Is Nutro food making pets sick?
Is Nutro pet food making animals sick?
A story yesterday in the daily briefing that I get from ConsumerAffairs.com (I'm a consumer writer in my regular gig) says that at least six dogs have died in the past two months, and scores more have been made ill, from eating Nutro-brand foods. The findings are based on complaints filed on the ConsumerAffairs Web site and interviews with pet owners.
The piece, by Lisa Wade McCormick, also reports that at least one unnamed Nutro employee resigned because she was disgusted by the company's lack of responsibility. It also suggests Nutro is attempting a stealth recall by removing the contaminated food from circulation.
Anna and Anja: Nutro victims?
In the meantime, the US Food and Drug Administration has found no toxins in the samples it tested, and Nutro insists the food is fine. There has been no official recall.
Click here to read the entire story from The Daily Consumer and draw your own conclusions. A lot of questions, no easy answers.
Anyone here had a bad or good experience with Nutro?
(photo from ConsumerAffairs.com)
ANGIE BRENNAN, a Sun-Sentinel page designer,
lives with four dogs and one boyfriend. And has a lifetime of animal stories to share.
DIANE LADE, a reporter on the Sun-Sentinel's Help Team, has lived with cats, dogs, reptiles, fish, an iguana, and an armadillo.
CYNDI METZGER, editor of the Sun-Sentinel's Outlook section, is smitten with Bella, her poodle who regularly ignores requests to sit, stay and get off the ivory-colored sofa. 
JOHN TANASYCHUK, a Sun-Sentinel lifestyle writer, has lived with cats as long as he can remember. He and his partner currently share their home with three.
Comments
Nutro has been around for years and has always been an excellent product. But I remember opening a new bag of food and the color was darker. The Nutro rep told me they had made changes to the ingredients. That was a few months ago and it seems to be about the time the complaints started.
We have 30 rescued cats (20 ferals) and 4 dogs. We started using Nutro last fall for both the dogs and cats.
We took several cats in for annual exams this year and they'd lost a couple pounds. Our vet was happy because they were on the porky side and needed to lose a little. But Nemo, one of the ferals has been steadily losing weight and we were going to have blood work done on him to see what was wrong. We had been finding bloody stools in the litter pan and thought it might be him. It started to worry me when we took a couple cats in that didn't need to lose weight and they, too, had lost a couple pounds. We also had several cats that were losing the shine to their fur. And our cats were no longer running to the food bowls when it was feeding time. I found I was throwing food out at the end of the day because they just weren't eating it!
Well, amazingly, the cats acted like starving strays when I switched to Eukanuba! No more bloody stool in the litter pans, fur shiny again, and Nemo is eating like he hasn't eaten in months! He's already filling out!
The problem with our cats and dogs is we were seeing different symptoms in them that appeared to be other conditions so we didn't connect it to the food. Max, our Pit Bull, was very ill for 2 weeks after we tried Nutro's Lamb and Rice. Our vet said it was gastritis caused by something he got into and we put him on meds and boiled hamburg and rice. When we started the Nutro Lamb again, he immediately started with vomiting and diarrhea. We took Max off the food thinking he just couldn't handle the lamb. The other dogs were fine so we didn't realize it was the food until Tazz, our German Shepherd, became very sick after Max recovered. We switched to Nutro's Large Breed.
They seemed to be ok on that formula. But Max started having stool problems. Soft, then hard, then soft. Our vet thought because of his age that he might need meds if it continued. Kaiser, another German Shepherd, was having to urinate 10 times a night. If we didn't get to the door fast enough, he'd urinate in the kitchen. We were going to get him in for tests. Tazz started to act disorientated and very unsteady on her feet. Tazz has arthritis and we know we're on borrowed time with her but she acted drunk. Jada, another German Shepherd, and Tazz started eating grass. And they all were drinking lots of water especially the dogs after they ate.
We switched to Eukanuba dog food. The first night after changing food - Kaiser slept all night instead of whining and pacing! When the
other dogs went out, I had to wake him up to go! Tazz is brighter and though she's stiff when she gets up, she's not acting drunk! Max is having normal stools! Jada has stopped eating grass! AND they're drinking normal amounts of water now - not guzzling water like they were dying of thirst. No more vomiting, no more diarrhea, fur is shiny again.
When there is weight loss in EVERY animal in a household, then something is wrong! We've been off Nutro for two weeks and every symptom we were seeing is GONE! I thank God we switched before we lost any of our precious babies!
It breaks my heart to read these stories of lost pets. Something is wrong and we all need answers! The stories I've read on http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html have alarmed me terribly! I will never use Nutro again!
Posted by: Linda | August 10, 2008 1:39 AM
ON 08-08-08 I SUBMITTED A LETTER ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE WITH NUTRO PET FOODS AND THE PROBLEMS ALL OF OUR CATS AND DOGS EXPERIENCED. I URGE YOU ALL TO CONTACT THE FDA AS I HAVE DONE TODAY. EMAIL OR WRITE TO PETCO, PETSMART AND ANY STORE THAT SELLS NUTRO PRODUCTS. WE NEED ANSWERS AND THE ONLY WAY WE'RE GOING TO STOP ANIMALS FROM GETTING SICK AND DYING IS IF WE RAISE AWARENESS AND GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS. MY HEART GOES OUT TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU WHO HAS LOST A BELOVED PET.
http://www.fda.com
OR WRITE:
Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, Maryland 20857
Posted by: Linda | August 13, 2008 2:06 AM