When you first think of Purina, you might think cheap dollar store dog food full of the worst ingredients possible for your pet. Purina is attempting to put a stop to that with their healthy alternative line, Purina Beyond.
This dog food brand focuses on all the healthy options you see from the premium food brands like grain-free, no by-products, and limited ingredients. Purina manufacturers all their food in the USA from reliable and trustworthy sources.
They offer many different flavors and combinations, some of which are more unique than their traditional dog food line. They have healthier alternatives to poultry like salmon and lamb.
I think we speak for every pet owner when we say; a dog food is only as good as it’s ingredients. They can pretty it up however they want, but if they aren’t truthfully including the best components in the food, it’s all useless.
In this article, we’re going to break apart Purina Beyond to find out if you can purchase premium quality dog food from a budget dog food brand.
Brand Quick Look
Parent Company: Nestle
Founded in: 1894 – became Purina in 2001
Made in: St. Louis, MO
Available at: Chewy, Amazon, Beyondpetfood.com, PetSmart
We’ve talked about a lot so far; now we’re going to dive right into the food itself and break apart the ingredients, manufacturing, and online reputation.
We want you to make sure you’re making the right decision for your pups, and the best way to do that is by reading other people’s experiences online.
Regular, Grain-Free & Ground Entreé
Ground entreé recipes offer a delicious mixture of pate-style meals that start with real meat. It’s composed of all-natural ingredients plus a dose of vitamins and minerals to keep your pet fortified for all of his active plays.
1. Beef, Potato & Green Bean Recipe
First 5 Ingredients: Beef, Chicken, Beef Broth, Liver, Potatoes
This pate style adult dog food starts off with real beef as the key ingredient. Vitamins and minerals are added to make this a wholesome and balanced meal so your pup can live a long, healthy life.
Most canned foods allow you to feed your pet real and recognizable ingredients. With Purina Beyond, they aren’t just recognizable, but they’re also ingredients you can trust. This pate recipe starts off with fresh beef and is supported by fresh chicken too. The combination of the two gives the protein level a bit of boost to reach a minimum 8%.
Most wet canned food either has water or broth in the first or second slots in the recipe list. However, this formulation brings your pets more meats and solids by firmly placing beef and chicken in front. Beef broth only comes in third.
You might be surprised to see liver here too, but organs are rich sources of nutrients. Liver, in particular, is full of them. Plus, liver enhances the palatability of any food, making it more enticing for dogs to eat.
96% of reviewers recommend this food, and the combined rating from buyers is 4.6%. Many who have bought this were satisfied that their picky dogs liked the flavor.
However, some like us, are firmly against the use of carrageenan. This is the reason for our low scoring for this recipe. A few studies have linked carrageenan with diseases in pets. And although these haven’t been all-conclusive, it would be better to be safe than to be sorry.
We find the guaranteed analysis of this wet dog food to be satisfactory. The crude fat is pegged at 6%, fiber at 1.5% max, and moisture at 78% max.
There are many other ground entreé recipes under the wet food range, such as Chicken, Carrot & Pea, Chicken, Lamb & Spinach, Ocean Whitefish, Salmon & Sweet Potato, Alaskan Cod, and Turkey & Sweet Potato.
Regular, Grain-Free & In Gravy
Dogs go wild for gravy too! The In Gravy recipes will deliver all of the right nutrients in a perfectly balanced hearty blend of gravy sauce. The delicious grain-free meals contain no soy, corn, wheat, or gluten. Just pure quality meat and ingredients.
2. Chicken & Sweet Potato Recipe in Gravy
First 5 Ingredients: Water Sufficient For Processing, Chicken, Liver, Dried Egg Whites, Potato Starch
This chunky canned food features real chicken and it is accented with sweet potatoes. This tasty, gravy meal is enriched with natural fibers and probiotics to boost your pet's tummy health.
Chicken, a classic pooch favorite, leads the ingredients list in this Purina Beyond wet food recipe. As long as your pet is not allergic to chicken, this is an excellent animal protein to have in his food.
Chicken is chock full of protein, Omega fatty acids, and glucosamine. And since it’s an animal protein source, it has all the essential amino acids your dog needs to thrive.
Aiding chicken in taste and nutrient content is the inclusion of liver. Picky or recovering dogs are often prescribed a bit of liver in their diet to make them eat, and the liver here seeks to enhance the overall taste of the meal. Not to mention it’s also full of fat and vitamin A.
As ratings go, this formulation gets a nice 4.5 out of 5 from consumers. Pet owners like how Purina Beyond has made a dish from quality ingredients but selling it at an affordable price. And because the meal is in a hearty gravy sauce, finicky pups are wont to chow it down quickly.
However, this gravy recipe contains less meat parts than the pate version, which some pet owners pointed out. Water is the first ingredient, followed by chicken. Unlike in the pate version, which has the first two slots taken up by meat with moisture only coming in third.
The guaranteed analysis for this recipe shows a bit lower content of fat than we’re used to seeing in wet food (3% minimum), but the protein (8%), fiber (1.5%), and moisture (82%) are all on point.
Other In Gravy recipes are Beef & Spinach and Turkey & Green Bean.
Wild
The Purina Beyond Wild formulations contain high-quality meat as the first ingredient along with nutrient-dense foods and nutrient-rich organs. These recipes are prey-inspired to deliver all of the nutrition your pet will naturally seek in the wild.
3. Wild Beef, Liver & Lamb Pate Recipe
First 5 Ingredients: Beef, Beef Broth, Chicken, Liver, Lamb
Made from real, organic beef plus nutrient-dense organ meats to satisfy your dog's natural meaty cravings not to mention it meets their much needed protein requirement. Apart from being grain free, this is also fortified with essential nutrients for overall immunity.
