GOOD FOOD OR GOOD ADVERTISING?

The most important decision you will ever make for your dog or cats health is what to feed them. With so many animals suffering from food related health issues, what is going wrong? It really is not that complicated if we start with some basic rules.

Rules

1. Feed species appropriate food. Cats are carnivores and get all of their nutrient needs from meat. Dogs are omnivores which means they too need mostly meat. If you feed them a natural diet (for them) they will be healthier, plain and simple.
2. Don’t get fooled by advertising. Remember rule number 1.


1. Advertising comes in many forms. Companies give food to breeders because they know breeders biggest expense is food. They in turn tell you to keep your pet on this food. Companies provide the nutritional information taught at veterinarian schools, as well as free food for the students pets. One of my favorites is Iams and the commercial that says more vets recommend this over grocery store brands. Even I will admit it is better than those brands. But if I were a law maker those grocery brands would not even be on the market. So does that make Iams good? I refer you to rule number one and you can decide from there.
   
   
2. Diet must be complicated - look at how many different foods Purina makes. (By the way I lost count.) Pretty soon we will have a different food for every breed. Oh wait - someone already does that. The real nutritional requirements for dogs and cats are not complicated!

Analysis of Six Purina Formulas
NOT Species Appropriate Foods
From 2009 - TABLE 1

Beneful Originals with Salmon	Beneful Healthy Harvest	Beneful Healthy Radiance	Beneful Playful Life	Pro Plan Performance	Pro Plan Selects
(top 11 ingredients)	(top 11 ingredients)	(top 11 ingredients)	(top 11 ingredients)	(top 11 ingredients)	(top 11 ingredients)
Ground Yellow Corn	Ground Yellow Corn	Ground Yellow Corn	Ground Yellow Corn	Chicken	Chicken
Chicken By Product Meal	Corn Gluten Meal	Chicken By Product Meal	Chicken By Product Meal	Corn Gluten Meal	Brown Rice
Whole Grain Wheat	Whole Wheat Flour	Corn Gluten Meal	Corn Gluten Meal	Brewers Rice	Corn Guten Meal
Corn Gluten Meal	Animal Fat	Whole Wheat Flour	Whole Wheat Flour	Animal Fat	Pearled Barley
Beef Tallow	Soy Protein Concentrate	Animal Fat	Animal Fat	Poultry By Product Meal	Chicken Meal
Rice	Soybean Meal	Salmon	Rice Flour	Animal Digest	Dried Egg Product
Soybean Meal	Pearled Barley	Brewers Rice	Beef	Fish Oil	Animal Fat
Salmon	Brewers Rice	Soybean Meal	Soy Flour	Dried Egg Product	Oatmeal
Glycerin	Sugar	Sugar	Egg Product	Potassium Chloride	Fish Meal
Egg and Chicken Flavour	Water	Sorbitol	Oatmeal	Salt	Dried Brewers Yeast
Mono and Dicalcium Phosphate	Animal Digest	Tricalcium Phosphate	Sugar	Calcium Phosphate	Dried Beet Pulp

The top 11 ingredients are the most important. (If someone asks you what you had for dinner you would say salmon, rice and some veggies. You don’t elaborate on the lemon, dill and pepper that were the spices added to your meal. It is the same concept with pet food.)

If you look at the label or commercials for Beneful Original, they suggest you get meat, peas, carrots and corn. When in fact there are no peas or carrots in the top 11 and for meat you need to go to 7th ingredient on the list. The chicken by product meal is not really meat. So in fact you have a lot of corn. But back to rule 1. Corn is not what dogs and cats need. There are no carrots or peas in the top 11 but they do have sugar and sorbitol, fillers that are unnecessary and harmful!

Beneful Healthy Harvest

No meat, and lots of what they don’t need. Healthy Radiance is similar to the Original but instead of beef they have salmon. Yes, fish is good for the coat, thus the “healthy radiance”. But you see the rest is still not appropriate. If you were feeding them a species appropriate diet the coat would look wonderful. (But oops, then they would have one less product to sell.)

