Why do people think Beneful is a good food?
I think I just saw a half dozen or so answers saying that beneful is a good food. I was just wondering why people think it’s so great?
Beneful Contains Sorbitol – an alcohol sugar known to cause GI problems such as diarrhea, bloating, and abdominal pain. – FDA regulations require a small subset of sorbitol-containing products to bear a label alerting consumers about the potential for gastrointestinal problems. Why do you think it’s healthy to feed this to your dog every day?
It also contains menadione (synthetic Vitamin K) Large doses of which have been reported to cause hemolytic anemia, liver damage, and neonatal death. Also, menadione supplements have been BANNED by the FDA because of the toxicity!
Not to mention the Artificial Colourings. Small amounts of carcinogens contaminate Yellow 6 – there was a study that linked it to adrenal gland and kidney tumors. The FDA concluded that this doesn’t pose a SIGNIFICANT risk to humans.
Why is this food so highly recommended???
A couple of people asked me what a good food is. I’m not going to gave a brand name just because I think it’s very important for dog owners to come to their own conclusions about what’s best for their dogs. My rule of thumb is if I can’t pronounce it *I* won’t eat it and If I won’t eat it then my dogs won’t Here’s the ingredients from a kibble that I feed:
Turkey, Chicken, Turkey Meal, Chicken Meal, Potatoes, Herring Meal, Chicken Fat, Natural Flavors, Egg, Garlic, Apples, Carrots, Tomatoes, Cottage Cheese, Alfalfa Sprouts, Dried Chicory Root, Taurine, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Vitamins/Minerals, Viable Naturally Occurring Microorganisms
And here’s the ingredients of Beneful:
Ground yellow corn, chicken-by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, Minerals (tricalcium phosphate, salt, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, zinc sulfate, (cont’d)
ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), sugar, sorbitol, water, animal digest, phosphoric acid, sorbic acid (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, dried peas, dried carrots, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, Vitamins [Vitamin E, Vitamin A, niacin, Vitamin B-12, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Vitamin D-3], added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, glyceryl monostearate, garlic oil.
Which would YOU prefer to eat????
South Beach Diet
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Comments
Because even though the food is the equivalent of feeding your dog recycled garbage, they have brilliant marketing that fools the unsuspecting consumer into thinking they’ve hit the mother load of canine nutrition.
Most people have no idea how to read a label, they think all dog food is the same and the pictures of meat and veggies on the bag makes them think it must be good when in reality there is almost none of that in there. They should put pictures of beaks, feathers, feet and beakers full of chemicals on the bag to make it more accurate.
Edit: Honestly, I don’t blame people for thinking it’s good. If I didn’t know better I’d probably believe their commercials too, they are very convincing. I think the problem is that most people just don’t realize how bad most commercial dog food is and haven’t yet educated themselves on what constitutes a good dog food vs. a bad one. They don’t need to be called stupid or bad dog owners, just educated to help them make a better decision. Most vets aren’t much better educated about dog food since they spend 2 minutes on nutrition in vet school so can you really blame most people?
I think the blame should be with these companies that put out a horrible product and tell people it’s good for their beloved pet when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Because the adds on tv say so. Don’t you believe everything you see and hear from the media?
Another example of society being a sheep herd and believing whoever paid the most for advertising space. Proves to the companies that it works doesn’t it?
I feed it to my dogs I just assumed it was good for them. I don’t know.
I don’t think Kate M.’s comment was very nice I love my dogs allot. I just figured benrful was good for my dogs because it’s higher priced dog food. then some of the others & I can’t afford very expensive it has nothing to do with being stupid or uncaring. that was rude an unnessairy
Then what is a good food??
Because sheeple… oops.. some people believe everything they are told in advertising. Purina has a lot of money to make people believe their food (not just dog, but cat, horse, and all) is the best, when in fact it’s not. IMO
‘For us personally, it is the ONLY dog food that our Pit Bull is not allergic to. Since switching to Beneful he looks great and has no more skin problems. Best coat he’s had in the two years we’ve owned him.
It’s funny how everyone on this site screams” Go to your Vet” until it’s something they don’t agree with.
Because people believe everything they see on TV and Purina, Pedigree, Iams, Science Diet, etc. sponsor veterinarian’s nutritional education in vet school, and so control in large part the content. I have seen vets recommend some total junk, but they really don’t know any better. Animal nutritionists have a much better idea of what animals need in their diets, and what they should not have in their diets.
Because people see the cute commercials and buy into it.
They don’t take time to read the labels or understand what the labels mean.
A lot of people are surprised when I tell them “the first item on the list of ingredients is what the food contains the most of. if Corn or Soy are anywere in the top 5 its not a high quality food. Corn is not digestable and is the main cause of digestive issues and bloat. In smaller forms used in low quality dog foods as fillers, they can cause gastric issues like diarrhea. Soy and Corn can also cause allergies in dogs.”
People are so shocked to hear this, then to read the ingredients and learn Corn is the first product on the list.
They are also surprised when I tell them what “By-product” means.
So that’s all it is, it basically is a lack of nutritional understanding. A lot of people I talk to don’t realize corn is bad for dogs.
They just see the pretty commercials of a guy doting over his dog and think “It has to be good. look how happy the dog on tv is!”
here’s beneful top 3 ingredients in most of their dry dog food.
Ground yellow corn (really bad), chicken by-product meal (Beaks, tallons and feathers), corn gluten meal (Recalled due to posion from China.)
i give it to my pitbull because he likes it and he does not have any health problems. so what dog food would you recommend if beneful is so bad. and no i didn’t see the commercial and decide to get this food. i was trying different foods that my dog would like.
So few pet owners truly educate themselves on what is good nutritionally for their pets … Beneful has amazing ads, Pedigree is touted by breeders, Science Diet is sold by vets.
None of those brands are good for your pets … they all have corn and by-products and various other ingredients that are no good for our pets. But because a vet or a breeder or a TV ad says it’s a good food, people think it must be so.
For those who have taken the time to educate yourselves, I am sure you have found just how much healthier it is for your pets to be on a whole grain or grain free kibble … one that doesn’t contain corn, by-products and all the various ingredients none of our pets require.
Great Q!
I see someone’s answer referring to a dog getting cancer, very possibly from eating beneful, was deleted. That being said, beneful is a crappy food. It’s full of garbage that I won’t feed my dogs. To save some vets bills as your dog gets older, why doesn’t everyone just feed a well balanced, nutritious food, such as Canidae, Chicken soup, California Naturals, etc. Go to the dogfoodanalysis website and see for yourself. See where beneful and other grocery store dog foods rate on this list.
Let me add, my sister feeds all her animals grocery store junk and so far she’s had 3 cats get cancer and they’ll be putting down her gsd that has cancer this coming week. None of my animals have had cancer.
Its not recommended by anyone. Its simply highly advetisd by the food giant that owns the company