Purina One True Instinct Dog Food Review (Canned)

Purina ONE True Instinct wet product range is made up of eight recipes with ratings varying from 3 to 4.5 stars. The average rating of the whole range is 4 stars.

It is worth noting that the lower rating of the Classic Ground recipes are due to the high fat to protein ratio. With lower fat content all of these recipes would have been 5 stars. We highly recommend the  Classic Ground recipes for working or highly active dogs. If you give this particular formula to pets and less active dogs, we recommend you monitor their weight regularly to ensure they remain their ideal size.

The table below shows each recipe in this range including our rating and the AAFCO nutrient profile: Growth (puppy), Maintenance (adult), All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

Recipe and Label Analysis

Purina ONE True Instinct with Real Chicken and Duck Cuts in Gravy was selected to represent the other products in the line for detailed recipe and nutrient analysis.

Ingredients Analysis

The first ingredient in this dog food is chicken broth. Broths are of only modest nutritional value. Yet because they add both flavor and moisture to a dog food, they are a common component in many canned products.

The second ingredient is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.¹

Chicken is naturally rich in the 10 essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The next ingredient is wheat gluten. Gluten is the rubbery residue remaining once wheat has had most of its starchy carbohydrate washed out of it.

Although wheat gluten contains 80% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.

And less costly plant-based products like this can notably boost the total protein reported on the label – a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

The fourth ingredient is soy flour, a high-protein by-product of soybean processing.

Although soy flour contains about 51% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat, and can notably boost the total protein reported on the label — a factor that can’t be ignored when judging the actual meat content of this product.

The fifth ingredient is pork lung. Lung is a protein-rich organ meat that’s also low in fat.

The sixth ingredient is liver. Normally, liver can be considered a quality component. However, in this case, the source of the liver is not identified. For this reason, it’s impossible to judge the quality of this item.

The seventh ingredient is duck. Duck is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of duck”.²

Duck is naturally rich in the 10 essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this Purina product.

With two notable exceptions…

First, this recipe contains sodium selenite, a controversial form of the mineral selenium. Sodium selenite appears to be nutritionally inferior to the more natural source of selenium found in selenium yeast.

And lastly, the minerals listed here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually associated with higher quality dog foods.

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, Purina ONE True Instinct with Real Chicken and Duck Cuts in Gravy canned dog food looks like an average wet product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 55%, a fat level of 18% and estimated carbohydrates of about 20%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 48% and a mean fat level of 27%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 17% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 60%.

Which means this Purina product line contains…

Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to other canned dog foods.

However, when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the wheat gluten and soy flour, this looks like the profile of a wet product containing at least a moderate amount of meat.

Purina Dog Food Recall History

The following automated list (if present) includes all dog food recalls related to Purina through February 2025.

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls since 2009 here.

Our Rating of Purina One True Instinct Dog Food

Purina ONE True Instinct lists both grain-inclusive and grain-free canned dog foods using a moderate amount of named meats and unnamed meat by-products as its dominant source of animal protein, thus receiving 4 stars.

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