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Consumer Affairs


Nutro Pet Foods


Consumer Complaints & Reviews

I have been feeding my dog this food for 7 years with great results. I purchased a bag in January 2012 and fed my dog as usual. Later that evening, he vomited. But I figured he got into something gross in the yard. For three days, he was lethargic and drank massive amounts of water and continued to vomit. I kept trying to get him to eat, but he would not. On day 4, I fed him some biscuits and turkey to see if he could eat, and he did. He became a little more like his self.

He still would not eat his food. I figured he was training me to feed him people food. He finally went 3 days without being sick, so I skipped the people food and put a bowl of Nutro out for him. He gobbled it down; I was elated. About 45 minutes later, he started gagging and puking again.

I decided to look up his food and found all of these recent complaints here on this site. I was appalled. I emailed Nutro, and they have asked me to call them directly. I gave them the link to this site and suggested they may need another recall. I am going to call them today and am returning the bag to Petco with a printout of all these complaints.

Thank goodness for this site, I feel for all of you who lost your pets.

I want to add the specific information for this 5 lb bag of food, Nutro Natural herring meal, rice & potato formula', lot #143b2vic08 21:12. Over $1,000 later, my dog is home and being monitored and coaxed back to full health (I hope). He will be re-checked in 10 days by my vet and is meanwhile on prescribed food and medications until he's well. Petsmart Corporate and local store manager acknowledged my complaint immediately but have heard nothing from the manufacturer. People should exercise caution with this brand. I've kept the bag in case I need it tested later --- but will never feed my dogs this brand again.

My dog was given a small bowl of this. On the first time I used this, my dog vomited it up 30 minutes later, and continued to vomit over the next two days, and then experienced explosive, bloody diarrhea. My dog is currently in the vet, on various IV medications. I see on message board that other dogs are experiencing the same symptoms on Natural Choice dry food, should be explored for immediate recall. I am contacting the store where I bought it to alert them. I hope my dog doesn't die.

I am involved in dog rescue in Houston, and when we have dogs in foster care. We provide high quality food for them. We received a donation of Nutro Max dog food for adult dogs, in huge quantities, and our foster dogs refuse to eat it at all. Some of them sniffed and tasted it. Some sniffed it, and refused to eat it. They actually prefer Wal-Mart dog food, Ol Roy! Just read all these postings about what is making these dogs sick, and I am afraid to even feed this to our street dogs at the feeding stations. I want to know more about what has been found in Nutro, if anything.

I have been feeding our 2 labradors Nutro Natural Choice Lite Dog Treats for a number of years. This past weekend, they started with diarrhea and vomiting. The 2-year-old lab had massive bloody diarrhea this morning and became extremely lethargic. He is now in the hospital with IV fluids. Our 7-year-old lab went to the vet also and had fluid replacement and antibiotics. The lot number is 131F39JM03 02:05.

I have fed my dogs the Chicken and Rice Nutro Max for the last 12+ years. I will no longer feed any dog I ever own any formula of Nutro Max!

I have a 3 year old female Siberian husky. In late November, we noticed she was extremely sensitive to us petting her. It was as though she didn't want to be in her own skin! Then in mid December, we noticed she was missing clumps of hair on her left side and had been chewing on herself. We took her to the vet and they said she suffering from inhalant allergies. They suggested we give her Benadryl 2-3 times a day. They seemed to think this would pass with the first frost of the season.

In the meantime, she ran out of food so I went and bought a bag (of what I thought was the food she had been eating for the last 3 years) of the Nutro Max formula she had been eating. I noticed the color of the bag was a little different but never thought that they changed their formula. I noticed instantly she was not interested in her food. I even tried putting canned food on the dry food to get her interested in eating. She was not interested in the food whatsoever! I also noticed she was drinking more than usual, but attributed that to the house being drier since the heat had been on.

During this period, the spots were getting bigger and she had an odor about herself that smelled as if she were rotting from the inside out. We took her back to the vet and they put her on an antibiotic and also gave her a shot containing steroids. The vet wanted us to continue with the Benadryl. She was on the antibiotic for a week. A few days after finishing the antibiotic the smell came back and the sores were getting worse. At this point, she started to attack the right side of her body.

Seeing that she was not getting better, I phoned the vet and they suggested we give her another round of the antibiotic along with the Benadryl as well a topical steroid to be applied twice a day for one week, then once a day for a week and lastly every other day for the last two weeks. I was curious what would happen if she ingested the steroid so I Google the question and lo and behold, I came across this website. Funny thing is I never typed anything about Nutro Max in my question.

I did ask the vet if they thought it was a food allergy and they didn't seem to think so. They said it would be very hard to pin point exactly what her allergy was. During the first couple of days being on the topical steroid, I decided to change her food. Let me tell you, she was interested again in eating! The sores all dried up and she has not had any outbreak of any new sores!

I strongly believe that Nutro Max has changed something in their dog food which has unfortunately caused death in some instances. I searched Nutro's website and could not find anything confirming they had indeed changed the formula for their dog food. It saddens me to hear of the people who lost their beloved pets all due to Nutro Max making changes.

I have fed my dogs Nutro for the last 8 years and never seemed to have a problem with it. Within the last month, my yellow Lab started acting very strange. My dog had lethargy, uncontrollable shaking, drinking excessive amounts of water and vomiting. It got so bad in a matter of 4 days that we had to go to an emergency facility. We did X-ray, an ultrasound and blood work. No masses and obstructions were found. Everything seemed normal.

I fed her chicken and rice for almost a week, then, gradually put her back on Nutro natural choice/light. She has only vomited once since, but is urinating excessively, very gassy and lethargic. My other dog, Staffordshire terrier mix, has developed horrible diarrhea within the last few days, and also has horrible gas and is drinking tons of water. What have I done to my poor babies? I am so disappointed in this company. Especially since I worked in pet food nutrition for 5 years and pushed their products constantly because I believed in them wholeheartedly.

Wow! I have used Nutro for a few years and was pretty happy with how it was benefiting my dog's nutritional needs. Started noticing changes in my 3 large breed dogs eating and behavior within last month or so. I'm very careful what I feed my dogs and keep diet very simple and never stray from it. Never give any other forms of treats, toys or food whatsoever. Not even chew bones except the hard Nyla Bones that can not be broken off into chunks or pieces. My dogs are inside with me all day and are only going outside for play and potty needs. First, it's cold and winter temps and they started drinking a ton of water having to fill up two very large water bowls several times daily like if it were summer and hot temps.

Second, they all 3 started sleeping all day long like they weren't feeling well and started not wanting to eat, sometimes leaving a full bowl the entire day only nibbling on it because they got so hungry. And finally there was awful gas beyond normal and some gagging but no vomiting that I noticed, but the feeling like they wanted too. One of my dogs, who is about a year old, was not as active/playful and became clingy and even felt feverish like he was ill. Used Large Breed Natural Choice and Senior switched to Max Large Breed and Senior.

Kibbles did seem to be different color and smell. Neither brand seemed appealing for my dogs to eat. Normally I would gradually switch dog food, but from these symptoms and others complaints I stopped using immediately and hope it was soon enough. After purchasing a completely different companies brand of dog food and putting it in my 3 dogs' bowls, they could hardly even wait for me to put their meal down and devoured every last Kibble like they hadn't eaten a good meal for a while. Praying I caught this in time and no further illness is experienced. Very upset! Putting trust in a holistic dog food and it just might be harming your loved pets.

I bought a bag of the Nutro Natural Choice Dog Food Chicken Meal, Rice and Oat Formula on December 15, 2011. Prior to that my 3 dogs were eating Science Diet. Two of my precious sweet babies passed away this week, and the other little girl is in critical condition and was transported to L.S.U Veterinary School of Medicine in Baton Rouge to be put on dialysis because her kidneys are starting to shut down.

I will start with my oldest dog Daisey who passed away first. She was a Jack Russell Terrier, 10 years old, who also had been diagnosed with lupus a couple of years ago. She weighed 18 lb. Even though she had the lupus, she was otherwise fine until we started feeding her the Nutro dog food. We noticed that she was starting to act sick, vomiting and had a loss of appetite. We just assumed it was her lupus acting up. Within the last week, she got really sick. So my family and I decided to have her put to sleep. We had her remains cremated.

Then on Saturday night, 1/14/2012, Sophie our 4.5 year old Shih Tzu which weighs 11 lb started vomiting. The vomiting got so extreme that we ended up taking her to the vet hospital. Everything happened so quick. Then they got her stable, so we left her at the hospital and started to drive home. Then not but 15 minutes later, we received a call from our vet telling us to turn around and come back quick.

By the time, we had gotten there, they had already resuscitated her and were basically just keeping her alive, so we could say goodbye to her. She had started to bleed internally and her organs had shut down. So for precautionary measures, we went home to get our other little girl Riley to get her stomach pumped. The vet was thinking that something poisoned them.

The vet pumped her stomach, and we brought her home and watched her closely. On Sunday morning, 1/15/12, my husband woke up to let her out and feed her. Riley is a 17-month-old yellow Lab who is full of energy; she weighs 77 lb. But something was just not right with her yesterday morning. She was lethargic, and she was having trouble getting out of the bed. Finally, she got up; but still she was acting funny. We just knew something was not right. We called the vet to tell them we were bringing her back. She is now fighting for her life.

While we were at the hospital, a friend of ours started to do some online investigating about the new dog food that they had started eating. It was the only logical explanation. She discovered all of these consumer complaints with the same symptoms as our little girls.

Now looking back over the last month or so when the dogs started to eat the food, our dogs like many others were also drinking more water than usual, having frequent and uncontrolled urination, vomiting, loss of appetite, very clingy, and just really overall not acting like them. Since we had 3 dogs and one with lupus, we thought it was her vomiting in the house. Little did we know it was all three of them.

This is horrible for our family to lose 2 members of our family in a matter of a couple of days and to have one fighting to stay alive. We threw the bag the food came in away, but we got the pet store to reprint our receipt but they are unable to give us the lot number, because Nutro does not directly deliver to them.

The only logical answer is the dog food we gave the remaining dog food to L.S.U. where Riley is and they are going to take the contents of Sophie's stomach and have it all tested. We also purchased more of the Nutro dog food from the same store where we got ours and gave that to them to test. We are unable to do any testing on our Daisy cause we had her cremated before the other two started showing signs of being sick.

If it is the dog food which all signs so far point to, this company has got to be stopped. How can they still be in business with all of these complaints against them? My family has lots of questions, and we want answers.

I've been buying Nutro Sensitive Stomach for my rottie since March 2011. I really noticed a change in the last bag of food, as she wasn't eating it as much. She would eat the canned food that I placed on top, but would leave the dry Nutro in the bowl, resulting in me throwing it away. On occasions that she did eat it, she had the worst smell on her breath, and gas. The last time recently, she had eaten the whole bowl because I used chicken on the food mixed in, and then later she stunk (breath and gas) to high heaven. She had no problem eating just chicken the day before and the day after.

Then I run across this page. Yup, it has to be the food, you would think I would be smarter since the last go around with Nutro that resulted in me having to put my dog to sleep because of kidney failure (never was compensated, Nutro flaked on a settlement). But trust me, if your dog isn't eating it's not because they're not hungry. This will be the 2nd dog out of three that wouldn't touch the food unless altered.

Our Boxer has been eating Nutro Natural Choice and it created the following symptoms: Lethargy (wanted to sleep all the time and not very active), dehydration (never could drink enough water) and urination difficulty (he would try to urinate and it was straining and no solid flow). We finally took him to the vet and received the following information and in one week, we have our dog back! The vet stated that Nutro has been causing these symptoms in many dogs. They are recommending that all their clients switch to different brands. There was crystallization in his urine. Thus, a urinary infection that was ongoing. Imbalance in his blood glucose. Pancreas was not working correctly due to the symptoms listed.

Solutions, these have worked! They put him on special diet that they suggested. The food had to be purchased through the vet as a prescription was required (this was to get him off of the food that was damaging his internals). Antibiotics are given 3 times a day with food (this is to fight off the urinary infections). Enzymes for his food (this is stabilizing his pancreas). Go take your animal to the vet if this has happened to your beloved family member!

After using Nutro Ultra Chicken for my dog, because it was supposed to be healthier for him, he has gotten ill. He is not doing so well. He is lethargic, urinating a lot in the house, drinking as if can't get enough water. He no longer touches his food. He seems to have trouble walking and seems very tired and out of it, sleeps a lot. Had trouble going pooping, one minute diarrhea next minute constipation.

We have been feeding our dog Nutro dog food oatmeal/chicken/rice (light green bay) for over 6 years. Not anymore! It will stop today after discovering this website! We had to bring our 6 1/2 year old Yorkie/Shih Tzu/Bichon Friese into the emergency center on Jan. 1, 2012 due to severe vomiting, lethargy, depression and severe dehydration. We were surprised about the dehydration because our dog was drinking so much but he was vomiting more than he was drinking, like he couldn't drink enough. Temp normal, x-rays normal, bloodwork showed his blood was very sludgy so they kept him overnight and gave him fluids via IV.

I picked him up the next morning and had to bring him directly to his regular vet. They could not explain why he was so sick. They said they could do more tests but he was so miserable and weak. They said even if they did do the tests, they would not be sending us home with a healthy dog. We ultimately had to make a decision and one which no pet owner wants to make. We couldn't stand to see him in such distress and misery any longer. It all came on so sudden. Friday night, playful. Saturday night, bath and Sunday sick beyond belief. Monday, I had to have him put down. With the vet unable to give us any sort of explanation and me stumbling upon this website, I can not help but to believe that the Nutro brand of dog food led to our dog's most unfortunate demise.

We are terribly heartbroken at the loss of our family member and will never be purchasing this brand of dog food again! We are returning the remainder (which is pretty much the entire bag) of our 40lbs bag of Nutro dog food to the store where we purchased and will never buy another bag of it again. Nutro made a bad decision by changing their pet food because it could ultimately cost them their "life" (way of living) too. Karma, karma, karma!

My older dog has been vomiting, drinking a lot of water and sick since feeding Nutro Max chicken and rice. My other younger dog refuses to eat it. I have been putting cottage cheese to make them eat it. After reading the reviews, I will never ever feed them another bite of Nutro. This is terrible! I'm switching to Diamond Naturals.

We purchased a bag of Nutro Adult Natural Meal Venison and Potato Formula two days ago. This was our very first time trying this brand. My 10-year old cattle dog began vomiting off and the very next day and again today. Last night, I noticed my new puppy, 5-months old, ate the remainder of the older dogs' food. She has been vomiting all morning!

I am not feeding this to my dogs ever again and we have filed a complaint on the Nutro website this morning.

I have fed my dog Nutro for 10 years. Paid more because I thought it was better food. Dog got very sick and when I gave bag to neighbor after dog died, her dog went into convulsions and she thought she was going to die. I'm heartbroken. I think they should be made to pay for my loss.

My Pit Bull Mix has been eating Nutro Natural Choice for the past few years, first the Lamb & Rice and now Venison for sensitive stomachs. I noticed that for the past 2 weeks, when I let her off-leash in my backyard, she immediately starts eating as much grass as she can and vomiting before she even has time to potty. She won't do this if I decide to leash walk her down the street, but it's getting a bit out of hand now. What in the world did Nutro put in the food?! I just bought a giant bag, too. Oh well, I'm switching foods before my dog croaks.

I recently noticed my Australian shepherd had lost some weight in the past month. I weighed her today and she weighed 33 pounds! She has maintained at 39-41 pounds her entire adult life. She is 11 years old. I went online to Nutro.com to read the calories of the Sensitive stomach food vs the Senior. Both have same recommended feeding amounts listed online. The amount is double what I am feeding her! I have been feeding her the same amount for years which I got from the recommended feeding on the Nutro bag. It is written on her dog food container for when others feed her. Nutro must have changed something for the feeding amounts to be doubled!

As a long time user, I would never recheck the amounts recommended. I was unintentionally starving her! This only started the past month or two at the most! I have fed her the same amount for 6-8 years or more! I have noticed a lot more hair loss in her clumps lately. It is winter and she doesn't usually lose hair in winter. I had been wondering about that until I read other complaints. She also has been vomiting bile more too.

After finding this site with all the complaints, I will throw out the remainder of the 40-pound bag of food and buy another brand. If I still had the bag itself, I would return it to Petsmart. I keep the food in a large Tupperware container. No bag to return. Someone needs to stop this company from harming our dogs! Thanks to this site, I see where the problem is. My search on Nutro.com also confirmed that the change in recommended feeding amounts means they are just out to sell twice as much food.

Within the last two months, I noticed my dog looked ill in the eyes and has started itching again and he hasn't had allergy problems since starting with Nutro Grain-free in December 2010. But now, it seems as if he has allergies again. I couldn't figure out why or where the problem came from but from reading the posts on here, it is in fact the ingredient has changed then. That explains why my dog is ill.

I purchased new bag of Nutro Natural Choice cat food in October and noticed a change in labeling and the look of the food. Both cats began to itch incessantly and one was even vomiting episodically. It took a while. And stumbling upon this page, I figure out it was the food (had cats fast for a few hours) due to probable recipe change causing allergic reaction. Both cats immediately stopped itching and are purring and content once again. I wish these companies would let us know when recipes change!

I have been feeding Nutro Grain Free Venison since it came out. It was the only food that stopped my dogs chronic loose stools. Then when we bought a new bag in October 2011. The food looked different, was lighter in color, smelled like cereal (instead of strong meaty odor) very hard kibble and my dog refused to eat it. He also had vomiting. I have never seen my dog refuse to eat anything. He even takes medication pills from my hand.

We were able to do a food test as we found a bag with the older style food and once again he ate enthusiastically without signs of illness. The next bag was the newer food and he would not eat it. Something has changed in the ingredients and I'll have to find another food for him. It is a shame as this was the only food that gave him normal stools after 4 years of vet testing, allergy testing, vet prescribed medication, fiber supplements, probiotics and trying various brands of dog food. I am so disappointed in your decision to change ingredients and not tell the public.

We have been feeding our two indoor cats, Buffy, 16 years old and George, Nutro Natural Choice canned cat food over the past year and a half. We spent a little more money to get high end foods so our cats would be healthier. Buffy would would barely touch the wet food, while George would gulp it down.

I have four dogs, all of which have been fed Nutro Natural Large Breed for many years. Recently, my six-year old Labrador suddenly came down with acute renal failure. The cause was undetermined but it started with him not wanting to eat his food. He spent a week in the hospital trying to recover. Now, none of my dogs want to eat their normal dog food. I have no idea why and I am thinking of switching food.

We had used Nutro Max Senior once and noticed our dog's bowel movements change. Our cat also ate his food and she had horrible poops even though before she has eaten his old food and never had this issue. We didn't equate it to the food and next time we purchased his food they were sold out of the senior food so we got adult. No issues from any animals. Next time we went back to the senior formula and immediately noticed a return to bad bowel movements and vomiting. Our dog now tries to urinate but nothing keeps coming out. We switched to another brand and everything went back to normal.

My 4 dogs are all on Nutro and had just recently switched from Pro Plan cause I can't afford the major increase in price. They were all seniors. I just poured the new bag which was different than last and noticed also the kibble was different in color. I have had 1 dog with blood in stool and urine, and 2 with bile vomiting and all a increase in water. What is going on?

I have been feeding my 5 year-old dog the Nutro Adult for the last 18 months. I recently noticed that the food looks different in the bag that I last purchased. For the last three weeks, my dog has been uninterested in the food and whenever we "try" to get him to eat it, he has been throwing up bile. He skips meals now since this change. It was obvious they changed something in the ingredients and I will now be changing dog foods. After reading these comments from others, it seems Nutro is neglecting to address these issues.

