# Need breakdown of Beneful



## ubershann (Jul 29, 2010)

An acquaintance of mine recently adopted a dog and picked up a bag of Beneful Healthy Radiance. He knows it's not a great food and has asked me to help him understand why, so he can understand how to pick foods in the future (I'm also helping him switch to a better food now). 

I'm looking through the Beneful website now to learn a little about it, but I thought maybe a few of you would have already done the research and could share a little about what you've learned. 

Just wondering what are the main things that are wrong with this brand. What do you know about their manufacturing and sourcing? I'll keep reading up on the ingredients for him, but I hoped maybe someone here could help me cut out a little research time on the other side of things (manufacturing). 

Thanks! :smile:


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## ubershann (Jul 29, 2010)

Btw it's not hard for me to tell him what's wrong with the ingredients. The first ingredient being corn, the second being chicken by-product. Eek!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I'm always happy to help! BUT I think it's VERY important for everyone to do their own research. It helps solidify the WHYS of feeding a better food so that HE can be the one in the future helping someone else switch to a better food. Like someone wise once said: "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." 

I can go into great detail of why this food is horrible if needed!

But...why did he even get the food if he knows it's not great?

ETA: I'd be happy to help him with resources for him to read....


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## bdb5853 (May 21, 2010)

I would send him to dogfoodanalysis.com or one of the other rating sites and have him read for himself what it says about it. 

Dog Food Reviews - Beneful Healthy Radiance - Powered by ReviewPost

I'd also have him google "beneful complaints" and read the testimonies of users who have had problems with the food. Two examples below, there are a lot more. It's not pretty. 

Consumer complaints about Beneful Pet Foods

Beneful Adult Dog Food


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

It just looks plain gross to me.. is that enough to sway him? lol
I think they only reason dogs eat that crap is because its chalk full of sugar, which is like giving candy to a kid every day= hyperactivity and rotten teeth. 

The dyes just makes the poop look like rainbow, maybe its the only positive outcome:wink:

This may also help:
Beneful Dry Dog Food | Review and Rating


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## ubershann (Jul 29, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> I'm always happy to help! BUT I think it's VERY important for everyone to do their own research.


I agree, but not everyone is going to put in the time to do the research those of us on this board are doing. If it comes down to me leading them to a good food and giving them some basic guidelines then so be it. What's most important to me in the end is that the dog is being fed well :smile:

I don't think he thought it was a bad food when he bought it. He knew it wasn't the best out there, but when the got the dog late on Sunday his options were pretty limited. And kudos to him for admitting there could be better options out there and taking the first step to find them :biggrin:


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## ubershann (Jul 29, 2010)

Yeah the ingredients are pretty awful. And this is supposed to be one of Purina's better food! 

But what I'm really looking for is if anyone knows much about the behind the scenes stuff. Like where they buy the supplies from. Are they all from China? Stuff like that. 

He's very open to getting a better food, so I know he's not going to defend the gross ingredients or anything. I just wanted to pass on a little more knowledge about the less-thought-of side of dog foods. That way he will at least have a little ammo in his pocket :wink: And who knows, maybe it will inspire him to look into it more himself


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

Uber,

As I recall from the last time I laughed at a Beneful ingredient list.... its kind of hard to say..."this is where they get their Corn from...this is where they get their Animal by products from..." because just inherently, those who feed better already consider those as BAD ingredients. Frankly, I wouldn't care if they got their corn organic from the glowing fields of Nebraska. 

In fact, I don't think there are barely ANY ingredients on that label I'd recommend. Seriously. So WHERE they come from is pretty irrelevent.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

^^^^ Very well said Kevin. If the ingredients are terrible it shouldn't matter where they came from or how they were rendered. I will note that we tried to take a tour of the purina plant and they said we had to sign a non disclosure agreement saying that we couldn't take pictures or even talk about what we saw there...makes me wonder how bad it really is if they don't want people even talking about it!!!

ETA: Kudos to your friend for adopting as well. I sure hope he takes just ten minutes to read through some of the resources posted by others because quite frankly that is all the time it would take for someone to realize that feeding beneful is not doing the dog any justice.


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

Ooohh! So did you get in? You say you TRIED to take a tour....


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

Ania's Mommy said:


> Ooohh! So did you get in? You say you TRIED to take a tour....


Our friend works there. We can take a tour any time we want. We just have to sign a NDA so we can't talk about what we saw... 

Kinda defeats the purpose of taking the tour...


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

We were about to but when we knew we had to sign a document swearing us to secrecy...what was the point? I think that speaks louder than ANY gross thing we would have seen in there...???


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

jdatwood said:


> Our friend works there. We can take a tour any time we want. We just have to sign a NDA so we can't talk about what we saw...
> 
> Kinda defeats the purpose of taking the tour...


Jon,

I know you guys can't say much...but I'd be surprised if you saw anything OUTWARDLY appalling at a plant. Seems like the raw ingredients would come rolling in pretty plain. I mean, corn probably doesn't LOOK bad on a factory line...heck, even meat by products are probably pretty in the same mush as "chicken meal." 

I'm just not sure anyone needs to SEE corn and meat by products on a production line to understand they aren't the best for our Dogs. 

Just a guess. Tell me if I'm off base(if you can


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

No Kevin that totally makes sense, but I guess we would go to just see what it takes to make a commercially made food for dogs. Because even the higher quality kibbles are made in a similar fashion...in a dog food plant. Maybe just for entertainment value LOL :tongue:


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

I would take the tour and you can say things later not naming where you got your information. For example you could say, "I know that in dog food production plants they do _______ and it smells like _______. Some plants even do _______."

