moist and meaty dog food review
Purina Moist & Meaty Dog Food Review (2024)
Purina Moist & Meaty Dog Food Review
For pet parents to take the call if the reputed dog food they are feeding their pets is safe and nutritious or not, is a tough one indeed. There have been cases when some of the biggest brands have come under the radar due to their recalls or cases of pets falling sick. Nestles Purina PetCare being one of those brands. Purina has been around for over a century now, which is more than most dog food companies can claim. Also, the sheer market size and resource of the company enables them to conduct strict quality checks and ensure responsible sourcing of ingredients, which is vital to the well-being of your pets.
Purina Company Overview
Purina Moist & Meaty Dog food is a wet dog food brand and is one of Purinas eight product lines. The lines differ by the target market and dog food offering but are otherwise manufactured at the same facilities that are dotted across the US. Purina states that their product recipes are formulated along with professional nutritionists and vets who know what the best and healthiest food options are, for your pets.
About sourcing, Purina states that it sources its ingredients from suppliers who go through their rigorous requirements and the companys high safety standards. The company conducts quality checks per day. Additionally,Purina Moist & Meaty Dog has never had any recalls .
Ingredients Found in Purina Moist & Meaty Dog Food
Heres a breakdown of the ingredients that go into Purina Moist & Meaty Burger with Cheddar Cheese:
- Beef by-products (meat that is left after the primary cuts are taken away)
- Soy flour (contains about 51% protein, by-product from processing soybean)
- Soy grits (toasted and broken soy beans, rich is low biological protein)
- High fructose corn syrup (corn-based sugar mixture, considered unhealthy for dogs)
- Water (no food value, added moisture)
- Wheat flour (highly-refined form of wheat milling, provides only moderate nutrition)
- Corn syrup (glucose-rich, high calorie, not of much nutritional value)
- Beef (high source of protein)
Although the brand has been in operation for over 100 years now, dominates an impressive market shares, and sources its ingredients from trusted suppliers, the issue lies in the ingredients its using in the recipes that dont make for the healthiest food choice for our canine friends. Surely, it must make for a tasty treat though, as claimed by the brand but if its okay to be served on a daily basis to pets is a call that pet parents should take independently.
Purina Moist & Meaty Dog Food Product Line
- Burger with Cheddar Cheese Flavor
- Steak Flavor
- Rise & Shine Awaken Bacon and Egg Flavor
- Chopped Burger
4 Varieties of Moist & Meaty Dry Dog Food
Earls Moist & Meaty Review
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Suitable for all breeds of dogs
Private label(or
white label) pet foods are pre-formulated recipes that companies can order from certain factories, add their own label or packaging and retail to the public as their own brand. They are therefore available from numerous suppliers.
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Mixing bowl composition
This is the ingredients list as printed on the packaging or manufacturer's website.
Think of the 'mixing bowl' composition like a recipe - all the ingredients you would need to put in a 'mixing bowl' in order to make the food.
Ingredients have to be listed in descending order of their weight so the higher it appears, the more there is.
Highlighted ingredients
Ingredients that we believe to be controversial or inferior are highlighted in yellow with particularly low grade, highly contentious or excessively vague ingredients in red.
As fed composition
While the 'mixing bowl' composition is useful for knowing what went into the food, it doesn't always reflect what your dog is actually eating. This is because the processes that turn the ingredients into the finished pet food can significantly alter the relative weights of the ingredients.
For this reason we've calculated the approximate 'as fed' percentages for the main ingredient categories in the finished product.
Please note that these figures are very approximate. They are estimates based on the information provided by the manufacturer in the ingredients list so the clearer the terminology and the more percentages they provide, the more accurate our estimates will be. Wherever information is lacking, we always assume the worst.
Ingredient categories
Meat ingredients: includes all meat and fish ingredients except isolated fats/oils.
Added oils and fats: includes all isolated oil and fat ingredients.
Carb-rich ingredients: includes all ingredients derived from grains, pseudo-grains, potatoes and other starchy root vegetables, sweet potato and legumes (except whole peas which are categorised under fruit and veg) except for isolated protein and extracted oils. Also includes fibre supplements.
Fruit and veg: includes all whole vegetables and fruits.
Other: all other ingredients. Mostly made up by nutritional supplements and additives.
For more information on any ingredient, please take a look at our Dog Food Ingredient Glossary
The dry matter level of a nutrient is the percentage there would be in the food if all of the water was removed.
With water taken out of the equation, these figures allow the nutrient levels of foods of different types (like wet and dry) to be compared on an even playing field.
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The
price per dayof feeding this food based on feeding the manufacturer's recommended daily amount from 3kg bags bought at their rrp to a dog of:
Note:All suggested feeding amounts and costs are only approximate and may vary considerably from dog to dog. Be sure to contact the manufacturer if in any doubt.
22 out of 100-Poor
Our unique product ratings are calculated based on a number of characteristics including the quality and quantity of the stated ingredients, certain nutritional and technological additives and the processing methods used to create the food. They are designed to indicate how beneficial we think a food is likely to be for the majority of dogs when fed on a daily basis for an extended period. Click here for more information
Country of origin: United Kingdom
A technological additive is any substance added to a pet food "for a technological purpose and which favourably affects the characteristics of feed".