After noticing a change in my two Australian Shepherds, I became worried about their dog food. I came across this website, in which unfortunately I found what I was hoping not to. Both dogs started having very loose stools with mucus and one dog was vomiting. They have been on Nutro Max for over a year, but I am convinced something changed with the food. It was because this all started a week ago when we bought a new bag. Luckily, at least I hope my dogs are okay. We didn't hesitate to switch brands after only a week of these problems. Since we switched, no more problems so far. After reading these complaints, I am dumbfounded as to how all of these have not been more publicized and how Nutro is still being sold!

Our flat coat retriever has had diarrhea on and off for the past few weeks since we have started him on a new bag of Nutro dog food. We always fed Nutro to him in the past. He will not touch his food, has diarrhea again, and looks uncomfortable. He has been panting. Tomorrow I'll take him to the vet.

I decided to switch dog foods around the end of June or beginning of July 2011. My dog Lucy, an australian cattle mix - 34 lbs, 8 years, was eating a brand from Trader Joe's that she had been on for over a year, but she was starting to belch more frequently and I thought I would get something easy to digest. I was debating between Science Diet and Nutro Natural Choice. I went with the Nutro for sensitive stomachs.

I slowly incorporated the new food into her old for over a 7-day period. Everything seemed fine and the belching pretty much stopped with just an occasional burp once in awhile. I went through two five pound bags of the Nutro and I think my dog threw up once during that time which is not uncommon for her to do every now and then. On 8/2/11, I bought a 17-pound bag of the Nutro for sensitive stomachs and I began feeding her from the new bag 1 to 2 days later. Three days after, she vomited 7 times in one day. My vets office was already closed by the time I realized something was seriously wrong so I monitored her through the night. She had eaten grass in the afternoon and after she threw that up she stopped vomiting around 9pm. She had been drinking water but she stopped that to. She did not eat or drink all night but just lay in her bed looking pretty ill. I got her to the vet first thing the next morning so they could monitor her and get her hydrated. Tests were done including ones to check her liver, kidneys and also a digital radiograph to check for obstructions.

Nothing was found and I was told it was gastroenteritis which could be caused by a number of things. She was given electrolytes and a Pepcid shot and I took her home and fed her a bland diet of chicken and rice. I mentioned to the vet that I had recently changed her food about 4-5 weeks prior but she said my dog would have reacted sooner if it was the food. My dog began to recover and I called the vets a couple of days later to give an update. They said I could start to incorporate her regular food back into her diet. Over a 24-hour period, I incorporated a total of 1 cup of the Nutro Natural Choice in with the chicken and rice. My dog got sick again. This time it was diarrhea and lots of it.

She started having accidents in the apartment and having to go out more often. I knew then that it was her food. I stopped feeding the Nutro and called the vets. They told me it sounded like it was her food and recommended I feed her some prescription food that was nutritionally balanced instead of just the chicken and rice and keep her on this diet for three weeks. She is now on Royal Canin Gastro Intestinal and she is doing much better. She is back to her old self. I don't know what is up with the Nutro but my dog clearly cannot eat it and I will never feed it to her again. After the three weeks are up I have not yet decided what I am going to feed my dog.

I have three dogs and have used Natural Choice by Nutro for three years. My picky eater chose Nutro herself after trying many dry dog foods. I also bought Natural Choice canned dog food as a special treat which they love.

I have fed my dogs Nutro natural choice for sensitive stomachs for a while without an issue. However, recently, one of my dogs got sick and died. I didn't think it was the food until our other dogs simply refused to eat from a brand new bag and one of them is exhibiting similar symptoms. I've since switched them to a different food and they are back to their old appetites.

I only chose one star because we can't put in a zero star.

I bought a bag of Nutro Max Cat adult dry food, and just after two days of feeding this to my three year old cat, he threw up fifteen times in one morning! Leading up to him vomiting blood. He also had what looked like a bloody diarrhea the same morning. I rushed him to the vet, and he had to be admitted over night. He came home the next day because he wasn't eating at the hospital. It has now been five days, and he still would not eat a thing. Just today he vomited green vile. I've tried everything! I made house calls and the vet have given him shot to calm the stomach irritation.

Our 2 1/2 year old toy poodle ran out of her regular science diet food, and the store did not have any in stock so I purchased a bag of Nutra Max mini bits chicken (expires 5/31/12 lot12202LEB0419) 15 hours later we woke to her vomiting in my son's room. She vomited once and had pooped 4x in his room (once solid with trailing diarrhea and the other three diarrhea) .

She NEVER goes to the bathroom in his room and it was too early for her to go outside (she usually goes out around 8:30 am and it was only 7:00). I gave her some toddler chicken sticks thinking she must just be reacting adversely to the new dog food (she eats the toddler sticks as a snack often so she readily accepted them). I cut the amount of new food in her bowl in half, thinking that transitioning her into it slower would help. The following morning we woke to copious amounts of blood laden diarrhea throughout the kitchen (we took her out of my son's room that night) she was panting and in distress. I gave her 5 mg. of famotidine to ease her intestinal distress, then began a diet of boiled chicken in broth with rice and took away all traces of Nutra Max. Ruby is a healthy poodle, she is up to date on all shots, she is wormed monthly, and she eats science diet, but she will also eat eukanuba, and blue products without ever having any digestive issues between brand switches.

I think this product should be looked at very closely as I am now finding that many pets have had problems with it.

I purchased our first bag of Nutro dry pet food for our poodle and noticed a decline in his well-being, restlessness, vomiting and 'not his usual self'. Vet visit was unsuccessful with a diagnosis but these all started since we started him on this brand.

The diet change has been the only variable. I Googled Nutro and found the forums on Nutro, which are very disturbing as the posts were from two to three years ago. However, I believe there is still a problem. I know my pet well enough to be able to correlate his behavioral and health changes with this brand of food.

Our 3 dogs have become extremely sick just days after starting a new bag of Nutro Max dog food. Symptoms came on after the 3rd day of feeding this food. Our Doberman became sick first, had an episode of vomiting bile and immediately had horrible diarrhea. He also peed in the house two different times, which never happens. The diarrhea continued the next day and I schedule an immediate appointment with our vet because a LOT of blood was present in the stool. The vet thought he might have ingested a foreign object that upset his gastrointestinal tract, and he was given medication to help ease the vomiting and diarrhea. Immediately when we got home, we found that our Papillon had vomited in the house and had diarrhea when we let her out. Later that night, the same happened with our Chow. The only thing that has changed is this new bag of dog food.

Before the symptoms started showing in all three dogs, they all seemed to have a decreased appetite... or rather that they seemed hungry, but were uninterested in the Nutro. We just started them on Blue Buffalo, so hopefully the stomach problems will cease and no permanent damage has been done.

We just put our dog down. We had been feeding her Ultra Senior dog food for the past year because she had an allergy to wheat and Ultra was gluten free. Before she got sick, she drank continuously, had accidents in the house and at the end was passing nothing but blood in her stools. I'm now wondering if the dog food we thought was supposed to help her was making her sick and led to her demise.

My mutt is 3-1/2 years old. At 9 months, old Ripley was on Nutro and had mucous and bloody stools and vomiting. The vet said they could not find anything wrong with him but proposed he may have pancreatitis. This lasted 2 months. We switched foods but never really knew if Nutro was causing the GI problems. Afterwards, Ripley has been gaining a lot of weight. He doesn't eat much, but still he is 100 lbs and the vet wants him down to 80. We went to the store today and chose Nutro Natural Choice Light. He had it for dinner tonight and now he is throwing up again. After reading the complaints, I am convinced we have all experienced the same symptoms and it's because Nutro is poisoning our pets. Ripley's weight gain is also probably because of the stress and irritation on his GI system when he was young.

I have fed my 14yr old Russian Blue cat, (since 8wks of age) and all of my prize Boxers and have never ever had a problem with the Nutro brand food. My cat has regular blood check ups, (as requested by our vet) because she is spoiled and eats canned tuna as a treat almost daily. We have never had a bad lab report from our vet regarding her main diet of Nutro Max Cat Adult and now Senior. We have however changed to premium canned tuna!

First I'd like to say that before this I had 2 healthy dogs; a 3 year old and one 9-month old male pit bulls. Both are in excellent health and they eat either TOTW salmon or Orijen Pacific Salmon, which they love and have no problems with. At the urging of a Nutro rep at our local Dells farm supply (where I purchase TOTW) we tried a new Nutro product grain free venison. We purchased a 4 lb bag just to see if they like it. Well they ate it, no problem, however on days 2 and 3, both dogs got sick and started throwing up. I thought it was a cold or something, however it dawned on me that they were on new food. I immediately stopped the Nutro grain free venison and put them back on TOTW Salmon and thankfully within 2 days they were back to normal. I will never use Nutro products again. I hate the thought of losing my dogs! Thankfully it didn't take long to realize what the problem was. I still have about 1 lb of Nutro if anyone wants to analyze.

I read the complaints and they do not make sense. I've worked as a nutrition specialist for Nutro for 10 years now & have converted 1,000's of cats & dogs. Everyone who stayed on it looked beautiful, was healthy. Never one sick complaint. My cats are 16 yrs old & ornery as can be. Does any one ever follow-up legally on these claims or can any person type anything they wish?

We switched our healthy, vibrant four-year-old miniature schnauzer to Nutro Ultra Holistic Superfood in Nov/Dec 2010 from Eukaneba, which she had been on since she was a puppy. In January 2011, our dog became severely ill--vomiting bile and massive diarrhea. We brought her to the vet and they ran several tests (pancreatitis, addison's disease, parasites, etc.) and did X-rays. Everything came back normal. We fed her ground turkey and rice for about a week and she seemed to be doing better so we reintroduced the Nutro Ultra. Over the next few months, we noticed several changes in her. She vomited bile occasionally, had loose stools, extreme thirst, trouble urinating, glassy eyes, lethargic, dry skin, dull coat and bad breath. On May 15th, she vomited blood. We called her vet on Monday morning and they put her on two medications--one to coat her stomach and antacid. On Tuesday afternoon she vomited bright red blood. We took her to the vet again and they gave her fluids under the skin and antibiotics.

I believe that Nutro Ultra is to blame. Our perfectly healthy dog became severely sick after we switched her food.

My dog got severely ill after ingesting Nutro brand dogfood. I nearly lost her before I changed dogfoods. I have had to treat her for the last year and a half for various complications due to the severe illnesses caused by Nutro brand dogfoods.

We just started weaning my dog 2 days ago off of his current low-fat Royal Canin dog food onto Nutro Ultra Weight Management Dog food and he had a seizure this morning! He had to be on a low-fat food because he recently was diagnosed with Pancreatitis. Royal Canin is full of animal byproducts and other crap so we knew that once we got Kobe's pancreatitis under control, we wanted to switch his food to something better. We went to PetSmart and looked at the ingredients and fat content in all the food. We found that Nutro was pretty comparable to the fat percentage in the Royal Canin, so we bought it.

Like I said, we started to wean him onto the Nutro, 2 days ago, by giving him only 25% of the Nutro and 75% of the Royal Canin then gradually increasing the amount. This morning, he had a seizure that lasted about 2 1/2 minutes. We rushed him to the vet and they took blood. We will find out the results on Monday. Once I got home this morning, I googled "Nutro and seizures" and could not believe what I saw. Please do not feed your dog any Nutro dog food.

I have been feeding my boxer and retriever the Nutro Senior Chicken and Rice for two years. I have been paying $60 for the dog food. For the last three months, the boxer has been throwing up. There is also a small amount of blood in his stool. After investigating the cause, I have discovered that the Nutro brand dog food is the culprit. It has too much vitamins in the mix. I am very mad that I have been paying a premium for this food that is causing my dogs to be sick. Also, I found out that there may be suspected mislabeling of ingredients on this Nutro brand food.

Nutro dog food made our dogs sick! Our three dog household: a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (1), Toy Fox Terrier (3) and our 10-year old Labrador (Sebastian) have always been in optimum health other than the occasional stomach upset while eating Nutro dog food. Suddenly, all 3 of the dogs (beginning with the smallest and going to the largest) became lethargic, started vomiting and passing liquid and blood as stool. We became very concerned when the dogs suddenly lost interest in their food and began having health issues.

We immediately bought a different brand of food. Using a small portion of the new food, lightly moistened, combined cooked chicken breast and a spoonful of canned pumpkin, while not getting better immediately, within hours the two smaller dogs seemed to be feeling better. We are still working slowly with Sebastian as he gains some recovery. It was amazing when we quit feeding the food how quickly they began feeling better. We have always spoken highly of and recommended Nutro. But after this episode, we want everyone to please be cautious! Nutro natural choice lamb and rice 35lbs, purchased in Central Ohio.

This is to follow up on the complaint I submitted a month ago about Nutro Max Kitten food. A brief recap: My cat lost 2 pounds over a period of 4 months ( She had access to Nutro Max food for about 6 months). Her coat was dull and separated. During this time, she had 2 different blood laboratory tests and a full body scan done and all the results were normal. I finally took away the kitten food she was eating because I was suspicious it was causing her weight loss. I did this because all her tests were normal and I thought it was worth a try.

She has been off the Nutro Max for one month. I took her to the vet for a weight check and she has gained a half pound. Her coat looks a lot better as well. I intend to take her back in for another weight check in a month to be sure she is still gaining weight but I am convinced the Nutro Max food is the culprit.

Part of me wonders if this food has poor nutritional value or if there is something else wrong with the food. I'm saving the food as well as the bag it came in. I'm not sure if I will look into getting the food tested but I want to have the option. I know I will never again feed this food to any of my animals.

My 4-year old Bengal cat started to lose weight about 4 months ago. I took her into the vet in November of 2010. She had lost half a pound from the previous year. My vet said she looked good and recommended I bring her back to weigh her in another month.

I brought her back in in December and she had lost another half pound. My vet said, she still looked good but suggested I do blood work on her just to be safe. It came back fine. She was a husky girl before the weight loss and I admit by this point, she did look good. She was trim but I knew that was not her normal body type. I then brought her back in the beginning of March because I thought she looked even thinner. She had lost another pound. She has now lost two pounds since last November. At this point the vet thought it warranted further tests.

He did her blood work again, which was normal. He did the virus checks, which were normal. He suggested I do a full body scan which would check for tumors or organ problems that may not show up in blood work. That all came back ok. I have now spent over $850 and all her tests are ok. But she is still losing weight. I started to wonder if this could be due to the kitten food that she has had access to since October of 2010. I have always fed my cats Eukanuba but I got a new kitten last summer and he was being fed Nutro Max Cat kitten food. I chose to keep him on it until I switched him over to the adult Eukanuba that my other cat eats.

Starting in the fall, she would occasionally sneak bites of the kitten food. Then I slowly allowed her to eat it if she was around when I fed the kitten. It got to the point last month whenever I fed the kitten she would come to eat too. I let her eat it because she had been losing weight and I did not want to refuse her food. Since the fall, she has been progressively been eating more and more of the kitten food and has been continuing to lose weight.

I did some research on the internet and came across all the information regarding Nutro and I am very concerned. I took away the kitten food last week. I'm going to take her back to the vet in a few weeks and hope she starts to gain weight again. Not sure yet if Nutro is the culprit yet, but I am very suspicious and will post in a few weeks if she has started to gain weight again.

After feeding my cat Nutro Natural Choice dry food for over 2 years, our recent purchase in December 2010 resulted in visit to the vet after noticing she was straining to urinate. I did see a droplet of blood at one point and her urine was very dark. Her urine had a pH of 8 when it should have been zero. I had her on a canned food diet but gave her small amounts of the dry Nutro brand after she was urinating normally.

The problem started up immediately (after just one feeding) so I stopped with the dry food. I have another brand that I gave her another time and didn't notice a problem but felt I should keep her off the dry food completely for a while longer. Then, just yesterday, I put some Nutro dry food in her dish and after eating only half of it, her urine is very concentrated. I found droplets on the floor and had to clean her up (she's a Himalayan). A google search led me to this site and I'm appalled by the numerous and most recent complaints and issues. I have called my vet and passed on this link so they can be aware of the problems and that it might save a pet's life.

Our cat, Sumo, had been eating Nutro basically all of his life, 8 1/2 years. We fed him Nutro Max Cat Adult and later the Indoor Adult formula. Starting a few years ago, we started noticing differences in the size and color of the kibbles but didn't think much of it. Then we had one bag that he started eating from and he would vomit after he ate it. This happened for probably two days so we brought the bag of food back to the store and got another bag but still Nutro. He was able to eat that food fine without vomiting. However, all throughout his life he had vomited semi-regularly. Sometimes it was whole food because he didn't chew it, but other times it was just yellow bile. We just thought that was normal for him (which maybe it was? ).

Sumo passed away Jan 6th, 2011. He had stopped eating and become lethargic. We brought him to the vets where they kept him overnight for IV fluids and antibiotics. We waited for blood work and urine analysis. The following night, we brought him home so we could take him to a specialist the following morning. He passed away shortly after we brought him to bed with us. That was the worst night of my life. He was gone before we could get a diagnosis. Although his death happened quickly, Sumo did have a strange episode back in December.

Rewind back to December... He would go back into his litter box after urinating. We thought maybe a UTI so we brought him to the vets. Nothing was found, no crystals, no blockage, etc. We took him to the specialist after we were told his bladder cells were abnormally shaped. The specialist did an exam and an ultrasound of his abdomen but everything looked normal. The following day he had completely stopped the strange behavior of going back into the litter box and seemed fine after that.

Fast forward to the night he passed...We had a necropsy done by the emergency vet. The vet told us that some of his organs didn't look normal. His liver stood out the most. Results came back showing Lymphoma in his liver. We have not yet had more tests to see where else it had spread. After reading all of the horror stories and complaints about Nutro pet food, we had the food tested.

Before Sumo passed away, he had just started a new bag of Nutro Indoor Adult food. So we have plenty of samples, including the bag it came in. We sent the sample in to Midwest Laboratories. Results show the food was high in iron, zinc, copper, and manganese. The ratio of phosphorus and calcium is wrong as well. I have the results if anyone wants to see them.

Now we are deciding if we want more tests done on his tissue samples and bone marrow to look for zinc, etc. At this point, looking back at everything that has happened over the past few years, we are concerned that the Nutro was causing problems which led to his death. It just seems like there is no consistency in their product. Between the recalls they have had and the consumer complaints and the similarity of the stories, it shouldn't be ignored. When we first decided to put Sumo on Nutro, I had done all the research and found them to be a good brand. However, I should have kept up on research over the years. Since Mars took over the brand, they have had at least a few recalls and that is really when we started seeing inconsistencies in the product.

We have fed our two dogs Nutro Natural Lamb Meal and Rice Formula dry dog food for years. Both recently developed heart murmurs; while one is 15 the other is only 8. Recently, both got very sick (throwing up and diarrhea) from eating the food and had to be taken to the vet for IV fluids and drugs to calm their stomach. We tried to reincorporate the Nutro Natural back in with the special vet food we were sent home with, as the vet advised, but the first dog that got sick carefully picked up each kibble and refused to eat it. When the second dog got sick we bought new food and will not be feeding our dogs Nutro Natural again, especially after reading all the complaints on the web. We feel lucky they didn't get sicker.

I had been purchasing Nutro dog food under a frequent buyer program and was about to get my eleventh bag (30 lb.) free when the store owner told me Nutro no longer honored that program. They cheated me out of $50 but only offered me a $10 coupon.

Last year, after years of feeding my cat Nutro Max Cat dry food, we thought the smell had changed. It had a rancid smell. We purchased subsequent bags from different vendors and they all smelled the same. Our cat came down with Pancreatitis at that same time and became a diabetic for a few months as a result. We did not think about the food. We did switch foods. He has been healthy and made a full recovery.

Now a year later and having no health issues, I purchased a bag of Nutro indoor dry cat food. The label stated no ingredients from outside facilities. I thought I would give it a try. Now after one month, my cat is ill again, diagnosed as diabetic with a blood sugar in the 600's and all of the previous symptoms as before.

