Purina Beneful reads like a great choice for your dog, but is it?
I find this brand to be popular with small breed dog owners, and being on the shelves of Woolworths seems to offer trust – I often hear “If it’s not healthy, Woolworths wouldn’t sell it, would they?” or words to that affect.
It even has the word “Healthy” in the recipe name, such as “Beneful Healthy Small Bites With Beef” alongside other claims of nutrition, health, and complete and balanced.
Keeping that in mind, let me talk you through the recipe as a certified pet nutritionist, and even if you decide not to buy Beneful for the dog you love, you may opt for something on the list of affordable dog foods.
Purina Beneful
Circa 2010 when I was fairly new to reviewing dog foods the Internet was awash with claims (mostly in the US) than Purina Beneful was “killing dogs”.
Although most of these claims are backed with little evidence (because it’s very hard to prove in most cases), it is better for us to focus on the ingredients to help us decide if Beneful is a good choice for our dogs.
Firstly, I know it’s easy to see our dogs as furry family members who we want to dote on, but we mustn’t forget their ancestors were predator animals, biologically designed to devour prey. By prey we’re talking flesh, organs, raw meaty bones, fur, feathers, and all that yucky stuff you see rotting away by the side of the road in the Aussie bush.
The pet food industry doesn’t want you to think that way, and it’s easy for us not to. The industry wants you to buy your puppy and not think about what you feed them – just their brand of kibble in a glossy bag.
The pet food industry wants you to believe your dog is an omnivore, like us, but the scientific reality is your dog has much more in common with the biology of a carnivorous cat, wolf, fox, or other predator carnivore, and actually very little resemblance to us whatsoever.
I realise I’m waffling on a little even though these are very important facts, but it explains why wholegrain cereals and/or cereal by-products as the first and main ingredient of Purina Beneful really shows this isn’t ideal for your dog.
This means the food – despite the claims of health all over the packet – might not be as good as we’ve been told.
Still keen on Beneful?
Thankfully the second ingredient is more appropriate for your dog – meat & meat by-products.
We can hope this is a quality inclusion of meat and organs, but really as an ambiguous ingredient it could be chicken heads for all we know. How do we know it’s a nice mix of healthy meats and organs?
We don’t.
Even though it’s the 2nd ingredient, the 3rd ingredient might be in the same amount, and that’s some ambiguous concoction of vegetable and vegetable by-products which might not be overly healthy either.
Try asking yourself what the “by-product” of a vegetable is?
Carrot tops?
Potato skin?
The 4th ingredient is sugar. Not good for your dog, and it takes little explaining why.
There is absolutely no reason to feed your dog sugar in their regular meal, ironically plastered with claims of health on the packaging.
Sugar, combined with humectant as the 5th ingredient, it’s likely to encourage your dog to eat what is essentially a processed nugget of cereal grains with some unknown cocktail of vegetable and meat by-products.
The reason you may ask – well, as a pet owner you want to see your dog enthusiastically devouring their food as if they love it.
Is there anything good to say about Purina Beneful, other than how great the price seems to be?
Well, no, not really.
If the ingredients mentioned above haven’t put you off, let’s end with an ingredient we all know is bad (and pointless for a dog), and that’s food colours.
Can you believe I first reviewed Purina Beneful in 2013, and it hasn’t changed much since.
The ingredients of Beneful dog food (Beneful Healthy Small Bites With Beef):
Wholegrain Cereals and/or Cereal By-Products; Meat & Meat By-Products (Poultry, Beef, and/or Lamb) and/or Poultry By-Product; Vegetable & Vegetable By-Products; Sugar, Humectant; Orthophosphoric Acid, Sorbic Acid, Calcium Propionate, Emulsifier; Minerals, Vitamins and/or Amino Acids, Antioxidants, Natural Flavours; Food Colours.
Read more...
I find this brand to be popular with small breed dog owners, and being on the shelves of Woolworths seems to offer trust – I often hear “If it’s not healthy, Woolworths wouldn’t sell it, would they?” or words to that affect.
It even has the word “Healthy” in the recipe name, such as “Beneful Healthy Small Bites With Beef” alongside other claims of nutrition, health, and complete and balanced.
Keeping that in mind, let me talk you through the recipe as a certified pet nutritionist, and even if you decide not to buy Beneful for the dog you love, you may opt for something on the list of affordable dog foods.
Purina Beneful
Purina Beneful Review
Circa 2010 when I was fairly new to reviewing dog foods the Internet was awash with claims (mostly in the US) than Purina Beneful was “killing dogs”.
Although most of these claims are backed with little evidence (because it’s very hard to prove in most cases), it is better for us to focus on the ingredients to help us decide if Beneful is a good choice for our dogs.
Firstly, I know it’s easy to see our dogs as furry family members who we want to dote on, but we mustn’t forget their ancestors were predator animals, biologically designed to devour prey. By prey we’re talking flesh, organs, raw meaty bones, fur, feathers, and all that yucky stuff you see rotting away by the side of the road in the Aussie bush.
The pet food industry doesn’t want you to think that way, and it’s easy for us not to. The industry wants you to buy your puppy and not think about what you feed them – just their brand of kibble in a glossy bag.
The pet food industry wants you to believe your dog is an omnivore, like us, but the scientific reality is your dog has much more in common with the biology of a carnivorous cat, wolf, fox, or other predator carnivore, and actually very little resemblance to us whatsoever.
I realise I’m waffling on a little even though these are very important facts, but it explains why wholegrain cereals and/or cereal by-products as the first and main ingredient of Purina Beneful really shows this isn’t ideal for your dog.
This means the food – despite the claims of health all over the packet – might not be as good as we’ve been told.
Still keen on Beneful?
Thankfully the second ingredient is more appropriate for your dog – meat & meat by-products.
We can hope this is a quality inclusion of meat and organs, but really as an ambiguous ingredient it could be chicken heads for all we know. How do we know it’s a nice mix of healthy meats and organs?
We don’t.
Even though it’s the 2nd ingredient, the 3rd ingredient might be in the same amount, and that’s some ambiguous concoction of vegetable and vegetable by-products which might not be overly healthy either.
Try asking yourself what the “by-product” of a vegetable is?
Carrot tops?
Potato skin?
The 4th ingredient is sugar. Not good for your dog, and it takes little explaining why.
There is absolutely no reason to feed your dog sugar in their regular meal, ironically plastered with claims of health on the packaging.
Sugar, combined with humectant as the 5th ingredient, it’s likely to encourage your dog to eat what is essentially a processed nugget of cereal grains with some unknown cocktail of vegetable and meat by-products.
The reason you may ask – well, as a pet owner you want to see your dog enthusiastically devouring their food as if they love it.
Is there anything good to say about Purina Beneful, other than how great the price seems to be?
Well, no, not really.
If the ingredients mentioned above haven’t put you off, let’s end with an ingredient we all know is bad (and pointless for a dog), and that’s food colours.
Can you believe I first reviewed Purina Beneful in 2013, and it hasn’t changed much since.
Ingredients
The ingredients of Beneful dog food (Beneful Healthy Small Bites With Beef):
Wholegrain Cereals and/or Cereal By-Products; Meat & Meat By-Products (Poultry, Beef, and/or Lamb) and/or Poultry By-Product; Vegetable & Vegetable By-Products; Sugar, Humectant; Orthophosphoric Acid, Sorbic Acid, Calcium Propionate, Emulsifier; Minerals, Vitamins and/or Amino Acids, Antioxidants, Natural Flavours; Food Colours.
Read more...
