Like most dog owners, you probably don’t view your dog as a pet, but more of a family member. It doesn’t matter when or how your pet came to be part of your life, you probably love it dearly and would do anything to keep them healthy.
In that quest to keep them healthy, regardless of what stage of life they are in, you’re probably going to look at the food that you feed them and try to decide if it is good enough. If it isn’t, it might be time to change brands! If you have an elderly dog, one of those brands may be Purina ONE SmartBlend Vibrant Maturity 7+ Formula Dry Dog Food.
In this review, we are going to talk a little more about the ingredients found in the dog food, but we are also going to give you an overview of what people who have purchased the pet food had to say about how their dog’s reacted when they were given the food.
Then, we’re going to give you our recommendation on whether or not this dog food is something you should consider purchasing for your own four-legged best friend!
About The Product
Purina ONE is a dog food brand that is committed to giving your dog the whole body health they need so they can stay as fit and active as ever, regardless of their age. With the Purina ONE SmartBlend Vibrant Maturity 7+ Formula Dry Dog Food, you can participate in the 28 day challenge.
In this challenge, Purina ensures you will see a noticeable difference in your dog in 28 days. In those 28 days, Purina says that your dog will have improved energy, your dog will be able to digest the food and get all the nutrients it needs instead of passing it, and by the 28th day, your dog’s coat and skin should be beautiful and show signs of improved health.
The main ingredients in this food include:
- Beef – A quality product, though 80% of the water will be cooked out, thus greatly reducing the weight of the actual chicken product in the meat.
- Brewers Rice – This is a cereal grain by-product that is left over after whole rice has been milled. This ingredient only really offers caloric energy and not much else by way of nutritional value.
- Corn Gluten Meal – Gluten is the rubbery residue that’s left over once all the corn’s carbohydrates have been removed. The meal has about 60%, but it should be noted when you are considering the overall protein count of the dog food.
- Corn – This ingredient is inexpensive and has some controversy surrounding it. Although it provides energy, corn doesn’t have much nutritional value.
- Poultry By-Product Meal – Though poultry meal isn’t bad on its own, poultry by-product meal is not a good source, as it is the dry, rendered product from the slaughterhouse floor. This could include beaks, undeveloped eggs, feet—anything except real meat.
What Customers Say
When we looked at the user reviews, we saw that 87% had great things to say about the ride on and left 4 or 5-star reviews. Of these reviews, people commented that their dogs enjoy the food very much. One customer said that their elderly dog was never very active, however, now that the dog is 14 and have been eating the food for 2 years, “she is a totally different dog.”
Customers mimic this sentiment and are amazed by how much the food has helped their dog. One customer said their dog had really bad allergies and couldn’t eat other foods because it would cause the fur to fall out. However, upon feeding the dog this food, the fur started growing back and the itching has stopped.
So what did the remaining 13% of customers who left 3-star or below reviews have to say? The most common complaint customers had was that the formula has changed recently, which caused their dog’s to not enjoy the food anymore.
A few customers have said that this food caused the fur on their dog to become dry and brittle—one even said that fur started falling out because of a horrible allergic reaction to the kibble. Other customers have said that they refuse to feed this to their dog, as it has too many fillers for them. One customer even likened the food as being the “chips and hot dogs of the Kibble world.”
What Customers Say
Purchasing a dog food may not seem like a big deal to people who don’t have pets. They may tell you just to pick anything and it’ll be fine. However, as a pet owner, you know that this isn’t the case.
Our Rating
You may search high and low for the best dog food for your senior pooch and come home with whatever is on sale. It’s not for a lack of trying, but it could be because the market is so overly saturated with dog foods formulated for senior dogs.
We feel that the Purina ONE SmartBlend Vibrant Maturity 7+ Formula Dry Dog Food, which is priced at under $35 (under $40 regular price) is a good dog food to pick up. Like one customer said, “This may not be the best food available, however, it's made in this country, has never been recalled, does not have colors or chemicals AND meat is the first ingredient.”
We do want to point out that this dog food does have by-product meal in it, which means it is the left over scraps left on the slaughterhouse floor. While the by-products aren’t the best things in the world, they do offer 300% more protein than regular meat.
But, call us crazy, when faced with a steak or hooves, tail, or anything else, we’d go for the steal every time. We’re sure your dog would too.