I am hoping Pancreatitis does not develop and we caught this in time. Coincidence or is there something wrong with the NutroMax Cat dry food? Just putting it out there to see if there are similar complaints or coincidences.

I wish to warn people of the effects of feeding your dog Nutro dog food. Our 13 year old Brittany has always been a picture of health. He was well muscled and bright and alert. He was fed Nutro since we got him as a puppy and we continued to feed him Nutro up to his death in April of 2010. We noticed a change in the color of the dog food bag and thought nothing of it.

In March of 2010, we took him to the vet for his checkup and discovered that his kidneys were only working at 20%. He suffered terribly and was dead in 5 weeks. We truly suspect his death was caused by feeding him Nutro lamb and rice dog food.

I have been feeding Ginger our golden retriever Nutro for about a year. When I had taken her in for shots she told her that we change her from Science Diet to Nutro. She didn't state why but that she personally didn't like Nutro. Ginger had been licking areas raw on her paws and had made the change when my wife saw a demo at the pet store promoting Nutro and its benefits.

We slowly made the change as recommended and Ginger was fine until this last spring when she had a bad diarrhea when she had started a new bag of Nutro. I took her to the vet and ran tests that turned up negative for anything viral. I had to give her antibiotics until we got the results back. The store exchanged the food and she has been fine since. It cost $230.00 plus the worries that Ginger was going to be okay. I just by chance found this site and had no idea that there were concerns regarding Nutro.

Nutro Ultra dog food is poison! I have four dogs that had been eating Nutro Ultra dog food for some time when suddenly my dogs stopped eating and began having diarrhea with blood. We had just purchased a new bag of Nutro Ultra Senior Dog Food. We asked PetSmart if they had received any complaints and they said no and that the food had not been recalled. Our dogs have been better since stopping this food.

Nutro Ultra dog food is poison! I have four dogs who had been eating Nutro Ultra dog food for some time when suddenly my dogs stopped eating and began having diarrhea with blood. We had just purchased a new bag of Nutro Ultra Senior Dog Food. We asked PetSmart if they had received any complaints and they said no and that the food had not been recalled. Our dogs have been better since stopping this food.

My 3 year old pug, Lexi has been eating Nutro dog food since she was a couple of months old. I had her on the puppy formula, then on the small bites with Lamb and Rice formula. She had some stomach issues off and on since she was little and I just assumed she simply had a sensitive stomach. Recently, I switched her to the new Nutro food for Small Breed Dogs in the orange colored bag. Only a few days later, she was quite ill and wouldn't even get up to greet me when I came in. She had mild diarrhea and simply did not want to eat.

I took her to the vet and he took an x-ray. Her stomach appeared to still be full when she hadn't eaten all day. She was put on antibiotics for a week and seemed to be doing much better. She is still having runny stool off and on and I assumed, once again, that this was normal for her. After reading all of the very recent complaints regarding this dog food, I am certain that she will not be eating this food any longer. I plan to switch her immediately. I wish that I would have found this information earlier.

I switched my cat and dog to Nutro food after a Petsmart employee raved about the new food and how the natural and safe it was. I really want to feed them the safest natural food possible. The employee compared the ingredients with science diet, which I usually buy, and pointed out numerous fillers that she said were unsafe. I really felt good about starting her new diet.

I slowly introduced the food as directed and my cat (1 year) seemed to enjoy it. After being on the food for 4 weeks, I noticed a significant amount of weight gain and she was drinking almost 2 bowls of water a day. I know water is good, but these are not small bowls and it's like she is severely dehydrated.

I also noticed an increase in the amount of feces and urine in her littler box. I have to clean it out almost twice a day sometimes. I didn't notice at the time it was diarrhea because of the clumping litter, but I have been inspecting it since the vomit and it is indeed diarrhea. As of two days ago, I noticed a few spots of yellow mucus vomit on the floor.

I was concerned but watched to see if this was just an isolated incident. Not the case, since then I am finding more vomit all over the house. I immediately thought to bring her to the vet but decided to look online to see if a home remedy would be sufficient. Thanks to Google, within two subject searches I found this site regarding Nutro food and the horrific affects it is having on animals. I did not even mention Nutro or expect to see anything regarding it.

Our dog has been on Nutro for six months and she has the same signs of dehydration and diarrhea. I really did not put the two together until I switched the cat and she has had rapid side effects from the same brand of food. The dog has gone to bathroom in the house countless times because she had diarrhea so bad at times. She started peeing in her dog bed about 2 weeks ago and this is so unlike her. I don't know what to make of it, but after reading this information, I think her insides are probably torn up from the food.

After purchasing a new bag of Nutro Choice Light dog food, my three-and-a-half year old Cocker Spaniel vomited a couple of times, then her appetite started waning. I took her to the vet; they did a urinalysis on her and blood work. The tests showed that she had an infection and they put her on Clavamox. At this point, we were feeding her cooked chicken, broth, rice and fresh fruit. She kept getting worse and she ended up with ascites. We had an x-ray, an abdominal ultra sound and more blood work done.

We had tests to rule out pancreatitis and heartworm. The vet put her on two different diuretics to relieve the fluid in her abdomen. When the fluid went down, she gained a little appetite and seemed to be doing okay for a couple of days but started going downhill again. I rushed her to another vet who tried to save her with antibiotics and blood transfusions but her body was too sick. We had an autopsy done but other than lesions on her liver, the autopsy came back inconclusive. I need to know if we have recourse to have the food taken off the shelves so no other family goes through the torture mine did--and whether we can get reimbursed for our vet expenses.

We recently had to put our beloved dog to sleep due to Aflatoxicosis. Aflatoxicosis is a poisoning that results from ingestion of aflatoxins in contaminated food or feed. We are not 100% certain at this point as we are currently having his food tested but our veterinarian is fairly certain due to the sustained and prolonged liver damage. The only cause could be his daily diet. The only food our dog ever ate during his three years was Nutro Natural Choice. A second dog who shared the same food received an ultrasound which showed some abnormality. Blood tests will confirm later this week if he too has a damaged liver due to the Nutro he has been eating for his whole life. As I cannot be positive Nutro is the cause, I submit this as a warning to pet owners to err on the side of caution and avoid the products manufactured by this company.

In February of 2007, I bought a bag of Nutro Natural Choice senior dry dog food from my local pet store. My dog had been eating this food for quite some time. A few weeks later, she got really sick with vomiting and diarrhea and we went to the vet for an exam. It was determined she had renal failure and was put on meds. Around the same time, the pet food scare became forefront in the news with different companies buying food from China. I contacted my vet, and was told this particular food was not on the recall list. I contacted Nutro and they said the same thing. Within two months, my dog was dead. It was very strange how she got sick after I bought a new bag of dog food.

My dogs suffered from bloody stools and vomiting after eating Nutro dog food. After doing tests, the vet determined they had Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis. It is a very sudden onset of bloody diarrhea in a previously healthy dog. Vomiting, not eating (anorexia), and listlessness are the symptoms. Animals will go into shock if they aren't given prompt treatment, and this illness can be fatal if it's not treated!

The vet said the exact cause of this disease is unknown. There are many theories. It could be diet, a bacterial infection, bacterial toxin, virus, reaction to an intestinal parasite, etc. My opinion is diet because my dogs became ill after changing brands of dog food.

My 8lb weener dog and my 10lb cat have been on Purina food, and they seemed ok, but both had dandruff and shed a lot. So,when the Nutro Rep at Big R talked me into this wonderful great food. I had to switch over! It's been over a month, and both their shedding and dandruff are gone. But my dog has been getting really loose stools, and even leakage out his butt at night in bed. He's been coughing a lot, and tummy always seems upset. The cat seems fine but now that I've read others complaints, I'm off this food before I get vet bills. Good riddance Nutro.

I recently bought a large bag of Nutro Max Adult dog food, and ever since, my dogs have been vomiting about a half hour after eating! No other changes have been made to their diet, so I know that this dog food is toxic. I will immediately change their dog food, and hope that no damage has been done to their health. Scary and what a waste of $45.

Our older dog had been eating Nutro Senior for about 3 years when all the sudden he began having seizures every day. After a week or so, we realized it was a brand new bag of food and he had begun having seizures the day he started eating from the new bag. He is an old dog so we had thought he was dying and took him to the vet. The vet prescribed Phenobarbital, but it made the dog so loopy and miserable. We thought we would have to put him down. I decided to give him some chicken and rice and he immediately stopped having the seizures. This was when we realized the correlation between the dog food and his seizures.

We immediately put him on a different food and he was much better and happy again. But about two weeks later he had another seizure. Then we found that he had gotten back into the Nutro bag that hadn't been thrown away yet. You can bet that bag was in the trash that very minute! After a year of no seizures, we thought we would give it another chance since his joints were doing really good before on the Nutro, and now he was having hip difficulties. We thought maybe it was just a bad batch.

As soon as we started him on the Nutro again, he had another very bad seizure. He is now so wiped out from the stress of the seizures that he is listless and morose and probably we will have to put him down. Until this happened, he was friendly and playful even though he was 15 years old. He now won't go for walks or even wag his tail. I'm giving him a little more time to see if the food change is part of his distress since I know that can make dogs sick for a while. Poor doggie and shame on Nutro!

I believe something has changed recently in this product; Nutro Natural Choice: Chicken Meal, Rice and Oatmeal. I have fed my dog, Jake, this brand for about 18 months and overall during that time, it was a very good experience. Jake seems to love the taste. He had smaller, more solid poops eating Nutro than on what what I was feeding him before.

Recently, about 4 months ago, I bought 2 big bags (35 pound bags) while on sale at my local PetCo in Los Angeles. One bag, he ate through with no problem. He occasionally vomited but nothing more than I have seen him do on other foods. But about 3/4 on the way through the second bag, he started to hesitate to eat the food. Then came the yellow runny vomit. I thought he was sick, but I cooked him some white rice mixed with hamburger meat, and he ate it fine and pooped fine. So after he recovered, I switched him back to the Nutro, and the vomiting stated up again.

And it's not the vomit I am used to when he throws up all his food and it looks just like a soft version of the pellets. This vomit is yellow and runny. So between this and his reluctance to eat, this brand all of a sudden, leads me to believe something has changed in the food and not for the better. I am done with the Nutro.

I have 4 dogs that I have rescued and the 2 newest ones, one a boxer/Pit MIX the other a pure bred boxer. They where both extremely skinny where ribs and hip bones where showing. I put them on the nutro natural choice high protein since I also have a German Shepherd that has a problem absorbing protein. They did great on it started getting some meat on their bones and seemed really happy and my gsd protein levels went way up for the first time. Then disaster hit. I bought them their 4th bag of it and that is when my nightmare began.

They had uncontrollable diarrhea and vomiting . Since I work at Petsmart, I picked up some doggie anti-diarrhea medicines and it helped very little. The 3 of them started getting bloody stools also. My 4th dog is a min pin and he is on different food since he breaks out in hot spots even on blue buffalo but he was the only one that was OK. Then my boxer/pit started getting these pimples and losing her hair like crazy. So I figured that she was allergic to the food. So I returned all that I had left of the food and switched them over to another brand and in about a week, their stools went back to normal and the vomiting stopped. I felt so bad when I figured out that it was the food that I had picked out to help them and it made them extremely ill and I will never again suggest nutro food to another customer.

My dog began having major diarrhea with blood clots in it and also throwing up yellow bile. She began to increase in thirst and got sicker and sicker! Nutro food is poison!

My 4 year old dachshund/chihuahua mix became ill last month. She started vomiting one morning and it continued throughout the day. It was a Sunday so of course all we could do was call an emergency clinic since our vet was closed. She became increasingly sick, lethargic and in the wee hours of Monday morning was barely able to walk. One trip to the emergency clinic and she was given fluids and we were instructed to take her ASAP to our vet. Because of her condition, blood work was done which suggested a bout of pancreatitis.

It took about 2 weeks to get her well with repeated trips for fluids, antibiotics, special food, etc. $500 later she was getting better, but even weeks later she was still vomiting on occasion. I suspected the food and called Nutro and they said there were no recalls, but it was possible the bags might have been left on the truck in the hot sun too long. Are you kidding me? She had to eat prescription food for weeks and eventually I switched her to Wellness dog food. I am praying this does not happen again. I am convinced that it was the Nutro. I will never buy one of their products again.

I don't know if this is a coincidence, but I was dog-sitting for a friend of mine and he fed him Nutro. I don't remember which kind. I noticed that he had a hard time passing urine. It turns out that he had crystals in his bladder and he is now on prescription Science Diet. During this time, I also fed my cats Nutro Senior. It turned out that one of my cats had crystals in his bladder and we had to take him to the vet in the middle of the night.

He could have died from this. The vet bill was $600. He had to have a cath and was at the vet for a few days. My cats are now on the prescription form of Science Diet for bladder health. I don't know if this happened because of Nutro, but I think it's a little strange that this dog and my cat would have bladder crystals after eating the same brand of pet food.

I was feeding my two cats Nutro Natural Dry Food for about 2-3mos. My cats, towards the end, were vomiting and sometimes they would vomit bile. Both cats' stomachs were protruding from there body and they both slept most of the time. Upon changing their food, both cats no longer vomit. Their stomachs no longer protrude and they are playful.

I have a pet, a Lhasa Apso. She is 7 years old and has been on Nutro since the day she started eating dog food. The years have passed and she never had a problem, but recently this year 2010, she started bleeding when she urinated. The vets thought it was just a bladder infection. She took medication twice and later after she didn't stop bleeding, there was an x-ray done and to our surprise we saw two big quarter sized kidney stones in her kidney. The stones were so big if it hadn't been caught in time, the stone would have made her kidneys burst and she would have died. She got an emergency surgery, which was $2,000 on top of all the other medication costs and tests done prior. I don't care about the money that I spent because she is part of the family, but what makes me upset is the trauma she went through. She cried and cried. She was away from me for a week. And she wasn't active for another week.

I am upset. If Nutro makers know these side effects, why aren't they trying to fix it? I am definitely thinking a law suit should be made.

We have two Bernese Mountain dogs of different genetic lines. One is 8 years old and weighs 90 pounds and the other is almost 2 and used to weigh 99 pounds. We have used Nutro lamb and rice exclusively for about 5 years. When we started the most recent bag on 8/21, both dogs immediately developed severe diarrhea. The older dog used to eat Nutro exclusively. He recovered when we changed food. The younger dog got better, but within a few weeks he was even sicker and had to be hospitalized. He lost 12 pounds. The younger dog eats Blue Buffalo at home and Nutro when he visits me. As soon as he went back on Blue Buffalo he got sick again. We believe these 2 dog foods have modified their formula in a way that is injurious to dogs. I had to pay $1200 vet bill for the younger dog and he is still not in perfect health.

My oldest boxer and her younger brother both started barfing a liquid yellow around April/May 2010. My female/older could not get enough water, and both boxers were very not interested in eating their dog food--Nutro Venison and Herring for Sensitive Stomachs (which boxers are known for having). I have since had to watch my female, my love of my life, be put down because after so many months of her illness, she finally manifested cancer and I had to take her and hold her in my hands as I put her down.

Now, her little brother is puking, drinks water like it's no one's business and only eats (without his usual enthusiasm) because "momma" (me) tells him he has to eat. It is awesome that my little boy is eating to obey me even though he probably knows it's going to kill him. Meanwhile, he is lethargic, despondent, and cannot defecate properly (hey, I have owned dogs and cleaned up their remains enough to know what it should look like), and is just not a 3-year old boxer at all.

Nutro Pet Food is making my cat ill. My cat has runny, putrid smelling stool. The other cat is losing weight. I'm stopping this food immediately, but something is wrong with it.

I had been feeding my cat Nutro Max Cat weight control-chicken flavor for years but recently, she started to vomit repeatedly. After taking her to the vet several times(and hundreds of dollars of tests), she has nothing physically wrong that would cause this repeated vomiting. I decided to change out foods. Well, after several rounds of foods, I have determined that it is definitely the Max Cat dry food that is causing the problem. I can feed Fancy Feast cans, and Pro Plan diet food with no problem, but whenever I give her the Max Cat, she starts to vomit violently and repeatedly again. This has cost me hundreds of dollars in vet bills (over $500) and lots of worry. I have contacted Nutro in hopes that this will spur some action on their part to improve their foods and not cause harm to pets. My solution is never to feed Nutro again to any pet I own.

We have been using Nutro Pet products for about 14 years with no problems. We recently purchased a 40 lb bag for almost 60 dollars. I am convinced this product is giving my dog diarrhea. He is also panting all the time, which is totally unlike him. After some investigation I am finding that people all across the United States are having similar problems.

This was a product I totally trusted. Now I am not so sure. I feel that it is their responsibility to make consumers aware of any problems with their products. I would say that considering the number of complaints I have read, there is definitely something wrong, and they are not living up to their responsibility. I will throw away this almost 60 dollar bag of dog food and try something new. Very disappointed.

I have just returned from the veterinarian with my 12-year-old pug that is very sick. 4 months ago, we put down our other 14-year-old pug that had constant urinary infections and other illness. Now my only pug left appears to have kidney problems, urinary infection and maybe diabetes. He's been drinking excessive water ever since I switched his wet food in the Nutro products. Both my dogs have been on Nutro dry and wet food for years. My dog has been throwing up for 24 hours with food and now yellow bile and can't keep anything down. Today, he receives an antibiotic shot and some fluids put under his skin. Tomorrow he returns to be in the hospital for all day for IV fluids to help his kidneys and more IV antibiotics.

I found this website and others about the same complaints, am shocked, and saddened that we consumers have not been protected from this brand of pet food. Nutro deserves to pay us all back for our veterinarian bills! Now I wonder if it was the Nutro food that made our other dog so ill. She's gone so I focus on the one that's left. I'm doing whatever the veterinarian says. We dumped all the Nutro food out and am taking it back to Petco the unopened cans. I plan to tell the manager about this website. Retails, don't sell this product! I loosed one dog plus vet bills.

My dog has been so sick, grown some lymphoma tumors huge in her neck on her ear and constantly vomits and eats grass. Sometimes she won't eat, she got anal sack infection bloody, and urinary track infection and we thought this was because she was getting old. We used to use Iams, but I changed to help her lose weight and she's been sick for years since being on Nurto. I didn't realize it may be the food until I read the complaints, I thought I was giving her the best on the market. I have vet bills in thousands and a sick dog, she is not my playful full breed springer anymore. I am sick to my stomach to think this is still on the market.

I had been feeding my three dogs Nutro adult dog food for years. In February of this year, my dogs started refusing their food. We thought there may have been something wrong with the batch of dog food, so we bought another. A month later, our German shepherd became acutely ill, vomiting bile, vomiting all his food, with black stool. We immediately took him to the vet who informed us that there was so much internal bleeding that they could not find the source. His belly swelled at the vet's office in an hour and he could barely lift his head off the ground. We were asked if he could have gotten into poison. We were advised the humane thing to do would be to put him to sleep.

At the same time, my other two dogs, labs, started refusing food and vomiting bile. We assumed they were not wanting to eat because of a difference in the household balance (with the loss of our shepherd) and started putting egg and tuna on their food. After a week, they also refused the egg and tuna covered dog food. I can hear my dogs' stomachs growling and they will still refuse their dry food. Both labs have been in and out of the vet for GI issues and numerous tests that are inconclusive. All stool samples are normal. Our dogs are indoor dogs who are only walked on a leash. Today when we took one of our labs in, again, we were asked if there were a possibility of the dogs getting into poison.

These dogs do not eat anything but Nutro dog food, no snacks, no people food. They drink the same tap water I drink. There are no poisons, paints, oils, household cleaners, antifreeze, or any other poisonous substance they could get into. Food will be changed asap and two 35 pound bags will go to waste. I have a very hard time believing that this is all coincidental. I will retain the UPC and sample of food if anyone at Nutro or FDA is interested in testing.

