Nutro food scare!
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Red Dragon
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Nutro food scare!
Guess Nutro isn't such a great choice after all. 
I have warned people about loose stool in these dogs on numerous occasions, as well as renal failure due to the food. But what do I know, I'm just a stupid Purina consumer. 
Sam
NutroMax is now killing animals who are being fed the food, and the company is not acknowledging it,
PLEASE pass this along to all rescues....
http://www.consumeraffairs.com:80/pets/nutro.html
Nutro Pet Foods
Lin of Fresno CA (03/17/08)
I too called Nutro and spoke to a rep in consumer services. She said she had not heard of any problems with the food. She is blaming the shipping and storing of the food. She did tell me to send 4 cups in for testing, which I am going to do. I'm heartsick about this.
My dogs have tummy problems and one is refusing to eat. Loose stools or totally watery stools. Vet bills will be incurred again.
Lynn of Cabot AR (03/15/08)
My 10-year old border collie became lethargic, lost weight and when evaluated by a veterinarian, his liver enzymes were critical. He was put on antibiotics and a strong amino acid, but continued to deteriorate. A week into the treatment, one of my co-workers asked if I had seen the complaints about Nutro dog food on this website. I had not and never dreamed it could be the food. It is touted as being all natural and is certainly sold as premium food. I was shocked at the information that I found on Nutro.
I faxed pages and pages of this information to my veterinarian, who became alarmed, and told me to stop feeding Nutro Natural Choice immediately. Within a couple of days being off this food, my border collie started acting like he felt better. Within a week, he had regained 2 pounds and after 2 weeks, his liver enzymes were still high but improving. I can tell he is continuing to gain weight and his energy level is as good as it has ever been. My veterinarian and I are convinced it was the food. I cannot explain why this happened all of a sudden since he has been eating this food for years, but I know my dog and I know it was the food. He was not responding to any medical treatment until we stopped the food. So far, this event has cost $500, but even more important than the money, I almost lost my dog, whom I adore. I cannot believe that a company that sells their product as safe and natural is, instead, injuring and killing pets. If I had not been informed about other pet owners' experiences with Nutro Natural Choice, my dog would be dead. It is my hope that some consumer group or authority will begin to investigate this company and its products before other pets are affected.
Kelly of Moyock NC (03/12/08)
I switched my dogs to Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed chicken and rice, thinking I was improving the quality of their food. They LOVED IT! Unfortunately, a few days after I began feeding the new food, which I converted by mixing in increasing quantities over a week-long period, both of my dogs--a Great Dane and a Dane/Blue Tick mix, developed watery bowels and lots of digestive activity. We took the Dane to the vet because he exhibited symptoms first, and they performed a fecal test for both parasites and giardia; both were negative. When the other dog began having the same symptoms, I began to suspect the food.
I placed a call to Nutro yesterday and spoke to a customer service rep. She said they had NEVER heard of any dogs having problems like the ones I described. And then, the next day, I found your site and saw the numerous complaints. I am NOT PLEASED.
Vet bills and meds are upwards of $100; and, of course, a bag of food cost me in the amount of $35--plus the emotional cost of hours of worry and physically running back and forth to the vet, plus gasoline expense.
Cady of Los Angeles CA (02/21/08)
We have a 2 year old Papillon mix and a 6 month on Dachshund Mix. Previously, they had been eating Nutro Ultra for small breeds (the older dog for over a year), with no problems. On my last trip to the store, Nutro Ultra Small Breed was out of stock. In desperate need, I purchased Nutro Max Mini Chunk. The next day, the puppy threw up. Later the same day, the older dog threw up as well. The older dog seemed very uninterested in the food, and only would eat a little at a time, which was unusual for her. We didn't think much of any of it, despite the fact that they have rarely vomited before and have good appetites, assuming their stomachs were not used to the different formula.
However, the vomiting continued over the next week and a half, with at lease one of the dogs throwing up each day, occasionally accompanied by loose stools. Finally, on 2/19, after 2 weeks on Nutro Max, the vomiting suddenly increased. While on a walk, the puppy threw up bile 3 times in a row. Less than a minute later, the Papillon threw up a large amount of food. When we came inside, I looked online and found numerous complaints all detailing similar symptoms. During that time, the adult dog threw up bile three times in a row. I took away the food, and followed vet advice to fast them for 12 hours, followed by boiled chicken and rice. We've switched to a different dry food, and after almost 48 hours there has been no more vomiting. There were absolutely no other changes in their diet or lifestyle over the last 2 weeks. The vomiting started within one day of starting the new food, and affected both dogs. It has stopped now that they have stopped eating Nutro Max.
All of this, combined with other consumer complaints, as well as a review here which points out that the corn can cause allergic reactions and the synthetic vitamin K has been linked to liver problems leads me to believe that the food was the culprit. I am glad that I discovered this before their health deteriorated any further, something that has sadly happened to so many other dogs.
Luckily, just a wasted 20 pound bag of food. Dogs have seemed to returned to normal health, and have not warranted a vet visit.
Gregory of Hermosa Beach CA (02/18/08)
Upon opening a new bag of lamb meal and rice formula 20 pounds, we fed our two golden retrievers. They have been eating this food for several years. One dog became sick with the runs that evening and the next day began to vomit in addition. The second evening the second dog began with the same symptoms throughout the next day. The dogs ate no other food and were not outside off the leash, so we know they did not eat anything else. The symptoms were so severe we took them off the food. By the next day they were getting better and by the next day they were back to normal, but eating different food. The expiration date on the bag is May 21, 2009. The bar code information is 0 7910520101 8. In my opinion this bag of food is severely tainted.
Michael of San Antonio TX (02/09/08)
I bought NATURAL CHOICE dog food by NUTRO Products and within 4 days my family dog, Zoe died.
On December 6th 2007, I bought what I thought was a healthy dog food for our dog, Zoe. I bought it from the local Pet Smart on the advice of a store worker. The product was Natural Choice (made by NUTRO) Adult dry dog food, Chicken Meal Rice and Oatmeal Formula. Our dog ate the food on Thursday, 6 December and Friday, 7 December. On 8 December, Zoe became lethargic and was throwing up and not eating. On Sunday, 9 December, Zoe was still throwing up, had diarrehia and could barely move.
At 1030 PM, sitting next to me,Zoe screamed out and died. I tried to get her to breathe again but to no avail. Zoe was 9 years old and in very good health. She was a small dog (8 lbs), a Maltese-Pomerian mix, which we found in Hawaii six years ago. Our daughter who is also 9 years old, asked where Zoe was the next morning and we told her she was sleeping under the bed but we were taking her to the veterinarian. Later that day we had to tell our daughter, that Zoe had to be put down on the advice of the veterinarian. She was crushed as was my wife and I.
With obviously no proof, on Thursday, December 13th, I was rushed to the emergency room with acute signs of a heart attack,. I am only 42, but doctors said stress could have caused this attack. We were totally shocked on what happened to Zoe and could not figure out why she died. Yesterday, 8 February 2008, I was cleanig up the pantry and went to throw Zoe's almost full bag of dog food away. I finally realized, that was new food that we had introduced to her just a few days prior to her death. I went on-line and could not believe what I found. The exact same symptoms and immediate death of other dogs. It was exactly, almost word for word the same experience we went through. I am relieved I found the cause, but can't believe I killed our beloved Zoe, unwittingly. I still have the bag of dog food and expect to have it tested. This needs to be stopped.
Paige of Benton Harbor MI (01/24/08)
called 1/23/07 to check if any recall on Nutro Natural Choice Indoor Kitten 8# dry food. I was told he would mail a return for sample of food to be returned to them for testing this could take up to 10 weeks. This product was purchased 1/17/08 and on 1/20/08 my kitten vomited and he health declined.Took her to the vet 1/22/08 and he said her kidneys were severly enlarged she was given three shots and medication for vomiting. Took her home and she did not urinate or eat. 1/24/08 am the vt was called again, my kitten was lifeless.
Took her back and she was x-rayed,given barrium to check for blockage,put on IV and catheder and admitted to ICU. Blood test revealed high way above average kidney,phosporus,and Bun levels. Dr suggest recent ingention of anitfreeze (she is strictly indoor kitten) no chemicals present we do have one older cat and dog. She was dyagnosed with renal kidney failure by ingestion of toxin/heavy meal. The only change was her food. She died this morning. I am left with a $800.00+ vet bill for a kitten that was only 5 months old had her spayed and all shots. This is a nightmare I found her on the side of the road abandon, she blossemed into a beautiful wonderful cat and all the time and energy spend to care for her I am left with nothing but a big vet bill I can not afford. Everything she received was paid out of my pocket befor this. I was doing a good deed as we have not animal orginazation around her that cared to help me. called again 1/24/07 and was forwared to him after explaining my kitten had died in all fairness he said he was sorry for my loss, I told him I wanted tp speak with someone who could expedite this so I it was the food another animal would not die,he said he would give my claim to suppervisor since the kitten had died. I feel the is urgent I dont want soemone else to have the pain our family has gone through Claim Number 628604 Also this kitten was fed Nutro kitten canned food for the first three month of her life 3oz can were these recalled?
seriousness of the cats death was not taken as a priority, other cats could be at risk if they did find something in the food. I feed all my pets Nutro and will discoutinue until I get an answer. Idid got to the Pets Plus store tonight where the food was purchased amd they did give my their sales reps name and phone number, I will contact be reguarding this issue to see if he can get this issue expedited before more animals are harmed. I could have this food tested locally be the expense I can not afford as I am spent emotionaly and financially.
Darlene of Seabrook TX (01/22/08)
Purchased Nutro Max Dry Dog Food on 12/20/07 for the first time. On 12/23/07 I had my Yorkie at the emergency vet. 12/28/07 he had a blood transfusion at Gulf Coast Veterinary Internists & Critical Care. As of 1/22/08 and $2000 later, he is still taking meds & is doing much. I also have a American Eskimo who ate the same dog food who is still sick & we are taking another trip to the vet tomorrow morning.
Both dogs are still not well after numerous trips to the vet & approx $2500 later. Before eating the Nutro Max they were both healthy & happy dogs. I returned the Nutro Max to Petco. However I did keep a sample & my receipt for further lab testing at Expertox in two weeks.
Terri of Duluth GA (01/04/08)
After 4 days of eating Nutro dry pet food, I found my dog dead in our yard. That was the only thing that changed for him that week was the introduction of the Nutro pet food.
My dog died alone in our backyard, probably of kidney failure from the toxins in the food.
Bonnie of Chesapeake VA (12/31/07)
Had to put 6lb pomeranian to sleep after feed Nutro dry dog food. Fed anothe pomeranian same bag and she immediately became deathly ill. I contacted Nutro just to get them to take this food off of the market. They were so sorry for my loss but they couldn't find anything wrong with the dry food. We've paid over $1000 in vet bills.
We've paid $1000 or so for the care of two pomeranians. We thought the first dog was just old. I gave the remaining senior Nutro to the young Pomeranian and she became deathly ill.
