Published May 26, 2019
Is Purina Pro Plan a safe, healthy, and high-quality choice for your cat? Find out in our unbiased Purina Pro Plan cat food review.
The Cats.com Standard—Rating Purina Pro Plan on What Matters
We’ve analyzed Purina Pro Plan and graded it according to the Cats.com standard, evaluating the brand on species-appropriateness, ingredient quality, product variety, price, customer experience, and recall history. Here’s how it rates in each of these six key areas.
Ratings
- Species-Appropriateness – 6/10
- Ingredient Quality – 5/10
- Product Variety – 7/10
- Price – 5/10
- Customer Experience – 8/10
- Recall History – 5/10
Overall Score: 5.8/10
We give Purina Pro Plan cat food a 36 out of 60 rating or a C+ grade.
About Purina Pro Plan
Sixty years after the company developed its first pet foods, Purina launched a brand called Purina Pro Plan. The brand emphasizes performance, excellence, and expertise. According to Purina, each formula is created with the combined expertise of over 400 scientists, including pet nutritionists, vets, and animal behaviorists.
In this article, we’ll learn more about Pro Plan and its product selection to decide whether or not this brand delivers the quality it promises.
Sourcing And Manufacturing
Purina Pro Plan is manufactured in the United States in Purina-owned facilities. The company uses ingredients sourced around the world.
Has Purina Pro Plan Cat Food Been Recalled?
In 2016, tubs of Purina Pro Plan wet dog food were recalled due to inadequate levels of vitamins and minerals. Other Purina brands have been recalled multiple times.
What Kinds Of Cat Food Does Purina Pro Plan Offer?
Purina Pro Plan offers wet and dry cat food broken into five lines.
- The Savor line offers a variety of aromas, tastes, and textures.
- Focus provides nutrition geared towards specific health needs, including hairballs and urinary tract health.
- Like the Focus line, Veterinary Diets are formulated for cats with allergies, gastrointestinal problems, diabetes, and urinary tract problems. They’re only available with a veterinarian’s prescription.
- The True Nature line emphasizes instinct-satisfying, meat-based foods.
- The Prime Plus line is developed for senior cats age seven and over.
Purina Pro Plan Cat Food – Top 3 Recipes Reviewed
| Product Name | Food Type | Price | Our Grade |
| Purina Pro Plan Focus Adult Urinary Tract Health Formula Chicken Entree in Gravy | Wet | $0.51 per oz | B- |
| Purina Pro Plan Savor Adult White Meat Chicken & Vegetable Entree in Gravy | Wet | $0.47 per oz | B- |
| Purina Pro Plan Savor Adult Chicken & Rice Formula | Dry | $3.70 per lb | C+ |
#1 Purina Pro Plan Focus Adult Urinary Tract Health Formula Chicken Entree in Gravy Canned Cat Food Review
Meat by-products appears to be the primary protein source in this wet cat food.
This food from the Focus line is formulated to support urinary tract health. It contains acidifiers to maintain a low urinary pH and has limited dietary magnesium. Both of these features can reduce urinary crystal formation.
Like many chunky foods, this canned food centers around a sort of chopped-and-formed meat product. The chunks consist of a mix of meat by-products, chicken, wheat gluten, added flavors, and added colors.
If you’re a stickler for a meat-based diet for your obligate carnivore, you might feel uncomfortable with the emphasis on plant-sourced proteins and thickeners. Those avoiding potentially harmful additives will also want to steer clear of this food’s artificial colors and flavors.
Overall, this food has high protein content with moderate fat and high carbohydrate content.
With multiple artificial ingredients, cheap animal by-products, and high carbohydrate content, this product has more than a few markers of sub-par cat food. Nevertheless, cats seem to love it and multiple reviewers say it helped their cats who are prone to urinary issues.
The food has 75 calories per 3-ounce can or 25 calories per ounce.
Ingredients
Water Sufficient for Processing, Meat By-Products, Chicken, Wheat Gluten, Corn Starch-Modified, Artificial and Natural Flavors, Soy Flour, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Tricalcium Phosphate, Salt, Added Color, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide.
Ingredients We Liked: Chicken
Ingredients We Didn’t Like: Wheat Gluten, Corn Starch-Modified, Artificial Flavors, Soy Flour, Added Color
Guaranteed Analysis
Dry Matter Basis
Caloric Weight Basis
Pros
- Some reviewers say it helped improve their cats’ urinary tract health
Cons
- High carbohydrate content
- Contains artificial colors and flavors
#2 Purina Pro Plan Savor Adult White Meat Chicken & Vegetable Entree in Gravy Canned Cat Food Review
Chicken appears to be the primary protein source in this wet cat food.