I want to add my comment as being another person, which tried and tried to find out what was making my Boxer ill. Finally after noticing seizures happening approximately 2 hours after ingesting it's food, I decided to Google "Nutro food seizure" Wham, there it was! Took my dog off Nutro. My baby is back to normal. Thanks to the internet and peoples feedback I was able to save my dog's life. I can't believe that there is still an issue w/ Nutro. Seen a Rep. from Nutro @ pet store and they assured me that someone would contact me and want the remaining food I had left. No call. They know.

I was feeding my puppy Innova and switched over to Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Food since they did not carry Innova at PetSmart. Shortly after the switch, my dog started vomiting and had horrible diarrhea, so severe it caused a prolapsed rectum. I took the puppy to the vet immediately and she was tested for viruses/parasites, but all tests came back negative. They put her on a different food and her condition immediately improved. They sent me home with special food and instructed me to gradually switch her back to her regular food and as soon as I did the symptoms came back. After doing some online research, I found numerous complaints with similar symptoms. Now I have switched her food back to Innova and have again noticed immediate improvement. Vet bills totaled over $500 for two nights hospitalization.

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.

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 were 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 hamburger 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 Eukanuba dog food. The first night after changing food - Kaiser slept all night instead of whining and pacing! 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 and 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!

On July 2, 2010, I bought a puppy from Petland, in Naperville Illinois. One of the conditions of buying the puppy was that the store required that I purchase a 17.5 pound bag of Nutro Natural Choice Small Bite Puppy food Chicken meal, rice and oatmeal formula. Because the bag was so huge, and nowhere on the bag does it state that you should not give older dogs the food, all of my dogs were eating the same food. (I have changed my dog food before and never had any problems).

About three weeks later, I noticed blood spots all over the floor. and then within about an hour it began, my dog Kita, was uncontrollably pooing bright red blood. I made her as comfortable as I could, as it was late at night and in the morning I took her to the vet, because the bloody diarrhea was not getting any better and she had begun to throw up a yellow bile as well. The doctor had to hydrate Kita, ran blood work (which came out normal) and she put Kita on anti-nausea medication, a pain killer, and anti diarrhea medication.

I have removed the food from all of the dogs, but I still have the portion uneaten and the bag it came in. There has been no other change in our house, and Kita was perfectly healthy before all of this. With that food taken away from her, she is on the mend, but still not 100%. I am reporting this to the FDA. I had to pay $350.00 in vet bills and meds, but no price can be put on watching my dog go through that pain. I completely thought she was going to die. How many dogs will this have to happen to before the food is pulled?

I have been using Nutro chicken rice and oatmeal with my German shepherd for 8 years, but the last 3 years, he has been sick. He doesn't want to eat it. He is a service dog and it is important to ensure his health but I think I am going to go off Nutro for both my dogs and cats. My three cats are vomiting much more often and it isn't cat hair. It is the actual food sometimes partially digested or undigested food. They have been eating Nutro all in one for cats. I have on many occasions called Nutro but they do not return emails.

Nutro's Natural Choice dog food killed both of my Rottweilers - one at age 11 and one at age 8. They both became sick at the same time with diarrhea. Took them to the vet and they said there was a virus going on. We fought bouts of diarrhea on and off for 6 months. It was always one thing or the other. Seems kind of strange that they both got sick with cancer at the same time - we lost them within 2 months of each other. Sad thing is they had been on Nutro for most of their lives and I trusted feeding them with this so called "good" food. All along this food was slowly killing them and I had no idea.

Unfortunately, it was too late for us because both of them were gone when all these recalls began to happen. I blame myself because I fed them this lousy food and it killed them. I hope that the Nutro company goes out of business, which will never happen because there are still people out there unwilling to believe they are still feeding this crap to their dogs. I have told everyone I know and even people in the pet store that were buying this food not to feed it to their pets.

My dogs are my life - they are my kids. It was very devastating to lose them both. We lost our youngest to colon cancer and our older one to liver cancer - all caused by this food. These people should be fed this food so they can die a slow painful death like my girls did. I hate this company, what they stand for, and the fact that they keep on producing this dog killing food.

On July 9th, 2010, I opened a new bag of Nutro Natural Choice Senior formula dry for my dogs I purchased at my local Petco same as I have always done. My dogs are both 35-pound Corgi mixes. They have been on Senior for over a year and prior to that had been on Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice for over 8 years as it was recommended by my vets. They ate their first serving from the new bag for breakfast. When I got home in the evening and tried to feed them, both vomited numerous times, refused to eat, and were extremely lethargic.

I immediately searched my house, garage and backyard to be sure they hadn't gotten into something and found no evidence that they had eaten trash or people food or caught a bird or bunny in the backyard. On Saturday, July 10th, 2010, they still refused to eat, were vomiting and glassy eyed like they had a fever, and were still lethargic. I took them to my vet at 8:30 AM. Examination revealed fever and tender abdomens, and blood work revealed pancreatitis. The vet asked me the same questions: did they eat people food, trash, eaten something outside, were any bedding items or toys missing. Finally, she asked me how old the food was. It was a brand new bag just opened. I had purchased it June 26th, 2010 and had stored it until I needed it on July 9th. There was no staining or damage to the bag. We determined it was the food.

The vet bill came to $340 including numerous medication and subcutaneous fluids for both. My vet pointed out that had I waited, the dogs would have required hospitalization. I went to Petco the afternoon of July 10th. The Nutro representatives were there. I explained what had happened. My concern was that it was a bad lot of food and wanted to make them aware. They gave me a replacement bag of the Nutro Natural Choice Lite as it is the lowest fat and would be gentler on the dogs' pancreatitis. Everyone was very nice and expressed concern. They also gave me a coupon for $2 off next bag and the district manager requested I call Nutro and tell them what had happened.

On Monday, July 12th I called Nutro. Diana at Nutro barely let me get a word in edgewise. She just kept repeating that once food leaves their plant and is taken by distributors, it is no longer their liability and they are not responsible. She did request my dogs' medical records and I had the vet fax them to her. I foolishly thought the records would help them possibly determine what was wrong with the food based on the test results. Tuesday, July 13th, I called Diana with the lot number, expiration date, and barcode from the bag. She stated that that wasn't one of the lots with problems and it was not their liability. She then stated it was my fault due to improper storage in the garage.

She also stated that any customer who cares about their dogs enough to feed them all natural food should know better than to store food in the garage. I did explain that the dogs had been on Nutro for 10 years and I have always stored the food in the garage. She said it was not their fault for improper storage. I said what if the distributors had somehow improperly stored the food along the way to the retailer. She stated it was not Nutro's responsibility or liability for distributors mishandling the food.

Up until this point, I was chalking it up to a fluke bag and was planning to continue with Nutro. However, after my experience with Nutro customer service, I will be switching to another natural brand. I had only called because their representative requested me to do so. I expected them to say thank you for letting us know and we will monitor to see if other reports about the food are received.

Or they could have said thank you for letting us know and we will remind our distributors about proper food handling and storage. I never asked them to pay the vet bill or even to give me free food, yet Diana treated me with the abrasiveness of a defense attorney. It was most unpleasant and after 10 years, I will be switching to another natural brand. Two very sick dogs for a week and a $340 vet bill and now I have to research foods and switch 10-year-old dogs to new food.

On Tuesday, July 6, 2010, in the early hours of the morning 1:30 am, I woke up to find my 4.5 pound Chiwawa vomiting in my living room. He seemed to settle down but within about 1 1/2 hours woke me to go out at which point he had terrible diarrhea. From that point going forward thru the morning he continued to have diarrhea and was vomiting about every half hour white foamy and gooey vomit. About 8:30 am, he finally drank some water at which point he vomited again, white foamy and gooey, and then again had diarrhea with blood in it.

At this point I was just waiting to be able to take him to the vet which opened at 9:00 am. I could not imagine what was causing this condition, Rocky is 3 1/2 years old has never been this sick and has been fed Neuto Dog Food lamb and rice for small breed. We occasionally mix in some chicken or beef but never has it caused illness. Over the 3 1/2 years of his life he occasionally has vomited bile for no apparent reason but it did not concern us. Back to July 6, 2010, I took Rocky to the Vet and explained the constant vomiting and bloody diarrhea condition at which point Rocky was examined, blood works, xray, etc. to try to determine the nature of the illness. He was put on IV for fluids and the Vet requested to keep him overnight for observation due to the fact that all tests were negative but he needed the hydration was put on antibiotics as a precaution and he wanted to be sure the diarrhea was stopped.

The next day we picked up a lethargic and weak dog with no concrete reason for his condition ($702.00 dollars to the Vet). He was put on a prescription dog food with a continued regime of antibiotics and anti-diarrhea medicine. I just happened to serf the internet for possible reasons for my dogs condition and to my horror came upon the many complaints as well as dog deaths possibly caused by Neuto Dog Food. In that Rocky only eats what he is given by me and cannot get into the garbage and is never walked unleashed so he is always under supervision, and the Vet's findings were negative in all aspects, I am now highly concerned that possibly this health issue may have been as a result of eating Neutro Dog Food.

I would like to be kept in the loop for any developments. I have kept what I had left of the food should it be needed for testing as I will no longer feed him Neutro. Physical Damage the terrible vomiting and diarrhea of my little dog, lethargic and not himself for several days as a result of the condition. Economic $702.00 Vet bill for an unknown condition.

At first, my brand new puppy was great. But, soon after we fed him, the puppy chow was tired more, vomiting yellow bile and then vomiting all his food up.

We went back to Jack's Pet Store, and they suggested the Nutro Small Bits Puppy Chow. So, we tried that one and come to find out that our puppy seems to be doing worse. He has vomited on several occasions all his puppy food, and refuses to almost eat the Nutro Puppy food. Except, when he hasn't been eating anything for extensive amount of time, he will nibble at the food. But, just doesn't like it anymore. I believe that he has associated the puppy chow with vomiting and does not want it now. I will not shop at the store responsible for selling me this poor product until there is a recall, product is pulled from shelf and warning label attached to the bag in the future.

So, whomever sells this product beware of sacrifice to customer loss. Maybe if we hurt the companies that purchase this food one by one you will we will be able to enlighten Nutro not to produce such horrible quality of Dog food.

We adopted a 2-year-old female Pit Bull. The humane society was feeding her Science Diet and I wanted to switch to something holistic. There was a Nutro representative at PetSmart who talked to me about how great the food was, so we decided to try it. We slowly switched the food over a 3-week period and it continually caused problems. The first week she was vomiting and had diarrhea. The second week it was diarrhea and a few small bumps on her head and ears. The third week, the first day of 100% Nutro Ultra adult dog food, it caused my dog to break out in the bumps (hives) from head to toe; all over. Because Nutro Ultra has so many types of proteins and ingredients, it was impossible to know which one she was allergic to.

I saw the many negative comments about Nutro dog food on this site. I have used Nutro for my dogs for 5 years with only one problem. That problem was minor, and only when using the Ultra food. The problem was that the Ultra food gave my dog gas. Speaking with medical professionals, they stated some foods with high vegetable content can cause gas. I then switched to the other Nutro dry food and have used it ever since. When I brought an additional furry friend into my home, I used the Nutro puppy food for her. She is now just over 1 year old so they both eat the adult food. I have no connection with Nutro other than as a satisfied customer. I feel for anyone that has had any health issues with their pet, regardless of the cause. My dogs are my kids and I would be heartbroken if anything were to happen to them.

My 13 year old basset hound began showing signs of lethargy, stomach upset, vomiting and increased water intake in early December. The episodes were on and off. In March, she began getting worse. She was diagnosed with severe pancreatitis and went downhill fast and passed away. We thought it was likely due to her age. However, the following month, my sister's dog, who was a standard poodle and was only 4 years old and perfectly healthy, suddenly began urinating blood; three days later, after three transfusions she died. They found she had pancreatic cancer. Then, on June 5th, I lost my second basset to severe pancreatitis. He had no health issues other than arthritis (was 8 years old). His symptoms came on suddenly (within two weeks) and despite transfusions and IV died.

All three dogs ate Nutro Natural Choice dog food. My bassets ate the Weight Control formula and my sister's ate the Rice and Lamb formula. Ironically, she gave me her dog's food after she died and I was slowly introducing it to my male basset's diet, as he was no longer in need of the weight control formula. Coincidence? I don't know but after reading your posts on this issue, I am very concernd and want to at least inform you that three other dogs became ill and died.

I began feeding Nutro Max cat, Kitten formula recommended for pregnant and or nursing cats March 1 2010, both my young Queens who had never been bred lost their kittens at 40 days gestation, aprox. 20 days early, their dams have only had healthy litters and no whelping problems have occurred in the family line for generations. I called the consumer contact line and she was merely defensive and only took my name without any contact to get back to me, and the product lot # whic is: 79105 10232, best buy date: 4/11/11 time: 20:31 max cat kitten 6lb. bag

We have been feeding Nutro to our dog for many years with excellent results, however we began to notice our dog having bouts of diarrhea, eating grass and vomiting it up, general lack of appetite and weight loss. We had a blood test done, because the dog is on rimadyl, and it was found that his liver enzymes were elevated. The vet assumed it was the rimadyl and switched his medication. The problem continued to get worse and we became concerned, especially with his weight loss and increasing lethargy.

Then we found that, about the time our dog started having trouble was also about the time that the Mars Candy people had bought out the old mfg of Nutro. We have since switched his feed to Halo Spot's Stew wild Salmon, and his appetite is slowly returning. We also asked our vet if it was possible that the food and not the rimadyl was the cause of the elevated liver enzyme, since he had been on the rimadyl for about 6 years with no problems, then suddenly had trouble when the food was changed. He agreed and the dog is back on rimadyl with no trouble at all. It appears that the food was the cause of the trouble all along. The dog is getting better with the new food.

Our dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback/Retriever cross, who has always been strong, active, healthy, alert, and had a healthy appetite, began exhibiting symptoms of lethargy, diarrhea, vomiting, fur loss and weight loss at almost the exact time that Nutro was taken over by Mars Inc. We have had a lot of vet bills over this, but the major consequence to us has been the horrible realization that our beloved family member, who trusts us to safeguard his health and welfare, was evidently being poisoned by the food we were feeding him. This has been going on for a couple years...14 years, from a dog's perspective, of misery and illness.

My wife and I are sick and angry about this. I would suggest that, if antifreeze poisoning was determined to be the cause of death in one of the Nutro cases I read about, even though it wasn't found in the food tested, there is some connection. Maybe it was missed, or even tested for, or maybe it isn't in every sample. All I know is that our dog has been deprived of the enjoyment of a very significant fraction of his limited life-span, and we have been deprived of some of the best years of his life as well. We'll never get those back, and we have yet to know if he'll ever be the same.

We have been feeding our Weinmeramer, Lou, Nutro Natural Choice Senior formula to help with hip displashia. We have been using this brand for the past 2 years, without any incident. During the last 2 weeks, Lou has developed loose bowl movements, to the point that he can not control them. I noticed a change when we went from one bag of the Nutro brand to the next. We had taken a sample to the vet, but they found no problem with his stool.

Since we saw a change with the food, I then switched him to a different manuafacture, and his loose bowels stopped within 1 Day! There was no indication on the bag of Nutro that there was a change, so we contacted the company to see if they have made any changes. We have not to date heard from the Nutro Company. Because of our experience, we will neve use a Nutro product again! Lou became lethargic, and not himself. We had to spend money for a vet visit that was not needed, plus the cost of the food we thru in the garbage. Overall,$300.00 was lost, but no dollar amount can account for our dog's sufferring.

I recently switched my dogs to Nutro Max Puppy food. I purchased a bag of food on the 20th of June. I have 2 litters of 8 week old puppies. 8 puppies in total. A couple of days after I started in on this bag of food my puppies all started to become lethargic, they had white gums, terrible yellow diarrhea, they were vomiting and very thirsty. 5 of my 8 puppies have died in the past 4 days. 2 more are sick. 2 Autopsies were done by 2 different vets. Autopsy reports came back that they had liver damage from the food they consumed.

I have been using Nutro Large Breed dog food for several years for my two Great Pyrenees. Last year I took two bags back because of excessive diarrhea. Each time I thought it was just a bad bag of dog food. After the change, the problem went away. Recently, my dogs had diarrhea, but this time it was way worse. I was informed of a recall from a friend regarding Nutro and found this website with all of the unfortunate stories. I now have my dogs on medication and have switched their food. (I'm making it myself).

Until I do more research and find a company that cares about their product that they provide, I'll continue to do so.

NUTRO MAX ADULT DOG FOOD TURKEY! NUTRO has changed the formula, adding more liver and less rice. My dog is 15 1/2 and has eaten Nutro Max Mini Chunks for most of her life. And for the past year and a half have been feeding her the canned Nutro Max Adult either Beef or Turkey. Last week on Monday I had to refill her foods so off I went to the store, picked up a 35lb bag of dry and a case of wet. By Wednesday she had the runs. I knew immediately it was the canned food because I had the same problem last year when Iams changed their formula. I called Nutro customer service who confirmed what I suspected.

With regards to the Mini Chunks, over the years my dog has been vomiting, I had the vet check her out and they didn't find anything wrong so I went merrily on my way feeding her the Nutro Max Mini Chunks. After reading these posts I now realize that her vomiting was caused by the Nutro! Holy Moly! This week I've run up a $500 vet bill and am now making her wet food. Also I'm going to change her dry food too. After two bad experiences in about a year I'm scared for my dog, what else will these dog food company think of?

Two years ago a representative of Nutro dog foods at Pet Smart recommended their product. We had always fed our Cocker Spaniel Pedigree Packets, but a vet suggested she needed a dry food supplement to help keep her teeth clean. Lady began developing a series of allergic symptons which she had never had before-excessive itching, digging at her paws, excessive water drinking, hot spots, ear infections, eye itching, and throwing up yellow colored bile every night. Our reputable vet could not find anything wrong through blood work, etc. so the assumption was that she had developed allergies to pollens and grass, and started her on a very expensive round of eye and ear drops, shampoo, steroids, anti-itching medicines, and topical steroidal aprays, none of which seemed to give her any relief.

PLEASE investigate this company that owns the Nutro brand. My daughter, whose Golden Retriever was starving because he would non longer eat the Nutro notified me of the information found on the Nutro Web Site. They also had a LLaso Apso die of seizures a year ago. Thank you on behalf of all the animal owners who may not be aware of these problems, and for reading this. Extensive vet bills for visits and medications, and a miserable little Lady who is scratching herself raw.

Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Food is poison period. I have a new puppy and for the first month she was doing great...peeing and ******* normally and then I purchased Nutro Natural Choice Small Puppy Bites. Within three days she was peeing all over the house and then I noticed drops of blood. I took her to the vet and $200 later they said she had a bladder infection. We started the antibiotics and she seemed to get better for a few days and then more blood drops everywhere. I was horrified to say the least. Called the vet and went back in for a culture to the tune of $150. It came back normal. Still with the blood drops.

By the second week I told my husband that I realized that it all started when I switched her to the Nutro Natural Choice food. He thought I was crazy. Then I did some research online and could not believe what I was reading on this website. People were having the SAME EXACT problems I was. I immediately stopped the food and switched to Science Diet mixed with chicken and rice at the recommendation of my vet. One week later she is already better. I will be sending Nutro Company copies of my recipts for the food itself as well as my vet bills. If they do not reimburse me I will get a lawyer and sue them for negligence as well as the pain and suffering that my puppy and my family have endured. I am tired of these corporations putting profits before lives and I will make it my life's goal to make sure that everyone knows it. But mainly I want people to know "Do not feed any Nutro pet food to your pets it is poison.

I was feeding my two boxers (4) years old, Nutro dog food both became sick.
Throwing up food they ate.

One stopped eating drinking excess amount of water. Took her to Vet 5/12/2010 had blood work done, and it showed her kidneys had stopped working correctly, put her on prescription k/d food and meds from Vet.She would not eat. Cooked chicken breast and rice, got her to eat a little, then on Tuesday afternoon 5/18/2010 took back to Vet, ran blood test showed that she was going down hill.

