Purina Dog Food Brands
Purina is a behemoth of their pet food industry and has over a dozen individual brands selling dry dog food, wet dog food, dog treats, and more. Given this huge range of products and recipes, it can be extremely challenging to choose a single recipe or sub-brand to feed your dog.
Below is the full list of Purina recipes that offer dry or wet/canned dog food recipes.
- Purina Alpo
- Purina Bella
- Purina Beneful
- Purina Beyond
- Purina Dog Chow
- Purina Moist & Meaty
- Purina Pro Plan
- Purina One
Each of these brands is aimed at a different price point or niche in the market. For example, Purina Pro Plan has many dog food recipes for sporting or working dogs, as well as dogs with allergies or health issues.
In contrast, Purina Dog Chow is designed as an affordable and low-cost dog food brand and offers very few features outside of its core nutrition.
Regardless of which Purina recipe you choose, you can rest easy knowing that they all undergo similar development, formulation, and testing processes.
In addition, all of Purina’s recipes are produced at their own dedicated facilities. Purina does not outsource its production to thirty parties as many other brands do.
Best Purina Dog Food
Purina Pro Plan
It will not come as a surprise to many that Purina Pro Plan takes the top spot among Purina dog food brands.
This premium brand offers a huge range of dog food recipes with a balanced mix of dry dog food and wet/canned dog food.
Purina Pro Plan offers many specialized recipes which will allow dog owners to tailor their choice to their dog’s needs and requirements.
For example, Purina Pro Plan has recipes for small and large breed dogs, puppies and senior dogs, dogs who require weight management, dogs with sensitive skin or stomachs, and sporting or highly active dogs.
In particular, the recipes for dogs with sensitive skin and stomachs are extremely popular. This is not surprising given the increase in dogs experiencing allergy or sensitivity issues.
Unlike many Purina brands, you tend to have to purchase Purina Pro Plan from more dedicated pet food stores like PetSmart, or you can very often purchase their recipes from Veterinary clinics depending on which brands they partner with.
Adult Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon & Rice Formula Review
The above Purina Pro Plan recipe for dogs with sensitive skin and stomachs is the most popular recipe sold on Chewy by a considerable margin.
The recipe’s primary ingredient is Salmon which is an excellent addition to any dog food recipe. Salmon can act as a high-quality source of fish-based protein and fat.
Also, Salmon is one of the best sources of the Omega 3 Fatty Acids. These fatty acids can provide several health benefits to dogs, including an improvement in the condition of skin and coats, which are often affected by allergies.
Outside of this Salmon content, this recipe from Purina Pro Plan utilizes a mix of Barley, Rice, and Oat Meal as its plant-based content.
These grain ingredients act as dense sources of nutrition and can provide a mix of carbohydrates, plant-based protein, fiber, and more.
It is also worth noting that these grain ingredients are preferred by many to lower-cost grains like Corn and Wheat. Fewer dogs have a negative reaction to these grains, which is a critical trait for a recipe for dogs with sensitive skin to stomachs.
While many would expect specialized recipes like the above to come in at a high price point, they are surprisingly affordable in comparison to similar brands, with a 30-pound bag usually costing around $50.
All Life Stages Performance 30/20 Chicken & Rice Review
While a recipe focused on allergies may take the top spot, Purina Pro Plan also produces some recipes with excellent nutritional profiles, tailor-made for highly active dogs like those who compete or work.
The above Performance Chicken and Rice recipe is the most popular of these high-activity recipes thanks to its simplicity.
The recipe’s most abundant ingredient is Chicken, which can provide a large portion of high-quality animal-based protein and fat.
Thanks to this Chicken, the overall proportion of protein and fat in the recipe is at a minimum of 30% and 20%, which is significantly above average.
The other main ingredients in the recipe are a mix of Corn ingredients, Rice, and by-products. While many in the industry frown upon ingredients such as these, fans of Purina Pro Plan believe they are well suited to the digestive system of dogs.
They would argue that Corn is a nutritionally dense ingredient that can provide carbohydrates, plant-based protein, and select vitamins and minerals to dogs.
While Purina Pro Plan’s recipe for allergies is very competitively priced, their performance recipes are more pricey, coming in at 30-40% more than others from Purina Pro Plan.
If you’d like more information on the Purina Pro Plan brand, including information like recalls, animal testing, and ingredients, head on over to our Purina Pro Plan Brand Review.
