Nutro food scare!

[Jeff&Peks]

So is Nature's Recipe a safe and good food? I'm so worried what to feed. The shelves are bare for Nutro where i live, i was going to try Yoshi on it but instead got Nature's Recipe. Haven't opened bag yet. Just want to get him on some safe and descent food and i do have 4 to feed! I'm really confused and would love any suggestions.




Samantha

I don't see anything wrong with it,

http://www.naturesrecipe.com/

I think some of these Chows are probably getting sick or getting the runs because like Pekoe they have been eating one certain food for years then all of a sudden they get a differant food with something new, their system doesn't know what's going on. Pekoe has been eating Nutro for ten years now I hit her with a bag of Evo, New meat, veggies and fruit, She loves it but has runny poops, I'm sure if I stuck with it for awhile she would be fine but it was only a trial I went back to Nutro, Plenty of it in CA.

I did start mixing the Evo with her Nutro that helped alot. They warned me about that at healthy pet, after eating one type of food for ten years not to just switch or she probably would get sick, she didn't get sick from it though just messy poops.

[jojasp5]

Hey there,
I just started my dogs on Nutro, a switch from purina proplan. I have noticed that my dogs turn there noses up at this product, especially my Chows. Even my
Labrador Retriever who just bolts down everything in sight took a second look at this stuff. The Lab started to get diarrhea and the Chows just refuse to eat the stuff, good on them!!! I'm very concerned now about feeding this stuff anymore to my dogs and, will probably have to find a more safe alternative. I feel bad for all those people whos dogs have suffered and even died possibly from this food. Yes, something should be done!

[Red Dragon]

Why would you change foods to start with? If you were feeding ProPlan you were feeding a quality food already.

[Jeff&Peks]

This stuff?, you mean the stuff that 80% of the people on this site feed, you mean Nutro the same stuff I have been feeding my Chow for 10 1/2 years? No dog has ever died from Nutro. Go back to proplan Its like comparing McDonalds to a healthy dinner. If your Chows are use to wal-mart food then by all means feed it to them. A child would eat a candy bar any day before eating a salad. Samething with a Chow or any breed. Pekoe would much rather eat out of a trash can then eat Nutro, Innova or wolfking.

I would go back to proplan, it keeps the vets in business and keeps the economy going plus its the number one selling dog food at wa-mart, not because its good but because its buy one bag get the second bag free. All the illegal's love it for their Chihuahua's and fighting dogs.

Red Dragon, When I went to Healthy pet the other day I purposely looked for proplan not only did I not see any Proplan I didn't see any food from Purina then when I ask if they had proplan the girl said No way we only sell good food here then I knew a lecture on quality food was coming so I cut her off before the speech.

[Red Dragon]

All I can do is at you Jeff, poor misguided soul.

[Jeff&Peks]

All I can do is at you Jeff, poor misguided soul.

Yep, me. Healthy pet, Vets, Dog Nutritionist, were all poor Misguided souls. I didn't argue I agreed I said go back to proplan.

[Red Dragon]

Best advice you have given all year.

[Jeff&Peks]

Best advice you have given all year.

Thanks, the Vets will love me for that advice also.

[weenis]

I talked to 2 vets and both of them recommended the Nutro. After feeding this to our dog for 3 weeks, she's only 10.5 weeks old, she has solid stool samples and eats the food in it's solid state. As far as I know, it's not upsetting her stomach. I think this might be a case of a bunch of people having some experience with it without any solid facts.

If my dog tells me she doesn't want to eat it any more, and explains that it really gives her a stomach ache, I'll be sure to post though...

[Tai's Mom]

For the most part, Tai has been on Nutro and there have been no negative affects on him from it. He didn't care for the Lamb and Rice, but he loves the Herring and Brown Rice Formula. I do have some itching issues with Tai and a fiend of mine suggested Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul. Tai eats it most of the time, but after this bag is gone, we are going back to the Nutro Herring and Brown Rice. He ate that alot better than he does the Chicken Soup. My cats even eat Nutro cat food and they love it and do well on it. In fact, they won't touch anything else now. I've never tried Pro Plan for any of my animals, but I did have a couple of breeders highly recomend it. And in all fairness to Red Dragon... I've never seen the Pro Plan at Wal-Mart. I've only seen it in Pet Smart and Petco.

[Jeff&Peks]

Purina is in the top who's who of Wal-mart suppliers. Pet-co and petsmart are pet food stores so they will sell just about all foods, the trick with those two stores is which row the foods are in. Pet-smart foods get better as you go up the isles. last rows being the better foods. Organic foods like Wolfking and CA natural are sold in a separate section labled Organic so they won't be included in the lineup. Some of the higher end foods won't be sold at petsmart or pet-co because the average pet food shopper isn't going to pay $60.00 + for a small bag of dog food so they don't carry it, the food would sit on the shelf to long. Thats where the smaller shops come in Like Healthy pet and a few others. Actually Nutro Lamb and rice is about $2.00 cheaper at Healthy pet but even though its the biggest selling food they have Healthy Pet told me its the bottom of the line compared to the other foods they sell, samething, cheaper foods first then gets more expensive and better quality as you go towards the back. Pekoe doesn't like vegetables and fruits and if she does eat them they don't agree with her so I can't buy the so called better foods towards the back that has those ingredients in them.

The reason you may not see the food in yourrrrrrr town wal-mart is because Purina is making and bagging the food but putting wal-marts store brand name on it, one is Naturals cat food and the new dog food (forget the name) is made and bagged by Purina.