Margaret of Elizabeth NJ (12/23/07)
My 9 year old yellow lab, who always inhaled her food and who had been eating Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Senior dog food, recently started throwing up bile, drinking excessively and stopped wanting to eat. We tried everything to get her to eat...we tried giving her Pepcid, chicken broth on the food, cheese, boiled chicken, bacon; and nothing worked. We spent almost $300 on blood tests and a urinalysis which all came back fine. My mom typed her symptoms into the web and saw that we weren't the only ones having these problems; in fact, people feeding their dogs Nutro had dogs with the same symptoms. We immediately disposed of about 20 pounds of dog food, and I went out and purchased Innova dog food. As soon as I brought it home and gave her some she inhaled it. Her appetite was back. I just pray the damage is not done and we were able to switch the food in time!
Mary of Jacksonville FL (12/17/07)
My 9 yr. old dog has been eating Nutro canned and dry food for years. When the canned Nutro received a dangerous review, I stopped it. But Pet Supermarket assured me that the dry food was fine. NOW I have spent $1,500 so far and it will be more...to save his life. IF I can. The vet told me to stop Nutro. And, the pharmacist told me that he had never heard of a dog having sludge in his gall bladder. He asked me what I fed my dog and told me he felt it was the food. The dog is not out of the woods yet. I was told that he could go for emergency gall bladder removal. He will need another sonogram in three weeks. That costs $350. It's very stressful, and the company does not even care. The pet stores are more interested in making money.
My second dog who ate the same food spent the weekend in the emergency care. He will be going for emergency surgery for a mouth growth they are expecting to be cancer. Again, caused by the Nutro. This company should be closed. This weekend cost me another $1,100. Who is protecting our animals? I believed the store. I paid money to kill my dogs. When I was picking up my dog from the emergency care tonight, there was a woman waiting for her dog who was being treated for its cancer. Guess what is being blamed for that dog's problems? Nutro Dog food. When will someone do something?
Here we are watching our dogs die while Nutro lies about their products and makes money and so does Pet Supermarket. Two weeks ago I was in there and a woman was recommended Nutro by the manager. I told them not to sell that and for her not to buy it. I explained my horror story, but he said he did not know anything about the problems with Nutro. If I know about it HOW COULD THE MANAGER NOT KNOW ABOUT IT?
Rick of Newbury Park CA (12/03/07)
We have been feeding the Nutro Lamb and Rice dry dog food formula to our 70 pound, mixed breed dog for a couple of years. About three months ago he became ill with diarrhea and vomiting and after much testing and two trips to the office, our vet determined that the cause was something he ate. We had made no changes in his diet and he hadn't been out of the yard, so we assumed that the Nutro was the cause. I contacted the Nutro corporate office and brought them up to date with the situation. They sounded concerned and offered to send a small bag so I could return it to them with a sample of the food for testing. After waiting a month I contacted them again, indicating that the bag that they promised to send to me never arrived. They apologized and again said that they would send a bag for testing. I waited another month - no bag. I called the office and left a message. Nothing. Now I'm writing this to Consumer Affairs and hopefully others won't go through the disappointment of actually expecting the folks at Nutro to be true to their promises.
The consequences of my situation were that I spent about three hundred dollars at the vet's office and some serious worry about whether or not our dog would survive, and totally wasted my time in the false belief that the people at Nutro were concerned enough about the animals who use their product to follow through with the promised testing of a suspect bag of their dog food.
Janet of Fairfax VT (11/29/07)
My perfectly healthy 9 1/2 yr. old German Shepherd died recently from a condition called bloat. It may have been pure coincidence, but she recently had been eating Nutro Max for two weeks prior. This was the first time I'd tried her on this food.
My german shepherd died during emergency surgery. Her stomach had ballooned out within a very short time. She had had two weeks of eating Nutro Max, then the night she died, I had just fed her Iams Dry Food, which I just read has also been implicated for containing melamine. I am devasted.
Sara of Forest Hills NY (11/18/07)
My dogs have been eating Nutro Ultra Weight Management dry food for the last 18 months. 6 weeks ago, one of them was diagnosed with very high enzyme levels in her liver. She was taken off Nutro and put on a home cooked diet plus Denamarin. Her enzyme levels are beginning to return to normal.
Because I didn't connect this with the food they were eating, my other dog continued to eat Nutro. This week she became extremely sick with vomiting, severe weight loss, lack of appetite and lethargy. She, too, was diagnosed with extremely high enzyme levels in her liver and as of today she is in the hospital on IV fluids.
I have no doubt that the Nutro dog food caused this -- my dogs are fed very carefully and especially so after the first one became sick.
My dogs have been in terrible pain for days on end. We've spent many hours at the vet and in the hospital. It has cost nearly $1000 in vet bills and one of my dogs is still in the hospital. If she survives she will need to be on medication for months to regenerate her damaged liver. My other dog needs dental treatment but she can't have it because the anesthesia could further harm her damaged liver.
This has been very expensive, time consuming and most important, it has caused great pain and damage to my dogs.
Rick of Newbury Park CA (10/12/07)
10 days ago I bought a 40 lb. bag of the Neutro Natural Choice dog food. I have been feeding this food to Hooper, my 3 1/2 year lab mix dog for the past 2 years and have been very happy with it. Hooper began to have loose stools about 5 or more days ago and began vomiting about once a day (that I noticed) about 3 or 4 days ago. He has been lethargic and off his food, only eating occasionally and then leaving much in the bowl - very unusual for him.
Suddenly this afternoon (10 days after purchase) he developed hives all over his body. I took him to the vet. The vet gave Hooper a couple of shots and prescriptions for Metron/flagyl and Diphenhydramine and orders to stop feeding the new bag of Neutro.
So far it's the physical indications I've described above and a $210 vet bill. My concern is for other dogs and not for any compensation for expenses.
Patty of Dayton OH (09/28/07)
My mother just recently switched her dry cat food to Nutro....her beloved cat is now dead at the young age of 9! The cat had no problems whatsoever before eating this product
Mary of Orlando FL (09/19/07)
I have not contacted the company as of yet but here is info to date. I purchased a 40# bag of this Nutro Natural Choice for Large Breed Adults at a Petco on July 29th and a week later began mixing it with the Science Diet Oral Care I had been feeding my almost 3 year old labradoodle. We began feeding her 100% of the Nuro Natural Choice about 2 weeks ago. She had only been on it 100% a few days when we put her in a doggy day care for 5 nights while we were doing some remodeling. We prebagged her food as we usually do for them to feed her.
When we picked her up on day 6, her report showed she had been throwing up bile some for a couple of days and not eating well. That night we brought her home she ate very little of her dinner and I counldn't entice her to eat more. That night about midnight we woke to hear her throwing up bile. The next morning she wouldn't eat at all. This is highly unusual for her as she is typically not a picky eater at all.
I remembered the nightmare of the recent past in the dog food arena and did a little research online and learned of the recent issues with Nutro products so I immediately call our vet and took her in. The vet did blood work and an urinalysis. Thsi morning he called and said the bloodwork results looked normal however the urinalysis showed the beginnings of a bladder infection.
I feel strongly this is related to her food intake of the nureo Natural Choice product. I have the balance of this food and I underatand there are places it can be sent for testing but that it costs $200 or more. I feel confident that something in this poduct has made our labradoodle sick.
Mary of Orlando FL (09/17/07)
I purchased Nutro Natural Choice for Large Breed Dogs on 7/29/07 and have been gradually changing my labradoodles food over to it and now she is throwing up bile and not wanting to eat.
John of Hanover MA (07/18/07)
I contacted Nutro on 3/29/07 and was given claim # 7532. Our 5 year old terrier became deathly ill in late January. After $3,000 in vet bills we still did not have a answer as to what happened. I later learned that the dog food we were feeding the dog from Nutro was causing deaths in pets. I contact Nutro and explained my issue. They told me it was not the dry, but to send in a sample, which I did.
May 17, 2007, I receive a letter from Hartford Insurance stating our investigation has dtermined that our insured (Nutro) is not responsible. This dog was perfectly healthy with a clean bill of health about 1 month before eating the tainted dog food.
We were hours from putting the dog down, and the Vet asked us to hold out for 1 more day and we did. The dog slowly began eating table food, and his health improved. I firmly believe from the stories of other pet owners that the Nutro Dry was responsible for this issue.
$3,000 vet bill, and a lifetime of prescription drugs that cost $80 per month. The dog is now in good condition, but has a damaged liver due to this pet food.
Kim of Orlando FL (06/11/07)
My puppy became violently ill on may 22, 2007 just 6 weeks after we purchased her. I took her to the vet since she was vomiting, refusing food, and was acting very depressed. They did x-rays on her and gave her a shot to help with the vomiting and rehydrated her. She was sent home and I was told if she got worse to bring her back.
That evening she got a lot worse and my husband took her back in. That night they ran an IV on her. The next morning they were performing a barium series test on her and once again she got worse. At this time I received a call from the vet stating if they didn't do surgery she would die and she could still die from the surgery. I informed him to do the surgery.
Juliet made it through the surgery however was filled with blood in her abdomen and all organs were bleeding. They closed her up and started a blood transfusion. Several hours later she was placed on a ventilator. At that point we asked the vet to let her go. I was told the cause of death was lack of blood coagulation due to a toxin.
I never thought it could be her food the dry Nutro Max Puppy until I started doing research. I called Nutro and explained what happened and they ask that I mail in her food for testing. I am very sad that our puppy who was only 6 months old and only part of our family for 6 weeks could be dead because the food that I thought was good to feed her.
We have lost over $3000 in the purchase of Juliet and in vet bills. All of which I have receipts for. Also my family has suffered a loss of an important family member.
Vicky of Knoxville TN (06/08/07)
My little dog 'Hope' had to be put down after getting extremely sick from eating Nutro brand dog food. I found out about the recall and immediately stopped the dog food, but it was too late she had been showing signs of being sick before I knew really what was going on. She was an older dog and her little body just couldn't take that kind of assault. There was no other humane thing we could do for her.
She had no record in any of her prior bloodwork that showed anything was wrong before until I switched her food to the Nutro, which I did before the recall was made. I thought Nutro to be a good brand of dog food and my vet even recommended it. I am in a lot of pain emotionally because she was the world's sweetest little dog. Her name was 'Hope'! And she would always greet anyone with a kiss a a wag of her tail. Thank you for listening.
Sandra of Knoxville TN (05/29/07)
Upon opening a new 30 lb. bag of Nutro Max Senior dry dog food in mid-January, our dog became ill with diarrhea, vomiting and lethargy. We did not, of course, connect any of his symptoms to the dog food until later when we heard about the gluten poisoning and we fervently searched the news and recall websites to make sure our dog's food wasn't one of the recalled products. Since it was not, we continued to feed him the Nutro senior. Upon completion of that particular 30lb. bag of dog food, his symptoms lessened and he became more like himself. Only then did we become seriously suspicious of the dog food.
Upon checking the appropriate recall and news websites, we were once again relieved to find no mention of our dog's product. His bowels never did return to normal, and he became increasingly lethargic, and now he is dead after having a series of grand mal seizures, a result of liver damage.
My dog was mature, but his vet called him the spunkiest 12 year old I've ever seen. He still had a lot of puppy in him and loved to play. I had no idea he was so close to death.
Rachael of Rock Island TN (05/24/07)
I had been feeding my dogs Nutro Natural Choice and Nutro Max Large Breed Adult for years. The last bags I bought resulted with them vomiting, lethargy, increased thirst. I took them off the Nutro products and started using Lassie. They all improved and returned to normal. I called Nutro and the FDA. The FDA agent seemed concerned but it brought no results and no claim filed. I called Nutro and they took information and gave the same litany the food is safe and not recalled but they are in process of testing. They also recommended I continue feeding Lassie brand.
