Purina Pro Plan is one of the most popular pet food brands globally serving up wet and dry recipes for canines and felines from South America to Africa to Asia. Purina Pro Plan has a reputation for making high-quality foods formulated by certified pet nutritionists that are easy on your wallet.  It may be a best-selling brand, but is Purina Pro Plan a good choice for your canine companion?

We give Purina Pro Plan dog food a 4 out of 5 rating — its ingredient quality is good overall, especially considering it's a budget-friendly option. It misses out on a higher rating due to its use of meat by-products and a couple of controversial ingredients.

In this Purina Pro Plan dog food review, we'll take you through the brand's entire product range, including its benefits, drawbacks, and recalls.

Purina Pro Plan offers over 40 kibble varieties, including recipes that support specific health concerns and for different breed sizes. All formulas are grain-inclusive.

All Purina Pro Plan kibbles meet the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient profile guidelines for all life stages, adult maintenance, or growth. Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets are not necessarily complete and balanced, as they're prescription-only for dogs with specific health conditions.

Read the nutritional statement on each dog food's label to learn more.

The general quality of Purina Pro Plan Adult dry dog food is good, considering its low price point. There are around 40 grain-inclusive recipes to choose from, most of which list a whole cut of meat, rice, whole grain wheat, and poultry by-products as the top four ingredients. All recipes include no artificial flavors or preservatives.

We love to see real cuts of meat as the first ingredient, but we prefer when dog foods don't include animal by-products, as they are made from low-quality slaughterhouse waste.

Rice is a common dog food ingredient that's easy on your pup's stomach; however, it's unclear what type of rice is in Purina Pro Plan formulas. Whole grain wheat is often considered a filler ingredient in dog foods — aside from being a fiber source, it doesn't provide much nutritional value.

Other common top ingredients include corn gluten meal and soybean meal. While these ingredients are high in protein, they're plant-based and not as nutritionally valuable as meat.

Something to watch out for is many recipes, like Complete Essentials Salmon & Rice, include poultry by-products even though it's not stated in the formula's name, which could cause issues for dogs with poultry allergies. If your pup has a sensitive stomach, stick to the Sensitive Skin & Stomach sub-range.

Purina Pro Plan Adult dry dog foods have good protein and fat levels but are a little high in carbs for our liking. For example, Complete Essentials Chicken & Rice contains 29.5% protein and 18.1% fat as dry matter, which are above average for kibble. That said, it nearly consists of as much carbs (45% as dry matter) as fat and protein combined.

Purina Pro Plan also has a line of dry puppy foods made mainly from the same ingredients as the adult varieties. Whole cuts of meat, rice, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, and whole grain commonly appear within the top five ingredients.

One difference is these recipes include more fish oil, which is rich in DHA fatty acids that are key to brain and eye development. They're also high in antioxidants to support your puppy's immunity.

Like the adult varieties, Pro Plan Puppy recipes contain a few filler ingredients, like whole grain wheat and corn. You'll also find some potentially controversial ingredients further down the list, like garlic oil.

Pro Plan Puppy dry foods are slightly higher in protein and fat than their adult equivalents to help fuel growth. Pro Plan Puppy Chicken & Rice dry dog food contains 31.8% protein and 20.4% fat as dry matter.

If you have a particularly active canine companion, you'll want to opt for Pro Plan's Sport dog food range. Again, the base ingredients in these formulas are pretty much the same, with a few tweaks to make them better suited to sporty pups.

Purina adds ingredients like fish oil to its Pro Plan Sport formulas. Fish oil is an EPA fatty acid source that promotes healthy joints — perfect for canine athletes. While Pro Plan recipes include increased levels of beneficial minerals for active dogs, like calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, they're not chelated, making them more difficult to absorb.

As many of the names of these recipes suggest, they're higher in protein and fat than Purina Pro Plan's standard adult foods. Sport Performance 30/20 Beef & Bison recipe contains 34% protein and 22.7% fat on a dry matter basis. 

Purina Pro Plan also serves up just over 40 wet dog foods, available in cans or plastic containers. Purina Pro Plan produces grain-free and grain-inclusive wet dog foods.

All Purina Pro Plan wet foods meet the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient profile guidelines for all life stages, adult maintenance, or growth. Like with Pro Plan's kibbles, Veterinary Diets are not necessarily complete and balanced.

The ingredient quality in Purina Pro Plan Adult wet dog foods is a mixed bag. While most recipes list several cuts of whole muscle or organ meat within the top five ingredients, they also include meat by-products. Meat by-products aren't only low-quality offal, but these recipes don't state what animal they come from, which causes problems for dogs with meat protein allergies.

Many recipes contain carrageenan, which anecdotal evidence suggests can upset a dog's stomach; that said, it's a minor ingredient that's highly unlikely to cause any issues. Most varieties feature only a handful of primary ingredients besides supplemental vitamins and minerals. Still, we'd like to see more fruits and veggies as natural sources of nutrients instead of supplements.

It's worth noting that some formulas, like Complete Essentials Braised Beef & Wild Rice Entrée Chunks in Gravy, include wheat gluten as one of the top three ingredients. Wheat gluten is high in protein but isn't as nutritionally complete as animal protein. Some brands use plant-based protein to inflate their dog food's protein contents.

Many Purina Pro Plan Adult wet dog foods are high in protein but also a little high in fat for our liking. For example, the Pro Plan Complete Essentials Grain Free Adult Chicken & Carrots Entrée Classic recipe contains above-average protein (40.9% as dry matter) and above-average fat (27.2% as dry matter) compared to run-of-the-mill wet dog food.

