Alpo Prime Cuts (Savory Beef)
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| Price: $ | Website
Alpo Prime Cuts
Alpo used to have a very large marketing campaign and was basically synonymous with dog food. Those days seem to be long gone, and while it’d be nice to say that it’s a good thing for dogs, an equally bad food (Ol Roy) now stands as the most popular dog food brand in the USA.
Looking at the food, it’s hard to understand just how this could be sold as real food for dogs. For instance, ground corn is the top ingredient, which is known to be difficult to digest and not nutritious for dogs. It’s a filler. Beef & bone meal is the ground up stew of some of the most undesirable parts of the cow, along with some bone thrown in. It’s one of the cheapest things a dog food company can use. Soybean meal is yet another filler with limited value for dogs. Then, we have “digest of chicken by-products”. The 4 “D’s” of (dead, diseased, dying, and disabled) are used to make any animal digest product. It’s a stew of animal parts that would probably make most people vomit upon seeing or smelling it.
It just goes downhill from there. We have more by-products, and then brewers rice (another cheap addition with limited value). Also, salt is high on the list as flavoring, which is bad for the animals just like it’s bad for you. It’s only there b/c the food is otherwise too bad tasting and needs seasoning.
This food is such a total failure, I’m not happy about having to give it 1 star.
Where to buy?
What’s good about this food….
Nothing at all.
….and what’s not so good.
Very cheap grain including corn and soybeans, very poor animal protein sources, by-products, brewers rice, salt is way too high.
Ingredients:
Ground Yellow Corn, Beef & Bone Meal, Soybean Meal, Digest of Chicken By-Products, Animal Fat (preserved with BHA), Poultry By-Product Meal, Brewer’s Rice, Salt, Iron Oxide, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin A Acetate, Manganese Sulfate, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Potassium Iodine, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Biotin.
Dogs are OMNIVORES. Look it up if you don’t believe me.
Thanks for your insight.
Jennifer, your comments sound aggressive and sorry if we are not all dog smart like you. I have given my dog different brands of food because sometimes is just convenient and in my opinion nutritious as well. My dog has NEVER gotten sick in her life. Not a single visit to the vet for sickness from eating this brand and others. Actually my dog is healthier that most friend’s dogs that eat very expensive foods. I can’t tell if it’s the food or the care, but she is not overweight, she has energy all the time and looks beautiful. I haven’t really noticed any difference when she eats more expensive dog food….really!….
I really don’t appreciate mean comments to people that is just trying to help or look for good mannered answers, so please, be respectful of everybody’s opinions. If you can’t, then keep them to yourself.
Thanks
Alright I have 4 dogs and I fed them multiple foods to try and find what I like best. The more expensive like acana and performatrin ultra and blue buffalo my one blisters and looses his hair but is perfect on alpo and ol’roy so what ever yu feel fills yur dogs needs I say feed him it. Most of my dogs live 17 to 20 yrs and I feed cheap brands
Gabrielle Its common sense to purchase good quality foods for example if you ate canned vegetables your nutrition intake wouldn’t be half as good as compared if you ate organic no sodium added or gmo products so quality is vital for the ultimate nutrition
Corn is actually very nutritious for dogs. It is not a filler and all dogs actually need corn in their diet. I am actually in a Vet- Tech program.
Corn does have some protein, but very poor quality. Grains also lack in most of the amino acids, and other important nutrients found in high quality protein meats. Vets have a very poor understanding about pet nutrition, primarily because they get very little nutritional training, except from pet food manufacturers, who in some cases will of course tell you Corn is good for dogs.
Although some grains may have some nutritional value, many contain inflammatory glutens, and also microtoxins. (Remember the catastrophic recall that killed thousands of pets from grains a few years ago?) There are only a few good grain-free pet foods, and yes they cost more, because they contain high quality meat proteins, little to no fillers from other less desired protein sources, and very little carbs.
