Any experiences with Nutro DRY DOG products to share?

[inacircle]

I've been so busy reading other forums to figure out what to swith to, that I didn't realize no one had posted experiences with the dry brand I've been using... specifically Nutro Max Puppy dry. I was also using the canned Lamb & Rice to stuff bones/toys, but stopped after 1st recall (even though it wasn't listed). I also stopped using the Puppy Chop biscuits because occassionaly one puppy would vomit a little bile... I thought it was just puppy "par for the course" because both puppies are acting fine (tons of energy, ferocious appetites, etc)... but I suspect something could be wrong with those biscuits.
SO, I'm not going to use any Nutro products anymore to be safe, and after learning they're just as crappy as any other mainstream brand.

[bk283]

I hear you loud and clear.

I bought some nutro after my natural balance food and royal canin rice based products got recalled in a one two punch. my dog has some allergic reaction to poultry based food and unfortunately nutro was the last remaining lamb/rice brand unaffected in my local petc.

Although there's been no recall on their dry stuff yet (crosses fingers), it just seems like some of the other very low quality mass produced garbage (purina, euka, etc) that I tried to avoid in the first place by going "premium". My dog just threw up this morning, and if she does again in the next three days I'm gonna have to trash this even if the website claims its safe.

I have no intention of keeping my dog on this brand long term... I don't even like the fact that they use gluten in the first place. I'm scouring the web for some other possibilities... possibly mail order some non mainstream premium food.

[Tommyboy]

I have 2 boxes of Nutro Ultra puppy biscuits. They have corn gluten meal in them. I know its not a recalled item, but I cant feed it. I dont trust no gluten in the food.

[KathyJA]

I used Nutro Natural Choice dry products for years.  I've used the Lamb & Rice, Sensitive Stomach, Light & Senior varieties as well as the biscuits.  My 11 year old Border Collie started throwing up bile in the mornings about a year ago.  It became pretty frequent, but my Vet said that some dogs just do that & to give him Maalox.  When the recall was announced, I switched them all to Canidae.  They have been eating it since April 1st & maybe it's just a coincidence, but there hasn't been any morning vomitting (without Maalox) since the switch.

[inacircle]

update: I switched to Innova Dry from the Nutro Dry last week (as suggested by small pet store that only carries a few select non-mainstream premium brands*). They loved it (they love anything though). Unfortunately I ran out of the Innova (busy w/family crisis), so I fed some leftover Nutro... sure enough, my smaller puppy (35 lbs) who on occasion vomited bile, threw up all of it undigested just a 1/2 hour later. She drank tons of water all day, but luckily acted fine. I should've known better - but this confirms for me something's not right with the Nutro Dry too.

*a little off this topic, but the pet store owner said that none of the smaller/premium/natural dry food brands are as "quaint" or "simple" as we'd like to think or hope, because manufacturing dry kibble is a surprisingly complex process that just can't be/isn't done in a small "mom & pop" type way.

[cme10ae]

I have a 10 year old dog who was on Nutro Natural Choice Lite for many, many years. She would often vomit bile in the afternoon. The vet said (just like others have said) that some dogs just do that. In January for some reason I started looking at other dog foods, found lots of info online and switched to Canidae Life Stages. My dog had an immediate change for the better - no more afternoon vomiting and her coat is just the softest, most beautiful coat I've ever seen on her. The change was drastic, even the vet commented before I even told her of the diet change. I'm so angry knowing that for years the poor thing was vomiting because of something I was giving her.

[bk283]

I have a 10 year old dog who was on Nutro Natural Choice Lite for many, many years. She would often vomit bile in the afternoon. The vet said (just like others have said) that some dogs just do that. In January for some reason I started looking at other dog foods, found lots of info online and switched to Canidae Life Stages. My dog had an immediate change for the better - no more afternoon vomiting and her coat is just the softest, most beautiful coat I've ever seen on her. The change was drastic, even the vet commented before I even told her of the diet change. I'm so angry knowing that for years the poor thing was vomiting because of something I was giving her.

Took some time to find a local supplier of canidae but I managed to find one and buy a bag over the weekend. Looks good, I'll have to try it and see.

[Bonkers]

 Anyone who might be feeding Nutro products to their pets may want to check out all the complaints about the food that have been filed at Consumer Affairs.          http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html 

[Perseus]

Here's the latest post on Consumer Affairs website about problems with Nutro:

"Linda of Auburn NH (10/12/08)
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.

While Nutro may view a shiny coat as desirable on sick, dead or dying pets - whether well founded or not - the Pet Food Products Safety Alliance does not share that view There is no way to know which dogs will be affected immediately and or how long it will take for others to be affected. It's playing russian roulette with your animals lives by using Nutro."

