String of Illnesses Linked to Nutro Pet Food
Thanks to all of you who barked in this article from ConsumerAffairs.com. Are we on the verge of another recall?
String of Illnesses Afflicts NUTRO-Fed Pets
Company insists its food is ‘100% safe’By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com
April 18, 2008A worrisome health trend among dogs and cats across the country has surfaced in the past few months. Scores of pets from California to South Carolina have experienced sudden and recurring bouts of diarrhea, vomiting, and other digestive problems.
Through an examination of reports submitted by readers, ConsumerAffairs.com has uncovered a common link among these pets: They all ate the same brand of food: NUTRO pet food.
In all of the cases we’ve examined, the animals’ conditions improved once their owners switched them to another brand of food.
“I’ve been feeding my chocolate Lab, Indy, NUTRO for almost four years,” said Laura F. of Las Vegas, Nevada. “He’s always been happy, healthy, and big. Recently I switched him to NUTRO (Natural Choice) Lite at my vet’s request. Three weeks ago, he started vomiting uncontrollably.”Laura said her veterinarian initially thought Indy had pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas. The vet prescribed some medication and Indy’s condition gradually improved.
“Now, three weeks later, he started vomiting again,” she said, adding she continued to feed her dog NUTRO. “He’s now lost about 8 pounds in three weeks and is weak and lethargic.
“The vet believes — as do I — that it is the food,” she said.
Laura switched brands of dog food and Indy’s health improved. After a while, Laura tried mixing in the NUTRO with the new food. But that turned out to be a bad idea.
“The vomiting started again,” Laura said. “I also noticed that he only ate about half his food and was actually dropping the NUTRO out and trying to only eat the Science Diet. I think even my dog knows there is something wrong with the NUTRO food.
“I will never feed any of my pets NUTRO again.”
Similar stories
We’ve heard similar stories and sentiment from scores of pet owners nationwide — many of whom are loyal NUTRO customers. We’ve also heard from a pet store employee, who noticed these same digestive problems with her clients’ pets that ate NUTRO products.A pet owner in South Carolina told us that she found foreign objects in her last few bags of NUTRO foods.
And a disabled woman in California said all these pets’ health problems have given her a horrible sense of déjà vu. Her service dog, she said, experienced these same digestive problems a few years ago – after eating NUTRO food.
“I would not venture to give any pet one nugget of NUTRO food after what my dog went through,” said Maggie D. of San Francisco.
NUTRO responds
NUTRO, however, defended its products.A spokeswoman told us she is unaware of any substantiated medical problems like these linked to her company’s pet food.
Many NUTRO customers also tout the food, saying it’s an excellent product. Veterinarians told ConsumerAffairs.com that many factors can cause gastrointestinal problems in dogs and cats, including changes in diet, newly-developed sensitivities to pet food, or viral infections.
But scores of pet owners who’ve contacted us are convinced that something is now wrong with NUTRO’s food.
They’re pet owners like Lynn C. of Cabot, Arkansas.
“I’ve used NUTRO for years and never had any problems,” she told us. “But my 10-year-old border collie, Boo, became sick six weeks ago. He was lethargic, lost weight, and when evaluated by a veterinarian, his liver enzymes were critical. They were elevated…off the chart. My vet said we’ve got to do something.
“She put him on antibiotics and a strong amino acid, but he continued to deteriorate.”
A week into Boo’s treatment, a co-worker told Lynn about problems she’d read about regarding NUTRO’s pet food.
“I had never dreamed it could be the food,” she said. “I’m feeding all four of my dogs the food, so why all of the sudden would it affect Boo? The other three are still thriving. But they’re younger—and he’s the smallest dog.”
Lynn did some digging and found the complaints filed by pet owners on ConsumerAffairs.com.
“I was shocked at the information that I found on NUTRO,” she said. “I faxed pages and pages of this information to my veterinarian, who became alarmed and told me to stop feeding him the NUTRO.”
Within days, Boo’s condition improved.
“He started acting like he felt better,” Lynn said. “It’s amazing. He wasn’t responding until I took him off the NUTRO food. Within a week, he had regained two pounds, and after two weeks, his liver enzymes were still high, but improving.
“I cannot explain why this happened all of the sudden since Boo has been eating this food for years. But I know my dog and I know it was the food.”
Another pet owner in the small town of Cabot, Arkansas, who shows Westies, said her dogs experienced the same problems with NUTRO’s food.
“I started using NUTRO Natural Choice for my show dogs last fall,” said Judy Y., who has fed dogs NUTRO on and off for years. “With the last two bags my dogs started to lose weight and their stools were extremely soft. One litter had constant diarrhea. They were losing weight, their coats were not in the condition they should be. And after they ate, they would suck up water like they hadn’t had any all day.
“The only dog I wasn’t having problems with was the old dog that can only eat raw meat, no dog food at all.”
Judy also noticed that one of her puppies wasn’t growing.
“She was growing fine until I put her on NUTRO,” Judy said. “And then it was like she just stopped growing. She looked like she had been starved and her coat looked real bad.”
Judy’s vet examined the dogs — and their stools — and didn’t find any problems.
“So I said the heck with the commercial dog food and I started feeding all my dogs raw food,” Judy said. “They’ve all bounced back. They have all gained weight and their hair is growing again.”
The only exception is the puppy that had growth problems.
“My puppy is 10 months old now and her growth seems to be stunted,” Judy said. “I have never had this happen in the 40 years I have been showing and breeding dogs. I’m not sure this show quality puppy will now get big enough to show or breed. It is so heart breaking to see such a good quality dog not live up to her potential because of a dog food.”
Similar tales
Scores of other pet owners echo these concerns. Consider some of their pets’ recent experiences with NUTRO:• Michele T. of Northridge, California: “I’ve been feeding my dogs NUTRO Natural Choice Senior kibble for years. Lately, the last few months, they’ve both had very upset tummies and very unusual and loose stools.”
• Rachel B. of Indianapolis, Indiana: “I have a three-year-old Poodle who I got from a rescue (group), and he’s been on NUTRO Max since I’ve had him. Within the last few months, he has had quite a few digestive problems that his vet has not been able to figure out thus far. He has not been eating like he normal does and his stools have been incredible sporadic — soft then hard, then soft then bloody. His appetite has been pretty bad. He’ll wait to eat until he’s starving because he doesn’t want to eat the food. He’s drinking water like he’s been in the desert, and coughing and dry heaving a lot. He repeatedly tests negative for stomach parasites and we have been uncertain what the problem was until I received an e-mail about NUTRO foods from the shelter he came from. I know I will be weaning him off NUTRO immediately!”