By next day she had blood in stool, trouble breathing. On 5/20/2010 took to different Vet, he check her and we both agreed that the best for was to put her down,one of the hardest things I have done. The other Boxer came out of the problem after food change. I have in my family 7 other Boxers that live in another state that were on Nutro at the same time they became sick males were leaking urine throwing up changed food they are now doing better. The only connection that they have is Nutro dog food, they live in different locations different bags of Nutro food.

Nutro is a disgusting food that sickened both my dog and cat. I was putting laundry away one evening when I noticed small blood clots all over my bedroom carpeting where my cat had just been. I called the vet the next morning and took her in and they diagnosed a bladder infection to the tune of $100+. The very same week, I was walking my 6 year old dog, Trixie, and she passed bright-red, bloody, diarrhea and my heart nearly stopped when I saw it. I called the vet the next morning and they asked me to bring in the stool. It was sheer agony to wait 24 hours for the test results and in the meantime, I did some investigating on-line and found this site and knew immediately what was making my pets sick! This disgusting Nutro pet food!!!

My pets have been on Nutro for several months. Our local PetSupplies Plus recently had a Grand Opening and the Nutro Rep was there, talking up their products, handing out coupons. I bought the Nutro Ultra Holistic Superfood Adult Formula for the dog. The bag advertises Heart Health, Sharp Vision, Healthy Skin and Coat!! How could we go wrong? I don't mind paying more for all that! I bought Max Cat Roasted Chicken for the cat. It was several weeks later when the dog started having diarrhea and I took her to the vet for a full workup and stool culture, and they couldn't find anything wrong. They asked me what I was feeding her and I told them Nutro -they said it was a good brand. They put her on an anti-nausea medication and sent us home after paying them $150 for the visit.

Several weeks went by and the loose stools didn't clear up. I didn't relate it to Nutro, thinking I was feeding her nearly the best dog food you could buy. The other night while I was walking her, she had a bright red, bloody stool and my heart nearly stopped beating when I saw it. I told myself it was probably from the new treats I bought her (rawhide rolls with reddish bone marrow wrapped inside). I told myself it was ok, she would pass a normal stool in the morning. But the next morning, another bloody stool, worse than the night before. I freaked out. I called the vet and they asked me to bring the stool sample in to run a culture. In the meantime, the dog has been panting heavily along with the bloody diarrhea, drinking more water than normal, no longer playful, her abdomen is bloated up.

Since I've never seen bloody stools and had to wait 24 hours for the test results, I spent hours on-line that evening, trying to self-diagnose my dog (since I'm running out of money on vet bills). I Googled - Nutro making dogs sick, and found this site. I immediately knew what made my pets sick -this disgusting poisonous food. I honestly felt like I was in shock. I couldn't sleep all night, feeling guilty that I nearly killed my own darling pets. I called the vet this morning for the stool results and they said her culture came back negative for parasites. They said to bring the dog back in for bloodwork, liver panels, more testing, etc. I have decided not to bring her back, as I'm certain what is making her sick. If I had not found this site and stopped feeding her Nutro, this food probably would have killed her had I kept feeding it. Thank God for this information and for all the people who took time to write. My dog is now on a diet of boiled chicken, rice, Activia Yogert, and children's Pepto Bismol. The bloody stools have continued and if they don't stop in a few days, I have no choice but to take her back to the vet.


What makes me really angry is the night I took my cat in, I asked my vet for the names of the best pet foods and Nutro was on the list she wrote down. When I told the vet that I suspect Nutro is what sickened my pets, she said they receive a regular food recall list and Nutro is not on it. I suggested they do some research and check out this site, because I'm 100% certain that Nutro is what is slowly killing my dog. It makes me wonder if the vets just don't tell you, hoping you continue to come back for more visits, more testing, more medications, etc. I spend a ton of money on pet food, grooming, pet sitters, vet bills, and then to find out the food you trusted is killing your dog just makes you sick! I am outraged after reading all of these posts, that this food is still on the store shelves. I'm ready to go to my local news to tell my story. I've missed work, lost sleep, lost money and nearly lost my pets over this disgraceful Nutro food. They deserve to be punished.

I am going to write Nutro and ask them to reimburse me for the vet bills and the food. In the meantime, I pray to God that my pets recover from this nightmare.

I have started the dog on a diet of boiled chicken, rice and Activia Yogert along with a dose of children's pepto bismol. I don't know how much damage has been done to her colon, or if it's even reversible. Only time and TLC will tell. I only hope a class action lawsuit can be brought against Nutro for the devastation they have inflicted on all of these pet-loving people and their innocent pets. God bless them all.

I have 3 rescued Cocker Spaniels. We have fed them Nutro pet food since we found them on the recommendation of an employee at Petsmart that worked for the local SPCA. It really seemed to make a difference in the dogs for awhile. They have several food allergies and we went with the Nutro Lamb and Rice Small bites. With our first dog Big Boy, he flourished. With our second addition of Woodrow, he seemed to be plagued with ear infections so we switched him to Nutro Herring and Sweet Potato which seemed to work. Then along came Josie, she was put on the Nutro Lamb and Rice Small Bites and encountered ear infections too.

As a result, she went on the Nutro Herring and Sweet Potato. All along from time to time all of the dogs would vomit yellow bile, gooey liquid. We thought maybe they were eating bugs or had been running around too much after drinking water. After reading other accounts they were doing the same thing with the bile yellow liquid. When we switched Josie over to Nutro Herring and Sweet Potato, she started to have blood in her stool. Then it quickly turned into pure blood with mucus. She would squat at a moments notice anywhere because she couldn't control her bowels. We brought her several times to the vet who didn't find parasites or the usual suspects. She would get a cortizone shot and antibiotics.

This went on for about three months. Finally, the vet said she had Colitis and she was on a new regimen of meds and we switched her back to the Nutro Lamb and Rice Small Bites because she didn't like the Venison, is allergic to all the other flavors because of chicken and beef. She was starting to get better and I purchased a new bag of both foods as they were running out. She vomited from 1 am to 8 am and right before we left for the vet (she wouldn't drink water and was dehydrated) her bowels let loose on the dining room floor with alot of blood. Luckily, there was a relief vet on duty that day put some fresh eyes on her case. She had to be put on IV Fluids, get a B-12 shot, was severly anemic and spent the day under observation. She is on probiotics, fiber and a new hypoallergenic food.

This poor little girl has been through so much! I feel like it is my fault for feeding her a food that I trusted! During all of this Big Boy had started to have blood in his stool and vomit too. I have changed all of my dogs over to the new hypoallergenic food. Although it is taking time for them to adjust to it, I am hoping this will clear up the problems. We have spent thousands trying to get our babies well. They are like our children and when they suffer so me and my husband. Let the buyer beware about this food. I hope the FDA or someone can stop this mess!

Our dogs are all rescued from the street or the dog pound. They have had a hard enough life before us. We have spent thousands trying to get our babies well. They are like our children and when they suffer so do me and my husband. Let the buyer beware about this food. I hope the FDA or someone can stop this mess! I will be happy to provide all of the vet bills and receipts I can find for this food. I also have the food in question and would be happy to send samples if needed.

My dog Smokie, became very ill within days of us buying a new bag of dry dog food. We have used Nutro brand dog food for about a year. Smokie would vomit from time to time, but it would be once and then not be repeated. I thought it was her gagging on something, as she is a miniture weenie dog. Earlier this week though she began throwing up, and would not stop. She refused to eat or drink. I took her to the vet, and the Dr., stated more than likely it was something she ate, or had an obtruction in her bowels. I brought her home, after she received an anti-nausea shot and she began to do better. She will not eat her food. She will eat other food, but not her food. She wont go near it. I had to remove the bowl from next to the water bowl so she'd drink water. Now our other dog Attison is starting to lose weight and is lethargic. We are returning the food to PetSmart and exchanging it for another brand.

Below is my correspondence to Nutro. After reading other complaints, I don't want their free dog food. "I am emailing you to see if you ever received the copy of the vet bills I sent at your request. I have not received any coupons in the mail for dog food. Angel is doing much better since she is back on the lamb and rice. If you would like, I have additional vet bills I can send for Charlie who is know battling skin and ear infections that he has never had before. I have also stopped going to Pet Supermarket who obviously did not take your advice because they are know changing my neighbors dog's food who is a 1 years old King Charles Cavalier.

"Fortunately they are changing her from Nutro Ultra to Lamb and Rice. I am going back to Pet World in Lakeland. I hope you do not think I am an opportunist trying to get free dog food because I am not. This whole situation is still very frustrating to me because my vet bills are still escalating in addition to purchasing medicated shampoo and more follow-up visits. These are 2 dogs that only needed to go to the vet for annual physicals. I look forward to your response. If you have changed your mind about sending the coupons, please let me know as I am starting to rethink feeding a product to my animals that have so many adverse effects. Thank you, Mary Anne"

"Per our conversation, I am attaching the vet bills for Angel (and Charlie). They have another appointment tomorrow. As I stated, I first thought Angel's problem was a hurt back and/or urinary tract infection. Dr. T. confirmed yesterday that it was abdominal upset. He said the 2 are difficult to differentiate because the symptoms are similar. We are hopeful that her liver values are lower tomorrow. I could not find any receipts for the dog food, but if necessary and can pull credit card statements. I am glad that you are having the Nutro reps educate the pet store personnel. I hope this never happens to any other dogs (or cats). Below is my original email to you as well. Thank you for your willingness to help. Mary Anne"

I have 4 dogs and all of them are on Nutro. My 7 year old cockers have been on less active/weight management all their lives. I was in Pet Supermarket about 6 weeks ago and the salesperson told me I need to put them on Nutro Senior. They are on their 4th bag and I have recently spent almost $1,000 in vet bills. I thought my female was just being a picky eater but now I know they are not handling the food well. She was at the emergency vet Saturday and yesterday she was at our vet on IV's due to excessive vomitting. Her ALT liver count is 656. Both dogs have sores all over them.

I told the girl at Pet Supermarket they were on the less active because of skin allergies and she said the Senior food would be fine. I printed the ingredients of both products off your website for my vet and she said the big difference is the chicken products which many animals are allergic to. She said if they were doing fine on the Less Active they should stay on that. I think people at pet stores should not recommend things because they are not veternarians. My little girl is on a liquid diet and since we got all the food out of her system she is feeling better than she has since I started giving her the food. I was going to transition Charlie off the Senior but his skin is so bad I'm just going back the Weight Management. My question is, I have 4 dogs. 2 are coon hounds. I buy a bag of Nutro a week, 30 lb or 50 lb. I took my cats off Nutro and they are on the Science Diet due to urine crystals.

I would like to be reimbursed for the 5 30lb bags of Senior. I have almost a full bag that I am going to throw away because I have poured it in containers. I can't go to Pet Supermarket because I don't have the bags or the receipts. I do have all the vet bills to back this up. I initially took my little girl to the emergency clinic thinking it was back pain or urinary tract. I can provide all these bill upon request. I have been a loyal Nutro Customer for 8 years, even throught the product recall. Now, I'm not so sure. I look forward to your response.

MY cat Hannah, is going to be twelve years old in August 2010, she has always been a healthy girl. On May 10th, I bought a new bag of Nutro Max Adult roasted chicken flavor, Hannah has been eating this for about five years now (except for during the recall a few years ago)we moved to a new brand during that period and came back to nutro max again when it was safe to come back.

During the week of May 10th, with the new bag of her current food, Hannah h

ad the worst case of diarrhea and vomiting,
which she has never had before in her in life. About five days into it I remembered she was eating from a new bag of dry food and a new case of wet food, and I stopped it! I withheld food
for twelve hours and went out and bought her a new brand of food and she
has not had any sign of illness ever
since. Hannah has lost weight, and her
meow seems weak (not sure why but I know it's not normal) but she is eating
her new brand of food just fine, her appetite is good. She's producing solid output.

She's a great cat and I am happy to report that she seems better. I will never buy any Nutro Max product again. I think it should be taken off the market... for good!!

I switched over to feeding my dog the Nutro Chicken Oatmeal and Rice dog food, and noticed on occasions that he would vomit light yellow fluid up in the mornings after he had awakened. I thought this was strange, but after reading all the consumer complaints about dogs and cats vomiting, I will definitely not buy this dog food again. Since I switched him off of this food, he has stopped the vomiting. This company needs to be shut down and investigated by the FDA immediately! My dog has become lethargic ever since I took him off the food about 3 weeks ago and sleeps a lot in his kennel. I can truly understand why now--because of this lethal dog food that was making him sick!

On April 27th, I purchased a #7 bag of Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care dry indoor cat food. My cat has been on this food for six years. Since the new bag, he has had diarrhea and vomiting for five days. He is a very healthy cat and I could not figure out why he was sick. I started looking for recalls and noticed there was a recall on this item with a Best Buy date up to 8/22/10. I disposed of the bag because I put it in a sealed pet container. I went to the store and on the shelf were bags with a Best Buy date of 9/1/10, which is a week away from their posted date. I am concerned that they still have contaminated food out there. I am taking him to the vet tomorrow. I have removed the food and given him something else but I kept a small bag. I think this company needs some further scrutiny.

I have my Lab and Golden on Nutro for large breeds and with this last purchase on 4/23, both dogs have been having watery stools. My lab started having blood in his, so I took him to vet and they gave him antibiotics and some steroids and sent me home, with a bill $100. I did not think about the food at first. Then I searched on the web and found more complaints about what the food has done to other animals.

Yes, I contacted Nutro Max concerning the death of my two cats and spoke with Nicole. I think everyone has spoken to Nicole. She always has the answers. They will never admit that they are in the wrong and that their products are killing our pets. If there is a class-action suit I want to know about it. Please contact me. This company needs to pay.

I had put my 2 1/2 year old English mastiff on nutro natural choice lamb and rice a little over 2 weeks ago. My dog is laying around, throwing up and fever. I had him at vets three times in two days and they kept him to try to see what is going on. I read about natural choice lamb and rice complaints on your web site.I called my vet to tell them about this, so they can see if this is what is causing him to be sick. I have spent over 1000.00 in the past 2 days on vet bills. I have spent over 1000.00 on vet bills and it is not over,and my poor dog with throwing up and I am so worried I cant sleep or eat from worrying about him.

We began feeding Nutro Ultra to a litter of pups we had as well as our adult German Shepherd. Suddenly all of our shepherds began with watery bowels and vomiting as well as drinking excessive amounts of water. I took the worst one to the vet as well as the puppies and suggested that feeding Nutro Ultra was when the problem arose. I began cooking chicken and rice to the puppies and they began to recover. Our vet suggested we switch all of our sheps to Science Diet and they all began to recover with the exception of one of our male Zuke, whom was only 2 years old. His kidneys show 75 percent damage and he may not survive. All shepherds where given a round of antibiotics as a preventative for any viral infections.

I contacted the Nutro rep named Nicole whom stated that they had had no complaints about the food and no other issues concerning other animals with loose bowls, vomiting, or any of the symptoms I had mentioned. Her offer of compensation was a check for the replacement of the bag of food which I had saved and had given her the lot information since I had suspected the food I kept the bag and gave her the numbers she requested. The dog food was the only common denominator that the dogs shared. The pups got the problems first then the older shepherds and then the youngsters. We have 6 shepherds in total and all had the same problem, so we took Zuke to the vet whom had the issues the longest and we took the puppies. They had never been in the same proximity with any of the other shepherds except their mother.

All of our shepherds appear to have recovered now that we are feeding the Science Diet except for Zuke whom has 75 percent damage to his kidneys and according to our vet may eventually have to be put to sleep at a later date. He is on 2 different types of medication as well as a prescription diet food made by Science Diet. He has a total of 5 pills we have to force in him and he is disgusted--when he sees us grab a pill bottle he runs. He is fearful of vets offices now since he had to be put in seclusion for 4 days in a vet's office and given fluids for those days. His whole demeanor has changed and he is scared of every thing and anyone. He was a very confident and healthy shepherd until feeding Nutro. I am hurt and sickened with the fact that neither the vets which we had 3 opinions or the Nutro company will admit to the food being the culprit. And since reading your website I felt it my duty to my shepherds and other pet owners to make aware that there is a problem and I whole heartedly believe that Nutro food caused these issues. So as an end result we now have Zuke whom has kidney problems liver problems and low potassium and well as extremely high createne levels and must be on medication and prescription foods for what is left of his life. I cringe every time I have to give him the medication the vet prescribed to him and am hurt that I feed him the food that caused the problems.

My cat suffered from unexplained vomiting and then the symptoms progressed to some kidney level failure. This has caused us to spend an exceptional amount of money on treatment for him. Then we found out about the Nutro food, which we have been feeding to him for about a year, now. I just found out about this lawsuit and the problems with Nutro food. I would like to be included in the class action lawsuit. Please contact me at the above-listed number or via email. Thank you!

I have fed Nutro Max to my 3 bloodhounds and shepherd mix. They all began having horrible diarrhea and vomiting yellow bile. I have spent well over $1000.00 trying to help my dogs. I have stopped feeding this poison and began making food for them. It sickens me to know that the people making our pet foods are killers and it saddens me to read what our beloved pets are going through.

I will never feed this animal poison again. We have put our pets through test after test and nothing could be found, but I think we have finally found the problem. I believe Nutro needs to step up and remove this junk off the shelves, so that our pets don't have to be poisoned by food that is supposed to be good for them. They say that Nutro is life-changing, maybe someone should explain what that means because it is not a good life-changing experience. Stop poisoning and killing our pets Mars Co.!

I started my 3 month old shep mix pup on another large breed puppy food and then switched to Nutro puppy lg breed lamb and rice. I feed her according to the directions. I did the gradual change not to disturb her system. I noticed her stool got very runny about 4-5 days into the switch and as she got on more of the Nutro, it became worse. I contacted Nutro who said as long as it wasn't like cow pies, she should adjust to it. Well it stayed about the same. After almost 2 bags (37#), the pet store said it could be the lamb and rice so switched her to Nutro max puppy food and it is bad now. We are into the second week of it and she is starving and the diarrhea is still bad. I am at a loss now of what to put her on. And if i have really messed up her system.

This is the Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy Food. We have been feeding our yellow lab Nutro's natural choice large breed puppy food for the past 7 months. Last week, she started with exploding diarrhea and vomiting. I immediately stopped her food for 24 hours and then proceeded to give her rice and chicken. I brought her to the vet and there were no parasites/worms in her stool. She continued with the rice and chicken and over this past weekend, we slowly started to incorporate the Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy Food back into her diet. Within 2 days, the diarrhea was back. After research on the internet, I was shocked to find out about these recalls. I called my local Petsmart where I purchased the food and they have not received any recall notices; however, they have received another call about a dog being sick from it. I will be returning the food tonight for another brand and will never go back to using Nutro brand. Between the vet visit, medication from vet and food (chicken and rice), I had to put out approximately $80. While this is not a huge amount, it is still very disconcerting.

Nutro Lamb/Rice Small Bites made my Shih Tzu's sick! I have fed my dogs this food for years. 01/12/10, I bought 40# bag of Nutro dog food. Shortly thereafter, 7 year old Shih Tzu and 1 year old Shih Tzu/Mini Poodle mix were throwing up bile and food, had diarrhea and constipation, incontinence, excessive thirst and hunger, and irritable, although they had these symptoms mildly for at least a year.

In March 2010, after reading on this site that Nutro had recall of puppy food and that other Nutro food was still making dogs and cats sick. I suspected all Nutro food was poisonous. I called the pet store and they said to bring the bag for a full refund (which they did), as Nutro guarantees all their food despite purchasing 3 months ago.

Before going to the store, I researched alternative food as I did not want to purchase another bag of poison. To replace this food, I purchased a 6# bag of Wellness Super 5Mix Complete Health for $16 and immediately starting feeding to my dogs mixed with small amounts of container of remaining Nutro. The two dogs still had some incidents of symptoms for about a week and 1/2.

