Pro Plan

Question
Hi Labman,

I was wondering which Pro Plan, specifically, do you feed? Which one does the service school recommend? (There are so many varieties - shredded blend, select, large breed, to name a few. Also, what flavor - chicken, beef, lamb?) I have fed all my dogs Purina products through the years and they have all been healthy, with beautiful shiny coats. (I've had dogs for over 35 years.) I'm so sick and tired of hearing people knock Purina, and other "common" brands because the girl at the pet store said so, or because some faceless stranger on a doggy list-serve said it was garbage. Meanwhile, if their veterinarian recommends it, they are suspicious and accuse him of being "bribed" by the Company, or not educated enough in nutrition at Vet School. You are the only voice of reason here. Thank God we have you! By the way, Purina has board certified veterinary nutritionists on staff, and actually conducts feeding trials, which says A LOT about the Company.

Answer
Thank you for the nice things you said about me.  I feed the regular chicken and rice adult shreded blend.  I was a little disgusted when they switched to the shredded blend seeing it as more hoky marketing.  Yes, a food for every niche.  We have a large TSC type store here that carries dozens of different dog foods including 5-10 different ones from Purina, but not the one the school suggests.  I really wonder how different some of the formulas are from others and if it makes much difference.  I also see fine results in other programs feeding the despised Iams and Science Diet.

I am 67, and I think over my lifetime I have seen a retreat from rationality, logic, and science.  I really fault the schools.  Most of them teach science as a body of facts, not a method of determining how things work.  Thus scientific fact is subject to the same debate as in social studies.  Part of the problem are scientists that distort science for political agendas.  I will not take a stand on who is lying about climate change, but it is obvious somebody is.  People have been lied to by experts so many times, they no longer trust them.  How can you trust a board certified nutritionist that works for Nestle?  A third problem that the schools are more interested in indoctrinating students in the political correct, than teaching them critical, independent thinking.  Thus leaving those, devoutly believing that if it is more expensive it must be better, fair prey for those with a story about a high priced food with better ingredients.  There is what I call the ''Yogi Bear effect''.  Since Yogi is smarter than the average bear, it would never do to feed his dog the same food as others.  He must at least feed a premium brand, if not home made or raw.  Much of it is about ego.  

It is funny, the internet is choked about discussions of dog food and ingredients and dogs with problems from their diet.  In real life, most dogs are eating the common brands and doing very well.  I am constantly out in public with my dogs.  I spend several days a year in front of Wal*Mart or other busy locations doing fund raisers.  I have booths at dog shows.  I give talks on dog guides.  In 20 years, I can only remember the subject of food coming up twice, and in both cases, it was a rep for some other brand.  I haven't checked recently, but one of the ''experts'' here used to have a web site where you could buy what she recommended.  As objective as the Petsmart manager.  Oh, another listed her qualifications as owning a natural pet foods store.  

I think it is hilarious the way many of the self appointed nutritional ''experts'' struggle with the question of how much to feed when there is a very simple way to determine it, http://www.longliveyourdog.com/twoplus/RateYourDog.aspx