Is the dog food brand, "Beneful" a healthy dog food?

Question

I'm feeding my dog Bebeful right now and he seems to enjoy it a lot...... Is beneful healthy? This food seems to make my dog a little heavy. He is a black pomeranian/poodle.

Answer 1

No, it is one of the worst on the market. Please stay away from all Purina Brands. VERY low quality.

Answer 2

You can check the ingredients on the back of the bag to see exactly how healthy it is for your dog. I believe Purina makes Beneful? I could be wrong, it's just off the top of my head. Corn meal, chicken or beef by-products is not something that should: A- be a key ingredient in the food (listed within the first few ingredients on the bag). And B- by-products is exactly what you might think it is... by-products can include, unfortunately, chicken leg, beak or worse. It's a processed mash of what's left over that was considered undesirable. For the most part. Granted all foods are approved by FDA and all of that, but there are better foods you can feed your dog. I have 2 cats and feed them Nutro Natural Choice, it's a high end food and more costly than a Purina brand. But a better quality food is better for your animal, period. Nutro makes a cheaper food called Nutro Max. I spoke with a representative from Nutro and I was told that it's the same quality as the Natural Choice line, just a little more affordable. They make cat and dog foods, treats, and wet foods. Depending on the age of your dog, if he is over a year old I would feed him adult food if he's a little more mature, 6 or 7 or so, I would feed him a food that is for older dogs. You should notice a difference in your dogs coat as well as a difference is the elimination of "number 2". It may be less stinky and less often. This is because the dog will be getting more out of the food and that is better for him. I would also recommend Eukanuba/Iams and Bil-Jac. There are other high quality foods out there, you can ask your local petstore for a high quality, decently priced food as well.

Answer 3

Find a dog food that is available in your local area that is a better choice any dog food you can find in WalMart or the local Supermarket would be my last choice. I want my dog to have the best chance at good health most dogs eat more of the cheaper dog foods because they are made up of a lot of filler so they produce more waste. I am pretty sure that my yearly dog food bill is near the same as you because my dog needs to eat less. I would also say he has less visits to the vet over a lifetime and he is able to work at a higher performance level. So good luck with your choices of what to feed your best friend and take him for a walk/run everyday your dog will love it.
Here is a list of food I would look into feeding:
1 Innova
2 Azmira Classic
3 Back to Basics
4 Canidae
5 Eagle Pack Holistic Select
6 Flint River Ranch
7 Hund-N-Flocken
8 Limited Diets Duck & Potato
9 Natural Balance Ultra Premium
10 Lifespan
11 Pinnacle
12 Prime Life
13 PHD Canine Growth & Maintenane
14 Showbound Naturals
15 Timberwolf Organics
16 Wellness Super5Mix Lamb
17 Wysong Maintenance
18 Artemis
19 Bench & Field
20 Burns
21 Drs. Foster & Smith
22 Go! Natural
23 Royal Canin
24 Praire
25 Verus

Answer 4

In my opinion Beneful is a bad dog food based on ingredients. I also think the advertising of healthful, wholesome ingredients is extremely misleading. Yes, the packaging and marketing is beautiful, but look at some of the ingredients: Chicken-by-product meal (gross!), soy flour(many dogs are allergic to soy), sugar, animal digest (google this... its nasty), water (listed as an ingredient), added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), F-4090 (what the heck is that)?

The sugar and dyes alone in this food should be enough to steer anyone away from it - run far, far away from it. Can you imagine your dog ingesting these ingredients over a lifetime?
Not to mention...Purina Mighty dog puches have been recalled, as well as Alpo--who is owned by Purina (nestle).
If you truly want your dog to have the best, quality food. I suggest you find one that isn't owned/operated by a major food producer. Nestle only makes petfood so they can profit off their food scraps that would otherwise be waste...
I feed my dogs Canidae-- it is holistic and has human grade ingredients.
Natures Variety is also a good food.
There are tons of others...innova, timberwolf organics, royal canin, wellness, nutro, paul newmans new organic dogfood, california natural, solid gold organics... Just do some research

EDIT: That list that steve gave you is great, and the guy who suggested Nutro Max was right. Nutro Max is closer to your price range (a 40lb bag is about 20bucks) and it is about 500 times better than beneful. Also, Canidae (chicken or lamb) is cheaper than the regluar Canidae. (a 40lb bag is about 26bucks). If you change to a better food, within a few weeks your dog will be so much healthier. Try it.

