Check out the link... I tried to visit it but got an error.

Good to go... Very nice article. Thanks for bringing it to the forum.

 

Check out the link... I tried to visit it but got an error.

Sorry. Try it now.

 

I feed my 3 little dogs Nutro Max and haven't had any problems but this is worrying me. I switched from Purina Pro Plan about 6 months ago because they liked the taste of Nutro Max better. Now I'm worried.

 

I think you should be worried. I've heard many people on different message boards say that this food is making their dog sick. Good foods to try would be:
Canidae
Solid Gold
Innova
California Kitchen
Fromm
Wellness
Wysong

 

I'm not a fan of Nutro at all, though their Ultra formula is decent. However, Nutro has recently been purchased by Purina so I'm not sure if the formulas will change. Currently the Natural Choice line is being repackaged and has been for several months now.

 

Nutro was bought by Mars, and Purina is made by Nestle. I can't find anything that said Nutro is made by Purina, do you have any info about that? Thanks.

 

Worried about Nutro

Well I've had my pup on Nutro for a little bit now (not even a month) and I'm hearing so much negativity about it I'm seriously considering taking him off it. I've heard good things about Innova but I also heard that it might be too much protein for small dogs? I have a mini doxie pup. Any advice? This is my first small dog and I'm not sure what to do here...thanks!

-Nicole

 

I don't think it's the Innova that has too much protein. I believe it's the Evo. It's grain free and therefore higher in protein. My Bella couldn't take the richness of the Evo.

 

I switched

I fed my NUTRO for years and had no problems personally but I was not willing to take the chance and switched to a California Natural instead.

 

nutro

Here is another link about Nutro, an important article from June 2008:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Nutro_Dog_Food_Recall_Information

 

I got an email today from dogstarspace.com that I wanted to share:

A message to all members of www.DogStarSpace.com Nutro "Nature Choice" line of food is highly suspected in the deaths of 6 Dogs in the past month. 2 were Rottwieler Rescues, and 1 German Shepherd, which were part of one household in Florida. Then another household had 3 German Shepherds in Central Florida, who all consumed this product, then all died within 48 hours. Nutro ignored the parent of the 3 dead German Shepherds and has refused to cooperate. If you use any Nutro products: stop using them at once. Return them to the store where you bought them, and tell that store why you are returning them. Please repost this critical food alert, and tell your neighbors and friends with Dogs!! A BIG thank you to DSS member Beagahoula pen for notifying us of this alert!! Visit www.DogStarSpace.com at: http://www.dogstarspace.com

 

I've been feeding most of my dogs Nutro dry food for years. They get Lamb and Rice, or Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal. They've never had any health issues at all.
I still haven't seen any real reason to worry about it.

I called the store about it, they aren't taking it back because there aren't any recalls.

 

Personally I would not purchase a food that did not have a 100% satisfaction guarantee no questions asked. I canot tell you how many bags of food I have returned due to my dog's tummy issues no questions asked just said it didn't work for us. All of the premium brands have this guarantee, you may want to check on the nutro bag I don't know if they do or not.

 

Yeah but I did check the ingredients before and after and they definitely changed.

And like I said, the stores don't give the guarantee, the companies do.

 

Wow, if a Nutro rep told you that, he should probably not be working for Nutro since that's not true and an insult to the food. I know most of you aren't too keen on Nutro, but you have to admit it's better than Purina.

 

Nestle owns Purina, but they have other brands as well. Mars owns Nutro and other brands as well.

Many people thought Chicken Soup was the best food for their dogs and cats until they found out Chicken Soup was made by Diamond, which most consider trash. When there was a problem with one ingredient in Diamond pet food (which didn't even affect all varieties) all of a sudden people who always bragged about Chicken Soup being the best food, changed their tune and stopped feeding it. Taste of the Wild is also made by Diamond. I know a lot of people think it's no good because of the company that owns it.

 

Most of the time, the large companies own the smaller ones and let them do their own thing, for the most part. I know that Royal Canin has referred to Mars (who owns them as well) to being their "sugar daddy." They use them for the money and do their own thing with it. Conversely, Mars also owns Pedigree and Whole Meals, that doesn't mean that Nutro and Royal Canin are going to start adding whole ground corn, chemical preservatives, animal by-products, and artificial color just because they're all owned by Mars.

Anyway, the point is: judge a food by its ingredients and performance, not the overarching company it's owned by... and that Nutro and Purina aren't owned by the same company.

 

Okay, so I have a "friend" who works for Nutro as one of their reps. She turns in her time cards via fax after every shift as is required of her. Every now and then (12 or more times) the time cards don't go through or get cut off or blurred. She got in trouble for this because she didn't know this was happening, so she started sending them through 6 or 7 times each, to make sure that at least one copy would be legible or that they could piece them together or something.
Finally in May, she got an angry e-mail from her Territory Demo Manager (TDM) saying that she had 12 time cards that didn't go through, some of them from as far back as January. She'd had no idea, and was chastised for it. She collected all of these time cards and mailed them in to payroll to be taken care of.
Two weeks later she received another angry e-mail that said she still owed time cards from the first batch and now new ones that weren't coming in. Confused, she e-mailed her TDM back and called her telling her that she'd already mailed them in, so payroll had her only copy of them so there was nothing she could do about it short of forging signatures.
After no reply from her TDM for a month, she assumed the issue was resolved and tried to watch her pay stubs more closely to make sure it didn't happen again.
Today, her TDM called her, angry as usual, saying that these time cards were still missing and that she had e-mailed and called her several times regarding them (not true). The Nutro rep, confused, explained what had happened to her TDM who barreled on continuing to tell her it was her fault and her irresponsibility that causes these problems even though she's done everything she can to avoid them short of driving them the 9 hours to the payroll office herself.
The TDM ends the call with "I'll e-mail you some signed time cards so you can get this taken care of. If they aren't in within 24 hours of the day they are delivered to you, you won't be working that week and I will drive down and we can discuss what your problem is in person." In order for her to get the time cards in within 24 hours, she'll have to fax them, a method known for repeatedly failing in the past.
She's now extremely tempted to put in her two weeks notice with Nutro and get a better-paying job with a better, more organized pet food company or perhaps go work for the SPCA (not nearly as much money). Any advice for my "friend" would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

