Introducing Purina ONE SmartBlend True Instinct With Salmon & Tuna #ONEDifference #Spon

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My Yorkie, Trouble, thinks she’s a cat. Seriously. She lounges around with the cats, tries to climb out kitty towers, and she even has a weird love of cat food. I guess because she’s about the same size as the cats, and is always hanging around with them, she assumes she is a cat, too.. Perhaps a visit to a doggy psychologist is on order to address Trouble’s identity crisis. 

Anyway, cats and dogs have very different needs, and finding a dog food Trouble will actually eat is tough. (Did I mention she’s also very picky?) We have tried everything from the super-expensive grain-free varieties to the bargain specials, and everything in between. Usually, she might take a few nibbles, and then heads to the cat food to steal some of the “good stuff”. It’s an ongoing battle. 

As a Smiley360 Blogger, I recently got the chance to try out a new variety of dog food from Purina. Purina ONE SmartBlend True Instinct With Salmon & Tuna Dry Dog Food recently hit store shelves, and I couldn’t wait to see how Trouble received it. After all, it contains seafood and she thinks she’s a cat, so I had pretty high hopes that this would be a hit. 

We received a package that contained a 6oz sample of Purina ONE SmartBlend True Instinct With Salmon & Tuna Dry Dog Food, some Purina branded swag, and a coupon for a free bag of dog food. 


I wish I could say that this has been a completely positive experience, but it hasn’t been. (Hey, I have to be honest, right?) First of all, when I agreed to this campaign, I was told that I would receive a 2 month supply of dog food. When the package arrived with just one coupon to redeem, it was upsetting. However, my dog is small, so I figured I would grab the largest size bag available. It wouldn’t last for 2 whole months, but I wasn’t going to complain about it. 


Next, there was the hassle of actually finding this variety. I went to dozens of stores within an hour radius from me, and NO ONE had it. I even searched online, and couldn’t find this particular flavor there, either. I wasted several hours and loads of gas trying to hunt down this dog food. When I finally found it, I only found one very small bag. Needless to say, I was pretty unhappy about this, as I had already spent so much time searching and this tiny bag was nowhere near the amount of dog food I was expecting to get. 


Don’t get me wrong here, I have no problem with the brand or with Smiley360, I just had an awful experience hunting this down, and feel that I was promised one thing and received much, much less. 


Had I known this all in advance, I would have turned down the campaign altogether. I am only posting because I agreed to do so, and I always keep my promises. I just thought I should be honest about the fact that the availability of this variety is pretty lacking, to say the least. If you’d like to try it, I HIGHLY recommend physically calling individual stores to see if they even carry it. 

Now for the important part…..Did Trouble LIKE this food? 

Yes. She does like it. I suppose this should be no surprise since she seems to have a taste for seafood. When I served Trouble this food for the first time, she approached it hesitantly, as if she KNEW this isn’t her food of choice, and sniffed it for a good while before digging in. Then she devoured the whole bowl. Even my CATS have been caught nibbling away at this food. I guess they can smell the salmon and tuna! 

This food doesn’t contain harmful chemicals or artificial colors. It is also made right here in the good ol’ US of A, and has never been recalled. While meat is the number one ingredient, this food does contain grain and some fillers. There is lots of discussion online about whether or not corn products are good for pets, and I just wanted to disclose that this product does, in fact, contain such ingredients. I am certainly not a vet, so if you have any concerns about the ingredients in your pet’s food, you should definitely consult your trusted veterinarian. 

Here’s a full list of ingredients:
Salmon, Corn Gluten Meal, Soy Flakes, Brewers Rice, Animal Fat Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Whole Grain Wheat, Poultry By-Product Meal (Source of Glucosamine), Soybean Meal, Fish Meal (Source of Glucosamine), Whole Grain Corn, Tuna, Glycerin, Corn Germ Meal, Oat Meal, Animal Digest, Calcium Carbonate, Mono and Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Soybean Oil, Caramel Color, Fish Oil, Potassium Chloride, Vitamin D Supplement, Sulfur, Zinc Sulfate, Choline Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Niacin, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Garlic Oil, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Biotin, Sodium Selenite. A-4173.

Again, I am not a vet, so if you have any questions about any of the ingredients listed and how they affect your pets, please consult your vet. They will be able to answer any questions or concerns you may have. 

Overall, it seems that Trouble really likes the Purina ONE SmartBlend True Instinct With Salmon & Tuna Dry Dog Food. We took care to mix it into her normal food gradually, to ensure an easy switch. (No one wants to deal with tummy troubles, after all!) I haven’t noticed any visible changes in her coat, eyes, etc, but she hasn’t been eating it for very long at this point, either. I am definitely impressed with her willingness to eat this food, especially since she shuns many dry dog foods. 

If there were better local availability or easy online ordering through Amazon or whatnot, I would probably purchase more of this dog food. Would I drive over an hour, one way, to get a super-small bag of this again? Not a chance. It seems to be a decent food and my dog likes it, but it’s pretty inconvenient since it’s so darn difficult to find. If you have seen this in your area, it’s definitely worth trying. Just be sure to find out in advance if your stores actually carry this exact variety. No one wants to go on a wild goose chase! Or salmon and tuna chase, in this case! 

So, in a nutshell, while I do believe this is a decent product, this experience has left me a bit disappointed, overall. Just being completely honest. 

You can learn more about this and other Purina One products on their website.

You can also learn about the Purina 28 Day Challenge, and even receive a $3 off coupon to help get you started! 

You can also connect with them on Facebook and on twitter to stay on top of their latest products and promotions.