Within one week of being on just the Wellness food, all their symptoms are gone! They are happy, healthy, and full of energy. They no longer eat all the food in their bowls, only until they are full. Wellness is made by Old Mother Hubbard, Inc. in Indiana, which merged with Eagle Pack into Wellpet LLC in Tewksbury, MA. Please investigate Nutro and stop them from selling poison. I will be submitting a report to the FDA as well.

At this point, it is uncertain what damage the 1-year old suffered from the poor quality and poisonous food. She was fed the Nutro puppy food her whole first year. She now seems to be filling out and seems less anxious, so perhaps she is able to repair with proper nutrition. The 7-year old may be more at risk for permanent damage but until the investigation determines what is in the Nutro and why the food is bad, we will not know what to look for and will not be able to try and correct. So again please investigate Nutro and make them stop selling poison to our dogs.

Our chocolate lab has been eating your Nutro Lamb and rice for large breeds for the past few years. After several months of him eating lots of grass, vomiting, his thirst, and last night, his renal failure, has made me come to the conclusion that it is his food. There is no doubt in my mind you are poisoning my dog. I will never trust your brand again, and will tell everyone I know to avoid it, due to the illness it has caused my dog. Last night was so scary, I thought we were going to lose him.

I have been feeding my dog Nutro Sensitive Stomach for a couple of years. He loved it at first, then with just the most recent couple of bags of dog food, he has refused to eat the Nutro. He has excessive gas and thirst, and I have noticed a change in happiness. I just googled Nutro to send them a letter wondering if something has changed. From the numerous entries here, I am not the only one that has noticed something is wrong. I will be sending Nutro a complaint! My poor innocent dog is being poisoned by some cheap, probably Chinese, dog food!

Nutro is poisoning our pets! They completely deny any responsibility and our pets are dying! Stop using any pet food produced by a company owned by Mars Incorporated. They are acting in a criminally negligent manner. Sales of their foods must stop until they can prove the foods are safe! Mars owns: Nutro, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Royal Canin, Cesar, Greenies and more! Spread the word! Stop buying their toxic pet food! Contact the FDA with your complaints.

We recently purchased the Sensitive Stomach formula for our labrador from Nutro. We noticed weakness in her back legs, lethargy, excessive thirst, and a general disinterest in normal activities. She has also refused to eat it anymore but will consume a different food that our other labradors are eating.

Due to these symptoms, we took her to our vet, and he said that she's got bilirubin in her urine (a sign of liver problems) and her red blood cell count was low. He asked us if anything recently changed, and the only thing that has changed is that we've been feeding her this food. Unfortunately, we may be too late, but we have ceased feeding her Nutro products. Our vet said that if we have diagnosed the primary cause of all of these symptoms, we can possibly save her. We will never feed this brand to her again based on all of the other reports I've read here with similar symptoms.

My dog has been having diarrhea and is vomiting. She has also been experiencing extensive thirst. She was on Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice formula. She was also on Greenie treats. She has been sick for 4 weeks and we removed her completely off the Greenies for 2 weeks. We ended up buying a new batch of Nutro Natural Choice Sensitive Stomach formula. She is still having diarrhea and appears to be getting worse! I haven't taken her to the vet, but I will. I took a look to see if anyone else is experiencing the same thing and am very shocked to see how many recent complaints there were here about the food. She has been on this food since she was a puppy and never had problems before until recently. I'm switching her food asap!

I do not know what Nutro pet foods did to the large breed puppy lamb and rice, but my puppy now has loose stools, throwing up, and he is itchy. He was fine when he first started on it but the last four weeks he has got loose stools, his fur looks dull and he has red spots on paws where he's chewing them due to itching. And today he is refusing to eat his Nutro food. I will never buy Nutro products again.

In mid-November of '09, I purchased another 20 pound bag of Nutro brand, Complete Care for "Senior" cats. I went on vacation for 6 weeks, out of the country, and my son and girlfriend were taking care of my pets. When I returned home, I discovered that my 14 year old male cat was emaciated and not eating so I took him to the vet during the first week of January. A "full blood panel" test showed results that led the vet to believe that there was an issue with the Gall bladder and bile duct clog. However, the cat died before I could arrange for further treatment which would have involved further diagnostics and likely a surgery and hospital care. It was assumed that it was a matter of old age.

Two months later, I acquired a one year old female cat from a rescue organization. This new cat had access to some of the same food for about a week and promptly got sick and showed some of the same symptoms that the older cat had before he died.

This prompted me to suspect the food as the culprit, as it was the only common factor in this issue. Smelling of the food closely, revealed a chemical/mineral or "oily" odor so I set it aside, sterilized all of the cat's dishes and care items and switched to a different brand of cat food. However, the new cat is still awfully sick and will be at the vet for testing this week, although she does seem to be improving and is at least eating fairly well again.

I took a sample of the tainted pet food over to UC Davis Animal Health Laboratory for screening for toxins, in an effort to find out what is going on. I hope to have the results of those tests back this week. I was not aware that there had been issues resulting in pet food recalls until a friend mentioned it and when I checked Nutro's web site, I find that this particular type of pet food, "Senior" is not on the list of those that have been recalled by Nutro.

Update: The sealed bag of Nutro Max Dry Adult Roasted Chicken that I had tested with a "Best By" date in Sept 2010 was negative for salmonella/e-coli, but it was not yet tested for zinc level. I just followed up with the lab and they will test the zinc level. This is crucial, especially in light of current lab testing elsewhere, indicating that currently purchased Nutro still contains toxic levels of zinc. Nutro's recall said the problem ended with products showing a "Best By" date of 8/22/2010, which is apparently not correct!

Important Note: The Pet Food Products Safety Alliance (PFPSA.com) has just posted a 3/22/2010 warning about Nutro Pet Foods! The independent laboratory they used reported a 3/12/2010 result showing another batch of Nutro food again shows toxic levels of zinc! In addition, the calcium to phosphorus ratio is significantly off!

How many more pets must die? How many more pet owners will buy toxic Nutro pet food? There is no excuse for Mars International (yep, the candy giant!), who owns Nutro, to continue poisoning our pets and then saying we can't prove their illness and/or death was due to the Nutro food, so they are not responsible!

Mars/Nutro, you have proven you cannot be trusted! Even after being caught with major food production problems, you still have not fixed your problems! I am out over $2,000 and almost had 1 pet die thanks to your poison! But I'm lucky. Other people's pets have died and many are still sick or dying!

Pet food oversight is inadequate. Stop the poisoning of our pets! Mars/Nutro, you should be held accountable! No excuse for your pet food production problems continuing. You've had more than ample chance to fix your problems! Class action lawsuits may be necessary, since you won't do the right thing on your own.

Mars International, Nutro is a subsidiary of yours! Your pet foods are again making pets sick and our pets are dying! Take responsibility and start investigating what is wrong with Nutro pet foods now! You are responsible for our Nutro-related illnesses.

Stop saying you've had no consumer complaints! That is a lie! Be responsible; fix the problem, cover our vet bills, implement quality control measures to ensure your products do not continue to poison our pets! Start by documenting our calls--take our names, get the best by date from our packaging, take our lot number info, and fix your problem! Stop the unnecessary suffering and deaths!

All 3 dogs are vomiting. They've been refusing to eat Nutro dog food. They are experiencing flatulence and excessive thirst as well. We just started a new bag of the dog food. We've fed them Nutro for years.

I posted my story about my sweet 4 year old boxer, Buster, who died in December of acute renal failure. Just an update: I informed Nutro right away of what happened. They were very defensive but said they would mail out a bag for me to return some of his food so they could test it. We fed him the Nutro Lamb and Rice large breed. They also asked me to copy all his vet records and the vet bills ($2700) associated with his renal failure.

After consulting with my vet, I contacted an independent lab to see about testing the food myself. The lab informed me that dog food companies are very vigilant about checking for melamine and that was the only thing my vet could think they should test for which would cause renal failure. Several weeks later, I heard from Diana at Nutro who said the food tested okay (of course they'd say this) but that she would turn our claim over to their insurance carrier anyway.

The other day I received a letter from their insurance saying that since food sample tested okay, any claim for reimbursement of our vet bills was being denied. I still believe it was the Nutro food that killed him and I will always believe it. I tell everyone I know who is a dog lover to not feed Nutro. I cannot believe there have been so many more cases of pets becoming ill and dying because of Nutro since our Buster died in December. It's such a tragedy.

My Siberian Husky had been eating Nutro Natural Choice for Sensitive Stomachs for years. Well, in July 2009, she started with seizures, urinary issues, excessive drinking and nasty diarrhea. We would get it better with antibiotics. We had two other dogs on this as well but due to the cost, we changed them in June to a different brand, hence, why they are still alive today. Anyway, Allie would keep having these spells that the vet would say was just old age. She was 10 years old.

Finally in Sept, we had to spend hundreds of dollars on all kinds of meds due to crystals in her urine, seizures. She got better for all of two weeks and then the morning of Nov. 9th 2009, she passed away just out of the blue. The vets said due to being poisoned. I have spoken to Petsmart about the food contamination etc. and they of course denied it. But after seeing the website for all the Nutro complaints and pets lost I believe it was the food. At $50 a bag, you would not think that it would kill your pet!

Within the last 3 months, I switched my 13 year old Jack Russell over to Nutro Natural Choice Senior dog food. At which point, I started noticing he was eating grass and weeds in the morning and regurgitating the grass back-up. Today, I went on-line and searched for topics/discussions on dog vomiting with grass eating. There were many postings on the aspects of Nutro brand dog/cat foods and related pet illness/sickness. It did not dawn on me, it coincided with the change in his food.

My wife purchased a brand new bag of Nutro on Monday, 03/15. I was amazed to discover inside the newly opened bag, two (2) candy wrappers for 'Fazer Mule' Orange-Mango'. I have never heard of this candy; however, I did read that Mars Corp. purchased Nutro Inc. Now, I am very concerned for the safety and well-being of my dog. I will be contacting Nutro and then return this product for an exchange to a different brand.

In December of 2008, I bought an AKC registered Yellow Lab from a well-known breeder. I started my dog on Nutro puppy food and mixed it with the food she supplied to get the puppy use to the new food. I took my puppy for a complete physical within 4 days of getting him and he was perfectly healthy. After about the first month, my puppy had bouts of diarrhea and accidents in my home. I took him back to the vet and they did a stool sample and said he had a parasite. My puppy went on antibiotics and all seemed well for about a month.

The diarrhea came back and I switched him to a homemade meal of chicken and rice for a week and all seemed fine again. I switched him back to the dog food and he continually got diarrhea, but now he also was breaking out in a rash on his groin area. I took him to the vet and they gave him a topical spray to help with the itching.

At this point, my puppy was 8-9 months old so I switched his food to a different brand and a specialized diet of venison and potatoes. This helped him for the first couple of months but then he began to itch and his groin area broke out in a rash and turned a gray color. I took him to the vet and they thought he might have allergies.

This continued until he was 1 1/2 years old. I wonder if the reaction to his dog food when he was younger could have an effect on his immune system and maybe broke it down to a weakened state? The breeder I got him from has had 7 litters of puppies with the same male and female that my dog came from and not one pup has had allergies thus far. I do not want to place blame but there is a "what if" factor!

I changed all of my dogs over to Nutro Ultra dry dog food, and all of them got sick. One of which died after her kidneys shut down. I still have a 4-month-old puppy that is still on antibiotic for a urinary tract infection. The other dogs were vomiting yellow bio. This company, after reading all these complaints about this food, needs to be investigated. I have one dog dead and many others sick. Someone please help.

I purchased Nutro dry dog food. Awhile after my dog started eating it, he developed toxic food poisoning symptoms. Some of the symptoms include raised temperature, disinterest in food, fainting, nausea, nerve damage to legs. I strongly believe these symptoms were caused by the food he was eating as we had only just changed his food and everything seems to tie in. I still have the biscuits. I was wondering if I send them to you, would you be able to test it for anything that could have poisoned him? The vet treatments have come to over $900 and we have suffered severe emotional distress.

I have fed my dogs for years on Nutro Lamb Rice Formula. Recently, I noted that my dogs continued to be hungry after a meal, as if the Kibble was not as filling. Also, there has increased drinking amongst all three, and then one by one vomiting Kibble and yellow bile, constipation and gastro upset with a lot of flatulence and belching. There is definitely something wrong with this Kibble. After taking the first dog off and feeding boiled rice and chicken, she was fine until I resumed using the Kibble, same with the next female who became ill also.

Now today, my 100lb boy is lying lethargic and white gummed on the couch. Now, I have no doubt now that it is a result of the Kibble. I am just mad at myself that it took me three days and three dogs being sick to figure this out. Google "Lamb Meal" or "meat rendering plants" and see what it really is that is in the "lamb meal". I was sick to my stomach when I saw what I have been feeding my dogs. It is no wonder that they are ill right now. But never again will I feed Nutro Products or any pet product made by Mars.

My cats eat Nutro Natural choice dry cat food. They recalled the food last year saying there was a problem with the minerals that were added. When they began selling the food again, the packaging was completely different. The old packaging said their food was 'low in magnesium' for certain cats that might benefit from this (urinary tract problems). The new packaging did not disclose this nor did it list the magnesium content on the packaging. After many emails, they finally answered me and said they increased the magnesium.

My cat would not switch to another cat food and I could not find another with low magnesium. So now, my five year old cat has urinary tract problems. Did not have a blockage, but came very close. The vet bill was over $500.00. He has to eat a special diet prescribed by the vet. It is very disturbing that they changed their formula without advising people. I cannot imagine how many other people have cats that are now having urinary tract problems because of this. I had over $500 in veterinary bills. They hook your cat on their food and then make changes to their formula that cause harm to your pet.

Reply from Nutro to my 3/7 inquiry asking if they use hydrolyzed vegetable protein (full text of my website inquiry to them was quoted on my previous post here). This is what I got: "In response to your email, thank you for taking the time to contact us. We do not use hydrolyzed vegetable protein in our products."

Well, we have that in writing from Nutro so they are certainly implying the HVP recall does not have any bearing on the pet foods. I wonder if the statement is also true for the other Mars owned pet food companies: Pedigree, Royal Canin and Whiskas?

An update to my February 24 post about Nutro: My cat sickened and hospitalized after eating Nutro Max Dry Adult Roasted Chicken seems to be recovering, since her 2-day hospitalization. We've spent a lot of money because of whatever the contamination is. This time, we almost lost our beloved pet. I'm so sorry for those of you who have lost your pets- the companies responsible need to investigate & be held accountable for what their actions (or inaction) have resulted in.

From what I'm reading, many people feeding Nutro pet foods have mysteriously found their pets seriously ill, with no follow-up or concern by Nutro that I am aware of. I am still awaiting testing results of a sealed bag of Nutro food with the same "best by" date and lot number, so maybe we'll find out whatever Nutro doesn't care to investigate or admit this time. I find it unacceptable that a huge conglomerate like Mars, who owns Nutro and many other pet food brands, appears to show absolutely no concern for our repetitive complaints about our pets getting ill on their foods! Shame on you, Mars!

I first contacted Nutro over a month ago, but I doubt they documented my calls. Recently, there has been a new FDA recall involving human food products containing Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP) that might be contaminated with salmonella. This same ingredient is commonly added to pet foods, but the FDA allows the pet food labels to identify it as "natural flavoring"! Since the bags of Nutro I recently purchased (which made my cats sick) have highlighted on the bag "Improved Taste- New Look" and they do list "natural flavoring", this may actually be related to what is harming our pets.

I contacted Nutro via their website last night and sent this: "Do any of the Nutro pet foods use the hydrolyzed vegetable protein that was just recalled (human food involvement) due to possible contamination? In particular, I want to know about Nutro Max Dry Adult Roasted Chicken. Over the last few weeks I have contacted Nutro multiple times, both on the phone & via your website, because 2 of my cats became ill shortly after eating from recently purchased bags of Nutro food. Please tell us immediately if you use this recalled flavoring agent HVP. This inquiry is being copied to several groups that are concerned- we know it may just be listed as "natural flavoring" on your actual packaging."

I have been home all day and have not received any response from Nutro via email or phone. I have also contacted several other entities, trying to find out if this tainted ingredient is indeed in the Nutro foods making our pets sick. I will update here as I learn more. Nutro has publicly denounced this site, implying we're just a bunch of complainers with no proof of anything. I challenge you, Mars/Nutro, with the deep pockets, to start documenting our calls and complaints. Start tracking them for possible trends that just might alert you to a problem with your products that could be making our pets sick! Or even killing some.

The repeated "we've received no complaints" is not true and we're not happy to keep reading it. Yes, it might cost you money, but isn't it time you started to build a solid reputation again with us, the common people, who actually buy your products? Unknown long-term prognosis. I am so sad to see the continued complaints from people with ill/dead pets, who have been using Nutro pet foods. Mars- stand up and do right by us!

I wrote to you on February 14, 2010. I said that my two cats were very ill. On February 17, 2010, they both passed away. Annie was 19 years old and Salem was 10 years old. I purchased Nutra Max Indoor Weight Control chicken flavor dry cat food on January 13, 2010 at PetSmart. I purchased Whiskas Temptations chicken flavor cat treats at Wal-Mart on January 24,2010. At the time I did not know this that both products are made by Mars Company. Both cats became very ill. Salem was taken to the vet. Tests and x-rays were done and I was told that he had a high elevated calcium count. The vet said that may indicate he ate rat poison. Both cats stay indoors. He spent 4 days at the vet. He refused to eat and drink. He lost half his weight. Annie was taken to the vet 5 days later.

Blood test was done and I was told she had kidney failure. She also refused to eat, but would drink water like she could not get enough. She lost half her weight. All her life she always weighed around 8-9 pounds and was active, she was down to 3 pounds when she passed. Her last days on earth, she suffered.

I called Nutra and spoke with Nicole and she swears it is not their product. They tested the 2 cups that I sent. I told her if it was only one cat I would believe her and it may be something else, but two cats something is wrong. I asked her many times how safe the food is and she assured me it was safe. She tried to tell me Salem had cancer. I know they will never admit. Nicole suggested that I take the cat food to PetSmart for a refund. Nutra just announced a recall on their cat food and the bag that I have matched the UPC code, but the expiration date. I called Nicole and she assured me that my bag was fine.

The dates are May 12, 2010 and August 22, 2010. My bag is September 1, 2010. I'm sure I've bought those dates before my present one, but have no proof. The recall is due to incorrect levels of zinc and potassium. The symptoms your cat may have are not eating, losing weight, vomiting and diarrhea. My cats had those symptoms. I know nothing will bring them back, but something needs to be done. This company needs to be accountable.

I purchased a bag of Nutro Max Cat Roasted Chicken Flavor dry cat food on Feb 17, 2010. After about a week, my cats developed severe diarrhea and to a lesser degree vomiting. I, like some of the other complainants on this site, have never noticed a problem with the cat food before then. My cats have been eating this food for approximately two years. My cats getting that ill on the food prompted me to inquire about another recall on Nutro pet foods. There apparently has been a recall on the cat food that I fed them with expiration dates ranging from May to August 22, 2010. Apparently the company didn't recall enough of the tainted food or has had another "mistake" in manufacturing. The FDA website lists all of the UPC codes involved in the recall. The bag of food that made my cats ill had the same UPC code as what was recalled, but an expiration date of Sept. 1, 2010.

I did take the bag back to the store where I purchased the bag. They gladly exchanged the remainder of the Nutro for a completely different brand of food. My cats seem to be doing better, and their stools are firming up. To me, this is conclusive evidence that the cat food is somehow tainted.

With all of the complaints that I'm seeing on the Consumer Affairs website, there are more complaints and sick animals than the company is admitting to. Their website and the FDA website both say that they have not had complaints of sick animals. I know that they have one complaint now, I have it documented. I filed a complaint with both the company and the FDA; however, I have not had a response from either.