Purina Beyond
Purina Beyond is a much smaller and less well-known brand from Purina. The brand has only been available to purchase for a few years, and they lack the history of other Purina brands.
However, this lack of history is made up by Purina with an impressive selection of ingredients, above-average nutrition, and highly competitive pricing.
Purina Beyond is also notable as being one of a select few dog brands to offer organic dog food. If you’d like to learn more about organic dog food and our thoughts on Purina Beyond’s organic recipe, take a read of our Best Organic Dog Food article.
While Purina Beyond recipes were only available from limited retailers at first, they are becoming increasingly common on the shelves of large retail and pet food stores. Purina has also made the Beyond brands available online from almost all of the large pet food websites.
Grain Free With Chicken & Egg Review
Our favorite recipe from the Purina Beyond dry dog food range is their Chicken & Egg formula. This recipe keeps things simple uses a select number of core ingredients to provide an impressive nutritional profile.
The recipe’s two most abundant ingredients are Chicken and Chicken Meal. Many dog owners are put off by Meat Meals such as Chicken Meal, but it can be advantageous as it contains a much higher proportion of animal protein and fat than traditional meat.
This increased density of nutrition is due to the fact that meat meals have already had their moisture extracted.
Eggs are also worth pointing out as a beneficial component of this recipe. They are very easily digested by humans and dogs alike and are full of high-quality nutrition in the form of protein, fat, carbohydrates, and more.
The Chicken and Egg ingredients of this recipe are then combined with a range of vegetable by-products such as Pea Starch, Pea Protein, and Cassava Root Flour.
These ingredients provide a proportion of carbohydrates, plant-based protein, fiber, and select vitamins and minerals.
Pea Starch and Pea Protein are two highly discussed ingredients in the pet food world, and we’d recommend checking out our article Peas, Pea Protein, Pea Flour, and Pea Fiber in Dog Food for a complete explanation.
Given the nutritional offering of this recipe and its choice of ingredients, you may expect this recipe to be moderately priced, but this isn’t the case. You can usually pick up a 23-pound bag of Purina Beyond dry dog food for as little as $35.
Wild Prey-Inspired Turkey, Liver & Duck Recipe Review
While most readers are likely interested in narrowing down a Purina dry dog food recipe, you should not discount Purina Beyond’s wet/canned dog food recipes.
The above Wild Prey-Inspired recipe is a prime example of why you should not ignore wet/canned dog food. This recipe is almost entirely made up of meat ingredients with no notable plant-matter present.
This animal-based content includes a portion of Turkey, Chicken, Duck, and Chicken Liver. These poultry ingredients can act as high-quality sources of animal-based protein and fat.
Also, the Chicken Liver greatly enhances the recipe by improving its flavor to make it more appealing and providing some beneficial vitamins and minerals that are not abundant in traditional meat cuts.
The above-mentioned wet/canned recipe from Purina Beyond is one of their most expensive offerings, but their wet/canned food can be as cheap as $20 for a tray of 12, 13-oz cans.
If you’d like to learn more about Purina Beyond, including its expanding product range, its recall history, and its nutritional offering, we recommend checking out our Purina Beyond Brand Review.
Purina One
Purina One is likely a more familiar Purina brand to readers of this article and often features on the shelves of large grocery stores like Walmart or pet food stores like PetSmart.
Purina One has been available to purchase since 1986, which makes it a longstanding brand compared to the majority of other dog food brands available.
Purina One is aimed at a lower price point than both Purina Pro Plan and Purina Beyond but is far from Purina’s lowest-cost offering. They achieve this pricing by balancing the use of some higher-quality ingredients and offering nutrition that is suitable for most dogs.
SmartBlend Chicken & Rice Adult Formula Review
With their lower price point in mind, the above Chicken and Rice recipe from Purina One is a reliable choice and is often one of their most sold recipes.
Chicken is the recipe’s primary ingredient which is impressive and noteworthy. Many other dog food brands at this price level do not use high-quality meat ingredients like this, or they are placed further down the ingredient list.
This Chicken provides a respectable proportion of animal-based protein and fat, which helps contribute to a total protein and fat content of 26% and 16%, respectively.
Outside of this Chicken, this recipe utilizes plant-based ingredients like Rice Flour, Corn Gluten Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Whole Grain Wheat, and Soybean Meal.
This large selection of grain ingredients is not uncommon for a Purina recipe that does not shy away from their use. These ingredients provide a mix of carbohydrates, plant-based protein, and fiber.