To see the lab report referenced above by Pet Food Product Safety Alliance, visit:
http://www.pfpsa.org/news.html

Don Earl is the founder of PFPSA, and is a member here so I hope he returns to keep us up to date on what his organization is doing.

[Perseus]

Here are some additional consumer complaints about Nutro listed on the Consumer Affairs website. Notice there's also a complaint about Nutro cat food as well.  For more complaints, see the website at:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html

Linda of Northbridge MA (10/14/08)
We are in the middle of dealing with our 9 yr old Cocker Spaniel who stopped eating his Nutro food and was throwing up and had diarhea. He had been completely healthy before this incident. He has eaten Nutro his whole life. The vet discovered that he had extremely elevated liver enzymes and after x-rays and numerous lab tests and an ultra sound, he is being treated for acute pancreatitis. His food has been changed to a low fat diet also.

He will be retested in a week and I will follow up this report but I was alarmed to see all the reports on Nutro. We had stopped his food and he ate the new food we gave him so we put him back on the Nutro and he got sick again. Now that he is on the low fat diet and antibiotics, he acts like his old self. I hope no permanent damage has been done to him. Please keep me informed if you discover any new information. I will update you, also.

We have spent hundreds of dollars on regular lab tests as well as clotting tests because these were irregular, also. He has had xrays and an ultrasound that cost us in excess of $700.00. Altogether, we have spent about $1,500.00

Sheryl of Ocala FL (10/13/08)
I switched my cat to Nutro Natural dry cat food about two weeks ago, and have only put a few morsels a day with her previous food. She has thrown up four times since. My Aunt's cat was severely sick recently, throwing up, diarrhea, and lethargic, and she has been feeding her cat the same food. Something is wrong with this food, as my cat has NEVER gotten sick from switching food.

[Perseus]

Here are some additional consumer complaints about Nutro listed on the Consumer Affairs website. For more complaints, see the website at: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html

Wendy of Sheboygan WI (10/18/08)
I was feeding my cats Nutro and 2 got sick. After switching the dry food but mixing the Nutro to get them use to a different brand I finally stopped feeding the dry Nutro, and still had a few cans left which they also ate. I decided to not feed anymore Nutro, one cat got better but the other cat I had to take to the vet. She was diagnosed with Kidney failure. Strange thing was that she was just at the vet a few months back and she was healthy? Her kidneys were fine before she ate the Nutro. She ended up passing away.

I am so angry because we lost her and a year ago we lost 2 kitties to the tainted food problem of 2007 and kidney failure! I do not trust anyone anymore. I lost my best friends and they never did anything but give so much love to me and my kids. They were the only ones there for us. Why would the pet food companies kill them? I hope God does something about this.

Ruth of Greendale WI (10/15/08)
My Boston terrier died yesterday after a progressive decline in health. He had been on a raw diet until October of last year. He lost weight at first then he lost interest in his favorite toys,and 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 have to say good-bye to my beautiful Boston Dooley.I stumbled upon this sit and now I see things through new eyes. here are known reasons for these seizures There's got to be way to stop this now the result is the loss of our faithful companion.He was only 7-1/2 years old.

[Perseus]

This is an interesting complaint in that the vet also advises the consumer against using Nutro.  More complaints can be found at: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html

Kayleigh of Lexington KY (10/26/08)
When we adopted our dog Abby from a rescue she was 12 weeks old. Almost immediately we new we wanted to feed that would be a higher quality dog food. As most labs experience she had skin allergies from corn and other by products that were associated with low end dog foods. We researched and after talking with a NUTRO representative felt fairly reassured that NUTRO was the best deal for our money.

Shortly after Abby began have small digestive issues if she was given a treat or anything other than her normal diet food. We bought her NUTRO Chicken and Rice for sensitive stomachs. The problem however continued. Shortly after Abby turned a year old she began experiencing severe GI problems, loose, bloody stools and severe vomiting. When the problems didn't subside after a day we took her to the vet.

When our vet asked us what we were feeding her she immediately told us that the NUTRO was the problem. After a few hundred dollars in vet bills along with prescription medication Abby has gotten better, but she still experiences a few lasting effects as the vet told us might happen. We were told that dogs that eat NUTRO from the time they're a puppy on have a much higher chance of continued GI problems throughout their lives.

Abby can only have raw or holistic food now and we have to be careful what types of treats we feed her or she will become sick. This food is horrible, and the fact that it's continuing to be sold after so many known issues needs to be reconsidered. Our dog would be much healthier today if we had never fed her NUTRO.

