Switched from Acana to Purina Pro Plan -- Immediate improvements

[ivorysnow]

I wanted to share my experience in case anyone was looking into these brands -- We recently adopted a 13 week GSD and started her on Acana Wholesome Grains Puppy kibble. She was doing pretty well on it, she loved eating it. At first there was some diarrhea which I expected because I didn't know what the breeder was feeding prior and after a few days that cleared up for the most part but her poops stayed very soft. I ended up doing a ton of research online and decided to switch to the Purina Pro Plan. (thanks for the recommendations /r/dogfood)! Within 3-4 days of switching her, the random diarrhea cleared up and her stools firmed up. She is loving the new kibble and seems to be having an easier time pooping.

I went with the PPP Sensitive Stomach Large Breed Puppy Salmon. The kibble itself looks really good, no weird smells, I expected a fishy smell but it doesn't have that at all. I noticed the kibble is about 2x the size of the Acana pellets and rounder, this works much better for using it with training before meal times.

On a semi-related note, I also switched my cat from Blue Buffalo Blissful Belly to the Purina Pro Plan Cat Sensitive Stomach at the same time because he has been throwing up a lot on BB nd he is absolutely loving it with 0 regurgitations since switching. That is a massive improvement for him coming from the Blue Buffalo.

Our last dog, a Belgian Malinois lived to 15 on the Blue Buffalo Wilderness but with the recent changes to its formula I wanted to try something different, so far I am happy with this.

Hope this is helpful to anyone interested in these brands!

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@ivorysnow Heritage brands with decades of canine dieticians attached are better and safer.

 

[morganlee]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Judging by their website, it looks like Heritage has never had a recall, which is concerning.

 

[sevilodorf]

@morganlee To be clear, I believe the above poster is saying that large brands like Purina with a long history and experts are safer, not a brand called “heritage”

 

[pastorjeremiah]

@ivorysnow Yes! I’m a vet and this is a great food. My personal dog has been on Purina her whole life (different formulas depending on her needs at the time/ life stage). She is a large Catahoula and still going strong at 14 years old

 

[goldenbell]

@ivorysnow I switched our cat from BB to PPP Sensitive stomach and it’s been a huge change for him. He’s always had issues with vomiting. We had him on Science Diet RX for a while, he just hated it. He hates anything Fish or Turkey which is fun for a cat. The Lamb kibble he loves, would eat just it if we let him. He’s also getting the cans of the same line. Doing great.

My dogs are Rotten Shepherds (Rottweiler GSD mix) and they’ve done really well on PPP Large Puppy. Planning on going to Eukanuba at 2 years though as they eat it like treats now.

 

[hesmyrock]

@goldenbell You probably shouldn’t feet your car kibble

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@ivorysnow I switched from Acana to the Purina ONE and they're doing amazing and love it

 

[marco70]

@ivorysnow did the same thing with my pup. when i brought him home i fed Orijen and then Acana (bc they're fancy and I fell into the hype!), his stools were sooo bad but I just thought pro-biotics would fix it. It did not, and the vet finally put him on ProPlan EN prescription digestive care food, and then I slowly transitioned to ProPlan Salmon and Rice. His stools have been perfect since and not one bout of diarrhea!! Yay

 

[ivorysnow]

@marco70 I've been pleasantly surprised with how well she's taken to the Pro Plan after switching from Acana. I still have some Acana in her diet while she fully transitions and I use up the bag but the difference in stools is clear. I think I'm more impressed by the change in our cat though, he's loves the new food and no more throwing up.

 

[newwave]

@ivorysnow Do you find that your dog poops less on the purina? We have ours on Kirkland brand right now and seems they are constantly pooping

 

[bhagofangels]

@ivorysnow same! We do cucumber too for our dog bc otherwise she won’t eat the kibble on its own but her poops are

 

[hiswaynotmine]

@bhagofangels Forgive me for asking a stupid question, but are you saying you feed your puppy cucumber on their food? My dog is super picky and I struggle with toppers to get him to eat.

 

[bhagofangels]

@hiswaynotmine yes, we always have cukes in the fridge, chop up a bit to use as toppers. Mini Bell peppers when we run out of cukes.

 

[maxptyson]

@ivorysnow My cat’s vet recommended Purina Pro Plan, and we’ve fed him that ever since. I tried Blue Buffalo at first, but he would not touch it.

My puppy is coming home with me in 2 weeks, and her breeder uses Purina Pro Plan, and my different vet also recommended that brand to me when I called to ask! It’s a great brand, they pour tons of research into their animal foods, idk why they get such a bad rap amongst people who want to feed their animals well. Sometimes legacy big brands are legacy big brands because they’ve earned and kept their right to be that!

 

[hiswaynotmine]

@ivorysnow I also feed my 1 year old pup PPP large breed puppy sensitive stomach with success. I don’t know if you know that they recently changed the formula and took out the probiotics. You might notice the newly formulated one has a different dog on the front. Initially, I thought no big deal, I’ll just purchase their probiotic supplement. Then I saw the $30 price tag. That’s hefty if you consider it’s like your kibble went up $30 a month!

 

[ivorysnow]

@hiswaynotmine I can't find any information on a formula change, do you have any links to that? The only thing I could find was a year ago they ADDED probiotics. Not saying I dont believe you I would just like more information on it! Thank you

 

[hiswaynotmine]

@ivorysnow There was a post about it just recently, so I went and looked for evidence to see if it was true.. Then I went and looked and compared bags and yup, it is true. You can compare the bag with the old dog and the one with the new dog on it. I also found a statement by PPP about it but I’d have to dig for all this again. I’ll see if I can easily find it. If not, those are the ways I verified.

 

[ivorysnow]

@hiswaynotmine Thank you, I will look into it. The bag I started her on has the probiotics so it would be a shame if the next bag was a different formula.

 

[hiswaynotmine]

@ivorysnow Let me make this clear from the start- I feed PPP and love their products and will continue to feed them. I’m just giving this information because it’s important for pups to know! Purina acknowledges the change if you go under the product pictures on Amazon. But they didn’t fully change the written description. Sorry, I cannot attach a picture. They are kind of sneaky because on the Purina website they say the formula has PREbiotic fiber now with no mention of the actual changes made, as in no mention of the product no longer containing probiotics. Someone on another website said she actually called Purina to ask about the change and they explained why they are doing it, economics/supply chain/sustainability of product formulations.

ETA: grammar