• Kelly M. of Moyock, North Carolina: “I switched my dogs to NUTRO Natural Choice Large Breed chicken and rice, thinking I was improving the quality of their food. They loved it! Unfortunately, a few days after I began feeding the new food, which I converted by mixing in increasing quantities over a week long period, both of my dogs — a Great Dane and a Dane/Blue Tick mix — developed watery bowels and lots of digestive activity. We took the Dane to the vet, because he exhibited symptoms first, and they performed a fecal test for both parasites and Giardia. Both were negative. When the other dog began having the same symptoms, I began to suspect the food. I placed a call to NUTRO yesterday and spoke to a customer service representative. She said they had never heard of any dogs having problems like the ones I described. And then, the next day, I found your Web site and saw the numerous complaints. I am not pleased.”
• Lin D. of Fresno, California: “I have three miniature pinschers and it (the NUTRO food) has affected all of them same way – diarrhea, throwing up, loose stools or totally water stools. They have eaten this food for four years and never had any problems until this last bag. The thing that was interesting is when I opened the last bag and scooped out the food, it was more grainy than normal. My eight-pound girl, she’s a wolf and eats everything, she kind of backed away from the food and I had to coerce her to eat. I have taken my dogs off NUTRO and they are doing fine. I also called NUTRO and spoke to a representative in consumer service. She, too, said she had not heard of any problems with the food. She is blaming the shipping and storing of the food – she kind of giggled when she said it. I won’t go back to that food. My dogs are much too precious to me and I am extremely fortunate I didn’t lose them to a bad bag of food.”
• Jacki G. of Dornsife, Pennsylvania: “I recently purchased a 40 pound bag of NUTRO Natural Lamb and Rice small bites for my Weimer. We’ve been very happy until this last bag (dated 10 may 2009,13:38 2 a x 4 j p). Our dogs were throwing up, diarrhea as well as the usual allergy reactions. I figured they had gotten into something they shouldn’t have, so I fed them brown rice and boiled ground beef to allow their bellies to settle down. The dogs got better. I resumed feeding NUTRO, with the same results. I figured the bag was somehow tainted with corn (which the Weimer is allergic to), causing the intestinal and other reactions. I purchased another food. Symptoms immediately subsided. I was determined not to waste a 40 pound bag of dog food, so I tried to mix it 50/50 with the good food. Bad Idea! Immediate return of symptoms. I called the company to report my dismay. After a 25 minute wait I spoke to a very uninterested woman, who told be to take the food back to the store for a new bag or a refund. I was shocked there was not more alarm that their food wasn’t properly manufactured. I was frustrated and dumbfounded at this lack of customer service. I then Googled to see if there was anything going on with other folks. Wow, am I surprised – and a little scared that I tried so long to get my Zippo to eat this food.”
• Leigh P. of Olmsted Falls, Ohio: “After years on NUTRO, both my cats started vomiting almost daily. I did plenty of research, feeling that I should switch their food. I will never feed commercial brands like this again. My cats are now on a raw BARF diet, which they were designed to eat, and they are thriving and healthy. My Persian cat, who lost fur four years ago from an illness, is now fluffy again after just 1 month on raw. Don’t feed NUTRO or commercial brands. Now I feel guilty for donating this poison to my animal shelter.”
Pet store employee
These problems don’t surprise a pet store employee in California, who contacted us with concerns about NUTRO’s products.“Of the customers that come in with health issues occurring in their pets — such as those described by the people reporting here (on your Web site), NUTRO is the only food with these problems,” said the employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing her job.
“We’ve averaged 20 customers a week with this food issue for the last five months or so. I’m rather surprised it’s continuing and that nothing is being done about it.”
Foreign objects
ConsumerAffairs.com also heard from a South Carolina pet owner, who discovered what she calls “foreign” objects in her recent bags of NUTRO food.“In two of the last five bags I’ve fed my dogs, I’ve found pieces of something that look like nylon,” said Lori W. “I found one piece stuck out from one end and hooked through a piece of kibble. It was maybe one-half inch long. Most are a lot thinner.”
Unidentified object found in Lori W.’s NUTRO pet food
After making these discoveries, Lori switched her six dogs to another brand of food.
Lori’s pets
“I don’t know, maybe that’s supposed to be in there,” she said. “But I’m transitioning my dogs to another food. I’m not panicked, but I got concerned after reading the other comments (on ConsumerAffairs.com). I can’t deny that I found something in the food that I’ve never noticed before.”
Lori also said one of her dogs — an eight-year-old German Shepherd-Great Dane mix — recently became ill after eating some NUTRO food.
“But that could be totally coincidence,” she said. “Rufus has had bouts of soft stools and diarrhea since we’ve had him. But now I wonder if he had some sensitivity to NUTRO…after we opened that last bag of NUTRO, he got sick.”
She added: “I loved NUTRO and would love to continue loving it, but I’m just not comfortable with the food right now.”
Service dog
She — and other pet owners — shouldn’t feel safe feeding their dogs and cats NUTRO, warned a disabled pet owner in California.Radio talk show host Maggie D. said her service dog — a Pit Bull-mix named Little Maggie — became ill a few years ago after eating NUTRO food.
“I’d been feeding her NUTRO since she was a pup,” said Maggie, who hosts a radio show for people with disabilities on KUSF. “Then she suddenly started having digestive problems. She had terrible diarrhea. She’d indicate that she needed to go out, but couldn’t wait. She was also lethargic and she’d drink a lot of water and then quit drinking water.
“She lost a lot of weight. She had absolutely no energy and could not pull my manual wheelchair as trained.”
That meant Maggie could not leave her home.
“She’s my lifeline,” Maggie said of her beloved service dog. “She goes everywhere with me.”
Maggie knew she had to act fast. She couldn’t function — physically or emotionally — without Little Maggie.
She immediately switched Little Maggie from NUTRO to rice and cottage cheese.
“It took about 12 to 14 days of this diet to bring her back to normal stool formation,” Maggie said. “I then would slowly re-introduce the NUTRO one nugget at a time — more each day until she was entirely off the rice/cottage cheese diet.”
But Little Maggie’s condition worsened again.
“Within a month, she returned to the watery frequent stools,” Maggie said. “Back and forth we went between the NUTRO lamb and rice and the rice and cottage cheese until my vet told me to put her on straight boiled chicken breasts and boiled skinned diced potato.
“After three months of the chicken/potato diet she had a shiney coat, her hair was silky once again as is her skin,” Maggie added. “She had boundless energy again. She now pulls my wheelchair and stretches herself across the bed so I can pull up to a seated position and get ready to transfer to my wheelchair.”