I don't shop at nor go near Wal-mart or Sams clubs becouse of China so I don't know what they sell in them.

[Tai's Mom]

I know Purina provides alot of dog food that is bagged as Wal-Mart brand dog food. Alot of that came out of the dog food scare last year. I was just saying I had not seen the Pro Plan in any Wal-Mart. I guess the thing is, if your dog is doing well on what you're feeding it and it's a decent food, then don't stop. Like I said, I did have a couple of breeders highly recommend Pro Plan. Probably both Nutro and Pro Plan are on the low end of the better dog foods. I never recommend Purina products because I've had trouble with them. But that isn't to say that there are people that have good results with the Purina products. I've known dogs (and cats) who have been on Purina stuff all of their life and never went to the vet except for the yearly stuff. I was having a terrible time finding something my new shih-tzu pup would eat. He turned his nose at the stuff (Pedigee Puppy) his breeder swears she was feeding him. I bought him Nutro small kibble for puppies, that was a no go. I did get to take that bag of food back. I bought a couple of trial bags of Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul for puppies. Also a no go. So out of worry that he was going to starve, I bought a bag of Purina Puppy Chow. Gizzie finishes every last piece of that. Go figure. I don't particularly want to keep him on that, but I also want him to eat. Going to the Nutro (or the Chicken Soup) hasn't helped Tai's itching, even trying different formulas. Even tried the Nutro Ultra. The only thing that helped was the Dick VanPattens and he loved that, but we aren't going there again. I've got to be able to live with the dog and his digestive system. I guess my point is, I too recommend Nutro to people, but it isn't always the answer.

[Red Dragon]

Jeff, for the umteen millionth time, you cannot buy ProPlan at a grocery store or Walmart. And you can be 100% absolutely positive that "IF" Purina filled any Walmart bags with food, it WASN'T ProPlan, that is a 100% guarantee and I will send you a big $1000 check if you can prove otherwise!

There were only two products recalled by Purina during the food scare, that was Mighty Dog in the cans, and the pouch food, neither of which was made at a Purina facility, they were both made in Canada at the time by the food company that caused the whole problem.

Now I will go back to feeding my dogs with my ProPlan and Selects! Last time I checked there has not been one vet bill related to food in the last three years I have been feeding ProPlan and Selects. I have 7 Chows by the way, one from a puppymill, two from less than desirable breeders, and four full blown showdogs.

Oh, and puppies on the way!

[Larry Harris]

So where did we end up on this? Nutro thumbs up or down? I have all my kids on Nutro Chicken and have not seen the loose stools or diarrhea but I am concerned about one of my own kids who seems to be losing weight.

Jeff Peks still on Nutro? Anyone else change?

Larry

[fillyok]

All of mine have been on Nutro Lamb & Rice for the past couple years. Bear has a sensitive tummy so we use what he tolerates best. He's gained about 30 pounds since I adopted him, so I guess it agrees with him. I did try the glucosamine one, but they didn't care for it as much. We haven't had any hot spots, itching or other problems what might possibly require vet assistance.

[Jeff&Peks]

Jeff Peks still on Nutro? Anyone else change?

Larry

Not only is Pekoe eating Nutro Onyx is eating it, Onyx won't eat dry kibble so now I have to buy Canned Nutro and mix it with the dry Lamb and rice.

I did try some others, Innova and Wolfking but Pekoe started itching and had runny stools from the Innova, Wolfking is ok but after ten years on Nutro I'm going to stay with it. There are some things in Wolfking I like (fish) so I have been mixing Nutro and Wolfking for Pekoe. When I buy food now it looks like I have 5 Chows 2 Bags of Nutro lamb and rice, 2 bags of Wolfking and a case of Nutro Canned for Onyx one of these Chows are going to have the change their eating habits. Two Number 4's at MacDonald's would be alot cheaper to feed them. (Double quarter pounder with Cheese and fries)

If your going to change I would go with Wolfking but its more expensive then Nutro and even though Healthy pet sounds expensive the food is cheaper there, Nutro is something like a dollar less at Healthy pet then Petsmart and I found after buying crates and accessories that Petco is way more expensive with everything then Petsmart is. might be just an LA thing.

[Larry Harris]

We are also keeping ours on Nutro talked to a Nutro rep today and she is taking it up the chain of command. Oh and Petco is way higher in price then anyone here.

Larry

[Tai's Mom]

I have to agree with Jeff. 10+ years of being on the same dog food and Pekoe being as healthy as she is, says alot. And after all he's been through with Pekoe, I'm sure if he had any inkling at all that something was wrong with Nutro, he'd take Pekoe off of it completely, no questions asked. I have 2 cats on the Nutro dry cat food and they do wonderfully on it. Beautiful coats and healthy cats. When one of my kids got a PB German Shepherd puppy and I told her to start him on Nutro large breed puppy food (dry). He's a healthy puppy. Now, I don't feed my 2 canine kids Nutro tho. The only reason being is that I just haven't found a formula that will help Tai with his itching. He didn't like the Lamb and Rice, but did love the Herring and Brown Rice formula. Gizzie needed a puppy food (he didn't like the Lamb and Rice either) and I got tired of trying to keep the 2 of them separated when they ate. So both mine are eating Natural Balance Ultra Premium... and it's for all life stages. Most of Tai's itching goes away when he's on NB. It does give him gas, and he really smells bad. But I'd rather deal with that then watch him scratch all of the time.
I posted a thread on how to grade your dog food. I had gotten it from another forum I'm on. Nutro made a B or a B+. Not too bad for a lower end premium dog food. I don't have a problem recommending it to people.