What brands are better than Nutro, yet around the same price range?
Our Tractor Supply store sells Nutro Lamb and Rice or Chicken Rice and Oatmeal for around $35 fo 40lb bag.

 

I get Healthwise (made by Natura who makes Innova) that is a good food for a 40 pound bag for $38 and change. Also there's Avoderm and Blue Buffalo that are around the same price (maybe a few bucks more, but within that range anyway). There's also Canidae, where I would get a 40 pound bag for $35. They downgraded their product but it still isn't bad, it's just not as good as it was. Chicken Soup, I used to get that which is a 35 pound bag for $27 at a feed store

 

"The whole ethoxyquin scare started from a single rumour, which became so blown out of proportion via internet chat forums that it eventually turned into another urban myth.
The only reason that this preservative ever came into question, was due to a study performed on rats back in 1987 where the dose level of 5,000 ppm ethoxyquin, which is FAR higher than approved levels in pet food, suggested a carcinogenic
potential. Ethoxyquin has since been blamed for a myriad of problems, none of which have ever been proven.

Considering the outcry over this preservative by dog owners worldwide, one would think that by now there would be a plethora of data/studies that actually proved that this preservative caused at least some type of long-term health issue in pets.
There is not a single documented case where ethoxyquin used at approved levels has been found to cause any type of long term negative health condition in a dog, cat, fish, or otherwise. One would think that with all of the hysterical anti-ethoxyquin crusades that have taken place over the past 20 yrs or so that at least one non biased study would be able to prove that this substance can cause serious long term health issues in pets, even when used at appropriate or approved levels. Yet to date, there is not a single shred of scientific evidence that supports such a view. "

 

Considering the outcry over this preservative by dog owners worldwide, one would think that by now there would be a plethora of data/studies that actually proved that this preservative caused at least some type of long-term health issue in pets.

Studies take time and cost A LOT of money. Who would pay for these studies? Certainly not the pet food companies. There is MUCH more involved than just paying a lab a few bucks for an analysis.

There is not a single documented case where ethoxyquin used at approved levels has been found to cause any type of long term negative health condition in a dog, cat, fish, or otherwise. One would think that with all of the hysterical anti-ethoxyquin crusades that have taken place over the past 20 yrs or so that at least one non biased study would be able to prove that this substance can cause serious long term health issues in pets, even when used at appropriate or approved levels. Yet to date, there is not a single shred of scientific evidence that supports such a view. "

Again, who is going to pay for such a study? Ethoxyquin is used as an insecticide. Who is comfortable feeding their dog an insecticide in any amount?

 

Has anyone heard anything recently about Nutro (especially the Max) making dogs sick lately?

 

Nope, but those rumors like to make their rounds every now and then.

I wonder if the price of Nutro has gone up a lot in other places as it has around here. It's gone up from $35 to $44 for a 40 lb bag. Chicken Soup for dogs and Canidae are now less expensive than Nutro, I can still get them for less than $1 a lb.

 

This was from 04/18/2008
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/04/pet_food_recalls93.html
June 23, 2008
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/06/pet_food_recalls98.html
August 6, 2008
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/08/pet_food_recalls99.html
August 2007
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/08/pet_food_recalls69.html
I have read many other places about Nutro making their dogs sick. My older Mastiff was on it for years, never had a problem thank goodness. I think they must have changed their formula or something because he absolutely refused to eat it. So I had to change foods. I'm glad I did now. Hope this helps!

 

Thank you! My brother's girlfriend was feeding their dog Kirkland brand and switched to Nutro Max and a week later the poor guy was vomiting every day. So they're switching him back again, lets hope for the best.

 

I switched my dogs from Nutro Natural Choice several months ago. They had been on it for years. They both started vomiting yellow bile everyday and my lab mix had several bouts of diarrhea. I then started noticing that they really didn't seem to like it. I switched to Merrick and The Honest Kitchen and have had no problems at all.

 

Wow the vomiting of yellow bile is exactly what's happening to their lab only he still loves the food! The complained of the Nutro Max being too expensive and when the vet suggested Sensible Choice lamb and rice (apparently a very simple, formula and holy crap a vet that doesn't pedal SD or Purina or something else terrible) at $40/30lbs. So she switched him back to Costco brand food.

 

Oh yes it has gone up here, I think it's pretty ridiculous. People who used to buy Natural Choice could now easily buy a MUCH higher quality food for the same price.

 

I've fed four of my dogs Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice or Chicken Rice and Oatmeal for years and never ever had a problem with it. They're all perfectly healthy, no vomiting, diarrhea or anything like that.

I'm changing food now because the price of Nutro has gone up quite a bit.