I offered to send samples to FDA and Nutro but both turned it down. Now the recommendation to continue feeding a different brand makes me wonder what they know that they are not saying. My dogs are doing well now. And because I was suspicious about the dry food from the beginning of recalls so kept close eye on my dogs behavior and as soon as I noticed the change I quit feeding the Nutro. So I was at least spared a vet bill.
Bonita of Germantown WI (05/09/07)
my 3 year old shih-tzu became very ill in fall of 2006--She was extremely thirsty,drank excessively, loss of appetite, weight loss, diarrhea, vomiting,lethargic,very ill. She refused to eat her food, but, as many owners did we forced her to eat the food she didn't want. She developed a high level of glucose in her urine and a UTI, the VET was stumped with her condition. I had asked if it could be her dry dog food Nutro Max. The vet said that was a good brand so did not think so. This was back in the fall. Thru spring she was very ill. In spring when the pet food scare was in full force I called the service line and reported my dogs illness with the company in March/April, they said they had not had any problems with dry food/nutro treats but would document my complaint. I had switched to Purina dog food back in January and now my dog was clear of glucose in her urine 5/9/07 The vet is still stumped but happy she is well.
Molly had a rough few months and few hundred dollars in vet bills.We pray there is no physical damage to her kidneys.We are happy things were good at her vet visit.
Angelique of Fort Lauderdale FL (05/01/07)
My dog (only 4 years old) died within 4 days of me buying a new bag of Nutro Max Dry Dog Food. This is not on the list of recalled foods but this was the only major change in his diet and he was never out of my sight. He was fine on sunday until 2 am when he started having diarreha, vomiting, lethargy, bloody diarreha and by the time I took him to the hospital at 1pm the next day he was in shock. His system shut down and he died at around 430pm.
This needs to be stopped. The company refuses to acknowledge there is a problem, but if you just to a search on the internet you will find many many people saying the exact same thing happened to them. This food needs to be recalled NOW.
Cherie of Spartanburg SC (04/15/07)
At the start of the pet food recall, I exchanged Iams canned cat food for Max Cat at the local Petsmart. I checked both the web and the Petsmart list for recalled cans and was assured that only Max Cat pouched might have contained the tainted ingredient, and the cans were OK. About a week later, my nephew stated that he had heard that more products might have been recalled, so I checked the shelves and the list at petsmart again. I checked the web again. Max Cat cans were supposedly OK.
I kept purchasing Max Cat cans for almost a month after the original recall, and then discovered that on April 10, 2007, that brand of cans was subsequently recalled. I had been feeding my cat food that might have been tainted for an extende period of time. I fail to understand how Nutro was evidently unaware of the possible contamination of ingredients in their own products at the initial time of the pet food recall. I will never purchase Nutro products again. If it was the case, I hope somebody throws them UNDER THE JAIL.
The primary cat that I feed soft food to has a tooth that tends to get infected. He was born in my house and his mother died right after giving birth to him. I fed him with a bottle to keep him alive. He is now an adult cat, but he is my baby. Any threat to his health is a serious matter in my book.
Lisa of Stilwell KS (04/10/07)
My Cat and Dog both got sick from eating Nutro Brand pet foods. My dog was eating Nutro Natural Choice Dry Food and my cat was eating Nutro Gourmet Classics 3oz cans. They have eaten this all their lives but began getting sick about a year ago. Prior to the recall and felt the problem with my cat was his food and changed it. He did get better. When I say the recall and the symptoms described it was exactly what my cat had gone through but it started at least 8 months ago.
There has been problems with the food dating back farther than what they are saying in all the recall information. My cat has abnormal renal blood test results. My dog has normal resutls but continues to have urinary issues.
Not only the emotional stress of watching your pet be sick and no one can figure out why but it also cost thousands of dollars in vet bills.
Suzette of Plantsville CT (04/09/07)
Our 9yr. old Golden was EXTREMLEY ill! NEVER in her 9yrs. has she EVER been this ill. Vomiting for Over a 24hr. period. Lethargic! Couldn't keep a lap of water in her. Brought her to the vet had to get antibiotic shot and stay on antibiotics for 14 days. Stayed on a Rice diet for 2 days. X-Rays showed that she had inflamation in her intestine area. White blood count was elevated. I truely believe the DRY Nutro dog food that HASN'T been recalled yet was to blame! We were one of the lucky ones that were able to catch this in time and save our dog unlike others that were less fortunate. I'd expect the least the co. could do is pay our UNTIMELY vet bill, which was 246.42.
It's been a month now and our dog is just finally getting back to normal.
Kathy of Prospect Park PA (04/05/07)
My dog of 10 years, Jasmine started losing weight and muscle mass with occasional vomiting around October of 2006. We ran a full geriatric panel that disclosed nothing unusual including normal thyroid levels which she was currently on medication to control. She seemed the next few months a little more lethargic but the more concerning symptom seemed to be the weight loss. So I continued to feed her Nutro Natural Choice cans of Senior Chicken & Rice and Senior Turkey & Rice and occasionally Chicken, Oatmeal and Rice. The last week of her life she vomited once or twice but responded to an antacid and continued to eat.
December 27, 2006 started out like any other. However around 3 p.m. Jasmine came over to me appearing anxious. She then retreated to the spot she normally would go to vomit and simply laid down. After a few minutes she vomited at least four times. She did not respond to the Pepcid antacid I normally gave her for upset stomach and immediately began to tremor violently and simultaneously lost all control of her hind legs and swayed as if she had no balance control. She salivated terribly and continued to try and use her back legs, paddling furiously. She continued violently tremoring all the way to the vet's office. She was given valium and a seizure medication but was simply not responding. She was labeled critical and we decided euthanizing her was the only choice as the symptoms she presented with we were told looked like multiple neurological issues and even with testing and/or treatment we might never know. She had now been in violent tremors for over 2 hours and we had no choice but to ease her suffering and let her go.
The horror of that day never leaves me. Also in light of the pet food recall, my anxiety has tripled. I think back to that day the day she seemed fine and all of a sudden acted like a dog poisoned. She had all the hallmark symptoms of rat poison but not all the ones being published.
Certain types of rat poison cause animals to go into Chronic Renal Failure and now looking back at how thin she became and how practically all muscle was gone it seems to make sense. I am in a constant state of pain and anxiety as a result of her loss. She was my best friend and had overcome many obstacles in her life only to succumb to something like this. Doubling the pain is the loss my children feel. Nothing will bring her back but I feel compelled to help raise awareness in her honor and memory. I am more than happy to speak in more detail including the calls I made to Nutro only to be told one thing one day and something else the next day including that the type of food I was feeding in December was indeed part of the recall. Nutro reps claimed all 12.5 ounce cans were part of the massive recall. Also on one website (2) of the products I fed Jasmine regularly had a small note below them they were recalled by menu foods. Minutes later the message mysteriously disappeared. I'm angry, confused and more importantly devastated at the loss of a family member who I loved tremendously.
Catherine of Raleigh NC (04/02/07)
My 11 yr old cat (my little girl friend) ate DRY Hills Science Diet all her life and was thriving and healthy until a few years ago. She suddenly started to look skinny, drink more water, and her coat looked stringy and thin. She developed a rash on her back and started inappropriate urinating. I took her to a vet back then and they couldn't determine what was wrong with her except her lower bowel looked inflamed and her kidney values were slightly elevated.
After that I started trying other dry foods like Eukanuba and Nutro. She never would eat wet cat food and I did try to find one that she would eat because of her age. Sometime if February of this year the rash returned on her back and she still wouldn't gain enough weight. The vet found a bacterial infection in her kidneys, but her values remained only slightly elevated. I was sent home with antibiotics and Hills Prescription k/b dry cat food. The first couple of days on the antibiotic she seemd to perk up a little and then started to noticably go downhill. I thought the antibiotics might be too strong so I discontinued them but kept feeding her the Prescription Diet food.
She didn't seem too thrilled with the food and kept deteriorating for the next couple of weeks until she was so bad that she wandered aimlessly and could hardly stand up. She also seemed to be going blind. Her eyes had broken blood vessels that you could see.
I knew she was dying and I determined that her kidneys had failed. I took her back to the vet to see if I could just get something to ease her pain and calm her down until she died. I ended up having her euthanized. My little girl friend! I had to make that decision and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. A week later I start hearing the news about the tainted cat food! If we ever hear the truth about this, the truth will be that the dry food has been contaminated for years. Just enough to make them sickly but not kill them for a long time.
Cindy of Tallahassee FL (03/26/07)
I have been feeding my 3 year old large mix breed dog Nutro Max with glucosome and chondritian (dry) for about a year with no problems. I bought a new bag Jan 07 and the week of Feb 19th he became very lethargic, drinking alot, breathing heavy. After 3 days he seemed to be feeling better. Then his belly began to swell so much if I didn't know he was a nutured male I would think he was about to have puppies. I took him to the vet he and at first glance they thought for sure he had heartworms -- his belly was so distended. He was tested and did not have heartworms.
I didn't have enough money at the time to pay for an advanced blood test so the vet put him on Lasik (a diuretic) and said to bring him back for in in five days. During this time I took him off the Nutro Max food and started feeding him chicken and rice that I cooked myself. He ate only that for 5 days. When he returned to the vet after 5 days, his weight have dropped from 99 lbs to 93 lbs and the belly was going down. The vet took more blood and this time I had enough money to send it out for sophisticated analysis.
The vet called me the next day and said to take himn off the Lasik. His creatine and other levels were quite high. I took him off the lasik and started him back on the Nutro Max food for three days. Immediately his belly began to swell up again. That same week the new reported about the tainted pet foods and when I saw Nutro Max was on the list, I immediately stopped feeding it to Ayden -- even though it was dry food and all the articles said only wet foods were contaminated. Since taking Ayden off the Nutro Max, his belly is back to normal, his breathing and his energy. We took our first walk together this weekend. I am hopeful this story will have a happy ending. I am convenced that the dry food was also contaminated with the poison.
My vet bills totalled about $300.00.
Sara of Springfield MO (03/23/07)
My precious best friend Murphy had to be put to sleep after eating the contaminated food from Nutro. In a matter of a few weeks, he became so ill that there was no saving him. My vet had difficulty diagnosing him without extensive tests that I could not afford, but after reviewing the symptoms of the animals in renal failure, he suffered from the same thing. I called my vet a few days ago, they looked at the records and said Oh my God, your right!
$700 + in vet bills. Loss of dog (also my best friend, I am a single woman also a cancer survivor)
I have warned people about loose stool in these dogs on numerous occasions, as well as renal failure due to the food. But what do I know, I'm just a stupid Purina consumer. Sam
NutroMax is now killing animals who are being fed the food, and the company is not acknowledging it,
PLEASE pass this along to all rescues....
http://www.consumeraffairs.com:80/pets/nutro.html
Nutro Pet Foods
Lin of Fresno CA (03/17/08)
I too called Nutro and spoke to a rep in consumer services. She said she had not heard of any problems with the food. She is blaming the shipping and storing of the food. She did tell me to send 4 cups in for testing, which I am going to do. I'm heartsick about this.