I'm not a lawyer but I'll bet you couldn't get in trouble by saying things like that. Even if I could say nothing, I would take the tour just for my own knowledge.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Yeah, I thought about that too...maybe we still will just for the sake of
it!


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## PUNKem733 (Jun 12, 2009)

danemama08 said:


> Yeah, I thought about that too...maybe we still will just for the sake of
> it!


Yeah that would be awesome.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

ubershann said:


> Yeah the ingredients are pretty awful. And this is supposed to be one of Purina's better food!
> 
> But what I'm really looking for is if anyone knows much about the behind the scenes stuff. Like where they buy the supplies from. Are they all from China? Stuff like that.
> 
> He's very open to getting a better food, so I know he's not going to defend the gross ingredients or anything. I just wanted to pass on a little more knowledge about the less-thought-of side of dog foods. That way he will at least have a little ammo in his pocket :wink: And who knows, maybe it will inspire him to look into it more himself


i thin purina proplan is their best food,followed by purina one.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I'm guessing your a drinker!!!!!!LOL


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (May 19, 2009)

This site is very good for teaching basics of food. The Dog Food Project - How does your Dog Food Brand compare? Have him start on the left hand margin and work through into, dog food 101 etc.


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## ubershann (Jul 29, 2010)

I gave him a breakdown of the main ingredients, and the name of several good foods, then sent him to a store in his neighborhood that specializes in raw, but sells several very high quality kibbles too. I told him to talk to them and that anything he walked out with from that store would be a good choice. They carry nothing but the best. 

Like I said, not everyone is willing to do all the research, and it can be pretty overwhelming. If this gets good food into the mouth of his dog then great. If he then feels compelled to do his own research, even better :biggrin:


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

ubershann said:


> I gave him a breakdown of the main ingredients, and the name of several good foods, then sent him to a store in his neighborhood that specializes in raw, but sells several very high quality kibbles too. I told him to talk to them and that anything he walked out with from that store would be a good choice. They carry nothing but the best.
> 
> Like I said, not everyone is willing to do all the research, and it can be pretty overwhelming. If this gets good food into the mouth of his dog then great. If he then feels compelled to do his own research, even better :biggrin:


Knowing Portland as I remember it...very progressive, real "Green" and innovative...WAY ahead of anything I have available...I'd have to believe you guys would have countless options available for good Dog food, raw or kibble. 

Must be nice :wink:


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I forgot to post this, very helpful and easy to understand guide to dog nutrition:

Complete and Final.doc - 4shared.com - document sharing - download


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## Sapphire-Light (Aug 8, 2010)

Beneful is horrible!!

I remember that 2 years ago I got a free sample in a dog show, I didn't had my dog then but I got it for my turtle.

Two months later than I got it, we notice it had a white stuff over it, we thought it was mold, and we trow it away.

Mush later I looked at some reviews that said many people found white bugs in this food, so the white stuff we found it was most likely bugs. :frown:

In this week I went to shop kibble for my pup, I was getting a bag of kirkland puppy and then an employee told me "e are promoting this food, this one is better" and she pointed me at a bag of benefull puppy 

I tried NOT to vomit and said at loud "oh no!! tried that one and it makes him sick" wish is a lie in part since I never would give that crap to my pup, but the true is that this "food" would make him sick. 

I hate to lie, but that was the first thing it came to my mind since she was preventing to me to put the kirkland in the shopping cart.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> I'm guessing your a drinker!!!!!!LOL


you spelled you're wrong..nbefore being a smart alec learn to spell..i may make typos,but im far from a drunk


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## ubershann (Jul 29, 2010)

kevin bradley said:


> Knowing Portland as I remember it...very progressive, real "Green" and innovative...WAY ahead of anything I have available...I'd have to believe you guys would have countless options available for good Dog food, raw or kibble.
> 
> Must be nice :wink:


Yep, Portland is a haven for dog lovers :smile: We consistently rank in the top cities for dog owners, and we're full of fabulous independent pet food stores. Very lucky indeed!


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## Jacksons Mom (Jun 13, 2010)

Beneful is so gross. Jackson, who can eat Pedigree and Purina junk (by accident, visitng peoples houses, etc), got sick on Beneful. He had been at my dads house 2 nights, I was away, and they ran out of dog food. So she had Beneful left and gave it to the dogs. I came home that night (he had been fed dinner a few hours before) and I thought he looked really bloated, but thought I was just imagining things since I hadn't seen him in a few days. He just started vomitting up crap and it was all the colors of the Beneful food. Jackson rarely pukes. But he was sick for the rest of the night and still was off the following day.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Fresh, then stop sayin things that make you sound like you drink!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

keep it civil, please. :smile:
spell check is your friend. 
...and so is jacks. :biggrin:


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## Guest (Sep 16, 2010)

As horrible as Beneful is, it's one of the most popular brands around here. Unfortunately.


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

LabbieMama said:


> As horrible as Beneful is, it's one of the most popular brands around here. Unfortunately.


Ol' Roy is the best selling dog food in the country ... maybe the world.


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## flippedstars (May 22, 2010)

I work with a lady that fed this to a dog she touts as "her child" (she and her hubby don't have kids). I kept dropping hints that its an AWFUL food, but she kept saying how great it was and that it says "healthful" on the bag. She would ask why my 4 chis have no bad breath, no tarter on their teeth, hardly shed, and don't smell doggy...but then chalk it up to their breed, saying I spend too much on dog food (we feed a combo of THK, raw meaty bones, natures variety raw, and I actually take care of their teeth). Its like, how dumb can you be? How can you feed your dog a food that doesn't even identify the meat source? How can you think dog food should look like it could decorate a christmas tree? HOW? She just doesn't seem to get that there are better options out there, no matter how many recommendations and samples I've passed her way.


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