Victor vs Purina Pro Plan: In-Depth Comparison [2023]

One of the hectic choices a pet owner has to make is choosing a food brand for their furry partners.

Purina Pro Plan is one of the most well-known and widely used pet food in the world, while Victor is a brand that has gained a lot of popularity in recent years and now ranks amongst premium food brands.

Choosing among them is a tough decision to make, but to your rescue, we will provide an in-depth comparison of both these pet food brands, which will help you make a choice that best suits your pet and fulfills all of its growth requirements.

Factors	Purina	Victor
Owned by	Nestle Purina Petcare	Mid-America Pet Food
Launched In	1986	1950
Special Feature	All-round health	Safety and Trust
Number Of Formulas	More than 175	Over 20
Intended for	All dogs	All dogs

All About Victor

“4.6 Overall Editor Rating “

★★★★★

Victor

30 percent protein and 20 percent fat
Fine-tuned nutrition
High-quality dry dog food

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*We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

After World War Two, Scott Glover’s parents started the feed business in 1950. His father returned from the war, and they began with a feed store, later adding a mixer and a pellet mill to expand their business.

They sold some assets and came up with a plan to build a pet food plant, which took about two and a half years to build because they did it themselves.

With over a thousand pet food brands, you may ask, “Why would a dog owner pick Victor?” They are a four and five-star rated dog food by the largest independent rating people out there. Many of their competitors, whose names are well-known, offer two and three-star-rated dog foods.

One thing that makes Mid-America very unique is its proximity to our raw materials. From a nutritional standpoint, they’re not going to be beaten, even by those dog foods that are $10 a bag more expensive.

Their whole business revolves around food safety. They have a full-time food safety team at Mid-America that runs the labs and handles day-to-day activities. As an example, as trucks come in, there’s a multitude of tests done on every raw material, all the way through the process, down to the very bag, to ensure that the final product meets the specifications.

Manufacturing all of the products they sell is a huge advantage in this market, and it has become a powerful trust tool for their customers.

All About Purina Pro Plan

“4.6 Overall Editor Rating “

★★★★★

Purina Pro Plan

30 percent protein and 20 percent fat
Fine-tuned nutrition
High-quality dry dog food

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*We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

Pro Plan is one of the most popular foods sold in the United States. It is owned by the parent company Nestle, which is also the parent company of Purina. They own foods like Beneful and a few others; Puppy Chow is one of them.

Pro Plan has been formulated with the help of veterinary professionals and nutritionists who offer high-quality nutrition. And it was the first dog food to offer meat as the primary ingredient.

Victor Vs Purina Pro Plan: A Detailed 4-Factor Comparison

So here’s why I show you what common ingredients and a rough estimate of nutrition you can find among all their recipes for each of the two brands. Also, we’ll discuss their recalls.

1. Recipes

Certain things can benefit every age, breed, and size. Still, in general, when we’re looking for pet food. We’re just breaking down that pet food label, and we want to see a pet food marketed specifically for a pet’s specific life stage.

Victor

Each dog has a formula with their V Pro blend of ingredients, which is an exclusive mix to promote superior digestibility and immune system function; it’s a proprietary blend that benefits every dog regardless of activity level, age, breed, or size.

Victor has grain-free options, puppy-friendly formulas, and formulas designed for active dogs. That’s what you’d expect from a company that has a range. Victor is consistent with their choices which is a good thing.

Purina Pro Plan

Firstly, puppy diets contain DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid in the mother’s milk.

They have good protein levels and prebiotics within the adult range to help support digestive health. They have small, large, and sensitive diets in the adult range. The sensitive diet restricts protein sources to avoid lots of things that can cause allergic reactions and has extra omega-3 for coat health.

So, Pro Plan also has light diets for overweight dogs, which obviously contain less fat. They have higher protein and fiber levels as well. It helps the dog feel fuller for longer and promotes leanness or mass.

Then, we move on to the senior diets. These contain anti-age, a nutrient blend that acts as an energy source for brain cells. It has been shown to maintain cognitive function and alertness in elderly dogs.

2. Ingredients

Let’s go to the ingredient list. You know that I am all about ingredients. Food is medicine for your dog, building a strong dog with strong immunity. Now, the ingredient list is not something that I harp upon because there are a lot of things that companies do. They’re legally allowed to do, to manipulate that ingredient list.

Victor

Chicken Meal

It excludes feathers but not all because it’s almost impossible not to get a few smaller, lighter feathers out there. So, the byproduct contains everything except for the meat. Some meat ends up in it, but only the meat is stuck to the bone. But another company purchases the dark and the white meat. So, this byproduct consists of organs, which is okay. It also includes feet but no bones. There’s no bone in vibronic meal, and this one is chicken meal, which is, well, the whole bloody chicken.

Vegetables

I don’t see any vegetables here. I see carrot powder, but some vegetables in humans – any mammal on earth, if they consume vegetables, it slows their metabolism down, so dogs would eat less. That may be why it’s not in Victor—just saying.

Taurine

So, this dog food does have taurine added to it. It is associated with healthy heart muscle function. It isn’t a typical essential nutrient needed in canines. But some dogs have shown deficiency for taurine, and it’s more common in grain-free diets, so it doesn’t hurt to have it in it.

Controversial Ingredients

Tomato pomace is considered one of the controversial items on the list because some believe it’s a good source of fiber. In contrast, others believe that it is an inexpensive pet food filler. The dried seaweed meal is another controversial item, and some say it’s inexpensive carbohydrates that are added. I typically see this ingredient more in feeds for cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, and livestock types. Brewer’s yeast is another controversial item. Some say it’s good because it repels fleas, while others say it could lead to allergies. But then again, every dog is different, so it’s all dependent on personal preference.