What Vet Tech program did you attend? Please do share!
I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you missed a classed or your class hadn’t gotten to mass produced dog food yet but I’d still like to verify that they do cover that since you haven’t written anything since.
I’ve been reading up on this for 4 years now and corn in dog food has been highly frowned upon. I can’t imagine a company selling dog food with potentially diseased animal parts being concerned about properly processing their corn.
It would seem that dogs are primarily carnivores so I don’t understand how a grain could hold a lot of nutritional value, be a quality or preferable protein source, or be that essential to a diet for all dogs. Since I am a lay-person without any professional training, I would love to expand my knowledge so if you could cite or provide links to reputable sources of information that uphold your position that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Karen,
Dogs are scavenging carnivores, not obligate carnivores like cats. Good grains, vegetables, fruits, and other ingredients can provide nutritional value to our dogs in the same way they do us. It’s also worth noting that a native canine diet is primarily meat, but inclusive of intestinal tract and stomach contents of animals that have a grain/vegetable/fruit diet.
The issue with corn is that it’s difficult for dogs to digest unless it’s processed to a high standard, which largely it isn’t in the pet food industry. There have been tests that show corn can produce highly digestible protein, but that doesn’t say the corn in your dog food will.
If you’re looking for reference material I recommend one of the many good books on canine nutrition. They’re much more factual than what you may read on the internet. The following two are worth investing in:
http://www.bookgoose.com/PriceFind/Canine-and-Feline-Nutrition-Linda-P.-Case-Leighann-Daristotle-Michael-G.-Hayek-Melody-Foess-Raasch/9780323071475/
http://www.bookgoose.com/PriceFind/Applied-Veterinary-Clinical-Nutrition-Andrea-J.-Fascetti-Sean-J.-Delaney/9780813806570/
Diamond naturals is a decent food that isn’t super expensive. I’ve found it at Menard’s and rural king in my area. Also dollar store has a lassie brand that is acceptable. Stay away from foods with corn
I want a good food for my dog that isn’t overly expensive, I’m trying to figure out which is better ol Roy or alpo. Maybe you could even tell me another food that is easy on my pocket but good for my dogs they are like family and I want nothing but the best for them.
I’m late but for anyone reading this now looking for an answer I will reply.
Have you read anything here???
You’re not looking for less expensive dog food but straight up CHEAP! Why have a pet if you can’t properly care for it? Then you post this question on a site that listed the obvious reasons of why these products are awful?!? Would you feed your kids off the McDonald’s dollar menu for 3 meals a day everyday?
For anyone switching over from high filler dog foods let me tell you from first hand experience that your pet will eat less of the new food than the high filler food. With high filled food they have to eat more to get the nutrients their bodies crave from the very little non filler products in it. Once the filler is gone or in a small amount the pet will get the nutrients their bodies crave a lot faster and will be done eating a lot faster. I buy expensive dog food but for my dog the price is almost equal to what it was for the cheaper dog food.
You’re not looking for less expensive dog food but straight up CHEAP! Why have a pet if you can’t properly care for it? Jennifer, fortunately Pets are available for all to enjoy and love. A homeless person can care for a pet and show it love, but living on whatever they have to eat! That is a very demeaning remark to make. Not everyone can afford 50.00+ bags of dog food, for many years before all of this “humanizing” of pets, my dogs ate table scraps! My Retriever lived a happy 16 years off of scraps. We didn’t buy dog food at all. Having Pets living off scraps and cheap food is better than putting them down and burying them in trash piles!
Feed your dog a good food. Old Roy and Also are crappy foods. Look at the ingredients and then Google them to see what each one is. If you don’t get sick before you read about them, I will be surprised. The extra money you spend for a quality food is worth it. There are good dog foods out there that will not break your bank. Good luck.
Neither of those are very good. Have a look at our best-rated list, hopefully something on there fits your budget – https://www.petfoodratings.org/best-dry-dog-food/