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hey there pet folks! i sadly wanted to bring to your attention that there have been problems with nutro brand pet foods where pets are getting violently ill across the country. i hate to have to report this as i feed nutro ultra to my own dogs (not anymore though!) and i know some of you do too, so i wanted to give you a heads up to spare you and your pets. one of my own dogs even fell ill with pancreatitis and another is having unusual hair loss, which has since gotten better with a change of food. my sister and boss amongst others have all had the same problem, so this is not isolated.
the illness symptoms vary from simply loose stool and gas, to violent diarrhea, bloody stool, high white blood cell count, liver failure and death, sometimes in as little as 4 days! getting your pet off the food immediately is the best remedy if they are showing signs of being unwell, unless you are having more severe symptoms, at which point you should speak with your vet. the first link is a written article, the second is consumer written complaints. however there are plenty of pets that are eating the food with no issues, (therefore hard to get grounds yet for a full fledge recall or pulling products from shelves) but some are falling ill.http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/04/pet_food_recalls93.html
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.htmlthis has been going on for a few/couple months, though people are juuuust starting to piece it it all together now. as you may have noticed, your favorite stores’ shelves may have had lots of “holes” in the nutro section the last few times you were in. the company has been keeping this under super wraps, even to where they *may* be lying to their own employees and telling them that absolutely everything is fine, where clearly this is not the case. i myself have spoken to nutro reps both on and off shift and they had honestly no idea what was going on, and one even had her own dog fall ill while on the newest bag of food! the number of people shown in this attached link that are reporting ill pets and moreover who i have seen myself in my own store, shows an undeniable and consistent number of ill pets on nutro foods, most commonly dogs on the nutro natural choice line, but still all formulas. minimal instances of ill cats, or dogs on the nutro ultra line, but still occurring.
as you may know, nutro was bought out this past year or so by mars inc. along with greenies, and since then they may have made “adaptations” to the products. recent sourcing problems may also be an issue, but if you get any information from any nutro rep,or customer service rep the story is always different, so there seems to be some deception/lack of information going on, as opposed to apologies and concern for what seems to be happening.. nutro is in 100% denial that ANYTHING is wrong with their FORMULAS, but that they are simply having some supply problems or bag misprint issues which accounts for the out of stocks. we will see how this drama unfolds in the near time to come. i just hope everyone stays safe until there are some real answers.
again, plenty of pets are eating the food with no issue, but a very real number of pets have been falling ill. i advise to feed with care, and keep your eyes peeled for any signs of illness. safer bets for foods if you are genuinely concerned and want to switch include as a start: timber wolf, blue buffalo, natures’ variety, wellness, solid gold, natural balance, merrick, canidae. however, there is NO perfect food for every dog and ultimately your doggies’ belly will tell you what sits best with him. 🙂
i hope this helps someone on here, as i would hate to have anyone else have problems due to this! so many people i have spoken with were going wild wondering what was wrong with their pet, when it was really just the food. please stay safe out there folks and i will update this if i hear anything, but so far it has been very tight lipped!I dont feed any food with grains unless I have too, and anything that you cna buy at a grocery store is crap, IMO.
The problems that everyone just went through were 100% grain based, this probably is too.
no kidding!! it makes you feel nervous no matter what u feed. these days! another thing: if you dog falls ill, don’t throw that food out, take it back to where you got it, tell them it made your dog sick and they should notify the company. if enough people take their food back, and we as stores send it back to the company with complaints and questions attached, leading to enough big chain stores asking questions of them, talking amongst themselves (store to store) and getting concerned, should force someone to make some sort of official statement and hopefully a recall. that, or save the back of the bag along with some food to send it directly to nutro so they can “test” it to find out what’s going on, but still at least call your store so they know!! your sick dog, the food and the bag it came from is the proof to help save others, so don’t just toss it away.
the illnesses do NOT necessarily imply that there is poison or anything like that in the food, it could be something as simple as some mis-mixed batches, or unmentioned altering of the ingredients that is causing the upset bellies and worse.I feed my pet the MediCal preventative formula, which has not been on any of the previous recall lists. However, at $35/4lb bag that’s hitting the high end in price…
(but the lack of s**t is definitely worth it… I hate cleaning the kitty litter)
Whoa, thank you tfsculptures! As usual, the consumers are always the last to know! My friend used to feed her dogs Go Natural, which started killing dogs too! I stopped feeding my dogs Iams after the recall, so the list of dog foods to feed my dog is growing slimmer. I feed her Science Diet; it’s consistently the best. Like Dragon87’s dog food though, it’s a bit pricey. Thanks for the info about greenies; I had no idea Mars Inc. bought them out. 😯 I have been feeding my dog greenies every other day and while her breath and tartar have improved, her fat deposit has now gotten larger. 😯 😕 😡 So it may be time to find an alternative. Now that Mars makes them, she won’t be eating them much longer! Please keep us informed!
Ouch…there have been so many problems with pet foods here lately….Has anyone heard any negatives about purina? We feed it to both our cats and our dog. 🙂
Umm ya anything fromt he vet, both medical and science diet, is basically crap, corn filled crap. Dogs cant digest corn so why feed it? You know where it ends up? Ever wonder why fido poops 3 times a day??