Dyes

When you come down to the bottom, I always like to look at whether dyes are added because I’m not too fond of dyes added to dog food. They don’t serve any purpose. They’re usually listed towards the bottom, not because there’s less quantity or anything like that, it’s based on molecular weights, so I do not see anywhere in here any dyes, which makes me really happy.

Purina Pro Plan

Chicken

Purina boasts about being the first to do all the time- putting chicken as the first ingredient, which is so important for all dog food brands to do because nothing else can supplement high-quality protein. This item accounts for a significant part of the total content of the finished product.

Corn

Now, let me tell you about, first of all, why do dog food companies put corn in their dog food? Well, first of all, it’s cheap. Dog food companies are not out for the goodness of your dog’s health; they’re out to make money, and corn is very cheap. But it’s also a cheap carbohydrate and needs to act like glue to keep the kibble together. So it’s needed.

So, why is corn not good? First of all, in the United States, corn is GMO. It’s sprayed with glyphosate by Monsanto, which Bayer now owns. What’s wrong with glyphosate? Glyphosate makes the harvesting process speed up; it dries up the plants. But it is a known carcinogenic for pets and humans, causing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. So that’s the first reason you need to stay away from corn.

Fish Oil

What type of fish is it? Has the fish been filtered to take away all the mercury? Probably not. There are three types of fish oil: pet, human, and pharmaceutical. I give my dog human-grade, but pet-grade fish oil is highly contaminated with mercury and other bad contaminants, but it’s cheap.

3. Nutrition

We’re just going to go through these numbers, and we’re going to see how it steps up.

Victor

Protein is at 25%, which is looking good. We want it between 20 and 32%. The fat is at 14%, a bit high. Normally, we want between 8 and 12 percent for a large breed puppy. It is hard to over-supplement fat in a large breed puppy, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t quite fit the parameters. I’m not sure why they have added that extra fat, and I don’t know that it’s harmful, but it’s above the recommended fat for a large-breed puppy.

For fiber, usually, around five percent or less is good. Moisture has to do with the fact that this is a dry food, not a canned food so that canned foods will be 75-ish percent moisture. Dry food will be, you know, 10, 12, 9. That’s fine.

And so when you look at the guaranteed analysis, this food is very good. It does have a little bit of extra fat because, again, this is for sporting dogs. So if you’re training your puppy, um, and they’re expending a lot of energy, you might need that extra fat. That’s why they’ve added that there. It’s nice to see they have met exactly the calcium and phosphorus ratio because a large breed puppy has a very specific need for that. So it’s going to be different than just a regular puppy.

Purina Pro Plan

So, this is the estimated nutrient content. It has 20% protein, 10% fat, and 25% carbs.

The protein content is sufficient if we’re talking about any regular adult dog. But you might need protein supplements if your dog is athletic. We would’ve loved to see more since it’s Purina and uses real chicken. The amount of carbohydrates is good, but only if we consider how much energy comes from good-quality sources. The fat percentage is admirable since we have the information that this company uses chicken fat beforehand.

I’m not saying that you should base your, um, you know, analysis of this food strictly on price. But, the price is a factor for many people, so you know that’s what you got, a dollar fifty-five ish per pound. The 40-pound bag may not last you super long if you are feeding a large breed dog or a large breed puppy that will need quite a few calories, right?

4. Recalls

Recalls happen to the best dog food brands. But it’s better to avoid having recalls that seriously put distrust in your customer base.

Victor

No recalls are noted for Victor’s dog food as of 2023.

Purina Pro Plan

Purina Pro Plan has seen a total of four recalls since 2009, with one of them being for mislabeling and the other for high levels of Vitamin D.

Highlights of the Two Dog Food Brands

Here are some things that stood out to me about both brands:

Victor

• Operating since 1950 under a family-owned business.
• It has its own blend for superior digestibility, and immune system function called the V Pro Blend.
• It has a range of formulas that include categories for life stages, activity levels, and specific needs.
• Highly rated by independent reviewers.
• Known for its focus on food safety.
• The manufacturing facility is close to raw materials and resources, so it ensures freshness.
• It has grain-free options.

Purina Pro Plan

• A line of dog food that’s part of the popular dog food brand Purina.
• Owned by Nestle Purina Petcare.
• Has a range of formulas for puppies, adults, seniors, and dogs with dietary restrictions.
• DHA included.
• Has an anti-age nutrient blend for senior dogs.

The Winner: Victor Dog Food

It’s what we always knew! Victor Dog Food is the winner today. Why? Only because of the focus and hard work towards local sourcing, ingredients, and the positive brand reputation they’ve always lived up to till now. Victor seems like the kind of brand that you can trust not to rely on gimmicky advertisements for building their customer base.

Pros

Local sourcing of ingredients and guaranteed quality
Designed for better digestibility and immune system for dogs
Best reviews online
Dedicated food safety team
Grain-free options available for dogs with sensitivity

Cons

Some formulas have more fat content than ideal
Contains controversial ingredients like tomato pomace and dried seaweed meal
No specialized formulas for dogs with health problems

Based on all my research, Victor deserves this win.

FAQ’s

Conclusion

What we can take away from this review is that big names and heavy marketing aren’t everything. You need to be able to trust the brand that makes daily food for your beloved pets. Of course, your choice may vary depending on personal factors. Still, I’d always recommend you go with the brand that sources its ingredients locally.

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