Is Maggie surprised by the recent problems dogs and cats have experienced with NUTRO products?
“No. I think they’re using something different in the food – they have to add fillers,” she said. “I have no confidence in them.”
‘Look out’
Maggie decided to contact us now — even though her problems with NUTRO occurred two years ago — to warn other dog and cat owners about this brand of pet food.“My message to pet owners is — look out. If you love your animal get them off NUTRO. I would not trust the pet food industry or commercial pet food. I will never feed my animals NUTRO again.”
But many pet owners stand by NUTRO and its products. And they warn consumers not to jump to conclusions based on unsubstantiated claims posted on the Internet.
“I have used NUTRO for both of my dogs and both of my cats for over two years now and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about this product,” said Jennifer A. of Spokane, Washington. “The benefits are amazing and the ingredients are quality. I was a little shocked when I read some of these postings, but it will not make me quit feeding this product. I think that people need to remember that animals are like people, just because you get sick, you would not quit eating everything that you had before.”
She added: “I have called NUTRO and spoken with them on numerous occasions concerning ingredients and other aspects of their food, and they have always been very nice. I find it extremely unlikely that a business would laugh at a customer on the phone, not only from a sensitivity standpoint, but also from a liability standpoint. Overall, I think NUTRO is a great product. My feeling go out to all of the people that have lost a pet, but unless you have actual proof, it is dangerous to spread false information. Get facts.”
A Maryland pet owner agreed.
“We’ve been feeding NUTRO for years and never had a problem,” Tabitha A. of Upper Marlsboro, Maryland, told us.
She advised pet owners to consider the following before criticizing a pet food:
• If you change your dog’s food quickly, it’s likely to get an upset stomach;
• Things can happen to any food — people or pets. “It can get damp or bugs or be out of date, and it isn’t always the manufacturers’ fault.”
• Even a careful company can have occasional problems. “If you have problems and can’t attribute it to anything but the dog food - contact the company,” she said. “They may ask for food to test. If you don’t contact them, and there is a problem, they can’t fix it or do a recall. I had a friend who got food with an incorrect mix and because she was diligent and sent samples, the company did a recall. She had already stopped feeding her dogs the specific batch, but she probably saved many lives.”
A woman in Winnipeg who runs a dog rescue also defended NUTRO and its products.
“You had asked for bad experiences and good, but chances are you likely will not print the good ones,” wrote Sally H., who runs Hull’s Haven Border Collie Rescue in Winnipeg, Canada.
“All of my own dogs are on NUTRO, as are all of our rescues. We have had excellent results placing emaciated dogs on High Energy, puppies raised on NUTRO Puppy, seniors and overweight dogs on NUTRO, and we have had nothing but good results. Not only do we use the brand ourselves, but we also ask our adopters to continue to use it, as we want the best in health for our rescues,” Sally said.
‘100% safe’
A spokeswoman for NUTRO told us the company’s products are 100 percent safe and meet all standards set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other federal regulators.“NUTRO pet foods undergo rigorous quality assurance testing beginning with raw ingredients and ending with testing all finished products,” said company spokeswoman Alice Nathanson. “This includes testing to confirm that no melamine, mold toxins, or pathogenic bacteria are detected in any NUTRO pet foods.”
Nathanson said her company is aware of the complaints posted on the Internet about NUTRO’s food.
“Some things can get posted and they are not verified,” she said. “I’m not aware of any issues with the products. My dogs eat NUTRO and they have never had any problems.”
Nathanson encouraged worried pet owners to contact the company directly with their concerns.
“We absolutely want to hear from customers,” she said. “The safety and quality of our products is our top priority. When a consumer does have a concern with any of our products, an in-depth review of the consumer-provided samples is performed to determine if an issue does exist.”
What about the complaints we heard regarding NUTRO’s customer service department?
“I’m surprised to hear those comments,” Nathanson said. “We take any complaint seriously and we will conduct an in-depth review if a consumer provides us with samples.”
The best way to contact NUTRO, she said, is through the company’s Web site: www.nutroproducts.com. Pet owners can also call NUTRO at 800-833-5330.
Veterinarians skeptical
Veterinarians we contacted about the recent problems dogs and cats have experienced with NUTRO products told us it’s not uncommon for pets to have sudden bouts of gastrointestinal problems.They also said a number of factors could be the culprit, including pet food.
“Food can cause GI upset if sudden changes are made in the type of food you’re feeding,” said Dr. Robert Backus, an assistant teaching professor and director of the Nestle-Purina Endowed Small Animal Nutrition Program at the University of Missouri’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “And there may be some intolerance if you wean them from a previous food to another one.”
He added: “As far as pet food manufacturing goes, I’m not an authority. There are many ingredients that go into these products and there could be problems with an ingredient source. There also could be problems with the formulation. And there are occasional processing problems — maybe the food was over-processed or under processed — which could affect GI health and pets could end up with diarrhea.”
Dr. Steven Hansen with The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) agreed.
“There could be many causes for what you’re seeing,” said Hansen, a veterinary toxicologist. “Changes in diet can likely make a change in what’s happening to a (pets’) system. A dog may have a sensitivity to whatever he’s eating – even if he’s eaten the food for a long time. What can happen is they develop a sensitivity to one ingredient and now their systems no longer manage the food right. That doesn’t mean there is something wrong with food.
“Stress could be another factor.”
Hansen, however, suspects another culprit is to blame for these recent bouts of GI problems: “A viral infection seems the mostly likely cause to me.”
The ASPCA’s Poison Control Center, he said, has not received any cases regarding NUTRO’s food in the past six months.
“We get hundreds of cases a day and I have zero cases on NUTRO products. But given the symptoms pet owners are reporting — they’re mild gastrointestinal problems — we might not get calls. So, I’m not aware of these problems, we have no data on them, but I’d like to know more information.”
Hansen, for example, wondered if any of the pet owners fed their animals’ NUTRO products with the same lot and formulation numbers.
Few pet owners had that information.
“If they have the same lot numbers, it would get my attention,” Hansen said. “If they have the same formulation numbers, it may suggest there may be an ingredient that’s the problem.”
He and Dr. Backus encouraged pet owners whose dogs and cats have experienced these recent GI problems to contact their veterinarians.
“They need to document the problems — especially if they are serious problems,” Backus said. “And bloody diarrhea is a serious problem.