I think that I caught the tainted food in time to keep my animals from having lasting damage. However, as severe as the diarrhea was becoming, I would be concerned about other people's animals that weren't watched so closely. There may be many dead animals if more of the food isn't recalled.

I was totally unaware of all this controversy over Nutro dog foods. I thought I was feeding my dogs a well-balanced good dog food. My husband has been saying for a couple years now that our dogs throw up more than any he has known. I never thought much of it before but for the past 6 months to a year, I agree with him.

Our 2 dachshunds throw up yellow bile at least 2-3 times a week. It's always the same times, early in the morning. I also have noticed in that time that they both seem to drink an excessive amount of water. Neither show any other sign of illness. I was beginning to think it was an allergy but then again why would both dogs have the same allergy. We started cutting out dog cookies, raw hides and raw vegetables with no results. I decided maybe a food change was in order.

In looking into foods for sensitive stomachs, I discovered that the Nutro chicken is recommended for sensitive stomachs. My dogs have eaten the chicken, lamb, and most recently the senior formula. Completely by accident in my investigating food choices for my dogs, I came across all the sick and deceased dogs allegedly from Nutro products. I was totally devastated when I realized all my dogs symptoms were the very same with all these other dogs have experienced.

I know as of yet nothing has been proven but come on. How can all these dogs have all the same symptoms and the one thing in common is the Nutro food? On my way home from work tonight I stopped at our local feed store and bought a new brand of dog food and threw out what we had left of the Nutro. I know it isn't recommended to just switch food without doing a gradual change over, but I will never feed my dogs Nutro again. I don't care if nothing is ever proven.

To me it's too much coincidence and I will not put my babies at risk any more than I already have. I just hope whatever that horrible food was doing to their intestines and organs that there is no permanent damage and a new healthy dog food will stop their vomiting. I hope the investigation into the Nutro company continues. I would hate to think of any more dogs suffering because of this food.

I was recently recruited for a pet food focus group. The study had samples of food to feed to my dog. I wasn't told the name of the company. I became worried when they wouldn't tell us what company it was. The ingredients on the test packages revealed that both bags were Nutro dry dog foods. I have had one of my dogs end up with a serious bladder infection and a vet bill of $700 two years ago due to Nutro Max Senior. I told the focus group organizers that I am withdrawing my pet from the study. There is no way I would feed that crap to any of my dogs after seeing what continues to happen to pets around the country.

Both my cats have stopped eating the Nutro Max Cat Adult dry food I purchased from Petland on 2/7/10. One cat had bloody, foul smelling feces, so I took him to the vet. His blood test did not show anything wrong. Both cats are vomiting, have stopped eating and have lost dangerous amounts of weight. I called Nutro and they claim they cannot do anything without the batch information from the bag the food came in. (They did offer me a refund on the purchase price of the bag of food in question.) Because my cats are normally aggressive eaters, I pour the food in a plastic bin for storage and throw out the bag immediately. If anyone has a bad bag with a batch code, you might try contacting Nutro.

I bought Nutro after salesperson suggested it for the first dog my family adopted, a healthy yellow lab, 2 years old. After a few months, she started acting sluggish and within a few weeks she could barely get up. I had her to the vet who could not determine what the cause might be. On her last day, she seemed to be acting fine. We had to go out for about an hour and came home to find that she had bled out. Our vet told us she probably ate rat poison. We were very saddened by this as Sadie was our first family pet, and we could not figure where she ate the rat poison because we had never bought any. She was crated when we were not home. No cleaning supplies were ever left out, as we have small children.

A few months later, we adopted a healthy lab puppy, again went with Nutro and the very same thing happened with Cody. Cody suddenly started urinating blood, but the vet could find no cause, gave antibiotics and sent us home. In less then a week, Cody also died. He was not eating well, and in his last few hours was not breathing right, and could hardly stand. It's a horrible thing to think you caused the death of 2 wonderful pets that your family members were just beginning to know. The vet says we somehow must have poisoned our pets. I don't know anything that could be further from the truth! I now believe that Nutro foods, pushed on us by salespersons that were pushed on by Nutro, caused the death of Sadie and Cody.

I had been feeding my Rottie and Lab Nutro Large Breed dog food for several years. In November, 2009, I started feeding them Nutro Ultra Large Breed Adult food thinking it would be better for them being holistic. I noticed my lab would vomit bile quite often. He had his annual vet visit on Feb. 16, 2010. That morning he had vomited again. His liver enzymes were slightly elevated as were my Rotti's on her last visit. I opened a new bag of food on Sat. Feb. 20th and fed them. Later that day, I found 3 large piles of vomited food. My Rotti walked away from her food when I fed her that evening. I gave it to her about an hour later and she finally ate it. The next day my lab refused to eat. I was finding yellow bile each day on the floor.

It wasn't until today Feb. 23rd that I realized it must be the food making them both sick. I googled Nutro and found so many stories like mine. I called my vet, e-mailed nutro, brought the rest of the bag of food and the Ultra canned food back to Petco hoping that it could be tested and that batch be taken off of the shelves. It can't be removed until approved by the corporate office. Until then many more dogs may get sick. I saved a few cups of food hoping I can find a place where it can be tested. The Best By date and batch # of the bag that made both of them sick is 01-16-11 27 1 002 G1 LEB 02 15 02. My Rotti won't eat anything today and is very lethargic.

If my Rotti doesn't start eating, I have to bring her to the vet and hope that something will help her. She has always been healthy before this. My lab seems to be okay today. I will not buy Nutro again.

This is follow-up on my Nutro Max cat food complaint. I took my cat to the Emergency Hospital Sunday morning since she still wouldn't eat. They put her on an IV & force fed her. Blood work now showed elevated bilirubin, which vet said is expected with not eating/drinking since the suspect Nutro food. I called Nutro again (3rd call) on Mon 2/22 & got Diana. Now the story by her is different. Now she says the Nutro Max I used was not changed at all, but they ran out of packages & used old packaging so they wouldn't have to stop sales! Now that's reassuring. It's not!

I reminded her the package says "Improved taste" & both she & another Nutro phone rep previously confirmed the formula changed with additional chicken meal. I guess I need to start recording these conversations.

So my cat was now hospitalized 2 days & force fed. Vet bills for the 2 cats sickened after eating the recent Nutro are now about $1500 & I am getting the food tested by an independent lab, at extra cost. My cat is home & eating a little on her own. I'm tempting her with stinky wet food & it seems that helps. It is worth the expense to see if Nutro does actually have another production problem. I want to save pet lives! Too bad when we call them to advise of the food problems they do not want UPC codes or lot identifiers. They don't want to even check.

I don't know about you, but when we have pets get sick from food, I want answers & a company that cares about doing what's right. If there's a problem, investigate & fix it to avoid sick and/or dying pets.

Will my cat make it through this? I sure hope so. She is much loved. I have several investigational entities working on this, trying to figure out what's wrong with the food. I wish Nutro/Mars was part of that team!

I had my female cat worked in by my vet on Thursday, 2/18. She ran blood work, xrays and subcutaneous fluids since my cat hadn't eaten or taken water in almost 48 hours. Initially, they did not run a urinalysis since my cat has never had a urinary tract infection. After speaking with the vet, they ran the urine test and found blood/bacteria in her urine. They gave an antibiotic shot and sent us home with 10 days of further antibiotics. That was end of day Thursday. That evening one of my boy cats started to have bloody diarrhea that had the worst smell I have ever experienced. Friday morning, he had the bloody diarrhea again and I took him to a different vet since my regular was booked up. That vet ran detailed blood work and smears on the fecal matter.

Even the vet commented on the foul smell of the diarrhea. The blood work appeared fine, but exam showed abdominal distress/intestinal swelling. It appeared the food has caused his digestive problems and we were given medication for him to reduce the symptoms. So 2 of my 3 healthy pets have suddenly had blood in the urine or feces after eating the recent Nutro "improved taste" product!

Considering the recent recall of Nutro products because of serious excessive zinc and inadequate potassium, I have no idea what else they may have done wrong. There are way too many complaints about their food. I am taking my still very sick girl to an emergency clinic tomorrow. Could this be salmonella? Nutro has had a recall in the past due to possible salmonella contamination. I will ask tomorrow at the emergency hospital.

They changed the Nutro Weight Management, weight management dry food. My cat became sick after about a few days. He has had digestion problems.

His stool smells bad. We have him on antibiotics right now. Since he is a diabetic, we are quite concerned. We are switching brands after reading the experiences of other pet owners. We are not going to risk our pet's live over bad pet food. He is sick and may need more medical care. He has diarrhea and has soiled himself and his bed. He is not easy to deal with and this situation has made it worse.

My 3 cats are my children, so I feel it's worth the extra cost to feed them premium cat food. I have fed them Nutro Max Cat Adult Roasted Chicken dry food for several years and they loved it. Recently I started feeding them from a new bag and noticed something alarming. They would rush to the food bowls and when they got close, they would look at the food and walk away without touching it. I saw the bag now says "Improved taste-New Look! " and I was worried about what they changed. I called Nutro and was told by the female answering the toll-free number that they don't use preservatives and sometimes the product gets hot during delivery and may have gone rancid. She told me to get Petco to exchange my bag for another with a different "Best by" date. She told me the only thing they changed was to increase the amount of chicken meal, but nothing else.

My local Petco only had bags with the same "best by" date as mine, so I had to drive 25 minutes to another location. I opened the new bag and got the same reaction, my cats would not go near it!

I called Nutro again and told the girl I was very alarmed and insisted she take my complaint further. I was no longer going to use their product and I was switching my cats to Innova. She said nothing of any known problems with their food and assured me she would pass on my complaint to her superiors.

While I was at Petco last night, an employee was talking about a friend's cat, who used the same food I did, had recently started getting sick and she changed to another non-Nutro food.

The pet store told me it's easier on a cat's digestive tract to mix a little of the existing food with the new food I was switching to for about a week. All my cats (almost 8 years old) are indoors, healthy babies and have regular vet check-ups. My girl went to sleep on my bed early last night and hasn't left the bed for over 24 hours. She obviously doesn't feel well and I am taking her to the vet tomorrow morning. I will have her checked for kidney/liver function and her blood for inappropriate zinc/potassium. Her teeth were cleaned late June and I had the extra pre-anesthesia testing done beforehand , so we have a benchmark on those blood levels. She was fine, so if anything dramatic has happened since then, I will have the Nutro food tested.

When I tried to call Nutro today about my sick cat, they were closed and I sent my concerns via their website. But then I happened upon all the complaints here on ** and I am terrified she may have liver and/or kidney damage as a result of their food. Why didn't they ask me to send them a sample for testing? Why didn't they mention possible toxicity due to their excessive zinc and/or low potassium level problems? I had my bag and they didn't mention any possible problem, other than rancidity. They assured me their product was not changed at all other than additional chicken meal! I know they don't want to lose money and openly admit they have a problem, but I don't want to feed toxic food to my feline children! They should have been willing to investigate my 2 calls about this. I hope it's not too late for any of my fur-babies, but I will not use Nutro again. Since Mars bought the company, it appears that quality is no longer crucial.

I just recently had a 3 1/2 year old Pomeranian die due to kidney failure. She had never gotten into antifreeze and was a very happy and healthy dog. I have another pom (her sister), and they both ate the same food, Nutro Ultra Small Breed.

It never dawned on me that it could have been the food that made the one sick, but I just recently have noticed that her sister, after eating the food, had acted bizarre. She almost seems like she was going to fall over and stopped breathing for a minute, this happened twice. The last time I fed her the food was yesterday afternoon. She had also been throwing up.

Now that I've stopped feeding her the Nutro she seems okay. I am taking her to the vet to have a kidney panel done. I pray that she is okay. Is there someone I can contact after I get the results? As I mentioned, my one Pomeranian is dead, and I am waiting for an appointment with my vet to get the other tested. At any rate, I do believe that the food is having a negative effect on the one dog still with us. I would really like to know if the food caused the other to die.

At this moment I am dealing with two ill cats. I think this is related to tainted cat food. I purchased Nutro Max Indoor Cat food chicken flavor and Whiskas Temptation chicken flavor treats. I wish I knew which one for sure and need to have both cat food tested. Both cats have kidney failure. Both cats were vomiting. Both cats are not eating as of now. Both cats were taken to the vet. And tests were done. I have both cats at home and it is heart breaking to see them just waste away. Both cats were happy and active about two weeks ago. I have called Nutro Max and they are sending me a container so I can mail 2 cups of their cat food they want to test. Whiskas I have e-mailed and have not gotten a response. Just some closure, I would like to know why they both became ill.

About two years ago my 3-year old Bullmastiff died suddenly. I believe it was due to Nutro food. The day started like any other. Stella got her dinner at around 6 pm just like every other night. I had just opened a new bag of Nutro dog food. Within 3 hours of her eating her dinner she was throwing up. She was thirstier than I had ever seen her, continuing to drink water and then throw it up. She was shaking.

This went on throughout the night. My biggest regret happened next when I got up the next morning and saw her still as sick as she was. I had just started a new job and was afraid to call out of work, so I proceeded to go to work and figured I would take her to the vet when I got home. She never made it. I had my mother go to my house to check on her while I was at work and she was dead. So in less than 24 hours my dog was dead. The vet had no real explanation, just a list of possibilities. I did not conduct an autopsy, although now I wish I did. My heart broke and ached for weeks--and still does to this day. After researching online and seeing similar stories of other dogs that were on Nutro, I figured I should share my story. I believe that there is something terribly wrong going on and something needs to be done! A 3-year old dog doesn't just die like that one day out of the blue! It just doesn't happen. No words can describe the loss of my best friend Stella!

I have a 4 year old pit bull, and since I worked at Petsmart as a teenager I started her on Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice as a puppy. The Nutro sales person pounded it into the employees' heads that this was absolutely the best food out there. She did fine on it for a couple years, then I accidentally bought a bag of chicken instead of lamb. She started vomiting bile before she would eat in the morning for a couple of weeks and I brought the food back. I assumed it was an allergy to chicken, but still was scared to go back to Nutro products until recently.

I have had a lot of issues with food. The really good food often causes loose stool, so I decided that I would go back to the lamb and rice since she did well on it as a puppy plus the Nutro sales person they had at Petsmart talked me into it, again. At first her stool got much better and I finally thought I found a great food for her until a little over half of her 40 pound bag was gone. Now we're right back to the vomiting. I thought a couple days ago it was just coincidence, but she has vomited the past 3 nights before eating. I'm very upset with this company and my vet doesn't like the food either. She said many dogs will do fine on it for a while and then developed a lot of issues that were easily resolved with a diet change. I will never feed my dog this food again and I want to tell everyone to do the same if they love their pets!

In 2008, my 14-year old shepherd-collie mix died. For the first 7 years of his life, he had had repeated urinary incontinence (bed-wetting) issues, and I spent probably thousands of dollars taking him to vets. No vet ever established the cause of the problem and few treatments helped for long. He had blood in his urine and would pee in his sleep. Now I have a shepherd-husky mix that is one year old and starting to have the same problem! He is not in any way related to my old dog. What is the connection? Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice dry dog food!

I have finally figured it out! It is the only possible connection as I live in neither the same house nor even the same town as before. I don't use any harsh cleaning products either. I have switched my dog's food permanently. When my old dog was 7, I remember I had changed his food to a different brand with fewer calories and without me realizing it that "cured" him.

Physical damage was repeated painful bladder problems, damage to furniture and rugs with urine and blood stains, thousands of dollars in veterinary expenses, and now, emotional damage from realizing I was inadvertently poisoning my poor old dog with what I thought was a premium dog food. I will never use Nutro again. I am now throwing away a 17.5-lb bag which cost $35.88 plus tax. I hope the company goes out of business. I will never buy anything from China again. I make sure the dog food I buy now has no ingredients from China.

Our cats have been on Nutro for years. But recently, we bought a new bag and they began throwing up. We returned the bag to the pet food store and they said they have had numerous complaints about Nutro food recently and are going to stop carrying Nutro because of all the problems. We switched to Natural Balance and the cats have been fine since. Thankfully, I think and hope we caught the problem before any long term problems could occur.

On December 28th 2009, we switched our beloved 7th month old puppy Guinness to Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy dry food. Within 3 days he went from a happy, healthy wonderful puppy to vomiting foam and food and lethargic. At first we thought we had caused it by switching his food too abruptly. We spoke to the vet who told us to watch him, see if things got worse (vomiting more profusely/often) and if so to bring him in immediately. On December 31st, the vomiting was considerably worse and we took him in at 2am to the emergency vet hospital. When they admitted him they did blood work and x-rays. The blood work came back showing complete renal failure with numbers that were off the chart. We were beside ourselves to watch our pet suffer like that.

The Vet immediately stated that he had been poisoned and figured it was something around our home. In our home we only use organic cleaning products which he never got into. I had been home constantly with him based on house rest for pregnancy, so I knew exactly what he had been doing. Within 24 hours, he passed away. To this day I know something was terribly wrong and I held onto the dog food because that was the only variable that changed just truly believing something was wrong. The costs for care were obviously not inexpensive however I did not care at the time because I just wanted our puppy better! I still have all receipts for care and have the vet records and food stored away.

I read your stories tonight and felt compelled to share mine. Immediately after he passed, I looked for similar stories and did not find them until now. I would like to have the food tested but do not know where to turn.

In October 2009, we bought our usual bag of Nutro cat food from our usual pet store. By the end of October, one of our cats, Noodle who is 9 years old, was peeing everywhere and throwing up food a lot. We took her to the vet where they found blood in her urine. Although the urine did not culture to show any bacteria, the vet sent us home with a 3-week dose of antibiotics assuming it was a urinary tract infection. Two weeks after, we finished giving Noodle the antibiotics and she started acting odd. She was lethargic and stopped eating. This behavior came on slowly and after about two weeks, we realized that there was a problem.

Just then, we saw a posting from a friend on Facebook that her mom's cat had gotten very sick and they thought it was from eating Nutro cat food. She described the symptoms which matched what we saw in Noodle. We went online and saw that there had been a recall the previous May and that people said that as soon as they stopped feeding their cats the Nutro, most of them improved. So that's what we did, we switched both of our cats to another brand and waited. Noodle did not improve so we took her to the vet again. In the exam room, we learned that she had dropped from 11.6 to 8.9 pounds. And we were startled to see how yellow she was. She was completely jaundiced. An ultra sound of her liver showed quite a bit of fibrosis. The vet put her on round the clock IV fluids expecting to clear up the jaundice in a few days.

Eight days later, she was still very yellow and still very sick. We requested a Zinc test since that is what we have read is the issue with the Nutro food. After a week off the food and several days of IV, they drew her blood for the test which came back at .9 for zinc which is the highest level in the normal range. We took our younger cat in, she's 2 years old, and found that she has blood in her urine as the same condition Noodle had last October but her liver enzymes were normal. So we are hoping that we caught it in time for her. So far, the vet bills have come to over $1600. Noodle is home and we are giving her 6-8 pills a day and 300 ccs of subcutaneous fluids every day. She is finally eating a little because one of her pills stimulates the appetite but she is still very sick.

Two years ago, we were feeding our golden and lab the Nutro Natural Choice food. We were having a difficult time finding the type that contained rice and were told by the pet store that it was a problem that had to do with China not releasing rice for the dog food. I looked online and found the horror stories about the dogs who had become sick from the Nutro. My dogs had been having the exact same problems as the dogs on the blogs but I had just thought they had eaten something bad or had a stomach virus. I immediately took them off the Nutro and switched to Natural Recipe Lamb/Rice and within 48 hours they were no longer vomiting nor lethargic with diarrhea and uncontrolled urination. Just last week, my husband picked up some dog food and mistakenly bought Nutro. My dogs have been eating it for two days and are having the same symptoms as two years ago. I hope the FDA continues to look into this company before more dogs are sickened.