A large 40-pound bag of SmartBlend dog food from Purina One can often cost as little as $40, which is very competitive and affordable for most.
We’d recommend this recipe or other similar ones from Purina One for dog owners on a tighter budget and who have dogs without allergies or sensitivities.
Purina Bella
Purina Bella is a specialized sub-brand from Purina that produces dog food for small and toy-breed dogs. For this reason, if your dog is a medium or large breed, you may want to skip this section.
Their product range is quite small in comparison to Purina Pro Plan or Purina One and is mainly focused on wet dog food. However, this small range shouldn’t be offputting, and they have some impressive recipes.
Wet dog food is far more affordable for small or toy-breed dogs as they consume far less food. They also often struggle to eat traditional kibble as it sometimes too large.
While we are going to discuss a specific Purina Bella recipe below, note that they sell their wet food recipes in variety packs which is an attractive trait and can give dogs some much-needed variety in their diet.
You can check out these variety packs here.
Pate With Beef & Smoked Bacon Flavor In Savory Juices Review
The above Pate recipe from Purina Bella is typical of their range and comes in a small foil tray rather than a traditional can.
Purina Bella Pate recipes contain a huge proportion of meat and very little plant matter. The particular recipe includes a mix of Meat By-Products, Chicken, Liver, and Beef.
While we are not a fan of the lack of transparency around Meat By-Products, this ingredient can still provide dogs with some valuable protein and fat.
The Chicken and Beef are high-quality sources and help to supplement the protein and fat from the other ingredients.
Outside of these meat ingredients, the only other notable ingredient is Locust Bean Gum which is similar to Guar Gum or Carrageenan. It is used as a binding agent to give the pate a consistent texture and appearance.
Given the small portion size of Purina Bella recipes, they are extremely affordable, and a case of 12 trays can often be found for under $10.
Purina Beneful
The last Purina brand worth discussing in this article is Purina Beneful. Unlike many of Purina’s other brands, Beneful was developed in-house and has been a staple for over twenty years.
Similar to some other Purina brands, you can often purchase Purina Beneful from the stores of large retail stores like Walmart or Target.
The brand is priced slightly lower than Purina One and significantly lower than others mentioned here, like Purina Pro Plan or Purina Beyond.
This lower price point correlates to nutritional profiles with lower levels of protein and fat and higher levels of carbohydrates.
While these nutritional levels are still above the minimum required levels, they are far from impressive and likely not sufficient for active dogs or dogs who require high levels of protein.
High Protein Blend of Real Chicken and Beef Review
As we just mentioned, Purina Beneful recipes often have lower levels of protein and fat than other Purina brands. However, the above High Protein recipe from Beneful is one of their most nutritious, with a minimum of 26% protein and 15.5% fat.
This nutrition is thanks to a large portion of Chicken which is the recipe’s main ingredient. This Chicken can act as a high-quality source of animal-based protein and fat.
Most Purina Beneful recipes use a named meat ingredient as their primary ingredient, which is noteworthy and a step up from the ultra-low-cost brands from Purina and others.
Outside of this Chicken, the recipe uses a large range of grain ingredients such as Corn, Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, and Soybean Meal. These grain ingredients act as a dense source of carbohydrates, plant-based protein, and fiber.
As we’ve discussed multiple times, grains like these can be controversial, but Purina and their supporters believe they are suitable additions to dog’s diets.
The above High Protein recipe is one of the most premium recipes from Purina Beneful and will come in at under $40 for a 26-pound bag.
However, Beneful’s other recipes are often cheaper, coming in at around $25-$30 for a 23-28 pound bag.
If you are interested in learning more about Purina Beneful, including its recall record, its selection of ingredients, and its history, we would suggest you check out our Purina Beneful Brand Review.
Other Purina Brands
For those of you who are paying close attention, you’ll notice we’ve left out quite a few Purina brands from our recommendations. Examples of this include Purina Dog Chow, Purina Puppy Chow, and Purina Alpo.
While these brands get to share the same platform, development, and history as the above-mentioned Purina brands, they utilize poor-quality ingredients and provide nutrition that is below-average or significantly below-average.
Both of these brand featured in our article outlining some of the worst dog food brands in the industry – The 11 Worst Dog Foods
For this reason, we can not recommend that you purchase these brands and feed them to your dogs. If you’d like a detailed explanation and breakdown of these brands, we’d recommend you check out the below brand review pages.