“I would also recommend that if they suspect the food is the problem, they should take a freezer bag full of it — along with the label information that has the product’s name and lot numbers — to their vet,” he added. “If the vet suspects the food is the cause, the vet should then contact the company and FDA. If there’s a problem, we need to document it and get supporting lab results.”
Dr. Hansen also recommended that Lori S. — who found “foreign” objects in recent bags of NUTRO — send samples of that food directly to the company.
“NUTRO can do a microscopic examination of the food,” he said. “Maybe it is something that is normal. But if it’s not, NUTRO should tell her what it is. In light of the (2007) pet food recall, I would expect pet food manufacturers to be responsive and give her an explanation for what it is.”
Waiting for results
Some pet owners told us they’ve already sent in samples of their pet’s food to NUTRO. They’re now waiting for the results.Others said they’ve reported their concerns to the FDA.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article.
I can’t imagine Nutro cares. Several volunteers working an adoption event was talking about no longer using Nutro because of the concerns everyone mentioned, and our own experience with a donated bag of Nutro Senior. At that point, the Nutro representative who overheard us, stormed off in tears, and was so upset that we would suggest anything was wrong with the food.
Nutro customers are loyal. I then got e-mails explaining to me why Nutro was OK and it was only coincendental that some foster dogs became ill.
I took all my personal dogs and foster dogs off Nutro, and will no longer try that company’s products again.
My dog Abby was on nutro nautral choice when we first got her, and we had the same problems. since switching to orijen, we’ve had no more problems with abby’s vomiting!
I do not feed Nutro. However, what people are obviously overlooking here is that several months ago there was a major recall of almost all foods using Chinese ingredients, some Nutro products were affected.
So, the ones we KNEW were affected were pulled off shelves. Does this mean every bag or can was pulled? no. you have to depend on the dealer to do that, and often they dont do it.
Also, keep in mind that dry dog food can sit on a shelve for months upon months before being sold. especially in bigger stores, like petco and for less used types (senior, weight management, etc).
I have noticed in stores a lot of Nutro is missing and have been informed it is because of their switch of suppliers. Nutro has switched many suppliers and no longer uses ANY imports from CHINA. they have also switched to only ingredients which pass both USDA and AAFCO standards, making it human grade.
However, this change is slow as their new suppliers have to deal with a huge demand for ingredients. many of the specific types of Nutro have been missing for months and still are. they are not producing hardly anything right now, everything you see in stores comes from a warehouse somewhere.
Petco and Petsmart have warehouses where they hold food and products until the stores want them, this is why they still have OLD Nutro bags, whereas many small stores I have been to are almost entirely out of Nutro.
The company I have learned, through research, has completely overhauled it’s quality control and production since the recall.
If you don’t want to keep feeding it, good for you. But don’t switch to a lower quality food thinking a slow death from kidney or liver problems is better because of feeding Science Diet or some other by product, corn and soy based garbage.
They are doing random tests of all batches and no longer use China as a source for ingredients. This is more than most companies have done. However, because they use so much stuff from so many companies, changing suppliers has made this a slow switch.
if you are patient and simply do not use nutro products until the new stuff is out on shelves (or look on the bag for a production date and only use new stuff) i am sure you will find it is safe.
people in this country love to jump to conclusions. and it sickens me. do some research, don’t just talk to 1 person or read some testimonies that could easily be placed by a competitive company.
i do not feed Nutro, but I know that their ingredients and the quality of food far surpasses many other companies out there, IAMS, PURINA, SCIENCE DIET and BENEFUL to name a few.
Nutro was recently purchased by the Mars company. When we heard about this last year, we immediately switched from Nutro Ultra to Canidae. This was also around the time the recalls had started. We never had any problems at all with Nutro and our dogs did very well on it for more than 2 years but I had a feeling that the quality would plummet once Mars took over. It appears that actually has happened.
I had two large dogs live to seventeen on Nutro and currently have a pit bull St Bernard still living at thirteen on Nutro. However, I would not rule out that recent products contained something that caused the illness. Not after the horrible pet food disaster.
Okay…well…I just recently wrote to the Iams company because I noticed a swollen can that has no dents in it. In the last food scare, I opened a can and the lid shot off like a rocket and hit my ceiling. I thought that was weird, but the story about the poison hadn’t broke yet. Now here’s another can that I’m certain would do the same if I were to open it because it is obvious it is seriously pressurized…and shortly after I noticed the can and threw all of the Iams cans away, another of my dogs bloated and died….just like the last time. I’ve now lost two dogs and I believe the food is poisoned again, so I am not feeding dog food again. I have received no response from Iams, and it’s clear that none of the pet food companies are going to take responsibility. You know, the first time I can forgive because they couldn’t have known about the tainted shipments. But a second time is inexcusable. The old adage is true…”fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” This is no coincidence that my dog died at the same time I found the bloated can…and what a shock it was to log on tonight (the first time in about a month) and find that there IS another possible poison scare happening right now. I had no idea, but it just confirms, in my mind, that it’s happening again and I think anyone who doesn’t want to believe it is foolish and endangering the life of their pet.
WOW! I have been feeding my dog Princess NUTRO for large breed puppies for almost a week now and since February we have been back an fourth to the vet with diarrea and vomitting. Just the beginnig of May I took in my dog to the vet for the same thing and just went back this past friday. He said that he would run blood test to check if she had pancreatitis or an obstruction and would check her enzyme levels. Thank God that her blood work came back normal. After reading everyone’s comments, I am beginning to think that it’s her food. I will be changing food and discontinue the use of NUTRO products.
is it any particular kind? Calleigh gets Nutro adult. just the regular adult formula. she hasnt’ been acting funny at all, but now i am worried. do you think i should switch?
Dawn
This is both scary and disappointing. After the major recalls of a few months ago, you would think that every dog food company would be extra-vigilant about ingredients and their integrity.
My dogs have been on a grain-free, raw diet for about a year now. My female border terrier mix came from the shelter with chronic urinary infections. It was a vicious cycle, if she wasn’t on antibiotics, she had an infection. Since being on her new diet, she has been 100% infection-
free! The results that she experienced convinced me to switch the other two to the same diet. I did this before all of the recalls, just because of all of the negative press that commercial dog food was getting.
I don’t think I would ever return to even a super premium natural kibble without major reservations.
On the raw diet, their teeth look great, and their fur is so much softer. And even though it is expensive, I am saving a fortune in antibiotics and urinalysis.
I just happen to come across this on dogster.
Last week my dog got really sick. she was vomitint and had diarrhea with blood in it. I took her to the Vet and they told me it could be a digestive problems. She was on two different medication. She wouldn’t eat or drink. They had to give her a water pack on her back because she was dehydrated.
