If you have a pet friend in your family, surely, you will look for the best for it. One of the main elements you need to take special care of while taking care of your pet’s health is its food. Every pet and even every breed has different requirements when it is about food. Thus, it is crucial to check out the ingredients that your pet food has got.
Several brands today claim to offer the best nutrient option for your pet. But whom to trust?
Two of the major names that can be counted upon in this situation are Pedigree and Purina.
But to get the best one for your pet, it is always a great idea to understand the pointers in Pedigree vs Purina first.
Pedigree History
Pedigree is a well-known dog food brand name across the world today. Many of the pet owners trust has been trusting on this brand item for their pets.
The brand started its journey in the year 1988. The parent company Mars Petcare has been producing dog food earlier also. Still, in the year 1988, it established its dog food section under Pedigree’s name.
Since then, it has been offering different dog food options for different breeds and different age groups. Also, today Pedigree has been famous in different parts of the world. The parent company Mars Petcare also has many other brands such as Whiskas for cats and others used in as many as 60 countries across the world.
Purina History
Ralston Purina Company is a famous name in the history of American petcare. It merged up with Nestle to become Nestle Purina Petcare Company in the year 2001.
If you talk about the company’s history, it all started in the year 1894 in the name of Robinson-Danforth Commission Company. William Andrews, George Robinson, and William H. Danforth were the founders of the company. In 1898, Danforth, the president of the company, launched a whole wheat cereal by Dr. Ralston. Soon, Danforth also changed the company’s name to Ralston Purina with a new logo in the year 1902.
Since then, the company came up with various other food options for livestock and other animals. It was since the year 1957 when Ralston Purina started selling their products in the overseas market too.
It was soon in the year 1997 when General Mills took over Ralston Purina. The brand started to offer high-quality nutrition to the animals, and still today, it maintains its aim of doing so.
Guaranteed Analysis: Pedigree Vs Purina
The Association of American Feed Control states that every pet food option should offer a Guaranteed Analysis of the nutrients that are there in the product.
So, what does this analysis actually offer?
It offers a minimum amount of crude fat and crude protein that is available in the pet food. Also, it offers information about the maximum amount of moisture and crude fiber in particular pet food.
When you compare Pedigree vs Purina, there are several noticeable differences between the brands in terms of the guaranteed analysis.
● Pedigree vs Purina : Crude Protein Comparison
Your canine friend needs about 22 different types of amino acids to stay healthy. About 12 amino acids are produced in the body itself. The remaining 10 amino acids have to be fulfilled by consuming the right food. So, protein is an eminent source from where they can get all these 10 amino acids.
When you compare Pedigree’s dry food ingredients with Purina, you will find that Pedigree has 25.6% crude protein. In comparison, Purine has 31.6% crude protein. Thus, Pedigree has much lesser crude protein in comparison to Purina.
Similarly, when you check out the wet food ingredients, Pedigree has about 41.2% crude protein while Purina has 45.3% crude protein. When you compare the dry food and the wet food options, the different crude protein percentage between the brands is lesser in the wet food options. While in the case of dry food, Pedigree has about 6% lesser crude protein than Purina, in the case of wet food, Pedigree has about 3% lesser crude protein than Purina.
● Crude Fat:
Apart from protein, fats are also quite crucial in the overall development of your dog. It is a source of energy to keep your furry friend active and offer you a much shinier coat and a healthy lifestyle. When a comparison is made, Pedigree vs Purina in terms of dry food, Pedigree has 11.7% of crude fat. In comparison, Purina has 17.2% of crude fat.
Similarly, when a comparison is made between both brands’ wet dog food ingredients, Pedigree has 22.3% crude fat. In comparison, Purina offers 25.8% crude fat.
Like the crude protein, for crude fat, Pedigree has a lesser percentage compared to Purina. Also, in terms of wet food ingredients, the percentage gap between Pedigree and Purina is much lesser than the brands’ dry food items.
● Crude Fiber:
While protein and fat are important elements of your dog’s food, fiber is another important ingredient that you should not forget. But you should understand one thing that you should provide a limited amount of fiber to your puppy as a higher percentage can disrupt their digestion.