Playful Life

I love this one. If you were feeding them right they would all have playful lives, but let’s check and see if this meets rule number one. Yet again the answer is no. Looking at this entire label, I cannot see anything that would contribute to its name. At least in Healthy Radiance, it had salmon for the coat. But Playful Life has nothing that is going to help promote health and vitality, and to be honest, with all the food colorings and sugar, “Slow Death” would be a better title. I attempt to be fair, but every now and then a person just gets mad at how the consumer is mislead. And our loved ones are suffering for it.

Now on to what I believe they suggest are their better formulas.

Pro Plan Performance

The good news is that meat is number one on the list. Awesome, but wait, it is followed by all the same NON species appropriate foods like corn. The original Pro Plan formula had corn as number 1 and corn gluten meal number 3. But in this product, now corn gluten meal is number 2 and there is no ground yellow corn. But wait - yes there is, it is now called whole grain corn and corn bran. By splitting the ingredient into two items you can drop it down on the list. So has it really changed that much?

Pro Plan Select

They are getting warmer now. There is more meat but they still have a lot of other items that are not appropriate for dogs, such as corn gluten meal, an undigestable, non-nutrittious ingredient.

Purina Formulas Closest to Table 1 - Updated to 2025 fromulas
NOT Species Appropriate Foods
TABLE 2

Beneful Originals with Salmon	Beneful Healthy Weight with Real Chicken	Pro Plan All Ages Sport - Chicken
(top 11 ingredients)	(top 11 ingredients)	(top 11 ingredients)
Salmon	Chicken	Chicken
Whole Grain Corn	Whole Grain Corn	Corn Gluten Meal
Whole Grain Wheat	Chicken By-Product Meal	Rice
Soybean Meal	Barley	Beef Fat
Barley	Whole Grain Wheat	Poultry By-Product Meal
Chicken By-Product Meal	Soybean Meal	Whole Grain Corn
Oatmeal	Soybean Hulls	Corn Germ Meal
Rice	Rice	Dried Egg Product
Beef Tallow	Corn Gluten Meal	Fish Meal
Corn Gluten Meal	Egg and Chicken Flavour	Natural Flavours
Egg and Chicken Flavour	Oatmeal	Fish Meal

In 16 years there have been some changes for the better, but the formula is still lacking meat and as still is filled with non-species appropriate ingredients.

More About Rule #2 (Do not get fooled by advertising)

C. ’Complete’ and ’balanced’ are words that you will see on many foods. But ask yourself - if it’s complete and balanced why would there ever be a need for ’new, improved’ formulas? Would that not suggest the first one wasn’t so complete and balanced? There is no living thing on this planet that has a complete, balanced diet in every meal. These words mean nothing, but they do sound good. The only thing that matters on a label is the ingredient panel. Not even the guaranteed analysis means much. Remember even beaks, shoe leather, finger nails, hair, feathers, are considered protein sources. The only thing you should look at on a bag is ingredients. And make sure it is species appropriate.