And I had just got a new bag of NUTRO dog food when this started.
I know ya’ll are all talking about the dry food, but my mom got the canned for me once because she was looking for a premium food I could eat. See my mom has a 6 second memory, and she really wanted Innova, which is made by ‘natura’, but she got ‘nutro’ instead, BOL! Anyway, I was sick as a dog after I ate that - and I’m a dog! My mom learned her lesson after that - she has a card in her wallet with what food to buy me - Natura Evo Red Meat Small Bites!
My 3 year old Neapolitan Mastiff, Moose has been on Nutro since weening. My mother has his sister Maggie. Maggie eats Science Diet dental bites. Maggie weighs 130 pounds wich is pretty normal for a female neo. Moose on the other hand, weighs 120 and is much taller. For the last month or so he refused to eat his NUTRO Natural Choice chicken and rice large breed adult. I have been trying everything to get this boy to bulk up to his ideal weight including feeding extra treats to cooking meals just for him. While on the Nutro Natural Choice (or any nutro for that matter) he would pick at his food as though not really hungry. I switched his food to a mix of Eagle Brand performance and EVO Red Meat large bites (has lots of calories per serving) . I can not believe the amount of food he consumes now! He has already gained eight pounds and counting. He has more energy and his coat looks healthier. Moose obviously knew there was something amiss in the NUTRO brand food. He is overall much happier and healthier.
A friend of mine got me to try Nutro Max senior. My dogs and I were very happy with the food up until last week. My older dog Damion, who is in great shape might I add, began throwing up and drinking excessive water. This led to accidents in the house that have not happened in some 12+ years. I noticed he was very lethargic and refused to get out of bed to go for his morning potty. That very day my friend called me to let me know about a string of illnesses effecting dogs that all ate NUTRO brand foods. I was shocked and terrified that my dog could possibly end up with renal failure due to the food. I immediately started feeding boiled chicken and rice and his condition improved dramaticly. While I was at work my husband inadvertantly fed the NUTRO to him. By the time I got home from work he was throwing up and miserable all over again. NO MORE NUTRO FOR US!!! I will never recommend NUTRO to anyone.
Our beautiful 10yr. old Border collie/lab mix just died last night. We don’t know what happened. We are heartbroken. She was acting tired last few days but still had minutes of playing-we woke up today wondering where she was b/c she usually greets us and she was gone. It was horrible! My dh says we can’t worry about what happened and to just remember her for for happy times. However, I can’t but help to wonder if it was the nutro natural choice little bits lamb dry food. We had fed her almost a bag full over the last few weeks. IDK, she was an older dog but i still wonder. We all miss her terribly.
We have two German Short Hair Pointers. They are four months old. The breeder had them on Purina Puppy Chow…which we also used for a couple of weeks after we had them. We weened them unto Nutro and I noticed that they were drinking excessively and wanting to go out constantly. I know the signs of urinary problems from my Cocker Spaniel that passed in March…so I immediately took my pups to the vet. They both have infections with their white cell count very high, Ph really high as well and sometimes I had noticed a white creamy discharge around their privates. I have taken them off of Nutro. I’m not happy about what I have read. I spent thousands on fixing our Cocker Spaniel and I did not want to have to go through something like this again.
I HAVE 4 LABS. THEY HAVE ALL BEEN ON NUTRO NATURAL CHOICE LAMB & RICE. I USED TO BUY THEM THE LARGE BREED LAMB & RICE BUT A FEW MONTHS AGO I FOUND OUT IT WAS NOT AVAILABLE AT THE STORES. I WAS TOLD IT WAS A PRODUCTION PROBLEM SINCE NUTRO HAS RECENTLY CHANGED THEIR MANUFACTURING PLANT.
SO I HAVE BEEN FEEDING ALL 4 DOGS THE REGULAR NATURAL CHOICE LAMB & RICE.
ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, I NOTICED THEY HAD ALL LOST INTEREST IN THEIR FOOD. I DIDN’T MAKE THE CONNECTION. BUT 4 DOGS WHO REGULARLY RUN TO EAT….STOPPED RUNNING….AND ATE WHAT THEY FELT LIKE, WHEN THEY FELT LIKE IT.
THEN I HEARD ABOUT OTHER PROBLEMS WITH THE NUTRO FOOD.
I STOPPED FEEDING MY DOGS NUTRO “COLD TURKEY” THIS PAST TUESDAY. I WENT INTO THE STORES AND SEARCHED FOR THE BEST BLEND TO SWITCH THEM TO. I CHOSE DICK VAN PATTEN’S NATURAL CHOICE SINCE I’VE HEARD IT WILL GIVE THEM THE LEAST PROBLEM WITH SWITCHING FOODS.
AMAZING!!!!
ALL FOUR DOGS ARE NOW EATING HAPPILY AGAIN.
I FEEL TERRIBLE ABOUT THIS.
I FEEL THAT MY DOGS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH THEIR FOOD THESE PAST FEW MONTHS AND I HAVEN’T BEEN LISTENING.
THERE MAY NEVER BE A RECALL ON THIS FOOD.
BUT, SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THIS FOOD.
LISTEN TO YOUR DOG.
GET THEM OFF NUTRO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
I WILL NEVER AGAIN IGNORE THE SLIGHTEST DIFFERENCE IN MY DOGS EATING HABITS AGAIN.
“Cadillac” must work for Nutro.
Really, it’s been months since my dog got sick on the small bites lamb and rice and the problems are not going away - if anything, they seem to be increasing!
Like others, it took me a while to make the connection - and then thank God I did an internet search . As soon as I took my dog off Nutro he started to feel better. My dog had been on Nutro since birth - first small bites puppy and then adult small bites lamb and rice. No, this wasn’t a case of switching too quickly or food allergy. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS FOOD. Time will tell because I am certain, the truth will eventually be known. Unfortunately, more dogs will get sick and die because NOT EVERYONE knows about this (yet).
Nutro was involved in the first recall, I should have dumped their product then!
This is a case of a loyal Nutro patron (5+ years!) I didn’t just “try a bag”.
I will never use Nutro again.
I know Nutro Chicken Meal, Rice and Oatmeal kibble was the cause of my dog’s problems (intermittent bloody diarrhea & vomiting ). As soon as I stopped feeding it, her symptoms totally stopped, and I mean immediately. Seems like her digestive system suffered more damage than I knew on the Nutro. My vet recommended California Natural Chicken and Rice kibble which I am slowly adding to the chicken/rice I cook for the last month. She had never had anything but Nutro for 4 yrs, did great, until about 3 mos. ago. She gets no treats, table food, etc., so I feel sure it was the Nutro.