My dogs have tummy problems and one is refusing to eat. Loose stools or totally watery stools. Vet bills will be incurred again.
Lynn of Cabot AR (03/15/08)
My 10-year old border collie became lethargic, lost weight and when evaluated by a veterinarian, his liver enzymes were critical. He was put on antibiotics and a strong amino acid, but continued to deteriorate. A week into the treatment, one of my co-workers asked if I had seen the complaints about Nutro dog food on this website. I had not and never dreamed it could be the food. It is touted as being all natural and is certainly sold as premium food. I was shocked at the information that I found on Nutro.
I faxed pages and pages of this information to my veterinarian, who became alarmed, and told me to stop feeding Nutro Natural Choice immediately. Within a couple of days being off this food, my border collie started acting like he felt better. Within a week, he had regained 2 pounds and after 2 weeks, his liver enzymes were still high but improving. I can tell he is continuing to gain weight and his energy level is as good as it has ever been. My veterinarian and I are convinced it was the food. I cannot explain why this happened all of a sudden since he has been eating this food for years, but I know my dog and I know it was the food. He was not responding to any medical treatment until we stopped the food. So far, this event has cost $500, but even more important than the money, I almost lost my dog, whom I adore. I cannot believe that a company that sells their product as safe and natural is, instead, injuring and killing pets. If I had not been informed about other pet owners' experiences with Nutro Natural Choice, my dog would be dead. It is my hope that some consumer group or authority will begin to investigate this company and its products before other pets are affected.
Kelly of Moyock NC (03/12/08)
I switched my dogs to Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed chicken and rice, thinking I was improving the quality of their food. They LOVED IT! Unfortunately, a few days after I began feeding the new food, which I converted by mixing in increasing quantities over a week-long period, both of my dogs--a Great Dane and a Dane/Blue Tick mix, developed watery bowels and lots of digestive activity. We took the Dane to the vet because he exhibited symptoms first, and they performed a fecal test for both parasites and giardia; both were negative. When the other dog began having the same symptoms, I began to suspect the food.
I placed a call to Nutro yesterday and spoke to a customer service rep. She said they had NEVER heard of any dogs having problems like the ones I described. And then, the next day, I found your site and saw the numerous complaints. I am NOT PLEASED.
Vet bills and meds are upwards of $100; and, of course, a bag of food cost me in the amount of $35--plus the emotional cost of hours of worry and physically running back and forth to the vet, plus gasoline expense.
Cady of Los Angeles CA (02/21/08)
We have a 2 year old Papillon mix and a 6 month on Dachshund Mix. Previously, they had been eating Nutro Ultra for small breeds (the older dog for over a year), with no problems. On my last trip to the store, Nutro Ultra Small Breed was out of stock. In desperate need, I purchased Nutro Max Mini Chunk. The next day, the puppy threw up. Later the same day, the older dog threw up as well. The older dog seemed very uninterested in the food, and only would eat a little at a time, which was unusual for her. We didn't think much of any of it, despite the fact that they have rarely vomited before and have good appetites, assuming their stomachs were not used to the different formula.
However, the vomiting continued over the next week and a half, with at lease one of the dogs throwing up each day, occasionally accompanied by loose stools. Finally, on 2/19, after 2 weeks on Nutro Max, the vomiting suddenly increased. While on a walk, the puppy threw up bile 3 times in a row. Less than a minute later, the Papillon threw up a large amount of food. When we came inside, I looked online and found numerous complaints all detailing similar symptoms. During that time, the adult dog threw up bile three times in a row. I took away the food, and followed vet advice to fast them for 12 hours, followed by boiled chicken and rice. We've switched to a different dry food, and after almost 48 hours there has been no more vomiting. There were absolutely no other changes in their diet or lifestyle over the last 2 weeks. The vomiting started within one day of starting the new food, and affected both dogs. It has stopped now that they have stopped eating Nutro Max.
All of this, combined with other consumer complaints, as well as a review here which points out that the corn can cause allergic reactions and the synthetic vitamin K has been linked to liver problems leads me to believe that the food was the culprit. I am glad that I discovered this before their health deteriorated any further, something that has sadly happened to so many other dogs.
Luckily, just a wasted 20 pound bag of food. Dogs have seemed to returned to normal health, and have not warranted a vet visit.
Gregory of Hermosa Beach CA (02/18/08)
Upon opening a new bag of lamb meal and rice formula 20 pounds, we fed our two golden retrievers. They have been eating this food for several years. One dog became sick with the runs that evening and the next day began to vomit in addition. The second evening the second dog began with the same symptoms throughout the next day. The dogs ate no other food and were not outside off the leash, so we know they did not eat anything else. The symptoms were so severe we took them off the food. By the next day they were getting better and by the next day they were back to normal, but eating different food. The expiration date on the bag is May 21, 2009. The bar code information is 0 7910520101 8. In my opinion this bag of food is severely tainted.
Michael of San Antonio TX (02/09/08)
I bought NATURAL CHOICE dog food by NUTRO Products and within 4 days my family dog, Zoe died.
On December 6th 2007, I bought what I thought was a healthy dog food for our dog, Zoe. I bought it from the local Pet Smart on the advice of a store worker. The product was Natural Choice (made by NUTRO) Adult dry dog food, Chicken Meal Rice and Oatmeal Formula. Our dog ate the food on Thursday, 6 December and Friday, 7 December. On 8 December, Zoe became lethargic and was throwing up and not eating. On Sunday, 9 December, Zoe was still throwing up, had diarrehia and could barely move.
At 1030 PM, sitting next to me,Zoe screamed out and died. I tried to get her to breathe again but to no avail. Zoe was 9 years old and in very good health. She was a small dog (8 lbs), a Maltese-Pomerian mix, which we found in Hawaii six years ago. Our daughter who is also 9 years old, asked where Zoe was the next morning and we told her she was sleeping under the bed but we were taking her to the veterinarian. Later that day we had to tell our daughter, that Zoe had to be put down on the advice of the veterinarian. She was crushed as was my wife and I.
With obviously no proof, on Thursday, December 13th, I was rushed to the emergency room with acute signs of a heart attack,. I am only 42, but doctors said stress could have caused this attack. We were totally shocked on what happened to Zoe and could not figure out why she died. Yesterday, 8 February 2008, I was cleanig up the pantry and went to throw Zoe's almost full bag of dog food away. I finally realized, that was new food that we had introduced to her just a few days prior to her death. I went on-line and could not believe what I found. The exact same symptoms and immediate death of other dogs. It was exactly, almost word for word the same experience we went through. I am relieved I found the cause, but can't believe I killed our beloved Zoe, unwittingly. I still have the bag of dog food and expect to have it tested. This needs to be stopped.
Paige of Benton Harbor MI (01/24/08)
called 1/23/07 to check if any recall on Nutro Natural Choice Indoor Kitten 8# dry food. I was told he would mail a return for sample of food to be returned to them for testing this could take up to 10 weeks. This product was purchased 1/17/08 and on 1/20/08 my kitten vomited and he health declined.Took her to the vet 1/22/08 and he said her kidneys were severly enlarged she was given three shots and medication for vomiting. Took her home and she did not urinate or eat. 1/24/08 am the vt was called again, my kitten was lifeless.
Took her back and she was x-rayed,given barrium to check for blockage,put on IV and catheder and admitted to ICU. Blood test revealed high way above average kidney,phosporus,and Bun levels. Dr suggest recent ingention of anitfreeze (she is strictly indoor kitten) no chemicals present we do have one older cat and dog. She was dyagnosed with renal kidney failure by ingestion of toxin/heavy meal. The only change was her food. She died this morning. I am left with a $800.00+ vet bill for a kitten that was only 5 months old had her spayed and all shots. This is a nightmare I found her on the side of the road abandon, she blossemed into a beautiful wonderful cat and all the time and energy spend to care for her I am left with nothing but a big vet bill I can not afford. Everything she received was paid out of my pocket befor this. I was doing a good deed as we have not animal orginazation around her that cared to help me. called again 1/24/07 and was forwared to him after explaining my kitten had died in all fairness he said he was sorry for my loss, I told him I wanted tp speak with someone who could expedite this so I it was the food another animal would not die,he said he would give my claim to suppervisor since the kitten had died. I feel the is urgent I dont want soemone else to have the pain our family has gone through Claim Number 628604 Also this kitten was fed Nutro kitten canned food for the first three month of her life 3oz can were these recalled?
seriousness of the cats death was not taken as a priority, other cats could be at risk if they did find something in the food. I feed all my pets Nutro and will discoutinue until I get an answer. Idid got to the Pets Plus store tonight where the food was purchased amd they did give my their sales reps name and phone number, I will contact be reguarding this issue to see if he can get this issue expedited before more animals are harmed. I could have this food tested locally be the expense I can not afford as I am spent emotionaly and financially.
Darlene of Seabrook TX (01/22/08)
Purchased Nutro Max Dry Dog Food on 12/20/07 for the first time. On 12/23/07 I had my Yorkie at the emergency vet. 12/28/07 he had a blood transfusion at Gulf Coast Veterinary Internists & Critical Care. As of 1/22/08 and $2000 later, he is still taking meds & is doing much. I also have a American Eskimo who ate the same dog food who is still sick & we are taking another trip to the vet tomorrow morning.
Both dogs are still not well after numerous trips to the vet & approx $2500 later. Before eating the Nutro Max they were both healthy & happy dogs. I returned the Nutro Max to Petco. However I did keep a sample & my receipt for further lab testing at Expertox in two weeks.
Terri of Duluth GA (01/04/08)
After 4 days of eating Nutro dry pet food, I found my dog dead in our yard. That was the only thing that changed for him that week was the introduction of the Nutro pet food.
My dog died alone in our backyard, probably of kidney failure from the toxins in the food.
Bonnie of Chesapeake VA (12/31/07)
Had to put 6lb pomeranian to sleep after feed Nutro dry dog food. Fed anothe pomeranian same bag and she immediately became deathly ill. I contacted Nutro just to get them to take this food off of the market. They were so sorry for my loss but they couldn't find anything wrong with the dry food. We've paid over $1000 in vet bills.
We've paid $1000 or so for the care of two pomeranians. We thought the first dog was just old. I gave the remaining senior Nutro to the young Pomeranian and she became deathly ill.
Margaret of Elizabeth NJ (12/23/07)
My 9 year old yellow lab, who always inhaled her food and who had been eating Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Senior dog food, recently started throwing up bile, drinking excessively and stopped wanting to eat. We tried everything to get her to eat...we tried giving her Pepcid, chicken broth on the food, cheese, boiled chicken, bacon; and nothing worked. We spent almost $300 on blood tests and a urinalysis which all came back fine. My mom typed her symptoms into the web and saw that we weren't the only ones having these problems; in fact, people feeding their dogs Nutro had dogs with the same symptoms. We immediately disposed of about 20 pounds of dog food, and I went out and purchased Innova dog food. As soon as I brought it home and gave her some she inhaled it. Her appetite was back. I just pray the damage is not done and we were able to switch the food in time!
