I think thats a pretty good food and if your dog does good on it, then thats what matters most!

How many cals per cup is it?  I can say, however, that food would not be nearly powerful enough for Harleigh!  She has a very fast metabolism and is constantly going, so I've got to have something with decent protein/fat and calories in order to keep the weight on.  Right now Harleigh is on Nature's Variety Instinct - rotating between Duck/Turkey Meal and Salmon meal.  

My main concern would be it wouldn't be powerful enough for your dog (& keep in mind I don't know anything about your dog), so therefore you'd have to feed more to keep the weight on and end up probably spending the same amount. However, that may not be the case with your dog!

thats true with any brands ingredients lable tho right? also dogfood analysis always mentions the ingredients inclusive of water and where they should stand on the list once it is removed. They never seem to think meal is misrepresented. This makes me think that because its labled as meal shouldnt it already be cooked.

Im still trying to learn about all this stuff

I took this clip from the FDA website..
 

Ingredient List

All ingredients are required to be listed in order of predominance by weight. The weights of ingredients are determined as they are added in the formulation, including their inherent water content. This latter fact is important when evaluating relative quantity claims, especially when ingredients of different moisture contents are compared.

For example, one pet food may list "meat" as its first ingredient, and "corn" as the second ingredient. The manufacturer doesn't hesitate to point out that its competitor lists "corn" first ("meat meal" is second), suggesting the competitor's product has less animal-source protein than its own. However, meat is very high in moisture (approximately 75% water). On the other hand, water and fat are removed from meat meal, so it is only 10% moisture (what's left is mostly protein and minerals). If we could compare both products on a dry matter basis (mathematically "remove" the water from both ingredients), one could see that the second product had more animal-source protein from meat meal than the first product had from meat, even though the ingredient list suggests otherwise.

That is not to say that the second product has more "meat" than the first, or in fact, any meat at all. Meat meal is not meat per se, since most of the fat and water have been removed by rendering. Ingredients must be listed by their "common or usual" name. Most ingredients on pet food labels have a corresponding definition in the AAFCO Official Publication. For example, "meat" is defined as the "clean flesh of slaughtered mammals and is limited to...the striate muscle...with or without the accompanying and overlying fat and the portions of the skin, sinew, nerve and blood vessels which normally accompany the flesh." On the other hand, "meat meal" is "the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents." Thus, in addition to the processing, it could also contain parts of animals one would not think of as "meat." Meat meal may not be very pleasing to think about eating yourself, even though it can contain more minerals than meat. However, animals do not share in people's aesthetic concerns about the source and composition of their food. Regardless, the distinction must be made in the ingredient list (and in the product name). For this reason, a product containing "lamb meal" cannot be named a "Lamb Dinner."

http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/resourcesforyou/ucm047113.htm

So....its just a matter of what weighing out the fact that meat is first...then meat meal....but you really will never know what the "meat meal" consists of. So...ultimately you could be feeding more meat meal and actual meat would come further down the list.

Its confusing and makes you (well, me at least) wonder. Good luck! 

I think it helps balance the fact that "real meat" gets moved further down the list. The problem I have with meat meal is that you don't exactly know what it is...... it could be a number of things. But that is another discussion.

If you are ok with feeding kibble and your dog does well on it, then I would say try it. It really is personal opinion and all about what your dog does well on.

ETA: I just read the ingredients again. Everything looks great, there are a lot of wholesome ingredients and not a lot of unknowns which helps.

I guess its just a matter of deciding whether or not its good to have meat meal first or the actual meat....

Would you rather have your dog eating more of the "unknowns" or the actual meat from an animal...even if it does end up further down the list b/c of its water content.

It would be nice if the manufacturing companies HAD to be more exact about what "meal" means. This is what I found on "meal":

“Meat meal is the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. It shall not contain added extraneous materials not provided for by this definition. . . . If the product bears a name descriptive of its kind, composition or origin, it must correspond thereto.”

“Poultry meal is the dry rendered product from a combination of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts of whole carcasses of poultry or a combination thereof, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, and entrails.It shall be suitable for use in animal food. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.”

“Fish meal is the clean, dried, ground tissue of undecomposed whole fish or fish cuttings, either or both, with or without the extraction of part of the oil. If it contains more than 3% salt (NaCl), the amount of salt must constitute a part of the product name, provided that in no case must the salt content of this product exceed 7%. . . . If it bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.”

To think into it further...if your dog were to kill a chicken or fish. in the wild, they probably would eat most of it...but a large portion of that animal is meat/bone/organ and not the remaining "pieces" such as the feet, head, entrails, etc. By nature, they eat more meat than the "extras".

Get what I'm saying? 

Its just a matter of what they are able to throw in there under the term "meal". Thats the big question. Given the statements this company made, they seem to care about quality control & safety.

In a nutshell, to feed any kibble, you have to put your trust into that company and what they consider to be a nutritious source of food for your pet. And that can be different depending on who you talk to, Just my two cents.

PC, and any house brands, are manufactured FOR the main company not BY the company. The company truly producing the food could change at any time, without any change to the label.

We have run into this problem with PC products for my husband who is celiac and cannot eat anything made with wheat. On their private label stuff you have to constantly check with them by phone if their products contain wheat, since the producer can change at any time (and for the reason they refuse to say that anything is wheat free). A bit of a pain, and always better to avoid the middle man. Too bad, since I always liked PC, but if they won't stand behind their products, neither will I.

YA! Screw You PC! hehe

EDIT

.....except their cookies...