelter was growth. I saw that there are much worse things than junky food -- there is no food, there is abuse, there is being made to fight... If a dog ended up finding a loving home in which he was fed a store brand, he still won. He made it out. 

My concerns over my puppy being fed Puppy Chow for 6 or 7 weeks was the dog owner equivalent of a First World Problem, and so I found myself feeding shelter animals food I'd never select, and being grateful to be able to do so.


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## rannmiller

Kassandra said:


> Good job possibly recruiting more crazies lol! I can't believe someone considers Beneful expensive?? I wonder what the cheap food is then!?!!!!!!?


I was too scared to ask! 

Back on topic though: Yeah, there are definitely worse things than shelter dogs being fed junky food brands. It's ridiculous this woman made such a big deal about it whether or not her dog ate Beneful vs. Alpo since we all know they're the same garbage. But you have to admit, their packaging and commercials really do make Beneful look like a wholesome, healthy food. Maybe next time you should just show them the ingredients panels so they can see for themselves!


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## saya

I'm lucky the dog food pantry donation things doesn't mind if I donate kibble like Totw or chicken soup for dog's lover soul I sometimes get the cans too.

It's mainly donation thing for people who are very low on money so they help fellow dog owners out with kibble. 

I try make a donation of small or big bag once or twice a month sometimes I don't make it out to get it. 

I feed Saya raw and Bella my mom's dog gets a rotation kibble of wellness core, Totw formulas, Fromm, wellness core ocean, and sometimes nature's variety. I change after she is close to being done with current kibble. I still transition her to each kibble and so far she does good on it. 

She gets raw as treat or meal one to four times a week. 

Our last dog was on beneful and omg poor girl was lethargic at age 12. I thought she was just getting old and slowing down. Once we got her on better quality kibble she did better and started get up and even play with toys and want to go on walks. 

She lived to 16years old. 

Chicken soup kibble is OK I think Saya was on chicken soup for puppy's lover soul at first she enjoyed it.. 

I still think you pay the same for decent or high quality kibble I counted days big bag of wellness core lasted and it lasted Bella a decent amount of time. 

With Beneful we fed the dogs more so it got used up quicker.


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## Kassandra

saya said:


> I still think you pay the same for decent or high quality kibble I counted days big bag of wellness core lasted and it lasted Bella a decent amount of time.
> 
> With Beneful we fed the dogs more so it got used up quicker.


Yes, this is exactly what I meant. It turns out to be relatively the same price as you don't feed so much (usually).


PS this thread wasn't me bashing what rescues/shelters feed their animals! They don't really have the option of going out and buying 249863 bags of 80$ food for a hundred dogs. Especially when they are donated most of their kibble. I wish they could because IMO the rescue dogs deserve it more but they don't have that luxury.


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## Roger Biduk

Kassandra said:


> So last night while I was volunteering my usual shift at a rescue, one of the foster parents who I knew came in to get some more food. She knows the food they get isn't the greatest quality food (usually pedigree, sometimes they will get some better donations) but that is what they give her to feed so that's what she gets.
> 
> Anyways, this particular dog usually ate Beneful. We didn't have any Beneful in the food room so the 'executive' who came in with the foster mom (she wasn't sure if a keyholder, aka me, would be there) was asking if we had anything similar to it there. I suggested the Alpo we had there (if I were to donate to a rescue I would still donate better quality food than that my goodness!). ANYWAYS she went off her head saying how Beneful is so much better than Alpo. She knew it still wasn't the greatest food but it was 5 star compared to Alpo.
> 
> OH MY GOD. LOOK AT THE INGREDIENTS WOMAN. I agree that yeah I would probably feed Beneful over Alpo but there still isn't much of a difference.
> 
> Rant over. Someone please agree with me so I don't start to think I'm crazy for comparing these foods.



The worst "foods" are from Pedigree, Purina, Ol' Roy, etc.
It's a shame that animals in shelters are fed this stuff but many have no choice because of the price. Alpo and Beneful are among the worst of the worst.


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## Roger Biduk

Kassandra said:


> So last night while I was volunteering my usual shift at a rescue, one of the foster parents who I knew came in to get some more food. She knows the food they get isn't the greatest quality food (usually pedigree, sometimes they will get some better donations) but that is what they give her to feed so that's what she gets.
> 
> Anyways, this particular dog usually ate Beneful. We didn't have any Beneful in the food room so the 'executive' who came in with the foster mom (she wasn't sure if a keyholder, aka me, would be there) was asking if we had anything similar to it there. I suggested the Alpo we had there (if I were to donate to a rescue I would still donate better quality food than that my goodness!). ANYWAYS she went off her head saying how Beneful is so much better than Alpo. She knew it still wasn't the greatest food but it was 5 star compared to Alpo.
> 
> OH MY GOD. LOOK AT THE INGREDIENTS WOMAN. I agree that yeah I would probably feed Beneful over Alpo but there still isn't much of a difference.
> 
> Rant over. Someone please agree with me so I don't start to think I'm crazy for comparing these foods.



Ask her to look at the story Nestlé Purina's Beneful accused of poisoning dogs.


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