D. But my vet recommended it.

Medi-Cal (2009) a common vet food NOT Species Appropriate Foods - Table 3		Royal Canin (2016) a common vet food NOT Species Appropriate Foods - Table 4		Royal Canin (2025) a common vet food NOT Species Appropriate Foods - Table 5
Medi-Cal Adolescent Formula	Medi-Cal Gastro Formula	Royal Canin Development Puppy Dry Food	Royal Canin Gastroinestinal Mod Calorie	Royal Canin Vet Puppy Hydrolyzed Protein	Royal Canin Gastroinestinal Mod Calorie
(first 11 ingredients)	(first 11 ingredients)	(first 11 ingredients)	(first 11 ingredients)	(first 11 ingredients)	(first 11 ingredients)
Chicken Meal	Corn	Chicken By Product Meal	Brewers Rice	Brewers Rice	Brewers Rice Flour
Brewers Rice	Brewers Rice	Brewers Rice	Chicken By Product Meal	Hydrolyzed Soy Protein	Chicken By Product Meal
Oat Flour	Lamb Meal	Corn	Corn	Chicken Fat	Corn
Corn	Potato Protein	Chicken Fat	Rice	Natural Flavours	Brewers Rice
Dried Whole Egg	Dried Whole Egg	Wheat Gluten	Natural Flavors	Dried Plain Beet Pulp	Natural Flavors
Chicken Fat	Chicken Fat	Wheat	Chicken Fat	Monocalcium Phosphate	Chicken Fat
Fish Meal	Lamb Digest	Natural Flavours	Dried Beet Pulp	Vegetable Oil	Egg Product
Yeast Culture	Flax Meal	Dried Plain Beef Pulp	Egg Product	Calcium Carbonate	Dried Plain Beet Pulp
Chicken Digest	Minerals	Rice Hulls	Grain Distillers Dried Yeast	Fish Oil	Powdered Cellulose
Tomato Pomace	Salmon Oil	Vegetable Oil	Powdered Cellulose	Sodium Aluminosilicate	Vegetable Oil
Flax Meal	Pea Fiber	Fish Oil	Vegetable Oil	Fructooligosaccharides	Monocalcium phosphate
Beet Pulp	Vitamins	Sodium Silicon Aluminate	Salt	Potassium Chloride

The Puppy Formlula and Gastro Formula (from 2025) have brewers rice / brewers rice flour. Again very little species appropriate food. But why? This is a vet food. They must know what dogs and cats are supposed to eat. Here is the kicker. Most companies want to offer you the lowest priced product they can get away with. There is no other reason than that. (Note: Medi Cal was made by the company Royal Canin and appears to now be discontinued).

So what do you need to remember of all of this? Two things.

Remember rule number 1 and Tail Blazers. We make sure our products follow rule 1. And we also have a list so you can check your foods out for what is really in them.

See for yourself (below) just a small sample of some foods Tail Blazers carries that ARE SPECIES APPROPRIATE! (2025 Formulas)

Tail Blazers Approved Foods - that ARE Species Appropriate
Table 6

Acana - Wild Prairie Dog	Carna4 - Chicken Dog	Orijen - Adult Chicken	Go - Fit and Free Adult
(first 11 ingredients)	(first 11 ingredients)	(first 11 ingredients)	(first 11 ingredients)
Fresh Chicken Meat	Fresh Chicken	Fresh Chicken	Chicken Meal
Fresh Turkey Meat	Chicken Liver	Raw Turkey	Turkey Meal
Fresh Chicken Giblets	Eggs	Fresh Chicken Giblets	Salmon Meal
Chicken Meal	Organic Sprouted Barley Seed	Whole Herring	De-boned Chicken
Turkey Meal	Salmon	Raw Whole Hake	De-boned Turkey
Whole Herring Meal	Sweet Potato	Fresh Eggs	De-boned Trout
Whole Green Peas	Whole Brown Rice	Raw Turkey Liver	Potatoes
Whole Red Lentils	Organic Sprouted Flaxseed	Dehdrated Chicken	Peas
Whole Chickpeas	Organic Sprouted Lentils	Dehydrated Turkey	Tapioca
Cage-Free Eggs	Organic Sprouted Peas	Dehydrated Mackerel	Lentils

Please note, that for this example we used mostly chicken products. Tail Blazers has many other types of foods available as well.

May all our furry friends live long healthy lives,

Brent Hauberg (President, Tail Blazers)

Disclaimer – The views expressed in this article are solely the opinions of Tail Blazers. These opinions and views are not in any way affiliated with or endorsed by any food or product sold or not sold by Tail Blazers. This article is provided by Tail Blazers for informational purposes only and is not meant as a substitute for the advice of a qualified animal health professional. If you suspect your pet has a health problem, please consult with your qualified animal health professional. Formulas accurate as date listed next to information.