Though Pedigree lacks in offering a good amount of protein and fat compared to Purina, the percentage of crude fiber is almost similar in both the brands.
When you compare the dry food option, Pedigree has about 0.2% higher crude fiber than Purina. But when you are checking out the wet food items, Purina has about 1% higher crude fiber than Pedigree.
So, overall, while Purina takes the crown when it is about the percentage of proteins and fats, Pedigree defeats Purina in terms of crude fiber percentage.
Purina vs Pedigree Pet Food Ingredients
While offering the best nutrients to your puppy, both Pedigree and Purina also have some controversial ingredients in them too. These brands may have some such ingredients: gluten, by-products of chicken and meat, cellulose, animal fat, vegetable, brewers rice, and so on. Thus, if your dog is allergic to any of these items, you should ensure that you go through the product’s ingredients before buying it for your puppy.
Among various controversial items that are quite often found in these products, one of the most common ones is corn. Corn is high in the glycemic index that can be quite dangerous for your canines.
The higher glycemic levels can spike up your dog’s blood sugar that can make your dog diabetic. Soon, it may start causing other troubles such as problems in different organs. If diabetes is the cause of the problems is not detected on time, this can even lead to the death of the puppy.
Some of the items that have much lower glycemic levels are beef and chicken. Thus, offering your pooch food items with a whole chicken or similar options is the best option to keep it healthy and free from such serious health conditions.
● Controversial Ingredients Found in Purina One:
The brand Purina has always shown its responsibility of offering safe and the best food items for pet friends. But despite such claims, their food products are noticed to have some controversial ingredients in them. Some ingredients that are found in some of their products are corn, pea proteins, soybean, poultry by-products, animal digest, and others.
Apart from the controversial ingredients, there are some harmful ingredients in some of the Purina products, such as added color and corn oil.
● Controversial Ingredients Found in Pedigree:
Pedigree is also known to have some controversial ingredients in some of their products. Some of these ingredients that you should be aware of while selecting the right product from Pedigree for your dog are corn, iron oxide, meat by-products, poultry by-products, animal plasma, and vegetables tomato and beet, garlic, and so on.
Similar to Purina, some of the Pedigree food items also have some harmful ingredients. Some of these harmful ingredients found in Pedigree products are several added colors and animal fat.
Pedigree Vs Purina : Which is Cheaper?
When you are looking for Pedigree vs Purina, one of the major factors is the products’ price. When you check on the price of these brands’ products, Pedigree products are noticed to be much cheaper compared to not just Purina products but also many other pet food products available in the market.
But this does not make the Purina products to be expensive. The products from Purina are known to be one of the best choices for your pets. Also, the prices of Purina products are quite affordable when you compare them with many other best-rated products in the category of pet food items.
Pedigree Vs Purina : Which one has More Flavors?
When you talk about the flavors, both Pedigree and Purina have different flavor options in their products. While Purina offers chicken, turkey, beef, and other flavors more often, Pedigree offers more of chicken liver, lamb, and such flavors. Thus, both the brands offer different flavors, and you can choose from a wide range of options depending upon your dog’s taste.
Pedigree Vs Purina : Which one has had More Recalls?
While you are selecting the products, you should always check out the recalls that the brands have had. Here, when you are talking about Pedigree vs Purina, Purina was recalled once in the year 2013 for Salmonella’s presence in one of its food products.
On the other hand, there are two recall cases for brand Pedigree. Once, it was recalled on 26th August 2014 for the presence of foreign material. Again, on 31st August 2014, the brand was recalled for metal fragments in some of its food packets.
A Sneak Peek at the Winner: Purina
Pedigree and Purina are both the two most reliable brands in the category of pet food. But when a comparison is made for Pedigree vs Purina, Purina has come up as a clear winner due to some eminent reasons.
- Purina has a better percentage of protein and fat in its food products than Pedigree.
- Purina has a lesser number of controversial or harmful ingredients when compared to the food products of Pedigree.
- Also, there are comparatively lesser recall cases for Purina when compared to Pedigree.
- In terms of flavors and price, both the brands are almost similar.
Thus, Purina stands out as a clear winner against Pedigree regarding the nutritional value and safety concerns for your puppy.