Purina Pro Plan is sold by need rather than by recipe name. Nearly all of it is dry food in large bags, split by breed size first and then by what the dog needs: skin, digestion, weight, age. A few veterinary diets sit in here too.
What the range names mean
Everyday Nutrition is the standard adult and puppy food. Sensitive Skin is the salmon recipe. Sensitive Digestion is the lamb one. Age Defence 7+ is the senior food.
Light / Sterilised is the reduced-calorie option. It's the one to look at for a neutered dog carrying too much weight.
Large Robust or Large Athletic?
These are two different recipes, not two bag sizes for the same food. They cost the same and sit side by side, which catches people out. Both are for large breeds, which Purina define as over 25kg.
Robust is for the heavier, stockier dog that puts weight on easily. Purina build it around L-Carnitine and controlled fat levels, to limit fat deposit and take stress off the joints.
Athletic is for the leaner dog with a faster metabolism and more to burn.
You can see the difference in the composition. Both are 19% chicken. But Robust lists rice at 15% as its second ingredient with animal fats well down the list, while Athletic lists rice at 8% and animal fats much higher up. Ingredient lists run in order of weight, so that's the fat difference showing on the panel.
If your large dog is heavy-set and gains weight easily, Robust. If they're lean and hard-working, Athletic. If you're genuinely unsure, Robust is the safer default, because overfeeding a heavy-set dog is the more common mistake.
The veterinary diets
Some of what's here is Pro Plan Veterinary Diets. EN is Purina's code for gastrointestinal, and Renal Function is spelled out on the pack.
You don't need a prescription to buy them. They're pet foods, not veterinary medicines, and there's no gate on the basket.
But they work by restricting or adjusting things a healthy dog needs, so they aren't a general upgrade. If your vet named one, buy that exact product. If nobody has, speak to your vet before starting one. The rest of our veterinary dog food is on its own page.
When not to buy it
Pro Plan is dear, and most of it only comes in large bags, so the entry price is high before you even compare per kilo.
If your dog is well on a cheaper food, holding weight, with a decent coat and firm stools, there's no nutritional reason to move. Our own Ferguson and Ramsay Originals ranges are cheaper.
The exception is a dog with one specific problem. Skin, digestion or weight is where a food built around a single issue earns its price.
What most people buy here
For a healthy adult, Everyday Nutrition in the breed size that fits. For skin or coat trouble, Sensitive Skin. For loose stools the vet has already looked at, Sensitive Digestion.
The cheapest way into the range is the Small & Mini Everyday Nutrition bag, worth knowing if you'd rather try it before committing to a large one. There's a matching Purina Pro Plan cat food range if you've both.