Mary of Jacksonville FL (12/17/07)
My 9 yr. old dog has been eating Nutro canned and dry food for years. When the canned Nutro received a dangerous review, I stopped it. But Pet Supermarket assured me that the dry food was fine. NOW I have spent $1,500 so far and it will be more...to save his life. IF I can. The vet told me to stop Nutro. And, the pharmacist told me that he had never heard of a dog having sludge in his gall bladder. He asked me what I fed my dog and told me he felt it was the food. The dog is not out of the woods yet. I was told that he could go for emergency gall bladder removal. He will need another sonogram in three weeks. That costs $350. It's very stressful, and the company does not even care. The pet stores are more interested in making money.
My second dog who ate the same food spent the weekend in the emergency care. He will be going for emergency surgery for a mouth growth they are expecting to be cancer. Again, caused by the Nutro. This company should be closed. This weekend cost me another $1,100. Who is protecting our animals? I believed the store. I paid money to kill my dogs. When I was picking up my dog from the emergency care tonight, there was a woman waiting for her dog who was being treated for its cancer. Guess what is being blamed for that dog's problems? Nutro Dog food. When will someone do something?
Here we are watching our dogs die while Nutro lies about their products and makes money and so does Pet Supermarket. Two weeks ago I was in there and a woman was recommended Nutro by the manager. I told them not to sell that and for her not to buy it. I explained my horror story, but he said he did not know anything about the problems with Nutro. If I know about it HOW COULD THE MANAGER NOT KNOW ABOUT IT?
Rick of Newbury Park CA (12/03/07)
We have been feeding the Nutro Lamb and Rice dry dog food formula to our 70 pound, mixed breed dog for a couple of years. About three months ago he became ill with diarrhea and vomiting and after much testing and two trips to the office, our vet determined that the cause was something he ate. We had made no changes in his diet and he hadn't been out of the yard, so we assumed that the Nutro was the cause. I contacted the Nutro corporate office and brought them up to date with the situation. They sounded concerned and offered to send a small bag so I could return it to them with a sample of the food for testing. After waiting a month I contacted them again, indicating that the bag that they promised to send to me never arrived. They apologized and again said that they would send a bag for testing. I waited another month - no bag. I called the office and left a message. Nothing. Now I'm writing this to Consumer Affairs and hopefully others won't go through the disappointment of actually expecting the folks at Nutro to be true to their promises.
The consequences of my situation were that I spent about three hundred dollars at the vet's office and some serious worry about whether or not our dog would survive, and totally wasted my time in the false belief that the people at Nutro were concerned enough about the animals who use their product to follow through with the promised testing of a suspect bag of their dog food.
Janet of Fairfax VT (11/29/07)
My perfectly healthy 9 1/2 yr. old German Shepherd died recently from a condition called bloat. It may have been pure coincidence, but she recently had been eating Nutro Max for two weeks prior. This was the first time I'd tried her on this food.
My german shepherd died during emergency surgery. Her stomach had ballooned out within a very short time. She had had two weeks of eating Nutro Max, then the night she died, I had just fed her Iams Dry Food, which I just read has also been implicated for containing melamine. I am devasted.
Sara of Forest Hills NY (11/18/07)
My dogs have been eating Nutro Ultra Weight Management dry food for the last 18 months. 6 weeks ago, one of them was diagnosed with very high enzyme levels in her liver. She was taken off Nutro and put on a home cooked diet plus Denamarin. Her enzyme levels are beginning to return to normal.
Because I didn't connect this with the food they were eating, my other dog continued to eat Nutro. This week she became extremely sick with vomiting, severe weight loss, lack of appetite and lethargy. She, too, was diagnosed with extremely high enzyme levels in her liver and as of today she is in the hospital on IV fluids.
I have no doubt that the Nutro dog food caused this -- my dogs are fed very carefully and especially so after the first one became sick.
My dogs have been in terrible pain for days on end. We've spent many hours at the vet and in the hospital. It has cost nearly $1000 in vet bills and one of my dogs is still in the hospital. If she survives she will need to be on medication for months to regenerate her damaged liver. My other dog needs dental treatment but she can't have it because the anesthesia could further harm her damaged liver.
This has been very expensive, time consuming and most important, it has caused great pain and damage to my dogs.
Rick of Newbury Park CA (10/12/07)
10 days ago I bought a 40 lb. bag of the Neutro Natural Choice dog food. I have been feeding this food to Hooper, my 3 1/2 year lab mix dog for the past 2 years and have been very happy with it. Hooper began to have loose stools about 5 or more days ago and began vomiting about once a day (that I noticed) about 3 or 4 days ago. He has been lethargic and off his food, only eating occasionally and then leaving much in the bowl - very unusual for him.
Suddenly this afternoon (10 days after purchase) he developed hives all over his body. I took him to the vet. The vet gave Hooper a couple of shots and prescriptions for Metron/flagyl and Diphenhydramine and orders to stop feeding the new bag of Neutro.
So far it's the physical indications I've described above and a $210 vet bill. My concern is for other dogs and not for any compensation for expenses.
Patty of Dayton OH (09/28/07)
My mother just recently switched her dry cat food to Nutro....her beloved cat is now dead at the young age of 9! The cat had no problems whatsoever before eating this product
Mary of Orlando FL (09/19/07)
I have not contacted the company as of yet but here is info to date. I purchased a 40# bag of this Nutro Natural Choice for Large Breed Adults at a Petco on July 29th and a week later began mixing it with the Science Diet Oral Care I had been feeding my almost 3 year old labradoodle. We began feeding her 100% of the Nuro Natural Choice about 2 weeks ago. She had only been on it 100% a few days when we put her in a doggy day care for 5 nights while we were doing some remodeling. We prebagged her food as we usually do for them to feed her.
When we picked her up on day 6, her report showed she had been throwing up bile some for a couple of days and not eating well. That night we brought her home she ate very little of her dinner and I counldn't entice her to eat more. That night about midnight we woke to hear her throwing up bile. The next morning she wouldn't eat at all. This is highly unusual for her as she is typically not a picky eater at all.
I remembered the nightmare of the recent past in the dog food arena and did a little research online and learned of the recent issues with Nutro products so I immediately call our vet and took her in. The vet did blood work and an urinalysis. Thsi morning he called and said the bloodwork results looked normal however the urinalysis showed the beginnings of a bladder infection.
I feel strongly this is related to her food intake of the nureo Natural Choice product. I have the balance of this food and I underatand there are places it can be sent for testing but that it costs $200 or more. I feel confident that something in this poduct has made our labradoodle sick.
Mary of Orlando FL (09/17/07)
I purchased Nutro Natural Choice for Large Breed Dogs on 7/29/07 and have been gradually changing my labradoodles food over to it and now she is throwing up bile and not wanting to eat.
John of Hanover MA (07/18/07)
I contacted Nutro on 3/29/07 and was given claim # 7532. Our 5 year old terrier became deathly ill in late January. After $3,000 in vet bills we still did not have a answer as to what happened. I later learned that the dog food we were feeding the dog from Nutro was causing deaths in pets. I contact Nutro and explained my issue. They told me it was not the dry, but to send in a sample, which I did.
May 17, 2007, I receive a letter from Hartford Insurance stating our investigation has dtermined that our insured (Nutro) is not responsible. This dog was perfectly healthy with a clean bill of health about 1 month before eating the tainted dog food.
We were hours from putting the dog down, and the Vet asked us to hold out for 1 more day and we did. The dog slowly began eating table food, and his health improved. I firmly believe from the stories of other pet owners that the Nutro Dry was responsible for this issue.
$3,000 vet bill, and a lifetime of prescription drugs that cost $80 per month. The dog is now in good condition, but has a damaged liver due to this pet food.
Kim of Orlando FL (06/11/07)
My puppy became violently ill on may 22, 2007 just 6 weeks after we purchased her. I took her to the vet since she was vomiting, refusing food, and was acting very depressed. They did x-rays on her and gave her a shot to help with the vomiting and rehydrated her. She was sent home and I was told if she got worse to bring her back.
That evening she got a lot worse and my husband took her back in. That night they ran an IV on her. The next morning they were performing a barium series test on her and once again she got worse. At this time I received a call from the vet stating if they didn't do surgery she would die and she could still die from the surgery. I informed him to do the surgery.
Juliet made it through the surgery however was filled with blood in her abdomen and all organs were bleeding. They closed her up and started a blood transfusion. Several hours later she was placed on a ventilator. At that point we asked the vet to let her go. I was told the cause of death was lack of blood coagulation due to a toxin.
I never thought it could be her food the dry Nutro Max Puppy until I started doing research. I called Nutro and explained what happened and they ask that I mail in her food for testing. I am very sad that our puppy who was only 6 months old and only part of our family for 6 weeks could be dead because the food that I thought was good to feed her.
We have lost over $3000 in the purchase of Juliet and in vet bills. All of which I have receipts for. Also my family has suffered a loss of an important family member.
Vicky of Knoxville TN (06/08/07)
My little dog 'Hope' had to be put down after getting extremely sick from eating Nutro brand dog food. I found out about the recall and immediately stopped the dog food, but it was too late she had been showing signs of being sick before I knew really what was going on. She was an older dog and her little body just couldn't take that kind of assault. There was no other humane thing we could do for her.
She had no record in any of her prior bloodwork that showed anything was wrong before until I switched her food to the Nutro, which I did before the recall was made. I thought Nutro to be a good brand of dog food and my vet even recommended it. I am in a lot of pain emotionally because she was the world's sweetest little dog. Her name was 'Hope'! And she would always greet anyone with a kiss a a wag of her tail. Thank you for listening.
Sandra of Knoxville TN (05/29/07)
Upon opening a new 30 lb. bag of Nutro Max Senior dry dog food in mid-January, our dog became ill with diarrhea, vomiting and lethargy. We did not, of course, connect any of his symptoms to the dog food until later when we heard about the gluten poisoning and we fervently searched the news and recall websites to make sure our dog's food wasn't one of the recalled products. Since it was not, we continued to feed him the Nutro senior. Upon completion of that particular 30lb. bag of dog food, his symptoms lessened and he became more like himself. Only then did we become seriously suspicious of the dog food.
Upon checking the appropriate recall and news websites, we were once again relieved to find no mention of our dog's product. His bowels never did return to normal, and he became increasingly lethargic, and now he is dead after having a series of grand mal seizures, a result of liver damage.
My dog was mature, but his vet called him the spunkiest 12 year old I've ever seen. He still had a lot of puppy in him and loved to play. I had no idea he was so close to death.
Rachael of Rock Island TN (05/24/07)
I had been feeding my dogs Nutro Natural Choice and Nutro Max Large Breed Adult for years. The last bags I bought resulted with them vomiting, lethargy, increased thirst. I took them off the Nutro products and started using Lassie. They all improved and returned to normal. I called Nutro and the FDA. The FDA agent seemed concerned but it brought no results and no claim filed. I called Nutro and they took information and gave the same litany the food is safe and not recalled but they are in process of testing. They also recommended I continue feeding Lassie brand.
I offered to send samples to FDA and Nutro but both turned it down. Now the recommendation to continue feeding a different brand makes me wonder what they know that they are not saying. My dogs are doing well now. And because I was suspicious about the dry food from the beginning of recalls so kept close eye on my dogs behavior and as soon as I noticed the change I quit feeding the Nutro. So I was at least spared a vet bill.
