Pedigree does suck in some show breeders because they spend a ton of money sponsoring dog shows and they have a very good marketing team. They have all of this extra money for sponsoring dog shows, including the prestigious Westminster, and other advertising because their food is so cheap to make. It is so cheap to make that they can sell it to consumers at a reasonable price and still make a fabulous profit.
Pedigree’s Complete Nutrition for Adults has:
Corn, meat & bone meal (mmm, mystery meat), corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal, animal fat as the first 5 ingredients. It also includes wheat mill run (sweepings off the mill floor, yum), wheat flour and wheat gluten.
Now that I think of it, maybe I shouldn’t even lump Beneful into the same category as Pedigree, at least they use a named meat product in their food.
Gravy Train lists: Corn, soybean meal, beef and bone meal, animal fat and animal digest. There is no wheat, “mill run” or gluten in the food. The main source of protein in the food is a named meat product. (I probably won’t find a food that lists a named fat source in this price category, so I will settle for the main source of protein being named.)
Purina Dog Chow lists: Corn, poultry by product meal, animal fat, corn gluten meal, brewer’s rice… There is no wheat, “mill run” or gluten in the food. We at least know that the main protein source came from a bird, very likely chicken and turkey, maybe some duck. There is a bit of meat and bone meal later on down the list, though.
Alpo Prime Cuts: Corn, beef and bone meal, soybean, digest of chicken by products, animal fat, poultry by product meal. This food is wheat and gluten free. It has no floor sweepings in it. There are two named meat products in the first 4 ingredients. Maybe the best out of the list so far.
(of course I am ignoring the fact that it is corn based and chemically preserved. I just mean the best out of the relatively cheap grocery store brands)
Friskies Come n’ Get It:
Corn, beef and bone meal, corn germ, soybean, animal fat, digest of chicken by products, pork and bone meal, poultry by product meal…
There are no floor sweepings in this food. No wheat or gluten. No meat from unknown sources. “Up” there with Alpo Prime cuts.
Now, if I was on a very strict budget and all I could afford was a food priced very similar to Pedigree, Pedigree would be the very last food on my list to choose from.
Out of these, I would settle on the Alpo or the Come n’ Get it. Then maybe Gravy Train.
They have as much or more meat as Pedigree and it is not mystery meat- we at least know what animal it came from. And they don’t contain floor sweepings! It is actually hard for me to find a food as bad as Pedigree. 'Ol Roy is right there, and if you don’t include the semi moist diabetes patties, I’d say they were the very worst on the market, with the possible exception of some generic brands. Now if we look at nutrients only, then maybe Pedigree will perform very similar to Alpo or Come n get it or Gravy Train, maybe even better if their vitamin/ minerals are better balanced or the food is processed differently. But I just cannot get past the mystery meat and floor sweepings.
And there you have it...A much more eloquent way of saying how I feel about Pedigree