# Nutro ...



## T&T (Feb 28, 2008)

Is there a problem ?

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

Good grief--some these people are referring to Nutro Lg Breed dog food which is what I feed Brooks (they don't specify production dates but say they purchased food in mid April 2010)


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

I am not sure it's the dog food. A lot of those stories sound like they read something about Nutro and decided that any health issue their dogs had was tied to the food. I mean, they listed anything from allergies to vomiting and diarrhea to seizures. I can't believe that is all caused by the food. FWIW, I fed Nutro about 5 years ago and never had a problem with it. It just didn't make my dogs look and feel fantastic like CA Natural and Healthwise do.


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

After I thought about the complaints I read, I had the same thought. Dogs and cats do get sick. Unless a significant percentage of the animals eating one batch of the same food all got sick, it could be coincidental.


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## maquignon (Dec 23, 2009)

All Nutro products contain menadione. That is reason enough not to feed your dog Nutro.

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=menadione
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menadione
http://ezinearticles.com/?Best-Dog-Food---The-Menadione-Debate&id=2629972
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/menadione-in-dog-food/
http://www.naturalnews.com/024244_food_pet_sodium.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12965111


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I fed my dogs Nutro for 10 years, and only had an issue with is twice. Once all three of my dogs had the runs for the duration of that bag. Once a new bag was opened, it cleared up. I often thought the bag might have gone bad because I had kept it out in the sun too long.

Another time Brady was about 4 months old and Goliath was 12, and both refused to eat for three meals. This was during the time of all the foods having issues, so I switched them off it immediately.

Before that, I always credited Nutro for the longetivity of my Great Pyrenees, Goliath.


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## amy22 (May 11, 2008)

I have always fed my dogs nutro..and I still do..gosh another thing to worry about, I rreally dont need anything else right now.....


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

I've heard the rumors about Nutro. Obviously I don't know how many of these pets have gotten sick because of their food, but I do know that Nutro is one food I would NEVER give my dogs.

Gunner was on Nutro a few years ago and we switched Riley to it when we put him on adult food. It was okay for a while, then both of them got sick (vomitting and diarrhea.) We thought maybe we'd just gotten a bad bag. It looked and smelled okay to us, but we figured that maybe it was just starting to go bad or something and we couldn't smell it.

Right about that time, we started hearing the rumors and I got suspicious, so we switched them over to Wellness. Within a couple days, both of them were fine. 
Then, not even a month later, came all the Nutro shortages and the reasons for them varied depending on which store we went to. PetSmart said that they were moving from one warehouse to another and it was causing shipping delays. Petco said that they had started using a new supplier and that was causing production problems. It didn't add up. We figured that they knew there was a problem and just didn't want to issue a recall.

Then there was the recall because of a hard hat getting into a batch of Nutro puppy food.

Personally, I wouldn't touch Nutro with a ten foot pole. I think I'd feel more comfortable with Ol' Roy.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

lgnutah said:


> After I thought about the complaints I read, I had the same thought. Dogs and cats do get sick. Unless a significant percentage of the animals eating one batch of the same food all got sick, it could be coincidental.


Seriously! Any food that's being eaten by so many dogs is going to coincide coincidentally with all kinds of health issues. These dogs appear to have parvo, salmonella poisoning, giardia, coccidia, or any one of a hundred super-common diseases in dogs, very few of which could possibly have been contracted from the food.

Also, a lot of complaints seem to indicate that the dog ate the food for months and then suddenly got diarrhea and began vomiting. Umm...why wouldn't you think the dog had just gotten sick?

The last time I got that sick, I assumed it was the stomach flu that was going around. Maybe I should blame my granola bars instead.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

We fed Selka and Gunner Nutro Natural Choice for years. They did fine but after I had been here on the Forum and read about better foods, we switched to Nature's Variety which was/is developed/made right here in Lincoln. Their coats have been much healthier on NV. My daughter feeds her golden Nutro and has had no problems but the concern about anemia from the menadione concerns me.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Debles said:


> We fed Selka and Gunner Nutro Natural Choice for years. They did fine but after I had been here on the Forum and read about better foods, we switched to Nature's Variety which was/is developed/made right here in Lincoln. Their coats have been much healthier on NV. My daughter feeds her golden Nutro and has had no problems but the concern about anemia from the menadione concerns me.