Lasting GI problems, vet bills, and the need for medications.

[Perseus]

Lots of new consumer complaints, both dog AND cat, listed on the Nutro topic since 10/26.  This is really disgusting.  Here's an update from a pet owner with 5 afflicted dogs at the same time (3 dogs dead, 2 seriously sick).  More complaints at http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html

Cheryl of Ogden UT (10/29/08)
New information concerning my 2 yr old yellow lab, with pancreatits, diarhea, vomiting, pigment change and massive weight loss. Found vet #6 who believed my dog's symptoms are food related and went above and beyond to find another vet who specializes in animal internal medicine and a hematologist. All of these drs agree that 5 dogs with heart disease, pancreatitis, eye problems, elevated liver enzymes, bladder enzymes and ate grass like they were cows, had to be fed a food that was contaminated. The vet ran additional pancreas tests, b12, cobalamine and folate and found that Harley has massive bacteria overgrowth. He also has a bacterial eye infection as well.

Either the bags were contaminated during shipping or in the warehouse, (Nutro said they had a bag issue), or the food was contaminated. All I fed was Nutro dry, canned, biscuits and snacks. All 5 dogs were diagnosed in February. If they were exposed to a bacteria, it would explain why all 5 dogs had normal, healthy exams the prior year. Bacteria can cause heart valve damage, (which killed 3 of my dogs in June and July). My pom also has heart valve damage. Harley's heart rate is very slow for a 2 yr old lab. If your dog is eating a huge amount of grass, our vet said that is an indication that the dog needs more fiber due to an irriation in the small intestine. Your dog should be checked asap.

Our vet bills from May til now are over $4k. 3 dead dogs, two seriously ill.

[Perseus]

Many more complaints, both dog and cat food, on Consumer Affairs at http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html

Brenda of Bridgenorth, Canada (11/01/08)
Jinx is a 10 year old great dane bull mastiff female. She has always been a healthy 95 lb. dog until about Sept. /08. Oct.17/08 she started with a lot of mucous filled bowel movements. Later that day she started bleeding heavily and more diarrhea. The vet put her on 2 different kinds of antibiotics. We took her off her Nutro Pro senior dog food on the advice of our vet. We put her on a rice and beef burger diet for 4 days than put her back on her dog food. She improved while on rice and beef diet and then became sick again after going back to the Nutro Pro. The test results came back and the white blood cell count was twice as high as normal indicating severe infection. The dog is back on a burger and rice diet which is helping to gain her weight back and she is steadily improving.

Jinx is still needing medical attention and we're waiting to see if she has a full recovery.

[Perseus]

There seems to be more complaints than ever before being posted on the Consumer Affairs website.  One of the reasons I keep posting here is to keep the search engine spiders picking up the news and links to the CA website for others to find easily on the Internet.  More complaints here:  http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html

Here's another post that's heartbreaking:

Tanya of Albert Lea MN (11/14/08)
Both our Brittany Spaniels became severely ill and died after being switched to Nutro Max adult large breed dry dog food. They suffered anorexia, vomiting, incontinence, excessive thirst, seizures, lethargy, and kidney failure. The vet said it could be anti freeze poisoning, however many of their symptoms did not coincide with anti freeze toxicity. Anti freeze poisoning is a quicker death, my dogs lingered having bad and good days for weeks.

They both had to be euthanized....first our eldest dog, then 3 weeks later our youngest. It never dawned on me that their food could be to blame. They had been on various Nutro dry dog foods since 1/07 with out incident. It was not until this past summer when I had purchased Nutro Max adult large breed that they began to show signs of illness. I spoke with Nicole at Nutro and she was very polite while I told her of our unfortunate losses. She is sending me testing bags (for samples of the Nutro Max) and paperwork (for the vet to fill out). At this point, obviously the damage has been done...we'll see how they respond after their do their testing . I just feel in my heart of hearts that it had to be their dog food. Nothing else seems to fit.

I would hate for anyone else to have to go through what our family did. I want Nutro to recall their products until a more thorough investigation has been completed.

Well, obviously, there are emergency vet bills and the costs associated with having them euthenized. They were also pure breed Brittany Spaniels. One we purchased as a puppy from a breeder with champion bloodlines in LeRoy, MN. The other was adopted as an adult from a Brittany Rescue. We picked her up at her foster parents in Sioux Falls, SD. They died just prior to the start of Pheasant Hunting season, which was their life destiny...very hard on our family. My husband lost his hunting companion, my three children have lost a wonderful family pet, and I have lost my protectors. They were both great watch dogs... I know it seems silly to some, but they were members of this family and will be missed dearly.