Issues with recall actually started in 2004 - with ties to Mars and Pedigree….
http://petfoodtales.blogspot.com/2008/03/usa-today-reports-pet-food-scare-in-usa.html
I am so glad that people use this blog to let each other know what is going on with their dogs and the food they are eating. I wrote back on 6/17/08 about my German Short Hair Pointers. I am happy to say that they are getting better. They both were having (especially my little girl Maggie) bad urinary problems. Maggie is now on Baytril to cure what has happened to her. Unfortunately, the bacteria that she has was resistant to Clavomox….so this should take care of it. Take your dogs off of Nutro if you want them to be happy and healthy! As state above by another blogger…..take notice to your dogs reactions to their food. They will let you know if they don’t like it! Have a blessed day!
Please someone recommend what food to buy for my dog with a sensitive stomach, i realized that his frequent vomiting and diarrhea could be caused by Nutra Natural choice Lamb & Rice for sensitive stomachs…he was fed these food since his birth, but he was not vomiting so frequent since last couple years…and he got strange bouts of diarrhea sometime with mucous…I can’t trust Nutra dog food anymore! But i don’t know what else to buy ..? My dog is a Jack Russel Terrier .
I had similar problems with my Westie. I had been feeding her Nutro ever since I got her (about a year) and every few months she would have diarreaha or throw up bile. The problems escalated a few weeks ago. She would vomit at least once a day, so I took her to the vet and he said that she was having acid reflux type problems. I could just tell something was not right, since she was hardly eating, so I switched her to Wellness brand dog food and she has been just fine every since. I would thoroughly recommend this dog food. My girl just loves it!
Here’s a word to do a search on, MENADIONE, you will find it on the ingredient list of your Nutro bag…as vitamin K activity.
Website dogfoodproject will come up as an option. I am shocked! (3 canines and 2 felines, all on Nutro products….till now!)
My dog loves nutro dog food…
Many of the less expensive pet foods utilize all of the parts of meat and eat byproducts in their foods, allowing the inclusion of products that may include added hormones and potentially diseased animals. Wellness dog food does not use animals in their dog food with questionable health, which could possibly contain allergens, animal fats, soy, wheat and other products that may be hazardous to canines.
Nutro has been around for years and has always been an excellent product. But I remember opening a new bag of food and the color was darker. The Nutro rep told me they had made changes to the ingredients. That was a few months ago and it seems to be about the time the complaints started.
We have 30 rescued cats (20 ferals) and 4 dogs. We started using Nutro last fall for both the dogs and cats.
We took several cats in for annual exams this year and they’d lost a couple pounds. Our vet was happy because they were on the porky side and needed to lose a little. But Nemo, one of the ferals has been steadily losing weight and we were going to have blood work done on him to see what was wrong. We had been finding bloody stools in the litter pan and thought it might be him. It started to worry me when we took a couple cats in that didn’t need to lose weight and they, too, had lost a couple pounds. We also had several cats that were losing the shine to their fur. And our cats were no longer were running to the food bowls when it was feeding time. I found I was throwing food out at the end of the day because they just weren’t eating it!
Well, amazingly, the cats acted like starving strays when I switched to Eukanuba! No more bloody stool in the litter pans, fur shiny again, and Nemo is eating like he hasn’t eaten in months! He’s already filling out!
The problem with our cats and dogs is we were seeing different symptoms in them that appeared to be other conditions so we didn’t connect it to the food. Max, our Pit Bull, was very ill for 2 weeks after we tried Nutro’s Lamb and Rice. Our vet said it was gastritis caused by something he got into and we put him on meds and boiled hamburg and rice. When we started the Nutro Lamb again, he immediately started with vomiting and diarrhea. We took Max off the food thinking he just couldn’t handle the lamb. The other dogs were fine so we didn’t realize it was the food until Tazz, our German Shepherd, became very sick after Max recovered. We switched to Nutro’s Large Breed.
They seemed to be ok on that formula. But Max started having stool problems. Soft, then hard, then soft. Our vet thought because of his age that he might need meds if it continued. Kaiser, another German Shepherd, was having to urinate 10 times a night. If we didn’t get to the door fast enough, he’d urinate in the kitchen. We were going to get him in for tests. Tazz started to act disorientated and very unsteady on her feet. Tazz has arthritis and we know we’re on borrowed time with her but she acted drunk. Jada, another German Shepherd, and Tazz started eating grass. And they all were drinking lots of water especially the dogs after they ate.
We switched to Eukanuba dog food. The first night after changing food - Kaiser slept all night instead of whining and pacing! When the
other dogs went out, I had to wake him up to go! Tazz is brighter and though she’s stiff when she gets up, she’s not acting drunk! Max is having normal stools! Jada has stopped eating grass! AND they’re drinking normal amounts of water now - not guzzling water like they were dying of thirst. No more vomiting, no more diarrhea, fur is shiny again.
When there is weight loss in EVERY animal in a household, then something is wrong! We’ve been off Nutro for two weeks and every symptom we were seeing is GONE! I thank God we switched before we lost any of our precious babies!
It breaks my heart to read these stories of lost pets. Something is wrong and we all need answers! The stories I’ve read on http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html have alarmed me terribly! I will never use Nutro again!
ON 08-08-08 I SUBMITTED A LETTER ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE WITH NUTRO PET FOODS AND THE PROBLEMS ALL OF OUR CATS AND DOGS EXPERIENCED. I URGE YOU ALL TO CONTACT THE FDA AS I HAVE DONE TODAY. EMAIL OR WRITE TO PETCO, PETSMART AND ANY STORE THAT SELLS NUTRO PRODUCTS. WE NEED ANSWERS AND THE ONLY WAY WE’RE GOING TO STOP ANIMALS FROM GETTING SICK AND DYING IS IF WE RAISE AWARENESS AND GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS. MY HEART GOES OUT TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO HAS LOST A BELOVED PET.
http://www.fda.com
OR WRITE:
Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, Maryland 20857
I had exactly the same problem with Nutro as described in the article. I used Nutro exclusively for all 6 of my dogs - the Chocolate Lab being especially sensitive to the food I feed him. They did remarkably well! Then, in the beginning of 2008, the dogs began to decline in health. The lab became covered with skin problems, and all the dogs began vomiting their food.
i switched to Purina One and the problems went away. Definitely something changed in the way Nutro is being manufactured.