This Savor recipe features chunks of chicken, wheat gluten, liver, and meat by-products set in a vegetable-sprinkled gravy.
Note the mix of clearly-named muscle meat and anonymous meats. The latter is sometimes indicative of a lower-quality product and poor digestibility values, but that’s not set in stone. Some meat by-products may be just as nutritious as any other muscle meat and organs. While meat by-products aren’t always bad for all cats, such vague labeling is a warning sign for allergic cats and those with food intolerances.
The ingredient list goes on to include a smattering of tomatoes and carrots, a touch of turkey, and added colors and flavors. It appears that the gravy is thickened with modified corn starch, which further boosts the carbohydrate content.
Overall, this dry food has high protein content with moderate fat and moderate carbohydrate content.
With plenty of plant ingredients, artificial additives, and potentially low-quality animal ingredients, this Pro Plan recipe doesn’t appear to be much different from the average canned cat food at the grocery.
The food contains 65 calories per can.
Ingredients
Water Sufficient for Processing, Chicken, Wheat Gluten, Liver, Meat By-Products, Tomatoes, Carrots, Turkey, Corn Starch-Modified, Artificial and Natural Flavors, Salt, Calcium Phosphate, Soy Protein Concentrate, Potassium Chloride, Added Color, Taurine, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide.
Ingredients We Liked: Chicken, Turkey
Ingredients We Didn’t Like: Wheat Gluten, Tomatoes, Carrots, Corn Starch-Modified, Artificial Flavors, Added Color
Guaranteed Analysis
Dry Matter Basis
Caloric Weight Basis
Pros
- Cats seem to like this food
Cons
- High carbohydrate content
- Contains artificial flavors and colors
#3 Purina Pro Plan Savor Adult Chicken & Rice Formula Dry Cat Food Review
Chicken appears to be the primary protein source in this dry cat food.
This is a dry cat food from the Savor line. It sticks to the Purina Pro Plan promise to include meat, poultry, or fish as the first ingredient in every dry recipe. Chicken sits at the top of the ingredient list. Chicken is followed by brewers rice and corn gluten meal, both of which are denser, drier ingredients and may in fact represent a bigger chunk of the food’s calorie content than chicken.
But this kibble isn’t all plants. It contains poultry by-product meal and dried egg product as protein sources and beef fat as a primary fat source. Later on the ingredient list, it also contains fish meal.
For an added pop of flavor, the food contains “natural liver flavor”, which is most likely made from hydrolyzed liver. Chicken is a common source of the liver used in cat food, but beyond speculation, the source remains anonymous.
Like other Pro Plan foods, this product contains artificial flavors and colors. Though it doesn’t appear that artificial flavor is harmful, some artificial colors are associated with health problems in both animals and humans.
In addition to the standard variety of added vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, this food contains added probiotics, which may support digestive health.
Overall, this food has moderate protein content, moderate fat, and high carbohydrate content.
Though it’s not particularly groundbreaking, this food has a few nice qualities. The addition of probiotics is a nice touch. The food’s carbohydrate content is a little bit lower than that of the average kibble. Otherwise, this food doesn’t appear to be much different from the typical kibble you’d find at the grocery.
The food has 492 calories per cup.
Ingredients
Chicken, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Poultry By-Product Meal, Dried Egg Product, Beef Fat Naturally Preserved With Mixed-Tocopherols, Wheat Flour, Soy Protein Isolate, Fish Meal, Natural Liver Flavor, Brewers Dried Yeast, Inulin, Potassium Chloride, Added Color, L-Lysine Monohydrochloride, Phosphoric Acid, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, VITAMINS [Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin (Vitamin B-3), Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B-5), Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Folic Acid (Vitamin B-9), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Biotin (Vitamin B-7), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Vitamin K)], Taurine, Choline Chloride, MINERALS [Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite], Dried Bacillus Coagulans Fermentation Product, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C).
Ingredients We Liked: Chicken, Beef Fat
Ingredients We Didn’t Like: Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Wheat Flour, Soy Protein Isolate, Added Color
Guaranteed Analysis
Dry Matter Basis
Caloric Weight Basis
Pros
- Contains added probiotics
- Slightly lower carbohydrate content than other dry foods
- Relies on animal-sourced fat
Cons
- Contains artificial colors and flavors
- High carbohydrate content
- Low moisture content
What Do Customers Think of Purina Pro Plan Cat Food?
Purina Pro Plan is regarded as one of Purina’s highest-quality brands and is well-accepted by most customers.
