Fortunately for some of you.....unfortunately for me *smile* I posted 36 lines about Purina dog food and our server had problems and the post was lost.  In that posting I had type word for word, portions off the box of the type of Purina dog food I buy for Min. I too, Elaine, look at the list of ingredients when I purchase dog food for Min.  And since I am looking at a list of ingredients for Purina dog food, I thought you might like to see what *I* see, so you can tell us what exactly it is about this list that makes Purina dog foods so unfit for dogs....and all of the other unproven things you mentioned in your posting about Purina dog foods. I will, instead of retyping it, tell you what it says.  It says that this is a well-balanced, all natural food for dogs.  It also says that it has no artificial preservatives, but that it is all natural.  It also says that it has Wheat, barley, and corn, and chicken and beef. REAL beef and chicken, not beef and chicken by-products.  The grains are ALL certified grains having NO pesticides used at all.  The beef tallow used is preserved with Vitamin E and Vitamin C, instead of artificial preservatives. Now i am not a scientist, so I have made no tests on this food or any other dog food.  But I trust Purina.  I think if they really were making dog food so terrible, we would know about it by now.  Millions of dogs eat Purina dog food according to what I have read.  Again, I have to trust that.  If someoen can give me information, proof, that there really IS something wrong with feeding your dog the ingredients I have found in Purina's Nature's Course (their all natural food and the box I read this from), then I will certainly think of changing my mind about Purina Dog Foods.  And my saying I trust Purina says a lot, espcially for me.  I do not trust many people or companies these days. There are many many people and companies who would try to get away with doing some of the things Elaine mentioned.  And if they are, then I think if there is proof, someth8ing should be done.  But ONLY if there is proof....or if you think you can GET proof. Min loves Nature's Course, and will continue to eat Purina foods until I find that there really is soemthing wrong with the food.  I do not think that it is right to say the things Elaine said about Purina foods by just reading the label.  But as I read more and more of her postings, I find that she says a lot of things in a stating of facts manner, when they are really just her opinion.  Like her recent posting about dogs wandering and people not wanting them back.  I think she assumes an awful lot about what other people think and do.  Most of the dog owners I know would be FRANTIC if their dog diappeared, regardless if he was wonderful at his job or terrible.  Min does her job wonderfully, she is my confidant, my love, and my friend...,my companion and my protector, and even when she doesn;t stay when she is distracted, or when she has an accident in the house, I still love her and I would go CRAZY if anything happened to her.  I am sure there are SOME dog owners out there who may be like that, but I think they are FAR from the majority.  It is unfortunate....those kinds of people do not deserve pets....EVER. Again thanks for bearing with me......Elaine, if you have flames for me, please direct them to me personally so as not to take up anymore time here on the group.  I have no problem getting mail at this end. In the future, it would be nice if you could state things as your opinion unless what you are saying IS fact, and in that case, site wher said information comes from.  It may prevent a lot of flame wars, which I for one, found delightful that i had finally found a group here that did not engage in them.  Everyone could post their opinion, and at the same time, gain valuable information, and also meet some really nice people from across the world.  Let's all try to keep it that way?  *smile* Suzanne

  You are reading things into my messages that I never wrote. First of all, we were discussing Only the Purina Dog Chow, not All Purina products.   Purina produces premium dogfoods to compete on that market.  There was an ad for Purina One recently that had a selling point of having chicken as a main ingredient.   Secondly, I never said the Purina Dog Chow was useless.  Many people buy this product and are satisfied with it.  Some people feel that dogs can be fed entirely vegetarian diets.  Your dog can definetly live on PDC, and it's hair probably won't fall out.   Thirdly, there are Some animal products in P.D.C.,  They are just so far down the list that they couldn't possibly be called a main ingredient.   I don't use the Purina Dog Chow myself, but I certainly didn't mean to upset you if you like this product.

I have to put my $0.02 worth in here. I am not a vet nor do I pretend to be one. My information comes from a vet that specialized in animal nutrician. When Sampson refused to gain weight on a premium brand dog food, Sarah said, Feed him Purina Dog Chow .  (Sampson is an adult dog that regularly runs miles, just because he can.) When I got my Newfoundland puppy, I asked, what to feed. Sarah said, Feed her Purina Puppy Chow.  Stay away from the premium brands because they are too specialized. Specifically, she told me no Science Diet.  Iams was OK. Waynes is OK.  But Purina is just fine. Sarah has done research for Purina - through the Colorado State University Vet School.  Purina gives a grant to the school and asks for results.  They have one stipulation on the research. All animals used in the research must be placed in homes after the research.  No animal may be destroyed. So, I make the translation from this that Purina is OK. Wendy