Bonita of Germantown WI (05/09/07)
my 3 year old shih-tzu became very ill in fall of 2006--She was extremely thirsty,drank excessively, loss of appetite, weight loss, diarrhea, vomiting,lethargic,very ill. She refused to eat her food, but, as many owners did we forced her to eat the food she didn't want. She developed a high level of glucose in her urine and a UTI, the VET was stumped with her condition. I had asked if it could be her dry dog food Nutro Max. The vet said that was a good brand so did not think so. This was back in the fall. Thru spring she was very ill. In spring when the pet food scare was in full force I called the service line and reported my dogs illness with the company in March/April, they said they had not had any problems with dry food/nutro treats but would document my complaint. I had switched to Purina dog food back in January and now my dog was clear of glucose in her urine 5/9/07 The vet is still stumped but happy she is well.
Molly had a rough few months and few hundred dollars in vet bills.We pray there is no physical damage to her kidneys.We are happy things were good at her vet visit.
Angelique of Fort Lauderdale FL (05/01/07)
My dog (only 4 years old) died within 4 days of me buying a new bag of Nutro Max Dry Dog Food. This is not on the list of recalled foods but this was the only major change in his diet and he was never out of my sight. He was fine on sunday until 2 am when he started having diarreha, vomiting, lethargy, bloody diarreha and by the time I took him to the hospital at 1pm the next day he was in shock. His system shut down and he died at around 430pm.
This needs to be stopped. The company refuses to acknowledge there is a problem, but if you just to a search on the internet you will find many many people saying the exact same thing happened to them. This food needs to be recalled NOW.
Cherie of Spartanburg SC (04/15/07)
At the start of the pet food recall, I exchanged Iams canned cat food for Max Cat at the local Petsmart. I checked both the web and the Petsmart list for recalled cans and was assured that only Max Cat pouched might have contained the tainted ingredient, and the cans were OK. About a week later, my nephew stated that he had heard that more products might have been recalled, so I checked the shelves and the list at petsmart again. I checked the web again. Max Cat cans were supposedly OK.
I kept purchasing Max Cat cans for almost a month after the original recall, and then discovered that on April 10, 2007, that brand of cans was subsequently recalled. I had been feeding my cat food that might have been tainted for an extende period of time. I fail to understand how Nutro was evidently unaware of the possible contamination of ingredients in their own products at the initial time of the pet food recall. I will never purchase Nutro products again. If it was the case, I hope somebody throws them UNDER THE JAIL.
The primary cat that I feed soft food to has a tooth that tends to get infected. He was born in my house and his mother died right after giving birth to him. I fed him with a bottle to keep him alive. He is now an adult cat, but he is my baby. Any threat to his health is a serious matter in my book.
Lisa of Stilwell KS (04/10/07)
My Cat and Dog both got sick from eating Nutro Brand pet foods. My dog was eating Nutro Natural Choice Dry Food and my cat was eating Nutro Gourmet Classics 3oz cans. They have eaten this all their lives but began getting sick about a year ago. Prior to the recall and felt the problem with my cat was his food and changed it. He did get better. When I say the recall and the symptoms described it was exactly what my cat had gone through but it started at least 8 months ago.
There has been problems with the food dating back farther than what they are saying in all the recall information. My cat has abnormal renal blood test results. My dog has normal resutls but continues to have urinary issues.
Not only the emotional stress of watching your pet be sick and no one can figure out why but it also cost thousands of dollars in vet bills.
Suzette of Plantsville CT (04/09/07)
Our 9yr. old Golden was EXTREMLEY ill! NEVER in her 9yrs. has she EVER been this ill. Vomiting for Over a 24hr. period. Lethargic! Couldn't keep a lap of water in her. Brought her to the vet had to get antibiotic shot and stay on antibiotics for 14 days. Stayed on a Rice diet for 2 days. X-Rays showed that she had inflamation in her intestine area. White blood count was elevated. I truely believe the DRY Nutro dog food that HASN'T been recalled yet was to blame! We were one of the lucky ones that were able to catch this in time and save our dog unlike others that were less fortunate. I'd expect the least the co. could do is pay our UNTIMELY vet bill, which was 246.42.
It's been a month now and our dog is just finally getting back to normal.
Kathy of Prospect Park PA (04/05/07)
My dog of 10 years, Jasmine started losing weight and muscle mass with occasional vomiting around October of 2006. We ran a full geriatric panel that disclosed nothing unusual including normal thyroid levels which she was currently on medication to control. She seemed the next few months a little more lethargic but the more concerning symptom seemed to be the weight loss. So I continued to feed her Nutro Natural Choice cans of Senior Chicken & Rice and Senior Turkey & Rice and occasionally Chicken, Oatmeal and Rice. The last week of her life she vomited once or twice but responded to an antacid and continued to eat.
December 27, 2006 started out like any other. However around 3 p.m. Jasmine came over to me appearing anxious. She then retreated to the spot she normally would go to vomit and simply laid down. After a few minutes she vomited at least four times. She did not respond to the Pepcid antacid I normally gave her for upset stomach and immediately began to tremor violently and simultaneously lost all control of her hind legs and swayed as if she had no balance control. She salivated terribly and continued to try and use her back legs, paddling furiously. She continued violently tremoring all the way to the vet's office. She was given valium and a seizure medication but was simply not responding. She was labeled critical and we decided euthanizing her was the only choice as the symptoms she presented with we were told looked like multiple neurological issues and even with testing and/or treatment we might never know. She had now been in violent tremors for over 2 hours and we had no choice but to ease her suffering and let her go.
The horror of that day never leaves me. Also in light of the pet food recall, my anxiety has tripled. I think back to that day the day she seemed fine and all of a sudden acted like a dog poisoned. She had all the hallmark symptoms of rat poison but not all the ones being published.
Certain types of rat poison cause animals to go into Chronic Renal Failure and now looking back at how thin she became and how practically all muscle was gone it seems to make sense. I am in a constant state of pain and anxiety as a result of her loss. She was my best friend and had overcome many obstacles in her life only to succumb to something like this. Doubling the pain is the loss my children feel. Nothing will bring her back but I feel compelled to help raise awareness in her honor and memory. I am more than happy to speak in more detail including the calls I made to Nutro only to be told one thing one day and something else the next day including that the type of food I was feeding in December was indeed part of the recall. Nutro reps claimed all 12.5 ounce cans were part of the massive recall. Also on one website (2) of the products I fed Jasmine regularly had a small note below them they were recalled by menu foods. Minutes later the message mysteriously disappeared. I'm angry, confused and more importantly devastated at the loss of a family member who I loved tremendously.
Catherine of Raleigh NC (04/02/07)
My 11 yr old cat (my little girl friend) ate DRY Hills Science Diet all her life and was thriving and healthy until a few years ago. She suddenly started to look skinny, drink more water, and her coat looked stringy and thin. She developed a rash on her back and started inappropriate urinating. I took her to a vet back then and they couldn't determine what was wrong with her except her lower bowel looked inflamed and her kidney values were slightly elevated.
After that I started trying other dry foods like Eukanuba and Nutro. She never would eat wet cat food and I did try to find one that she would eat because of her age. Sometime if February of this year the rash returned on her back and she still wouldn't gain enough weight. The vet found a bacterial infection in her kidneys, but her values remained only slightly elevated. I was sent home with antibiotics and Hills Prescription k/b dry cat food. The first couple of days on the antibiotic she seemd to perk up a little and then started to noticably go downhill. I thought the antibiotics might be too strong so I discontinued them but kept feeding her the Prescription Diet food.
She didn't seem too thrilled with the food and kept deteriorating for the next couple of weeks until she was so bad that she wandered aimlessly and could hardly stand up. She also seemed to be going blind. Her eyes had broken blood vessels that you could see.
I knew she was dying and I determined that her kidneys had failed. I took her back to the vet to see if I could just get something to ease her pain and calm her down until she died. I ended up having her euthanized. My little girl friend! I had to make that decision and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. A week later I start hearing the news about the tainted cat food! If we ever hear the truth about this, the truth will be that the dry food has been contaminated for years. Just enough to make them sickly but not kill them for a long time.
Cindy of Tallahassee FL (03/26/07)
I have been feeding my 3 year old large mix breed dog Nutro Max with glucosome and chondritian (dry) for about a year with no problems. I bought a new bag Jan 07 and the week of Feb 19th he became very lethargic, drinking alot, breathing heavy. After 3 days he seemed to be feeling better. Then his belly began to swell so much if I didn't know he was a nutured male I would think he was about to have puppies. I took him to the vet he and at first glance they thought for sure he had heartworms -- his belly was so distended. He was tested and did not have heartworms.
I didn't have enough money at the time to pay for an advanced blood test so the vet put him on Lasik (a diuretic) and said to bring him back for in in five days. During this time I took him off the Nutro Max food and started feeding him chicken and rice that I cooked myself. He ate only that for 5 days. When he returned to the vet after 5 days, his weight have dropped from 99 lbs to 93 lbs and the belly was going down. The vet took more blood and this time I had enough money to send it out for sophisticated analysis.
The vet called me the next day and said to take himn off the Lasik. His creatine and other levels were quite high. I took him off the lasik and started him back on the Nutro Max food for three days. Immediately his belly began to swell up again. That same week the new reported about the tainted pet foods and when I saw Nutro Max was on the list, I immediately stopped feeding it to Ayden -- even though it was dry food and all the articles said only wet foods were contaminated. Since taking Ayden off the Nutro Max, his belly is back to normal, his breathing and his energy. We took our first walk together this weekend. I am hopeful this story will have a happy ending. I am convenced that the dry food was also contaminated with the poison.
My vet bills totalled about $300.00.
Sara of Springfield MO (03/23/07)
My precious best friend Murphy had to be put to sleep after eating the contaminated food from Nutro. In a matter of a few weeks, he became so ill that there was no saving him. My vet had difficulty diagnosing him without extensive tests that I could not afford, but after reviewing the symptoms of the animals in renal failure, he suffered from the same thing. I called my vet a few days ago, they looked at the records and said Oh my God, your right!
$700 + in vet bills. Loss of dog (also my best friend, I am a single woman also a cancer survivor)
Sam
Keeper of the furry things...Master of the kibble....Scooper of the poo!
Keeper of the furry things...Master of the kibble....Scooper of the poo!
Re: Nutro food scare!
You are out of your mind, Do you stay up all night looking for this stuff and how many free bags of food do you get from Purina? There are plenty more complaints but why bother.
Kentucky Breeder Blames Purina for Her Dogs' Deaths
“I’m not going away,” says Julie, who fed her dogs Purina One, Purina ProPlan and Purina Dog Chow. “I want justice for my dogs and peace of mind for myself.”
ASPCA opens investigation into unexplained dog deaths
Purina Denies Deaths
ASPCA opens investigation into unexplained dog deaths
Kentucky Breeder Blames Purina for Her Dogs' Deaths
“I’m not going away,” says Julie, who fed her dogs Purina One, Purina ProPlan and Purina Dog Chow. “I want justice for my dogs and peace of mind for myself.”
ASPCA opens investigation into unexplained dog deaths
Purina Denies Deaths
ASPCA opens investigation into unexplained dog deaths
“...There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because conscience tells one that it is right.” MLK
Re: Nutro food scare!
i guess my chow lucky hes still alive , got proplan sensitive skin and stomach at the kennel and i feed nutro now,since i am loseing my job i guess we will start eating venison road kill ,, in tennesee any one is permitted to posess road kill
good thing since we are going to set out afoot for the staked plains via the BadCaw...