You'll find just three standard Purina Pro Plan puppy recipes on the market — two grain-free and one grain-inclusive. Their top ingredients are identical to adult formulas, with a mix of several whole cuts of meat and a meat by-product.

Each recipe includes several different meat sources, meaning they might not be the best choice for pint-sized pooches with sensitive stomachs. All recipes include salmon, a DHA fatty acid source that supports sight and cognitive development. All recipes contain no corn, soy, or wheat.

All varieties have the same protein-to-fat ratios — 45.4% protein and 31.8% fat as dry matter. These higher macronutrient levels help support your puppy's growth and development.

Five adult and two puppy Purina Pro Plan Sport wet dog foods are available. All recipes are grain-inclusive, with rice as the main grain. They're very similar to the rest of Purina Pro Plan's wet foods, with several whole cuts of meat and meat by-products among the top five ingredients.

One of the main differences in these formulas is the protein and fat levels, which support an active lifestyle. They are slightly higher than Pro Plan's normal adult food — the Sport Adult High Protein Chicken & Rice recipe consists of 45.4% protein and 31.8% fat as dry matter.

Veterinary Diets is a prescription-only sub-range with wet and dry varieties available. You'll find hydrolyzed recipes for dogs with allergies and gastroenteric formulas for digestive health.

These recipes vary greatly and aren't necessarily complete and balanced foods. Consult with your vet if you think your dog could benefit from Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets.

All of Purina Pro Plan's recipes - including its kibbles - list one or two whole cuts of meat as the top ingredient. Whole cuts of meat topping the ingredient list is a sign of high-quality dog food — many lower-quality foods list meat by-products or cereals as the main ingredient. Several cuts of meat within the top five ingredients also suggest these recipes contain a decent amount of meat.

Generally, Purina Pro Plan dog foods have good - if not outstanding - protein and fat levels. Most recipes have above-average protein and slightly above-average fat levels compared to other dog foods on the market, fuelling your pooch's active lifestyle and helping them maintain healthy muscle and fat levels.

Purina Pro Plan has an extensive dog food range, with recipes for seniors, large breeds, small breeds, dogs with sensitive skin, and more. So, you're sure to find a recipe that's ideal for your dog and can benefit their health.

Purina Pro Plan's reasonable price tag is one of the many reasons pet parents choose this brand.

At the time of writing, A 35-lb bag of Complete Essentials High Protein Chicken & Rice Adult Dry Dog Food costs $76.99 on Chewy at $2.19 per lb.

A 12-pack of 13-oz cans of Complete Essentials Beef & Rice Wet Dog Food costs $34.08 on Chewy at around $0.23 per oz. 

One of the main drawbacks of Purina Pro Plan is it includes several controversial ingredients in its dog foods. Many recipes include wheat gluten, soybean meal, and/or corn gluten meal, which are cheap plant-based protein sources.

Plant-based proteins aren't complete proteins for dogs, as they lack several essential amino acids found in animal-based proteins. They're often used as an inexpensive way to inflate the protein levels in dog foods.

Other controversial ingredients include menadione, a synthetic version of vitamin K which has been linked to liver damage in large doses.

Despite its extensive range, most of these dog foods include poultry by-products. As a result, you'll have to be selective when picking a Purina Pro Plan recipe if your pup has a poultry allergy.

Some Purina Pro Plan wet foods have significantly higher fat content than the rest of the range, including Complete Essentials Grain Free Beef & Salmon Entrée Classic, Complete Essentials Grain Free Adult Chicken & Carrots, and Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon & Rice Entrée Classic.

While a high fat content won't be a problem for active pooches, it may cause weight gain in inactive or older doggos.

"We have bought this dog food twice now and our dogs really seem to like it. However, the second bag had really finely ground chicken bits, where the first bag had nice large chunks of chicken. Overall the dogs don't seem to mind - maybe the second bag was a bad batch or bottom of the hopper with all the crumbs. We will try once more before switching. Hope it was just a fluke"

"As a puppy, the breeder recommended Victor, which we used till it was recalled. Another dog owner said her vet highly recommended Purina Pro Plan and fed his dogs the same. We tried it in chicken and she transitioned beautifully. She is happy and healthy! It comes on a subscription from Chewy! So convenient."

Missouri-based businessman William H. Danforth founded Ralston Purina in 1894. Danforth aimed to create foods that were balanced and easy to feed to animals. Purina originally made food exclusively for farm animals before branching into the pet food industry. In 1957, Purina produced the first commercially available extruded dry dog food.

In 1986, Ralston Purina sold Purina Mills, its farm animal feed business, to British Petroleum. In 2001, Nestlé bought Ralston Purina for $10.3 billion, merging it with its Friskies pet food company to form Nestlé Purina PetCare. Its headquarters is in St. Louis, Missouri.

There have been two Purina Pro Plan dog food recalls as of April 2025, with one recall expanded in 2023.

On February 8th, 2023, Purina Pro Plan recalled several lots of its Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EL Elemental (PPVD EL) due to potentially elevated vitamin D levels.

On March 10th, 2023, Purina Pro Plan expanded its February recall to include two additional lots of its Veterinary Diets EL Elemental (PPVD EL) dry dog food. No other products were affected.

On December 2nd, 2022, Purina Pro Plan recalled a limited portion of its Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Low Fat wet dog food due to a labeling error.