Anemia is not a risk with the tiny quantities of menadione you'd find in a pet food. It only causes anemia in giant doses.


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## unaffected (Apr 13, 2011)

I realize this is an old thread, but wanted to add my experience, in case it helps someone in the future.

I started Kelsey on Nutro when we first got her. After about 2 months, she developed some issues where she couldn't hold her pee any longer and started going in the house near the door without a warning. After a trip to the vet, it turned out she had crystals in her urine. Reading through lots of the stories on the Consumer Affairs link, so many of the dogs had issues with crystals in their urine.

After I switched Kelsey to Innova, she has been perfectly fine. I'm not sure it it's just pure coincidence or what that she happened to develop the crystals in her urine while on Nutro, but that seems like a pretty far-fetched theory.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

unaffected said:


> I realize this is an old thread, but wanted to add my experience, in case it helps someone in the future.
> 
> I started Kelsey on Nutro when we first got her. After about 2 months, she developed some issues where she couldn't hold her pee any longer and started going in the house near the door without a warning. After a trip to the vet, it turned out she had crystals in her urine. Reading through lots of the stories on the Consumer Affairs link, so many of the dogs had issues with crystals in their urine.
> 
> After I switched Kelsey to Innova, she has been perfectly fine. I'm not sure it it's just pure coincidence or what that she happened to develop the crystals in her urine while on Nutro, but that seems like a pretty far-fetched theory.


Have you had her urine checked since then?

Jacks had the same issue (crystals in urine, repeated utis) on a different dog food before I switched back to Nutro Ultra. The problems cleared up since then. I still pay for a urinalysis every year, simply because I lost a golden to kidney disease...


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## unaffected (Apr 13, 2011)

Megora said:


> Have you had her urine checked since then?
> 
> Jacks had the same issue (crystals in urine, repeated utis) on a different dog food before I switched back to Nutro Ultra. The problems cleared up since then. I still pay for a urinalysis every year, simply because I lost a golden to kidney disease...



Yes, we did have her urine checked a couple months later and it was clear. We haven't done it again, but it's only been about 6 months or so since her last check.

I'm not familiar with the Nutro Ultra, as we were using Nutro Max Puppy.

I'm sorry you lost one of your Goldens to kidney disease


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

unaffected said:


> Yes, we did have her urine checked a couple months later and it was clear. We haven't done it again, but it's only been about 6 months or so since her last check.
> 
> I'm not familiar with the Nutro Ultra, as we were using Nutro Max Puppy.
> 
> I'm sorry you lost one of your Goldens to kidney disease


Thanks... 

Good on the clear check. I don't think I would be too worried about it unless she's having other symptoms like concentrated urine, etc... 

The reason why I asked is because our vet told us at the time that some dogs just have those crystals in the urine and it's normal. I didn't buy that and switched kibble back then and started giving cranberry juice to the boy. 

After your comment, I was curious and googled the connection between dog food and crystals and I did see something about Nutro not making the urine acid enough. Or something like that. Interesting. So far his tests have been clear, but it's something I'll have to ask our vet about.

Was your dog having accidents or just dribbling in her sleep?


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## unaffected (Apr 13, 2011)

Megora said:


> Thanks...
> 
> Good on the clear check. I don't think I would be too worried about it unless she's having other symptoms like concentrated urine, etc...
> 
> ...


I wonder if the formula for Nutro Ultra is not prone to causing the crystals, like the Nutro Max is? I thought I read that the crystals are caused when the pH of the food is out of whack (not sure in what way, though). 

And Kelsey was just not really able to hold her bladder very well. I didn't notice her dribbling in her sleep, but she was just peeing more frequently even with drinking the same amount of water. Also, when I would let her out, she would barely make it to the grassy part of the yard to pee, sometimes even stopping short of the grass and peeing on the sidewalk (which she never does, and hasn't done since the crystal incident).


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