^T is for Texas ,T is for tenneseee.....
good thing since we are going to set out afoot for the staked plains via the BadCaw...
^T is for Texas ,T is for tenneseee.....
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Red Dragon
- Rank 3
- Posts: 1946
- Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 6:03 pm
Re: Nutro food scare!
No Jeff, I did not sit up all night looking for that, it was sent to another list I am on. I wouldn't waste my time looking for any Nutro product, my dogs voiced their opinion of it long ago. 
Sam
Keeper of the furry things...Master of the kibble....Scooper of the poo!
Keeper of the furry things...Master of the kibble....Scooper of the poo!
Re: Nutro food scare!
"But what do I know, I'm just a stupid Purina consumer." Sam
Yep I agree
There's about 300 more if you want them, all from Consummer affiars. Geez get a life.
I say feed In N out burgers and fries to all Chows with no supplements, maybe a chocolate shake.
Purina Pet Foods
Linda Hansen of Palm Coast FL (07/23/07)
My 10 year old Border Collie has always been fed Purina One. About 2 years ago she began having chronic diahhrea and we couldn't figure out why. Then she became very lethargic about 7 months ago. The vet tested her urine and found high amounts of crystals. We took her off Purina One and put her on distilled water and she's a new dog. She has her energy back and solid stools again. Just thought it was curious that Purina might be the culprit. I'll never buy their food again.
My situation wasn't so bad. We ran up about $300 in lab tests. Don't think there's any legal remedy necessary in my case but thought the Purina One connection might be of some interest.
Lisa of Grafton OH (06/16/07)
I am a professional dog breeder of Newfoundlands. I first noticed something was terribly wrong when I had a deformed litter in January. In my history of breeding, which is twelve years, this has never happened to me. I also bred five females in February, and none of my females took. Usually, at least two to three take.
My male Newfoundland, Doc, also began having severe skin issues. I know it was all food related. God only knows what toxins went into the Purina. I am simply grateful that none of my dogs died. However, I took a poll in a chat room I belong to regarding people using Purina, and several responded with similar issues; however, two women lost their Newfoundlands. They (their Newfs) were found dead with no prior warnings.
I have lost many puppy buyers who were counting on my puppies. I have a stellar repuation as a breeder, and it simply broke my heart to tell them that none of my females were bred. I'm a very educated woman, and as I said, have never had so many misses, besides having a deformed litter.
Chad of Sanger TX (03/11/08)
I have had three dogs die after eating the Members Mark Exceed Lamb and Rice dog food which is made by Purina. I also have two dogs that experienced some of the same issues as the ones that died but was able to take them off of the food before it was too late. They each were suffering from kidney failure. However, they are still alive but no longer eat Members mark Exceed Rice and Lamb. I called several times after each one died just to make sure their deaths had nothing to do with the food. Each time I was told there were not any claims or current recalls with that food or anything to be concerned about.
We have lost three dogs, two dogs will never be the same, we have had to tell our three year old daughter three times within about a years time, three of her dogs have died and have spent thousands of dollars trying to figure out what happened to the dogs so that we do not have to go through this again.
Javier of Nicholasville KY (01/07/08)
I believe Purina's products caused the death of our dog. Our dog was a healthy 8 year old poodle. It was right before the Thanksgiving of 2005 that I noticed one evening the dog was not his usual self. He was just walking around slowing and I could see that he was breathing heavy. The next morning when I awoke to let him out he was breathing heavier and wouldn't get up. He had no energy to walk. I had to pick him up and I immediately took him to the vet. As soon as I got there and they took his vitals they rushed him to their emergency room, he died 10 minutes later. The vet couldn't explain it, and suggested that an autopsy be performed in order to know the cause of death. The results came back and my vet said he died as a result of a fungus. The vet said our dog could have gotten it from playing in the dirt. It didn't make much sense to me, since our dog was well trained to stay out of the flower beds and would seldom be outside alone.
Denys of Colorado Springs CO (12/15/07)
I fed my dog Purina dog food, and she was vomiting and started to have seizures. The vet said that she had liver failure; she had been a healthy 2 1/2 year old female. I spent over $500 on the vet bill plus $250 for euthanizing her as well as cremating her. She was a part of our family. She was placed to sleep on Dec. 23, 2006.
I was by myself at the time; my spouse was deployed, and I was 6 months pregnant with our first child. I had to make the hardest decision to put her to sleep.
Andrea of Oxbow OTHER (10/22/07)
I have been feeding my 9-month-old German Shepherd Purina dog food for the last two months. I bought a new bag one week ago and 6 days later my dog was so sick I thought she was going to die. I took her off the Purina and switched to a totally different dog food and within 8 hours my dog was completely back to normal. I am almost positive it was the Purina dog food that caused the sickness. I have not contacted Purina but am certainly going to. I strongly urge people not to feed their dogs Purina.
Carlisa of Arlington TX (08/22/07)
I really think that Purina Dog Chow is contaminated and should be tested. Each of my two dogs were VERY ill durring the begining of this year (2007). After which all the pet food recalls emerged. However, since Purina Dog Chow was not on the list I figured it must have been something else they had gotten into.
Each time, a source for toxins could not be determined, and I kept thinking the only thing they'd eaten had been the food, it had to be the food. NOW a couple months later, and still only feeding Purina Dog Chow my dogs are haveing vomiting episodes since purchasing the current bag of Dog Chow. I am switching dog foods immediatly, but would like to know if the food, or what in the food is making my dogs sick!!
Sarah of Sumter SC (07/27/07)
I read that breeders are complaining to Purina about reproductive problems after their dogs ate tainted dog food with Purina labels. This is also my situation, not only did my female have reproductive problems,she had a tumor that grew to the size of a volleyball in less than a week and killed her leaving the one puppy she had orphaned.
I contacted Purina months ago and they have really not been cooperative. I have spoken with their insurance claims people but nothing has been offered except my vet bills. This is totally unacceptable. Then I read of others who have complained to Purina of the same issues. Must be some confusion, Purina claims they have had no phone calls pertaining to reproductive problems. That is a lie.
Yep I agree
There's about 300 more if you want them, all from Consummer affiars. Geez get a life.
I say feed In N out burgers and fries to all Chows with no supplements, maybe a chocolate shake.
Purina Pet Foods
Linda Hansen of Palm Coast FL (07/23/07)
My 10 year old Border Collie has always been fed Purina One. About 2 years ago she began having chronic diahhrea and we couldn't figure out why. Then she became very lethargic about 7 months ago. The vet tested her urine and found high amounts of crystals. We took her off Purina One and put her on distilled water and she's a new dog. She has her energy back and solid stools again. Just thought it was curious that Purina might be the culprit. I'll never buy their food again.
My situation wasn't so bad. We ran up about $300 in lab tests. Don't think there's any legal remedy necessary in my case but thought the Purina One connection might be of some interest.
Lisa of Grafton OH (06/16/07)
I am a professional dog breeder of Newfoundlands. I first noticed something was terribly wrong when I had a deformed litter in January. In my history of breeding, which is twelve years, this has never happened to me. I also bred five females in February, and none of my females took. Usually, at least two to three take.
My male Newfoundland, Doc, also began having severe skin issues. I know it was all food related. God only knows what toxins went into the Purina. I am simply grateful that none of my dogs died. However, I took a poll in a chat room I belong to regarding people using Purina, and several responded with similar issues; however, two women lost their Newfoundlands. They (their Newfs) were found dead with no prior warnings.
I have lost many puppy buyers who were counting on my puppies. I have a stellar repuation as a breeder, and it simply broke my heart to tell them that none of my females were bred. I'm a very educated woman, and as I said, have never had so many misses, besides having a deformed litter.
Chad of Sanger TX (03/11/08)
I have had three dogs die after eating the Members Mark Exceed Lamb and Rice dog food which is made by Purina. I also have two dogs that experienced some of the same issues as the ones that died but was able to take them off of the food before it was too late. They each were suffering from kidney failure. However, they are still alive but no longer eat Members mark Exceed Rice and Lamb. I called several times after each one died just to make sure their deaths had nothing to do with the food. Each time I was told there were not any claims or current recalls with that food or anything to be concerned about.
We have lost three dogs, two dogs will never be the same, we have had to tell our three year old daughter three times within about a years time, three of her dogs have died and have spent thousands of dollars trying to figure out what happened to the dogs so that we do not have to go through this again.
Javier of Nicholasville KY (01/07/08)
I believe Purina's products caused the death of our dog. Our dog was a healthy 8 year old poodle. It was right before the Thanksgiving of 2005 that I noticed one evening the dog was not his usual self. He was just walking around slowing and I could see that he was breathing heavy. The next morning when I awoke to let him out he was breathing heavier and wouldn't get up. He had no energy to walk. I had to pick him up and I immediately took him to the vet. As soon as I got there and they took his vitals they rushed him to their emergency room, he died 10 minutes later. The vet couldn't explain it, and suggested that an autopsy be performed in order to know the cause of death. The results came back and my vet said he died as a result of a fungus. The vet said our dog could have gotten it from playing in the dirt. It didn't make much sense to me, since our dog was well trained to stay out of the flower beds and would seldom be outside alone.
Denys of Colorado Springs CO (12/15/07)
I fed my dog Purina dog food, and she was vomiting and started to have seizures. The vet said that she had liver failure; she had been a healthy 2 1/2 year old female. I spent over $500 on the vet bill plus $250 for euthanizing her as well as cremating her. She was a part of our family. She was placed to sleep on Dec. 23, 2006.
I was by myself at the time; my spouse was deployed, and I was 6 months pregnant with our first child. I had to make the hardest decision to put her to sleep.
Andrea of Oxbow OTHER (10/22/07)
I have been feeding my 9-month-old German Shepherd Purina dog food for the last two months. I bought a new bag one week ago and 6 days later my dog was so sick I thought she was going to die. I took her off the Purina and switched to a totally different dog food and within 8 hours my dog was completely back to normal. I am almost positive it was the Purina dog food that caused the sickness. I have not contacted Purina but am certainly going to. I strongly urge people not to feed their dogs Purina.
Carlisa of Arlington TX (08/22/07)
I really think that Purina Dog Chow is contaminated and should be tested. Each of my two dogs were VERY ill durring the begining of this year (2007). After which all the pet food recalls emerged. However, since Purina Dog Chow was not on the list I figured it must have been something else they had gotten into.
Each time, a source for toxins could not be determined, and I kept thinking the only thing they'd eaten had been the food, it had to be the food. NOW a couple months later, and still only feeding Purina Dog Chow my dogs are haveing vomiting episodes since purchasing the current bag of Dog Chow. I am switching dog foods immediatly, but would like to know if the food, or what in the food is making my dogs sick!!
Sarah of Sumter SC (07/27/07)
I read that breeders are complaining to Purina about reproductive problems after their dogs ate tainted dog food with Purina labels. This is also my situation, not only did my female have reproductive problems,she had a tumor that grew to the size of a volleyball in less than a week and killed her leaving the one puppy she had orphaned.
I contacted Purina months ago and they have really not been cooperative. I have spoken with their insurance claims people but nothing has been offered except my vet bills. This is totally unacceptable. Then I read of others who have complained to Purina of the same issues. Must be some confusion, Purina claims they have had no phone calls pertaining to reproductive problems. That is a lie.