Answer 5

No, no and NO. The reason being, the very first ingredient is ground yellow corn (for the "Original Formula"), and corn is not all all nutritious in any way. It's a filler, and will cause weight gain, and can actually cause allergic reactions in some dogs. The second ingredient is chicken by-product, which can include anything from chicken beaks to crushed up road kill.

Anything Purina, Science Diet, Iams, or "grocery-store brands" (foods you can buy at the grocery) are not good for your dog at all. I'd switch to something without corn or by-products; it's more expensive, but dogs eat less of more healthier food, so you may end up breaking even, as well as having a healthier dog.

Answer 6

Of course it is healthy, it had to pass a feeding trial. But what I think you are really asking is it the best food for your dog. As a general rule, any dog food you can purchase at your supermarket isn't the best. Beneful is a premium dog food but there are many super premium foods available at pet stores. Not all dogs will dog will do great on the same food but, a bigger percentage will dog better on a super premium. Examples of premium foods: Eukanuba, Science Diet, Authority just a few examples. There are many foods out there that aren't even premium foods such as Kibbles and Bits, O'Roy, Mighty Dog. Some super premiums would include Innova, Canidae, Solid Gold, Blackwoods, Wellness and many others. In the long run you will usually have less problems affecting your dog when you feed a super premium.

If your dog is over weight then reduce the amount you are feeding and increase the exercise.

Answer 7

Honestly, at the moment I'm not really sure any dog foods are "healthy". It seems every week there's another one added to the recall list and I'm not really convinced they have any clue what foods are affected. I've moved on to homemade foods for now in hopes that we'll get to go back to dog food again once the scare has passed. Our in-laws dog was one of the ones killed and I'm just not willing to risk it with my babies..
In general and under normal conditions though, Beneful isn't a great brand. If you must use food store brands just remember to be careful you don't overfeed.For a pom/poodle you should do well with a half a cup twice a day at most. In general I would stick with pet store brands if you can. They cost more but they're the difference between steak and spam in the dog world.
Exercise will help with the weight issue in the mean time..and won't hurt the rest of the family either! :)

Answer 8

It's not a high quality food. It contains quite a bit of wheat and corn and not a lot of meat. Also, my dogs have had a lot of allergies on Purina brand foods.

In general, supermarket foods are not the best quality. Look for brands that use human grade ingredients. I am feeding mine California Naturals, made by the same company that makes Innova. I have one allergenic dog and this has been a good choice.

Answer 9

it's not healthy. why do you think its so cheap? why do you think the dogs like it so much? i'm feeding my dog beneful right now pretty much because i've had it ever since before the recall (its a huge bag) and so im not afraid it has poison in it, but since after that, i've learned its not healthy barely at all and it fattens your dog.

edit: the person who said its on the recall list is wrong; its not, but still try to stay away from all dog food, just give them homade for a while

Answer 10

Purina actually makes better foods than Beneful. Make sure that meat (beef, chicken, lamb) is the first ingredient on the list, and make sure that the food limits grains: rice is better than corn or wheat. In Beneful original, the only meat is chicken by-products. That can mean beaks, feet, etc. with little real protein value (which is why there is so much wheat and corn gluten in the mix: to pump up the protein). If you can't afford a good premium food, try Purina One, which is a little healthier.
Also, most dogs like some vegetables. If you (and your dog) like the veggies in Beneful, you can add your own slightly cooked veggies (no onions though!) to his food, along with any other supplements you might give him.

Answer 11

Absolute garbage.. You should avoid crap foods like Beneful, Pedigree, KibblesN Bits, Iams, Eukanuba, Science DIet.. None of the Purina foods. They need a food that they can get their nutrition out of easily without having to over eat to get it.. Cheap crappy foods will cause them to eat more trying to get the nutrition they needs..