AUGUST 14, 2008-
I wanted to add an update to the nightmare we went through with all of our animals. To reiterate, we have 30 rescued cats (20 feral) and 4 dogs. Our cats are all inside cats - our dogs are in a fenced in back yard with no possible contaminants. Tazz, one of our German Shepherds, will be 12 in November. She was fine when we switched to Nutro last fall. She did have some arthritis started that basically bothered her in rainy weather. It wasn’t until early summer 2008 that we started seeing her legs become weaker. July is when we saw her steadily go down hill. She acted confused, couldn’t get up without help, would stumble and fall and need help to walk through the house. We would wrap a towel under her belly and bring it up on both sides of her so we could support her as she walked. We bought area carpets to help her with traction on some of the floors. We all were devastated that age was taking its toll on our beloved Tazz. It was obvious her legs were giving out and we worried that winter in NH would be too much for her. We had Rimadyl for those rainy days and started to give it to her more frequently. It didn’t help. We knew we had to talk to our vet but we were all afraid. Sadly, we assumed it was age related.
A friend emailed me that she had read some disturbing stories about Nutro on http://www.consumeraffairs.com. I logged on and started reading. When I read the stories about other dogs with the same symptoms, it gave me chills. We didn’t want to get our hopes up because it seemed unlikely this was what was happening to Tazz. Too much to hope for. BUT the stories and symptoms of other animals were too much of a coincidence so I immediately took all our Nutro back and bought Eukanuba. I still have cat food that I planned on throwing out. Now I want to have it tested if I can find out where and how to do this. I desperately want answers and want this serious problem dealt with. We were one of the lucky ones but we’re still worried about any residual damage with all of our pets.
As I stated in my last letter, the symptoms are gone from EVERYONE! As I sit here and write this I can’t help the tears that are filling my eyes because Tazz has recovered back to the point where she might be a little stiff on a rainy day! She’s playing with the other dogs, running around the back yard, slower like a senior citizen but she’s not falling, she’s not disorientated, she doesn’t need help getting up and she’s got that bright look in her eyes once again! She was dying! If we hadn’t taken heed of the stories that many are blowing off - we would have lost our beloved Tazz. We no longer feel we’re on “borrowed time” with Tazz. We feel strongly with the way she’s acting now that she’s going to be with us at least several more years! That’s a far cry from thinking we would be putting her down this fall!
I had started feeding all five of my dogs nutro. The little ones threw up almost immediately and one big dog got very ill and I took him to the vet, they did blood work and it came back bad, and so was the urine test. Vet said that he possibly had cancer so I took him to another vet and got another opinion and it turned out to be an infection in his kidneys, in the meantime of going through this I realized that all of my dogs became sick after feeding them the Nutro dog food so I stopped and went back to their old food and after the one got some meds everyone is back to good health. I wrote the company and their response was that there is nothing in their product that would cause that too happen. I dont know about you but I would say there obviously is something wrong with their product to have so many bad experiences going on with so many different people.
Thank you to everyone here for sharing your stories about your four legged family members.
I have a 13 year old Lab, I have been fortunate about her overall good health, but with her senior years upon her I am sensitive about what she eats and about other people’s concerns.
With all the clues I’ve read from previous entries, it seems that those who have for a time been feeding their pets Nutro dog food, then at some point the animals have developed some health issues, I would suspect that brand, stop feeding it, and never to buy it again.
I ‘m glad that you have taken heed to what your loved ones have gone through, have stopped feeding it and want to help others by making us aware. Thank you all.
Good on you for bring this into the public eye. There are many ads out from Nutro trying to say they are a quality food and even offering free food. You couldn’t pay me to feed this to my dogs. We as consumers need to do just what your doing. Blog, email, call, write the news to everyone we know and make all the pet food industry become responsible for the ingredients in their products. Keep up the good work!
Thank you SO much for this “Public Service Announcement”! I am so upset I can hardly write. All I can say is…”I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT”! Within the past couple of months, I have spent countless moments cleaning up runny, mucus laced, bloody, completely liquified stool-accidents and vomiting from my Staffordshire Terrier! I experienced the lethargy, the not eating, the not drinking, and then drinking bowls and bowls of water! All the while trying to chalk it up to something that he may have picked up out side. But in the back of my mind, all signs were pointing to his food (although I regularly fed him Nutro with no probems)! I began noticing this nonsense after giving him Nutro in the last few months!
Now please understand, I may not be a multi millionaire or anything, but my dogs are are my children. I wanted to feed them the BEST most healthy diet out there. The people from Nutro led me to believe that their brand was just that..”The Best”! The problem I am having is that I don’t know what else to feed them that I can trust not to eventually kill them!
If anyone can recommend an inexpensive diet that I could purchase and prepare myself or if there really is a dry food that is true to its ingredients and is equivelent to healthy human food, I would be grateful to know.
My boys count on me to provide them with nutritious food on a daily basis. I feel as though I can not put their lives into the hands of these dog food companies any more for I know not who to trust.
The loss or sickness of one dog means nothing to a whole corporation unless that one dog is “their” long-time family member and friend.
Thank you thank you thank you for the submission of this article.
PET FOOD PRODUCT SAFETY ALLIANCE DID TESTS ON TWO SAMPLES OF NUTRO FOOD AND POSTED ON AUGUST 14th, 2008. THE RESULTS WERE HIGH LEVELS OF COPPER AND ZINC.
The symptoms are consistent with the majority of those reported by consumers suspecting problems believed to be associated with feeding Nutro dry dog food.
http://www.pfpsa.org/news.html
Here’s a link on zinc toxicity in dogs:
http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/clerk/Hardy/
My Boston terrier died yesterday after a progressive decline in health. He had been on a raw diet until October of last year. Then we inroduced him to Nutro dry lamb & rice small bites. He lost weight at first then he lost interest in his favorite toys,playing,going on walks or car rides. He was an alpha male in the house and turned into a weak unsure dog.He started having some small seizures in July and back and forth visits to the vet with no explanation, I could kick myself that it did not realize it could be the dog food. Recently he began drinking water excessively and urinating in the house. He never did this. He had loose bloody stool last week so I gave him Parvoguard for this and Tripsy for his kidneys.
Early Tuesday(Oct 14) morning he had Grand Mal epileptic seizures.This was the most painful thing I’ve ever had to see. He regained conscience once then had several more cluster seizures. Even if I’d got him to emergency at 4 AM he’d never of made it. His heart could not take any more.I made him comfortable but I knew he’d suffered brain damage after the first cluster seizure and I’d have to say good-bye to my beautiful Boston Dooley.I read more about this on ConsumerAffairs.com and now I see things through new eyes.
here are known reasons for these seizures taken from website
http://www.canine-epilepsy-guardian-angels.com/seizures_overview_cause_treatment.htm Ingestion of toxins & insecticides
There\’s got to be way to stop this now
Damage Resulting = the result is the loss of our faithful companion.He was only 7-1/2 years old
Hi!