Most Purina Pro Plan product listings receive high ratings and positive feedback. On Consumer Affairs, the brand receives a mix of negative and positive reviews, with things leaning towards negativity. Most complaints are from people whose cats got sick after eating Purina Pro Plan, though there don’t seem to be any clear connections between the illness and the food. One reviewer in 2017 found pieces of plastic in their Purina Pro Plan cat food. Another in 2015 said their bag was crawling with maggots.
Positive Reviews
“My 3 cats eat this food with no problems. It’s not outrageously priced boutique food. Purina has strict testing done to it’s dog and cat foods. They follow WSAVA (.org) guidelines and are one of 4 companies that do this in the US.” – Queensnake88, reviewing Purina Pro Plan Savor Chicken & Rice Formula
“My 20 year old cat loves the gravy and eats this right up. I can mix his medications in and know he’s getting all of it.” – Jeanie, reviewing Purina Pro Plan Savor Adult White Meat Chicken & Vegetable Entree in Gravy
Negative Reviews
“I have been ordering the chicken in gravy flavor for 2 years . Noticed the price went up significantly 3 of the cats ate the chicken in gravy every morning – shared 1 can in separate bowls – they used to eat the bowls clean . Now they sniff or take ome lick and walk away. I bought the smaller 12 pk variety pack (with the beef flavor pate, turkey pate ,chicken w/gravy ) to see if they were just tired of the flavor – No… All 3 refused to eat amy of the flavors including the chickens they are for 2 years Did they change the ingredients ? Source of ingredients ? Just rather odd they would alway finished their bowls and now snub walk away” – Onylme, reviewing Purina Pro Plan Focus Adult Urinary Tract Health Formula Chicken Entree in Gravy
“My cat loves the taste of this food, so I bought it. After reading the ingredients, I am sorry I did! It has no better nutrients than store brands or say, meow mix. Great price, good taste for a cat, but a list of ingredients that cats don’t need to live. Too many carbs!! Pro Plan is NOT a “premium” ingredient food. Look for yourself.” – Pam67, reviewing Purina Pro Plan Savor Chicken & Rice Formula
How Much Does Purina Pro Plan Cat Food Cost?
Purina Pro Plan is a touch pricier than most other brands in the Purina family. On a day-by-day basis, it would cost about $3.55 per day to feed a 10-lb cat one of Purina Pro Plan’s wet foods and about $0.58 per day to feed her one of their dry recipes.
Overall, Is Purina Pro Plan a Good Choice?
Despite being more expensive and marketed to a quality-oriented consumer, Purina Pro Plan foods contain the same types of ingredients you’d expect to find in Purina Cat Chow or Fancy Feast.
Some Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diet foods may appeal to cats with certain health conditions. For example, Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets NF Kidney Function Advanced Care may be a good option for cats with kidney disease.
For the average buyer, however, Purina Pro Plan doesn’t appear to be one of the best brands on the market.
Where To Buy Purina Pro Plan Cat Food?
Purina Pro Plan is sold in major pet retail chains and some independent pet specialty stores. Click here to find a Pro Plan retailer near you. If you’d prefer to shop online, you can buy Purina Pro Plan through Amazon, Chewy, and PetSmart.
My 9 yr old cat does Great on pro plan prime plus 7+
Really appreciate the comments. Which is the best quality dry food supplements for a seven-year-old adult cat?
Thank you!
Hello Noemi, you might like our guide to the best vitamins and supplements for cats: https://cats.com/best-cat-vitamins-and-supplements
My cats Veterinarian has recommended the Purina Pro Plan Veterinarian Diets EN Gastroenteric. Will you let me know the ingredients that makes Purina Pro Plan Diets Veterinary EN Gastroenteric a prescription? And if there is any side effects in the prescription plan.
I have read your labels on our cat food can product. Very confusing and I do not know if all the ingredients are that great. I see your product is made in the USA but are all you products purchased in the USA. Too much crap coming from China and that is my concern. Thank You
Hi James, unfortunately, Purina doesn’t say whether or not they source ingredients from China. It is likely that they source vitamins and minerals from China, as this is common practice among almost every brand on the market.
I have a typically picky eater so am not married to this brand. The main reason I chose to never purchase any other Purina brand for cat or dog is because they are owned by the Nestle Corporation which has been listed as the worst corporation in the world. In this time of upheaval in our country I have decided to make businesses I purchase products from accountable to my pocket book. Check out all the products Nestle owns. I have banned every one of their products that I previously used. It’s easy and I will not contribute to any company who use consumers as their pawns to gain wealth and abuse the American public. I am but one person taking a stand.