The most common categories of technological additives include preservatives and antioxidants, gelling agents and thickeners and probiotics.
While the primary effects of technoloical additives are certainly 'favourable' (increased shelf life in the case of preservatives & antioxidants, better food texture and consistency in the case of gelling agents and thickeners etc.) some have been linked to health problems in pets and should be treated with caution.
Unfortunately, many technological additives do not have to be declared by the manufacturer so just because they do not appear on the label does not necessarily mean they are not in the food. If in doubt, ask the manufacturer directly exactly what technological additives their foods contain.
Purina Moist & Meaty Review
Ralston Purina began as an animal feed company in the 1890s. In 1898, Purina Chow was introduced as the first commercially produced pet food. Over the next 50 years, the company entered the international market and opened manufacturing facilities in various countries. The company continued to introduce other products and expand its business interests. There were several ownership changes throughout the years.
Nestl acquired Ralston Purina in 2001 for $10.3 billion to become Nestl Purina PetCare Company, one of the largest pet food manufacturers in the world.
Nestl is a multinational company that owns a wide range of brands ranging from pet food to cosmetics and health devices. Nestle is known for its candy portfolio but also owns Perrier, Carnation, Lean Cuisine, Haagen-Dazs, Alpo, Fancy Feast and Purina.
In its annual report, Nestle Purina Pet Care reported annual sales for 2022 as US$19.38 billion.
IS PURINA MOIST & MEATY A GOOD DOG FOOD?
With a score of 1.4/10, Purina Moist & Meaty is considered a very high risk dog food according to our evaluation criteria. All recipes score 0/10 for ingredient safety.
This is a line of soft dog food with 6 recipes. Soft or wet dog foods are traditionally lower in carbohydrates and are moderate to high in protein. However, Moist & Meaty has exceptionally high average carbohydrates of 55% as calculated on a dry matter basis, with average protein of 27%, much lower than expected.
Purina Moist & Meaty has quality and safety issues that havent been raised previously in these reviews. What is especially concerning is the use of high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. Sugar is found in pet food to increase the palatability or as a preservative or humectant. It is a low quality ingredient that can cause unwanted gut changes, obesity and insulin spikes. High amounts can lead to leaky gut and inflammation.
This high carbohydrate level is to be expected when these foods have high fructose corn syrup AND corn syrup as the 4th and 7th ingredients. When totaled by weight, the soy, wheat and corn syrups surpass the amount of animal protein named as the first ingredient. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates. Excessive carbohydrates are an indicator of low quality foods as they are used to keep costs down. Large amounts of starch and sugar can increase insulin levels, cause obesity and negatively impact gut balance.
There arent any whole food sources like fruits and vegetables to provide naturally occurring nutrients so vitamins and minerals are added in synthetic form, something seen in all recipes in the Purina brand. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from added vitamin premixes, so its preferable that most or all vitamins and minerals come from real foods.
Its also worth noting that the line contains sodium selenite as a source of selenium. Dogs need selenium, and its usually added in very small amounts. However some research suggests that sodium selenite may be associated with potential toxicity, so selenium yeast is the preferred form of this mineral.
Soybean oil is an inflammatory seed oil that is highly processed and may contain trans fats. Studies show that ultra processed foods are linked to a higher rate of all-cause mortality in humans. Another quality concern is the use of plant protein in one recipe, the least expensive substitute for quality animal protein.
All recipes in the Moist & Meaty line scores 0/10 for ingredient safety. Soft foods are moderately processed but still involve several stages of heating that destroy nutrients. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species.
All recipes have ingredients known to have high pesticide or herbicide residues, and some that are known to be genetically modified (GMO). These are important safety concerns, especially when they appear in the top 5 on the ingredient list, meaning theyre included in higher amounts. Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers post a significant health risk to plants, animals and soils. GMO foods have limited safety studies and they lack nutrients compared to non GMO foods.
All recipes contain menadione, a synthetic form of vitamin K that is not required in dog food. It may be linked to immune system dysfunction, oxidative damage to cells, liver toxicity, and allergic reactions. Each recipe also includes ethoxyquin an artificial preservative that has been shown to have toxic effects and links to cancer.
All recipes have as many as 4 added colors and dyes that may be linked to health issues. They are often used to hide the grey color of rendered ingredients, and to make them look more appealing to consumers. These recipes use natural flavor which is often made of animal digest or MSG, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies.
All recipes have ingredient splitting. Thats the practice of splitting ingredients into subcategories (like soy flour and soy grits, or high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup) to make them appear lower on the list. This can also move more desirable protein ingredients higher.
Its worth noting that when dog food labels say with Real Chicken or with Cheddar Cheese AAFCO requires those with ingredients to be only 3% of the products weight.
Another AAFCO rule is that a product does not need to have a huge amount of an ingredient which only provides flavor. A flavor designation in a product name (or elsewhere on a label) may be used as long as a listed ingredient provides the flavor This flavor rule would apply to Moist & Meaty recipes labeled Steak Flavor and Bacon & Egg Flavor. In other words, its only flavor and doesnt necessarily mean theres steak or bacon & egg in the food.
Purina doesnt state the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their recipes. While this is true of most companies, its a concern because AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.