I used to be a pet nutrition specialist at Nutro and since May of 2008, I resigned. I now work part time for a wonderful company called Natures Variety. http://www.naturesvariety.com. I quit working for Nutro because I was receiving multitudes of customer complaints about the food. I always asked questions of the customers about changing foods too fast, if they were feeding any other treats than Nutro and if they were adding any other substance or canned food. I asked alot of questions to find out what was going on. Most of the people I spoke with for the most part were die hard Nutro customers but the symptoms were all the same, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, increased thirst, accidents in the home from the diarrhea and urination and lethargy. I reported this to my area manager and was told to reinforce the nutro quality controls in place. That doesn’t make a dent with a customer with a sick pet. Sorry Nutro but you need to take these complaints seriously and validate concerns expressed by the customer. A few days later, I was then approached one day at a demo by a very nice lady who told me her greyhound was fighting for his life after eating Nutro.Then a store manager reported a jack russell terrier had died a horrible death of pancreatic failure and renal failure. They were going to send samples to the FDA and to Nutro from the store. The owner was distraught and very angry. It about brought me to tears. I had been hearing complaints since Nov, Dec 2007 up through May 2008 when I quit and from the looks of the Consumer Affairs website, it appeared that many pets had been sickened or poisoned by a brand of pet food I once believed in. I brought it up again at our May Meeting and again I felt blown off. I resigned. I had been a faithful Nutro customer for years but in the March 2007 pet recall my cats were sickened. We found out the cause, tainted wheat gluten in the cat food packets. I put the cats on another wonderful brand and they did just great within a few days and their illness resolved. Then a year later, all these complaints about the dog food. In May 2008 just before I resigned, one of my own dogs started acfing lethargic, and had nasty diarrhea and he was drinking or guzzling water. I saw the same symptoms in him that others had complained of. The same day he refused to go for a walk and collapsed on the kitchen floor. I immediately stopped all food and gave him gut rest and fluids and called the vet. Fortunately once I started a different pet food he quickly recovered within 48 hours after getting the garbage out of his system. I was so angry at this point. I threw away all Nutro dog food, treats, canned foods in the garbage and saved some for samples to be tested. I never heard from Nutro about the result of my samples. I did talk to someone high up in the sales office and was told it was a plot by another premium pet food company to discredit Nutro.
I now feed Nature’s Variety dry foods and raw diets. I am very satisfied with how my babies are tolerating the diets and I recommend the foods highly. It is a corn free, wheat free, soy free and gluten free diet. If you don’t use Nature’s Variety, there are other great pet foods out there like Innova, California Naturals, Eagle Pack Holistic and a host of others. I’m not advertising, just informing. Just don’t go back to feeding foods with corn, wheat, soy and glutens. We should have learned our lesson in 2007 from some of these pet food companies when our pets were sickened from tainted wheat gluten.
When are we going to stop feeding our babies pet food filled with fillers, corn, wheat, soy and nasty byproducts, food dyes, preservative chemicals and contaiminated glutens that poison our pets. Do your homework folks. Read the ingredients on that pet food label. You need to know the truth. Beneful has a wonderful marketing campaign and TV commercial but the ingredients are less than savory and can do damage to your pet. READ THE LABEL.
Great, I have been feeding my boxer since 5 weeks old, Nutro Natural Choice. She is almost two. She hasn’t had the problems, but should I switch foods? And if so, what should I feed her? Thanks Laurie
I was a faithful user of Nutro products for several years. I have two Bullmastiffs and over the past several months both dogs have had intermittent vomiting, diarrhea, skin sores and seizure-like activity. My male dog has progressively been getting worse with lethargy, vomiting and excessive drooling. I have accumulated hundreds of dollars in vet bills with no definitive diagnosis. I then decided to investigate Nutro products. I was very shocked to read the numerous complaints from other dog owners with similar problems. I contacted Nutro and they insist there is nothing wrong with their products. I do not believe that all these complaints are purely coincidental. The representative from Nutro advised me that their independent lab had not found any problems with the food. I would just like to know how long it will take for something to be done and made public.
http://www.nutroproducts.com/nutro-food-recall-facts.shtml#affairs
Please go to the above link from Nutro they address all these questions.
I have fed Nutro for years and my dogs are VERY healthy. I feel bad for people whom have sick pets but maybe it is not the dog food.
Who are you shills for Nutro? We were loyal to until I just got a fresh bag and all of a sudden our dogs are sick. After reading all of these consumer stories, I just feel grateful that we have caught it so quickly thanks to everyone who has shared their stories.
Hi everyone,
I posted earlier about Nutro. I now work for Nature’s Variety. One of my cocker spaniels that I rescued recently was tested by the vet for allergies. He tested positive for chicken, turkey, oatmeal,soybean meal, brewers yeast, peas and carrots. The vet gave me a handout for foods that my baby could eat. He said Nutro was okay. I said No way and handed him all the Consumer Affairs.com complaints that I printed out. He no longer recommends Nutro. I went home and ordered Flint River Ranch Lamb, Millet and Rice for Fabian since he cannot eat our Prairie due to Oatmeal allergy and cannot eat Instinct due to brewers yeast, so he eats Raw Lamb Medallions and Flint River Ranch Lamb Millet and Rice and we alternate it with Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato or Wellness Core Ocean. California Naturals was also appropriate and they have a simple Lamb and Rice formula from Natura Pet so we do have options! Thankfully!!! He didn’t like Taste of the Wild, go figure.
For those of you struggling with multiple food allergies like my Fabian, check out Flint RIver Ranch.com. http//:www. frrco.com. or just google Flint RIver Ranch. It is another option for dogs with allergies. The Trout and Potato form is good too. But he cannot eat it.
But NO NUTRO FOR FABIAN!!!!
My other cockers eat Nature’s Variety Prairie and we rotate meat meals every bag. They also get raw! So do my cats!!
There are other options out there besides Science Diet, IAMS, Eukanuba, and Purina if Nutro isn’t where you need to be. Watch the treats too. Some treats are just as bad as the dog foods!! For treats I use Flint River Lamb, Millet and Rice Wafers, Raw Medallions and will be using Nature’s Variety new doggy ice cream!!! Sweet Spots!!!! Comes out late this month!!! That is it!!!
Have a great day!!!! Give all your babies a hug from me!
Helen