Thank you for adding this comment. It made me aware for the first time exactly how Nestle engages in child labor, unethical promotion, manipulating uneducated mothers, pollution, price fixing and mislabeling – those are not words I want to see associated with products I buy. Nestle is the world’s largest foodstuff company, and I researched to find it has a history that would make even hardcore industrialists shiver. I have now boycotted all their products.
I agree not to use products from companies who exploites people to gain wealth.
For the past year and a half I’ve been feeding my cat the true instinct purina one chicken kibble due to its label advertising all the health + meat benefits. He loved it. However upon further inspection and some research, I highly recommend considering a new brand of cat food. They use soy ingredients which can long term be damaging to the feline liver, and I don’t know about y’all but I’d rather invest in more expensive food long term than short term have my baby get cancer or something. I couldn’t afford those vet bills and there’s some unfortunate stories out there of sick felines due to cheap kibble.
I just got a new shipment of Purina Pro Plan cat food for my three cats. I’ve been using only Pro Plan for a lot of years. One of my cats’ favorite flavors has been Chunky Chicken, and I just got 2 boxes of the new “Complete Essentials Chunky Chicken Entree” but the cats are refusing to eat it.
Guess who your customers really are?
HI, I just adopted a 19 month old kitty from Texas and they have her on Purina Pro Plan Complete Essentials dry. I also added a little wet for her, but less than a teaspoon and only twice so far. I’ve only had her a week, she likes the food but boy are her toots and poops SMELLY! whoa! I am now researching a new affordable dry and wet food for her. I’m having trouble finding something, I thought Royal Canin or Blue Buffalo but they received less than glowing reviews. Can you give me any suggestions?
Thank you so much
Hello Michele, thank you for commenting! Anything on our list of the best cat food on the market should be a great choice for your new kitty. The smelly poops and toots are probably indicative of some difficulty digesting the food, so I would focus on digestibility. We have also have an article specifically addressing the best food for smelly poop, so you may want to check that out as well. Congratulations on the new cat, and I hope you find this helpful!
I adopted a two year old cat and she was/is on this. Same issue. It is extremely smelly. I am phasing in “Open Farm,” dry, and later wet, which is a humane and sustainable farm, with much better ingredients! However, she does LOVE the taste of this. Hopefully she likes Open Farm too!
My vet actually recommended this cat food as she said it is one of the few cat foods backed by extensive research specifically for cats. She also recommended I feed my cats food with some cabs because the latest research shows a diet of only protein and fat causes cardiomyopathy is cats and dogs. Do you agree?
Hello Theresa, I’m not a vet nor a veterinary nutritionist, so I would much rather you take your vet’s recommendation than assume that my perspective is of equal value. From what I know, it is true that Purina, as a large pet food company, has a stronger research and development department than many other companies do, and their foods are subjected to AAFCO feeding trials, which sets them apart from others that merely meet the nutrient profiles without being tested among trial cats. It’s for that reason that many view Purina as a trustworthy alternative to many newer, less well-funded companies. Regarding the research suggesting that a diet without carbohydrates could lead to cardiomyopathy in cats and dogs, I haven’t seen anything about that. There was recently some research indicating that a high-fat diet may increase the risk of heart disease by increasing oxidative stress on heart cells, so this could be what your vet is referring to. However, even if we consider this as evidence of an issue with high-fat diets (and remember, no cats were involved in this research), the mice in this study still “received 45% of their calorie consumption from fat, 20% from protein and 35% carbohydrate.” In other words, this would still be considered a high-carbohydrate diet for a cat. Other than this one paper, I haven’t seen anything even close to this. I’d ask her to show you the papers she’s referring to, because it may be something new enough that it’s not available to the general population. Of course, that’s giving her the benefit of the doubt—she may simply be referring to the FDA investigation into grain-free diets, which resulted from a pattern of increased risk of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs (and a few cats) who ate grain-free diets. To my knowledge, there has not been any conclusion on why this is happening, with theories including the possibility that legumes in the food decrease the absorption of taurine. You can read more about that here. The bottom line is that there are some valid concerns about this potential correlation between grain-free food consumption and heart problems, and there is some interesting research currently being done on dietary contributors to heart disease in humans and animals, but I’ve seen no evidence that low carbohydrate content is to blame for cardiomyopathy in cats.
For perspective, do you know that there is no minimum dietary carbohydrate requirement for cat food? No industry regulator has ever defined or enforced this. While they can metabolize dietary carbohydrates, their bodies are capable of producing energy from protein. If it is true that “the latest research shows a diet of only protein and fat causes cardiomyopathy in cats and dogs”, this would be absolutely groundbreaking after thousands of years of evolution and a hundred-plus years of feline nutrition research.