Just like in the wild, this recipe contains mostly meat aside from the added vitamins and minerals. It starts with beef and is followed by beef broth. However, if you’re expecting just one meat ingredient, you’d be pleasantly surprised.
Aside from beef, you can also find chicken, liver, lamb, chicken liver, and chicken heart. If you’re not used to seeing animal organ ingredients, don’t worry! Organs are even more nutrient-dense than muscle meat, and they’re perfectly good to eat
This is another highly popular recipe by Purina Beyond. A 100% of consumers recommend this formulation, while a significant chunk of them have given the meal a very high rating for an average score of 4.8 out of 5. So far, none have given it a one or two stars yet, and only one has given it a three.
We’ll have to take off a few stars, though, from the ingredients rating. While most of the ingredients are what you’d expect from a premium brand, we oppose the use of carrageenan as thickener and emulsifier.
This particular Purina Beyond recipe offers up a lot of meaty solids for your pups to chow down on. There are seven main ingredients here and six of those are meat-based. This must account for the higher protein percentage when compared to other Purina Beyond wet food recipes.
The guaranteed analysis for this recipe shows 9% protein, 7% fat, 1.5% fiber, and 78% moisture.
Another Wild formulation is the Turkey, Liver & Duck Recipe.
Behind the Brand
Before talking specifically about Purina Beyond we need to go way back to 1894 when a man by the name of William H. Danforth started a company designed around creating food for farm animals. That company was eventually called Ralston Purina in 1902.
In 1926, the first pet nutrition and care center was developed near Gray Summit, Missouri. This task allowed the company to test foods with the animals to decide if they were palatable or not.
In 1956, Purina Dog Chow becomes the first pet food with the distinctive shape known today as “kibble.”
1986, Purina develops a process that makes it possible to use real meat as the first ingredient, they later called it Purina Pro Plan. They were the first pet food company to use meat to this capacity.
2001, Nestle buys Purina helping them to expand their food sales to people all over the world.
2014, Purina develops a first-of-its-kind personalized dog food line that gets based on the company’s own research of your dog. They create customized dog food and send it directly to your door.
Purina has a rich history in this business, and it seems they are developing far beyond a cheap dog food brand. They are an industry leader in sales and marketing as well as animal health and welfare.
What Types of Dog Food Do They Offer?
Previously, Purina Beyond offers many different types of dog foods to meet the needs of different pups all over the world. They offer dry and wet foods as well as treats, and they come in eight different proteins.
They also offer various product lines, including Grain-Free, Simple Origins, Simply 9, Small Breed, Superfood, and Wild.
Each recipe includes sub-categories such as sensitive stomachs, non-GMO, and high-protein. However, as of this writing, Purina Beyond has discontinued all of its dry dog food and topper products.
Recall History
Purina Beyond is a newer line of food, so there is only one recall available.
August 2013 – Purina One Beyond recalls Chicken and Barley Recipe for possible salmonella risk.
Customer Reviews
Like we said before, reputation is everything, and there is no better way to get a feel for a company other than reading what current and previous users have experienced. In this section, we’re taking a look at some real-life reviews from previous customers who have tried Purina Beyond.
Positive
Best dog food ever!
My dog is half pit/half choco lab. He's very very sensitive to certain ingredients in his food. We've tried Blue, Diamond and other top brand dog foods and those were horrible for him. Gave him gas, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Purina One Beyond is the ONLY food that agrees with him. He loves this chicken flavor, and he loves the biscuits!! Best dog food ever! – Chewy Customer
Happy dog, happy mom!
Love the Purina Beyond! My pup is a mutt with a relatively sensitive stomach. We went through a lot of trial and error before finding something he could eat without making him sick. I love the simplicity of the ingredients and the uniformity of the kibble.
My boy gobbles it up every day. Further, I am a former employee at a vet's office, and we always highly recommend the Purina brand, especially this formula that is simple with little to no added garbage. – Chewy Customer
Negative
Out of 163 reviews, there are only seven negative reviews on their most popular line which is highly impressive by our standards.
Beyond dog food
My dogs didn't like it. I even mixed it with the former food, and they wouldn't eat it. I suppose everything is not for everyone. I have two male pugs. Thank you for asking. – Chewy Customer
Purina Beyond
I thought I would try something different for my Girls, Abigail and Sahara. They are not happy campers with this choice. I have to run out and buy a small bag of food before their next shipment comes.
Abigail literally lays flat on the floor looking up at me – do you really want me to eat this. I feel like my Mom back in the day with a plate of food in front of me I did not care for but had to eat. – Chewy Customer
Purina Beyond: Far Beyond Our Expectations
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 Flavor: 4 out of 5 Ingredients: 4 out of 5 Benefits: 4.5 out of 5 Packaging: 4 out of 5 Price: 4.5 out of 5
Coming into this review, we were unsure of what to expect because we thought of Purina as a cheap food brand full of by-products and fillers. We were quickly put in our place when we saw how Purina takes extra steps to ensure only premium ingredients go into their Beyond line.
This food contains no by-products, corn, wheat, or soy in any of their limited ingredient or grain-free options. According to many reviews online, pups enjoy the protein-rich flavor and kibble size.
Overall, Purina Beyond’s name speaks for itself because they surely go the extra mile to give you the best ingredients at a reasonable price.
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Noreen possesses a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree from Informatics International College. While this credential might not elucidate her passion for pets, it does demonstrate her technical expertise and diverse character.