Alpo Prime Cuts – Score 81 C
Artemis Large/Medium Breed Puppy – Score 114 A+
Authority Harvest Baked – Score 116 A+
Authority Harvest Baked Less Active – Score 93 B
Beowulf Back to Basics – Score 101 A+
Bil-Jac Frozen – Score 74
Bil-Jac Select – Score 48 F
Blackwood 3000 Lamb and Rice – Score 83 C
Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice – Score 106 A+
Burns Chicken and Brown Rice – Score 107 A+
By Nature puppy formula – Score 99 A
Canidae – Score 112A+
Chicken Soup Senior – Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance – Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice – Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula – Score 99 A
Diamond Performance – Score 85 C
Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken-114 points A+Flint River Ranch: 92 (non-specific fat source) B
Eagle Pack Large and Giant Breed Puppy: 94 A
Van Patten’s Natural Balance Ultra Premium – Score 122 A+
Van Patten’s Natural Balance Venison & Brown Rice – Score 106 A+
Van Patten’s Duck and Potato – Score 106 A+
EaglePack Holistic – Score 102 A+
Eagle Pack Natural: 94 A
Eukanuba Adult – Score 81 C
Eukanuba Large Breed Adult: 83 C
Eukanuba Natural Lamb and Rice-87 points B
Eukanuba Puppy – Score 79 C
Flint River Senior – Score 101 A+
Foundations – Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold – Score 93 B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium – Score 73 D
Iams Large Breed: 83 C
Innova Dog – Score 114 A+
Innova Evo – Score 114 A+
Innova Large Breed Puppy – Score 122 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, & Vegetables – Score 110 A+
Member’s Mark Chicken and Rice – Score 84 C
Merrick Wilderness Blend – Score 127 A+
Natural Balance Duck and Potato-114 points A+
Nature’s Recipe – Score 100 A
Nature’s Recipe Healthy Skin Venison & Rice – Score 116 A+
Nature’s Variety Raw Instinct – Score 122 A+
Nutra Nuggets Super Premium Lamb Meal and Rice – Score 81C
Nutrience Junior Medium Breed Puppy – Score 101 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice – Score 87 B
Nutro Chicken, Rice, & Oatmeal: 85 (non-specific fat source) C
Nutro Max Adult – Score 93 B
Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice – Score 98 A
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy – Score 87B
Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Wheat Free – Score 86 B
Nutro Natural Choice Senior – Score 95 A
Nutro Ultra Adult – Score 104 A+
Ol Roy-9 points F
Pedigree Complete Nutrition: 42 F
Pedigree Adult Complete-14 points F
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice – Score 23 F
Premium Edge Chicken, Rice & Vegetables Adult dry – Score 109 A+
Pro Nature Puppy – Score 80 C
Pro Plan All Breed: 68 F
Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach – Score 94 A
Purina Beniful – Score 17 F
Purina Dog – Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It – Score 16 F
Purina One Large Breed Puppy – Score 62 F
Royal Canin Boxer – Score 103 A+
Royal Canin Bulldog – Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult – Score 106 A+
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ – Score 63 FScience Diet chicken adult maintainance-45 points F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies – Score 69 F
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice – Score 97 A
Solid Gold – Score 99 A
Solid Gold Bison-123 points A+
Summit – Score 99 A
Timberwolf Organics Lamb and Venison-136 points A+
Timberwolf Organics Wild & Natural Dry – Score 120 A+
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken – Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold – Score 97 A
This is how the grades were determined:
Start with a grade of 100
1) For every listing of “by-product”, subtract 10 points
2) For every non-specific animal source (“meat” or poultry”, meat, meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points
3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points
4) For every grain “mill run” or non-specific rain source, subtract 5 points
5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five ingredients (i.e. ground brown rice”, brewer’s rice”, “rice flour” are all the same grain), subtract 5 points
6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points
7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points
8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points
9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points
10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points
11) If lamb is the only animal protein source unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points
12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points
13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn’t allergic to wheat), subtract 2 points
14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn’t allergic to beef), subtract 1 point
15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point
Extra Credit:
1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points
2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed goup or nutritionist, add 5 points
3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points
4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points
5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points
6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains) add 3 points
7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free add 2 points
8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points
9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds) add 2 points
10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point
11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point
12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first one; count “chicken” and “chicken meal” as only one protein source, but “chicken” and “” as 2 different sources) add 1 point
13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point
14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide free, add 1 point
I graded out the food I use for the Shibas it is at 121-A++ the one i feed to Gage is 118-A++ He is part giant breed and needs less protein to prevent him from growing too fast.
Huh, thanks for that, ruffian. It’s hard to find a good dog food. I will make a note of this list for future references. I don’t even shop at the grocery store for dog food; I know it’s lousy. Never knew that about Science Diet, though. *sigh.* It’s so hard keeping pets healthy. 😥
Is Nutro cat food on this list as well?? I didn’t see anything mentioned, but my guys have been on MaxCat for ages…. 😯 before I go hitting the panic button….?
I only found one story about cats having a problem with this food from the link tfsculptures gave us. It’s mostly about dogs.
purpledragonclaw wrote:I only found one story about cats having a problem with this food from the link tfsculptures gave us. It’s mostly about dogs.
Yeah, that’s pretty much how I read it, too.
I have 5 cats, three of them are “senior” 13+ years or more. They’ve been on the maxcat for ages, since one of my Maine Coon boys was a bladder stones/crystals cat. The one time we tried changing foods triggered an attack on his part that resulted in a pretty hefty vet bill. So I’ve been rather unwilling to try that experiment again. I’ve read up on a bunch of different brands, and none of them specifically say anything about urinary tract health *except* the maxcat. Given his age (nearly 15) and other problems he has now that are most likely unrelated to his food (he has some sort of growth in his sinuses that the vet feels is most likely cancer of some sort 😥 ) it may be a moot point, but still…..there are the rest of the kitties to consider. I can see where I’m going to be spending some heavy duty face time with mr. computer researching this more thoroughly…..
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