I hope this sheds some light on the issue.
– Mallory
“Hello Theresa, I’m not a vet nor a veterinary nutritionist,”
There, end of thread. That’s all that needs to be written. This website is a load of hippy-health pseudoscience malarky. Stop masquerading as some kind of unbiased expert on kitten nutrition.
It’s difficult. I do think there’s some value to this research, even if it’s not done by a vet. Most vets don’t want to or have the time to write reviews or research cat brands, but we do. While I do worry about the possibility of coming across as a masquerader as you described, I think it’s had a net positive effect on our readers’ ability to understand what they’re feeding their cats and have informed conversations with their vets. Because we also recognize the importance of having the right background, we’re also working with a large team of veterinarians to get our content vet-reviewed. Currently, we have vets writing all of the health content on the site, and that vet review process is being applied to a ton of the existing content on the site, including some food reviews. I hope that soon, we can earn your respect as a source of credible information on all things cats.
You have to understand that vets are vets. They study medicine and diseases for animals and not nutrition. I trust a vet in regards to diagnosing an illness and resolving it with meds but not 100% in the diet/ nutrition department. With that being said, it doesn’t apply to all vets of course. It only applies to the ones that don’t research on nutrition.
You can offer constructive criticism without being rude. Didn’t your parents teach you how to do that?
Thank you so much for this educative and thoughtful reply. It gives me a lot of confidence in your website when I recognise the integrity of the research and understanding with which you have demonstrated in your response. I find it incredibly frustrating when I visit my vet and am “sold” solutions that I am well aware are not backed by current research and this is a good example of this kind of issue. Thankyou
My vet recommended food by Hill’s, Purina Pro, or Royal Canon. I trust her a lot, but I don’t trust those brands, so I have tried to feed my cat food your site suggests instead. But it has been frustrating. The foods I can afford that you recommend – Redbarn, some Koha, some Dr. Elsey, some Hound & Gatos – she won’t eat regularly, even when transitioned very slowly. And with the supply chain issues the past couple years, I haven’t always been able to transition her slowly.
I decided to compromise, and feed her the Purina Pro foods I can find with the highest protein content. She’ll eat it, and I can afford it. But apparently it’s the same as Fancy Feast. I’m not sure what to do anymore.
Of course, the one time I accidentally bought Ziwi Peak (I thought I was paying $48 for 24 cans, not 12, completely my mistake) she loved it. *Bangs head on table.* Apparently she will only eat unhealthy inexpensive cat food, or the most expensive possible.
As a tip, Ziwi Peak foods are super high calorie, it’s double the kcals per oz as most other wet foods. If you feed 100% wet food or make up the oz by mixing in water, you probably don’t need as much as you’d think. It helps justify the cost
I can not find Purina Pro Plan …… Indoor Care. I tried another kind of one of the Purina Pro kinds and he is not liking that. Have you stopped providing this product that he ate ???
Are you referring to this recipe? It seems to be available at Petco.
Hi Mallory! I appreciate all of the information that you provide. I am learning to be an informed consumer, and have more intelligent conversations with my vet about my cat’s food. I was wondering If you had any research on Purina Pro Plan LiveClear Adult with the allergen reducer. I have been mixing this about 50/50 with my cat’s other dry food since my husband is allergic to cats. Can you tell me how this brand of Purina rates?
Thanks for your help!
Hi Carol, thanks for the comment! I haven’t gone in-depth on LiveClear yet, but we’re adding a review of it to the schedule so that you can learn more about this product. For now, my initial impression is that the food is not nutritionally excellent, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless allergen reduction is your top priority. It does reduce the allergens in your cat’s saliva by about 47% on average by week 3 of daily feeding. While I’m not sure how that effect is altered by the food being only half of your cat’s daily food intake, we do know that Purina recommends that the food is your cat’s primary food, advising that other foods be limited to small treats.
“Pros
Slightly lower carbohydrate content than other dry foods
Cons
High carbohydrate content”
– can you please explain how these 2 comments go together – is there high or low carb content? – your caloric analysis seems to go with the low
Relative to other dry foods, the carbohydrate content is a little bit lower, but it’s nonetheless higher-carb than we’d consider to be ideal for cats.
Thank you for the comment and also for all your work and all the information here.
Is it high in relative to the average in dry foods?
In monge food, for example, the calories from carbs is, according to your data, about 1\3 of the calories as opposed to about 27% in pro plan; yet you have monge a higher grade on ingredients and you didn’t mention there anything about high carb content – I’m just trying to understand the context of that remark, specifically in a food which seems to have relatively (not just to monge, but also to other foods that you recommended) low carbs