“...There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because conscience tells one that it is right.” MLK
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chris
- Moderator
- Posts: 4594
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:01 am
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- Contact:
Re: Nutro food scare!
So I guess the answer here would be to let our dogs out in the yard and let them HUNT their own food... seems like it would be safer. 
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Red Dragon
- Rank 3
- Posts: 1946
- Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 6:03 pm
Re: Nutro food scare!
Jeff, maybe you should get a life, and you can post all the Purina ones you can find for all I care, just thought people should know about the Nutro product since there seems to be so many Nutro users on here, or are there really that many?
Sam
Keeper of the furry things...Master of the kibble....Scooper of the poo!
Keeper of the furry things...Master of the kibble....Scooper of the poo!
Re: Nutro food scare!
Speaking of loose stools
If pekoe's poop were anymore solid she would ripe her butt, I was mugged by some illegal's the other day and beat them up with a bag of Pekoe's poop. The little league kids needed a ball for practice so I gave them some pekoe poop, the kid hit a home run then the next kid knocked out the right fielder, thats how hard her poop is.
If pekoe's poop were anymore solid she would ripe her butt, I was mugged by some illegal's the other day and beat them up with a bag of Pekoe's poop. The little league kids needed a ball for practice so I gave them some pekoe poop, the kid hit a home run then the next kid knocked out the right fielder, thats how hard her poop is.
“...There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because conscience tells one that it is right.” MLK
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Red Dragon
- Rank 3
- Posts: 1946
- Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 6:03 pm
Re: Nutro food scare!
Jeff, maybe you should keep your poop fetish to yourself? 
Sam
Keeper of the furry things...Master of the kibble....Scooper of the poo!
Keeper of the furry things...Master of the kibble....Scooper of the poo!
Re: Nutro food scare!
Millie would just LOVE that Chrischris wrote:So I guess the answer here would be to let our dogs out in the yard and let them HUNT their own food... seems like it would be safer.
She was stalking the geese this morning, little did I know I should have let her so they had dinner I saw the nutro warnings on another list as well.
Thank you Elodie!
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chris
- Moderator
- Posts: 4594
- Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 10:01 am
- Location: Ingleside, Illinois
- Contact:
Re: Nutro food scare!
LOL @ Layla.. 
.... Well, so far our 3 have been fine on Nutro Max Mini Chuncks. All 3 of them actualy prefer it to the other Nutros. Chief (GSD) was on special GSD dog food and would keep eating Steels Nutro and would ignore his own stuff.. so, we put him on it too.
.... Well, so far our 3 have been fine on Nutro Max Mini Chuncks. All 3 of them actualy prefer it to the other Nutros. Chief (GSD) was on special GSD dog food and would keep eating Steels Nutro and would ignore his own stuff.. so, we put him on it too.Re: Nutro food scare!
Nutro was sold to Mars about a year ago I really didn't like hearing that and now I hear from post Nutro's customer service isn't that great anymore, it all may be due to the company being sold, I've seen other products (not dog food) deteriorate after the company sale then Pekoe getting sick one night for no reason I have been thinking about a change of food for awhile myself, it sure won't be any Purina slop but I'm due for food shopping and may look into some other brand. I had this feeling things might change when Nutro sold. Candy and dog food don't mix. Its still controlled and ran by the same people but who knows what mars might be doing or not doing. I hate changing food after she's been eating it her entire life and she is 12 now don't want to disrupt or make any drastic changes.
“...There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because conscience tells one that it is right.” MLK
Re: Nutro food scare!
Jeff, if you think that the company is not up to scratch, ditch them. Even if you've been lucky enough to miss the contaminated batch thus far (if that's what it is, I don't know). Or Pekoe's been healthy enough to withstand the problems encountered by other dogs, if that's the case. If you suspect the company is not serious enough to look closely & properly into these cases a-prompto, why put your precious Pekoe at risk. It's not as though Pekoe's never had other kibbles in her life. Her tummy is good enough to digest human food even, if I understand correctly. She can withstand the changes I am sure, more so if you do it gradually. There is no perfect food. Some are better than others, that's all. I admit to my laziness in not changing from one kibble for over a year myself(SG WolfKing). Some say it's better to rotate for more "balanced" nutrition.....
Re: Nutro food scare!
Pip has had a few changes in food brands throughout the last few years. Like Pekoe, she has a good constitution, and never experienced stomache upset for the change- and I was not always that gradual. When we switched from Nutro to Nature's Recipe, it was a blunt switch. Neither of my girls had an issue.
Re: Nutro food scare!
Red Dragon wrote:Guess Nutro isn't such a great choice after all.
Sam
NutroMax is now killing animals who are being fed the food, and the company is not acknowledging it,
PLEASE pass this along to all rescues....
http://www.consumeraffairs.com:80/pets/nutro.html
The site has its own agenda
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chowfrnd88
- Rank 3
- Posts: 4327
- Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:47 am
- Location: Maryland
Re: Nutro food scare!
I kept meaning to reply to the thread a couple of weeks ago about the Nutro scarcity too. It's scarce here too. The Nutro rep told me it has to do with the scarcity of the lamb available for dog foods. he venison formula is in a Nutro-wide indefinite unavailability also. The rep said that almost all the Nutro Natural Choice will be unavaible for a while and it be felt hit nationwide soon. A co-worker today told me he feed the lamb and rice and has been considering alternatives since he can't get it anymore. He said he's nervous because the other brands like Nature's Recipe and Science Diet who also carry lamb and rice diets still have planty of food available. I don't know what's going on, but something's going on. It could just be that Science Diet and Nature's Recipe get their lamb from a different source.
This photo arrangement is the wonderful work of Sweetpea
Re: Nutro food scare!
They're also having problems with one of their plants in California. Seems that the local community wants them shut down because of odors. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the shortages...chowfrnd88 wrote: The Nutro rep told me it has to do with the scarcity of the lamb available for dog foods. he venison formula is in a Nutro-wide indefinite unavailability also. The rep said that almost all the Nutro Natural Choice will be unavaible for a while and it be felt hit nationwide soon....I don't know what's going on, but something's going on.
Re: Nutro food scare!
Good grief I feed Nutro. There is so much conflicting info out there and on here I don't know what I am suppose to feed my two! Guess I need to start setting 2 extra plates at the table every night...but then again I'm sure what we eat is bad for them too!
Chloe (left) Shuggy (right)
Re: Nutro food scare!
When Sophie was still eating Nutro, I checked out this brand:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food ... 06&cat=all
compared to Nutro:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food ... 16&cat=all
Pretty similar in ingredients, even a bump up quality-wise. Worth trying if you do well on Nutro.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food ... 06&cat=all
compared to Nutro:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food ... 16&cat=all
Pretty similar in ingredients, even a bump up quality-wise. Worth trying if you do well on Nutro.
Sandy
Owned by Sophie
Re: Nutro food scare!
In France too! It's out of stock!chowfrnd88 wrote: The rep said that almost all the Nutro Natural Choice will be unavaible for a while and it be felt hit nationwide soon.
I had to purchase the bag Coco is eating now from the UK!!
Apparently there is an added ingredient for the brain in that bag of Nutro puppy large breed, a new logo added, something is supposed to get my puppy smarter ??
I really don't know what dry food I should be giving Coco.
Elodie
please help feed animals in shelters for free, click daily on the yellow button http://clicanimaux.com/
please help feed animals in shelters for free, click daily on the yellow button http://clicanimaux.com/
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chow fancier
- Rank 3
- Posts: 1580
- Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:26 am
- Location: Rockford, IL
Re: Nutro food scare!
My goodness, smarter than a chow? What would we do? They are already smart enough to train their humans, unless we are constantly vigilant. I guess she will be running the world by the time she is an adult chow.Coco Chow wrote: Apparently there is an added ingredient for the brain in that bag of Nutro puppy large breed, a new logo added, something is supposed to get my puppy smarter ??
Jerilyn
Banner courtesy of the amazing Sweetpea.
Until there are none, adopt one!
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/631376
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/650868
Banner courtesy of the amazing Sweetpea.
Until there are none, adopt one!
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/631376
http://www.dogster.com/dogs/650868
Re: Nutro food scare!
A vitamin for the brain is fine but if they are getting into brain altering they are gone. They have been advertising this new med on a radio station I listen to I think its called Poise its a basically a sedative for dogs sort of like a lobotomy acting med, there are two type's one is fast acting and the other is a slower version its stops your dogs from being dogs and turns them into statues, no more barking, jumping, running, no more nothing. I called the radio station to complain and they said they would look into it, all The DJ's which include Adam Corolla, Danny Bonaduce, Tom Leykis and my hero's Frosty Heidi and Frank all dog people some extreme may get my point, I can't believe they are advertising this garbage.
“...There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because conscience tells one that it is right.” MLK
Re: Nutro food scare!
I recently bought a 40# bag of Nature's Recipe L&R instead of venison and rice, and both girl's got stomache upsets. I took it back and got the venison formula, all is well again. I tried getting NR lamb and rice for Pip when Lily was a wee chowling and had the same result- she would not touch it. At the time, Lily was on NR puppy food. I thought I had gotten a bad bag the first time, and that was when I put Pip on Nutro...now I know it was the formula. So, if any of you switch to Nature's Recipe L&R, get a small bag to see if your babies will eat it with no problems!
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sit_by_the_beach
- Rank 3
- Posts: 3030
- Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:20 am
- Location: Toronto, Canada
Re: Nutro food scare!
Friends feed this food to their dogs:
http://www.innovapet.com/products/default.asp?id=1
I have fed my chow Orijen since July last year. This is the only dog food Mikki will eat without having to add sardines, salmon or other goodies. Between Oct 2006 and July last year, we probably tried every dog food on the market. The food she liked the least was Nutro Dental. Refused to eat it at all. The racoons in the ravine loved it.
The new mutt is thriving on the Orijen too. He was a skinny mess and is now energetic and strong with muscle and gained 4 pounds in 2 months.
http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/about/fresh ... ients.aspx
Orijen white paper
http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/documents/O ... _paper.pdf
I don't trust any of the foods. I think the best diet is probably the one MM rescue feeds her chows and shar peis, raw meat.
http://www.innovapet.com/products/default.asp?id=1
I have fed my chow Orijen since July last year. This is the only dog food Mikki will eat without having to add sardines, salmon or other goodies. Between Oct 2006 and July last year, we probably tried every dog food on the market. The food she liked the least was Nutro Dental. Refused to eat it at all. The racoons in the ravine loved it.
The new mutt is thriving on the Orijen too. He was a skinny mess and is now energetic and strong with muscle and gained 4 pounds in 2 months.
http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/about/fresh ... ients.aspx
Orijen white paper
http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/documents/O ... _paper.pdf
I don't trust any of the foods. I think the best diet is probably the one MM rescue feeds her chows and shar peis, raw meat.
KARIN &
chowMIKKI
chowMIKKI
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BooBooBear
- Rank 1
- Posts: 142
- Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 10:10 am
- Location: springfield,mo
Re: Nutro food scare!
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
Samantha
Leo(Booboobear) 12/23/1993-3/3/2007
"You'll Always Be In My Heart"
I will always cherish your unconditional friendship!!!