We have been feeding our golden retriever Nutro Natural Choice for Seniors for the past year. In late fall, our dog began vomiting and we spent $600 on tests at the vet. None of the tests revealed any health issues. Unable to eat, the dog lost approximately 12 pounds and was put on anti-vomiting pills.

We began feeding him table scraps and canned dog food to coax him to eat, which he did. Then when things seemed better and the vomiting had stopped, we'd start reintroducing the dry Nutro, and once again he would start vomiting. I reported to the vet that it seemed the dog was worse every time we restarted the Nutro dry food. When the vet asked me to get the ingredients for the food, I went online. I was shocked to see all of the vomiting claims reported by dog owners using Nutro.

We have taken our dog off Nutro and the vomiting has completely stopped. I only wish I had known of these claims sooner so that my dog would not have suffered for so long. It was heart-breaking watching him decline.

I've fed my older Golden Retriever Nutro Ultra dry dog food for several years. She occasionally has had bile vomiting episodes, which the vet attributed to a sensitive empty stomach. In mid December, we bought the regular Nutro Large breed food, and within about a week, both of our Retrievers were vomiting bile once or twice a day.

This got worse over about two weeks, and both dogs became lethargic, so I took them off the Nutro and fed them plain (human food) boiled rice and chicken. The vomiting stopped within 24 hours of the switch. I've now weaned them onto California Naturals Lamb & Rice and still no vomiting. Their energy levels have increased and they are more alert now.

My 5 year old chihuahua suffered an intestinal blockage, after eating a Greenies dog chew. I bought Greenies, because the bag described the product as easily digested. After 3 days of suffering, it was finally determined she had a blockage. The vet bill was over $1,000.

I purchased Nutro Natural Choice for Seniors dog food on Oct 16/09. (Product Code 79100511605). In early November, my dog started vomiting bile. I thought it was due to one of my kids feeding her something from the table or from my dog missing either her morning or evening meal of dog food. In early Dec, she started throwing up her entire food that she consumed. I booked a vet appoint on my day off and later cancelled it as she did not vomit over the last 4-5 days and keeping everything down. During this time as well, she started getting into the bathroom garbage and eating/tearing apart the tissues, but I thought it was an attention thing (even though it was totally out of character for her) as I just started working. I noticed a drastic change on Christmas Eve, as she was very withdrawn and seemed antsy.

I gave her a bath which seemed to settle her down but at that time is when I noticed how much weight she had lost. She was previously 4.5-5 pounds overweight, so I never really noticed the change over the last couple of months as she seemed to be at a fit weight once again. I rushed her into the emergency vet on Dec 26 as she was very lethargic, not eating and not drinking.

From Oct. to now, she had lost 10 pounds weighing in at 14.5 pounds. The vet had noticed that she had an infection in her anal glands at this time, squeezed them out for comfort and gave me medication for anti-vomiting, Tylenol and an antibiotic for her infection. She noted that this would not cause the vomiting she was experiencing though. I decided to decline on the blood work at this time, as I was going to take her to my family vet the next morning to get blood work done there to find out if there was something else ailing her. I did not get a chance to do that though as she passed away at 5:00 the next morning at home.

Just last week, I gave my dog food to a friend of mine who as well has a senior dog as I did not want to see the food/expense go to waste. Within 2 days of feeding my dog food to her family dog, her dog was vomiting. She thought that maybe he was adjusting from switching dog food brands. Over the last 4 days the vomiting is still persisting. She now has taken her dog off the food. That is today, so hopefully her dog will recover if it is from the food. After searching through the net, is when I have now realized that there has been a lot of issues with the food.

Can anything be done as far as analyzing this dog food to find out if it was poisoning my dog and if so, what can be done about taking it off the shelves before more pets take ill or die and to make the company accountable? Can you please advise me what the process is to find anything out regarding this?

My dog has not been behaving the way he just to do, he was a very active dog, and was a little finicky about eating but he eat normal, a few months ago, we noticed that he devoured his food like I've never seen him before. Also, he's has been drinking very large amount of water and he just lays down all the time now, like he has no energy, his belly got huge and we had no idea what was going on, until I saw a recall article on the "Nutro Pet Food" then I realized that that may be the answer to our dog problem. I feel so bad by choosing that particular brand, but I thought I was doing the right thing. I just hope that my dog returns to normal once I change his food, and that there's no damage to his kidneys.

My dog had been eating Nutro brand dog food. She had been relatively healthy, but started to have (what were diagnosed as) bacterial infections where she would vomit and have diarrhea. On 12/17/09, my dog was extremely lethargic. I had to practically carry her to the car and had to lift her onto the front floorboard. Normally, she would jump up into the back seat, happy to go for a ride. I got her to the vet. She was dying. Her kidneys had shut down and her heart was failing. She was diagnosed as being poisoned.

I fed my Maine Coon cat Nutro Natural Choice for years. There wasn't any problem since he liked it and he seemed to be very healthy. I had put him on the senior formula just before they had the recall. I was told the senior diet was not part of the recall and I should not to worry. Then all of a sudden, they'd changed their packaging and I was told the formula had changed. They gave me a lot of coupons to use on my Nutro purchases.

I noticed right away when I started feeding him the new formula that my cat began to wolf down the new food. He'd just stand there and gobble it like a large dog gobbles their food. He could eat enough. This is very unusual for my cat since he nibbles and he doesn't gobble and gulp. The eating habit continued until he'd become grossly obese and so constipated, I thought I'd have to take him to the vet to get his plumbing going again.

So I bought a vegetable based hair ball remedy to get his digestive tract working again. It took my cat a couple of very large doses. His fur had begun to look really ratty while he was on the New Nutro diet. I changed his diet to another brand and have been monitoring him. He's eating normally now while being picky and nibbling.

He is no longer constipated whereas before,on the new formula Nutro, he had dry stools protruding from his anus and he could not pass them. His hair had gotten dry and was falling out while he was on the Nutro food. Now that he's on another brand he's beginning to look better. His fur is not so patchy but rather, it is glossier. No more constipation. Over all, he's much healthier.

The economic impact is that I had to throw out a $30 bag of food. I had to purchase a $15 tube of vegetable laxative/furball remedy to get his digestive tract moving. I had to pay for one vet visit at $70 to find out if he had a tumor in his abdomen. I'd had a cat several years ago that looked like this and it was due to a tumor. The vet says there is no tumor in this cat. Just too much fat and way too constipated.

My 4 year old chihuahua all of a sudden got sick, and on the second day (today) December 31, 2009 has had bloody stool and became lethargic. She won't eat, no vets are open due to the holidays, and after searching on the internet for any help with my situation, I came across the Nutro recall. That would explain her condition. She had not eaten anything different, or been outside to get into anything. I can only hope she pulls through this, for this dog means the world to me. I did notify the Nutro company with complaint about her condition, and let them know if she dies, their there will be an FDA investigation and autopsy to confirm my horror! I will be writing on the comment space, to let you know in the next day or so, what will happen to my precious Daisy!

Our beloved four year old boxer died 2 weeks ago of acute renal failure. We fed him the Nutro Lamb & Rice. He was a very healthy, energetic, beautiful dog and 3 days later he was dead, just like Elizabeth's story. We are still devastated. Was thinking about contacting Nutro direct after we hear from Petsmart if they can trace the lot # on the bag of food we bought. We still have plenty of food and were thinking of sending to independent lab for testing.

Our beloved 5 months puppy named "BICHO" died 2 weeks ago of renal/kidney failure.

He was very healthy and playful and suddenly he was feeling lethargyc and start vomiting his dry puppy food. Inmediately took him to the "Emergency Animal Hospital" and 3 days later he died!

He was the most precious little puppy my son bought for himself for Christmas! He spend $ 1,200. After loosing our 16 year old dog 8 years ago was not an easy thing to bring a puppy to our house but we adapt perfectly because he was the most adorable, cute, well behave and everything we want in a new dog. He was our baby and we adore him!!! My son spent almost another $ 1,200 to cover the emergency expenses and hospitalizacion at St Francis Animal Hospital in Pembroke Pines, Florida. We are devastated for his unexpected death. We have al records and receipts of all the costs involved.

My cat has been very ill for quite some time now. Has been being treated at a vets for many months. All antibiotics perscribed did nothing. I was doing research online for cat vomiting and found the recalled cat food online, The product was familiar to me because that is what i had been feeding my cat when she became ill. Cat was eating nutro complete care ocean fish cat food. I have not contacted the company as of yet. But I am searching for independent labs to test this food for the high levels of zinc. The date on the bag is aug 2009. I'm guessing that company had alot more contaminated food then they admitted to. I have a feeling they are responsible for the sickness and deaths of far more animals than detected.

I'm totally disgusted with the guide lines our pet food is allowed. I contacted cbs with this complaint because they are the ones that reported the recall last year.

My black lab was recently diagnosed with "Mega Esophagus" a disease where his esophagus bascially stopped working. He was hospitalized, had pneumonia because undigested food got into his lungs and after a week in the ER and a nearly $4,000 vet bill, and doses of auto immune drugs to keep the condition somewhat under control--he is okay.

The disease seemed to get better after taking him off the Nutro food--and the only reason I changed his food is because he needs to eat "soft" food so it moves down his digestive track easier. But the vet is not sure exactly what caused it.

Have you gotten any reports of esphagus disorders related to NUTRO brand dog food? I've fed them "NUTRO LIGHT" "NUTRO LAMB AND RICE" and "NUTRO SENIOR".

I have had my dog for 7 years and he has always maintained perfect health; that is until we started feeding him Nutro lamb and rice dry dog food and soon after the switch our dog (Happy) became sick. We took him to the Vet which cost us over $400 in tests. Temporarily we started giving Happy a low protein food from Hills (Prescription Diet W/D). Happy got better. At this point we had not attributed Happys illness to the food, after all Nutro is supposed to be high quality dog food; therefore we started giving him Nutro again. Immediately thereafter Happy started vomiting everyday. At this point we put two and two together and switched him to Eukanuba (the one with ocean fish) and from that day to the present day Happy has been fine. There is no doubt in my mind that it was the Nutro food that was making Happy sick.

This is not to blame the dog food company because it could just be that Happy reacts badly to one of the ingredients used in the formula; however, one has to wonder after reading of so many similar stories on the web concerning the Nutro. And how many more untold stories must be out there. I dont usually write on these forums, but thought that if this contribution could just help one pet owner then it would worth it. I used to be a loyal Nutro customer, but never again will I make that mistake. I am not a Vet and have no vested interest in pet food companies, I am just a dog owner who went through the experience above. If you are experiencing similar situation with your pet you may want to consider switching dog food right away. Dont wait like I did. I regret that my dog went ill unnecessarily as long as he did because I didnt switch sooner.

A salesperson in our local petland was pushing some "All natural" petfood called Nutro. Our 5lbs Chihuahua is a big fan of "ceasars" but I thought something that was "Healthier" would be better for her. And it was, in the beginning, we bought a tray of the turkey bits nutro wet food. Our dog enjoyed it, when I went back to buy more their stock of turkey was out so I bought two lamb containers thinking our little pup would enjoy that as well.

So I fed her yesterday morning, and when I get home from work her face is swollen, adn she's got inflammed ears and swelling behind her ears. I go to put out her dinner, same lamb food, and she wont touch it. Now I know something is up cause she's quite an eater, I try to get her to eat it but to no avail.

I then toss the nutro and give her some regular dry dog food. Ususally she'll scoff at dry food, but she ate it right up. Whatever was in that Nutro lamb tray caused a serious allergic reaction in my 5 pound Chihuahua. Hurt my precious animal! So I go online and look up nutro...and here we are...stay away!

For at least 6 years, our pets were enjoying optimum health and our household believed in and felt Nutro was a high quality premium food. We could not praise Nutro enough! We were extremely pleased & happy with the results achieved! When Mars took Nutro over, the product went down hill! Last November our pets were vomiting after eating Nutro dog & cat food. We did not immediately make the connection to the food. The more we fed Nutro, the more vomited dry cat & dog food - Nutro Max] we would have to clean up from our rugs, stairs, floors etc.

Our vet told us to stop feeding Nutro cat & dog food to our animals. He stated he would not reccomend any cat or dog food unless it was tested. Shame on Nutro & selfish corporate greedy Mars. They were just trying to fatten their wallets & reap their profits at the expense of our poor defenseless animals!

When we dialed their 800 number, they told us their food is safe! Then why have thousands of irate consumers complained? Our household believes the product had to be fermented & contaminated to make so many animals sick. Nutro[ Mars] has the nerve to send us a coupon for a free bag of food????? WE CAN NO LONGER TRUST NUTRO OR THEIR PRODUCTS!!!!!

I've fed Nutro brand pet food to my dogs and cats for eight years. Initially, I felt their Senior dry dog food with Glucosamine and Chondroitin added two years to my Dalmatian's life. It kept her hip arthritis manageable to allow her to live to age fourteen.

Two years ago, I had a one year old cat suddenly act sick and poisoned. He died. I blamed myself as he was an inside/outside cat. He'd been fed Nutro dry cat foot exclusively.

In early November, my two year old neutered male cat (also an inside/outside cat) first had an episode of diarrhea, anorexia and weakness for five days. I stopped his dry NutroMax Salmon food and gave him another manufacturer's can of moist for stomach-sensitive cat food, supplemented with select table scraps to entice his appetite. He perked up and seemed to get over his "ailment". I went back to feeding him Nutro.


My cat then disappeared indoors on Thanksgiving day. I thought it was because he was shy about guests. Day by day, he became weaker with stiff-like back legs, only able to hold his head an inch from the floor. He couldn't coordinate jumping into the recliner as usual, falling backwards on to his spine. He deteriorated into not looking when spoken to, and having a dull gaze with constant sleepiness. His hair was falling out in massive shedding. He laid in lethargy.

It finally dawned on me to do an internet search of Nutro pet foods. I found two lots of six pound bags of NutroMax Salmon had been recalled during the summer. A call to my retailer revealed they did pull Nutro products off their shelves. They did not have means of contacting consumers who'd already taken these products home.

My dog became deathly ill after eating nutro dod food Natural choice small bites. he began throwing up and then bloody diahrea and finally just blood.After 3 visits to the vet who ran numerous test blood fecal AND x RAYS HE RECIEVED 3 shots and also was dehydrated put on anti biotics and finally changed his food did my dog start to get better. If i didny react as fast as i did with getting him medical treatment my dog would be dead.

When I adopted my Golden Retriever, Lucie, I wanted to make sure I was feeding her a good food. I chose to feed Nutro Natural Choise Lamb and Rice. I fed it to her for 4 years. After moving from GA I continued to feed it.

After a visit to her new Vet, we were told that Lucie had some irregularities in her blood work. It looked like she may have some sort of kidney issue. Naturally I turn to the internet to find a reason, someone to blame. I came accross a lot of complaints about the food claiming similar issues.

Being a skeptic, I took these complaints with a grain of salt and paid around 2000 dollars for a lot of diagnostics of which most were negative or inconclusive except one, Leptospirosis - positive. After more research (usinfg only government, university, and AVMA information) I found that she most likely got this bacterial kidney infection from a tainted water source (such as a pond in GA where lepto is quite common). The moral of the story is, don't be so quick to point a finger at your dog's food. Dogs get sick just like people. There are a multitude of viruses and bacterial infections as well as food allergies and intolerances that pets can get that have absolutely nothing to do with the food you feed.

These illnesses can have the same symptoms that a lot of people attribute to food.
A prime example is vomiting and diarrhea. Sure, it can be caused by food. But it can also be caused by any number of bacterial infections, or overpopulation of beneficial bacteria in the gut etc... The symtoms can last anywhere from 24 hours to 7 days or more. I myself have had the occasional stomach bug as I'm sure most of you have. Most people that think the food is the issue change there dog's diet within a few days of the onset of symptoms (which can cause problems itself) but if the bug was only going to last a few days, how can you be sure it was the food?

If your pet has a problem take it to the vet. Do the tests, they're worth the money. Had I wasted time changing food everytime there was a problem< Lucie may not be here now.

I have used Nutro Max Lamb and Rice for over ten years. My Golden Retriever (12 yrs old) was put down due to a nuero-brain problem. He was on Nutro for eight years. My lab mix female was on Nutro for nine years and she was put down due to a bleed out problem. I do not feel Nutro was at fault with my Golden but wonder about my lab mix who seemed healthy then started to bleed out. Could dog food cause something like this to happen?

My dogs have been sick and I was on the internet to get some clues. One dog was just diagnosed with early kidney disease. Another dog of mine was recently diagnosed with mild pacreatitis. Two of my senior dogs just died in the last 2 months. I started reading about the disease and discovered that some have linked it to Nutro. I have been feeding my dogs Nutro Max Natural Choice Lamb and Rice for about one year. Another dog only one years old that I recently adopted out had been throwing up.

I purchased a bag of Nutro Max Weight Control dog food at PetSmart in Morehead City, North Carolina. I fed it to my dog for 2 days. I noticed that on day 3 she was not as active as before. She did not eat the rest of the week. I tried to feed it to her again and she would not eat. She was vomiting and not *******. I have taken her to the vet and after her blood work came back I was told that her blood count was off the charts. If she was a human she would need dialasys treatment. She has been on an IV for 2 days now and the vet said she would need to be on it the rest of the week. She has had nothing else but Nutro Max.

Have been feeding my dog Nurto Max Adult Breed dog food. He has been ill with vomit chunks of food and yellow bile. As soon as we change the food he goes back to normal.

A Few months ago our Siamese cat got very ill with Diarrhea and vomiting about the same time the recalls had come out on the nutro max cat foods.. we had put cat to sleep thinking old age, he was lethargic and and older cat and would not eat or drink. Later learned of recalls with similiar symptoms, now our shitzu female not 5 years old right now has been rushed to emergency vet with same symptoms and we have her on IV and antibiotics and they are not sure what is causing her problems but I remember right now she is on Nutro max lamb and rice and supposedly all recalls were taken care of!!???????

I am very angry right now and am praying my dog will be ok and God help this company if she is not! Why is it that more is not done? Seems to me that dog/cat foods should have to be monitured like ours.......... we are paying HIGH vet bills like we pay medical bills because these companies are not monitured. So far today I paid $900.00.

I have two wonderful large breed dogs. Eli, the older one was first introduced to Nutro Large Breed after it was impractical to continue purchasing our preferred brand in Ohio, this other brand is not available here. Although he was an adult dog we still weaned him off the other brand and gradually introduced the Nutro brand. He has shown the same wonderful development, excellent health, and great disposition for a large working class breed.

Bonnie, our other large breed came to us in a broken near death condition. She was fed a popular brand which she was allergic to. I chose not to wean her off the other brand and gave her Nutro large breed immediately. Yes her stool was loose, and she was sick several times. We continued, after about three weeks her fur began to grow back. Regular visits to our vet revealed all the major ailments she had first been diagnosed with have begun to clear up. Her original weight at the time we adopted her was 100 lb. Now she weighs 170 and is just as healthy as the older dog.

We also have three cats; one of them is over twenty years old. Last winter (2008-9) I was convinced by her condition she was not going to see the next season. We tried Nutro for cats and within one month she became as active as any other member of our household.

We are not breeders nor have we been asked by Nutro to write anything for them. I simply want the best for my family. When you have lost some members of your family to diseases which can be related to nutrition, you become very selective.

In regards to the Nutro Compliants, i would just like to make every Austalian aware that 'Nutro Natural Choice' in Australia is not affiliated with the Nutro 'Mars Comapany in America' if you would like to confirm this please call the Australian Nutro.

I can also confirm that i have been feeding my great dane who has a very senstive stomach (allergic to wheat and beef and has had really bad diarrhea on other food)on Nutro Natural Choice and she has become very health and her stool are perfectly wonderful.

also please note, in regards to the 'so called FDA Investigation' well i went to FDA's website and i quote

"FDA Statement on Nutro Products, Inc.

April 28, 2009

FDA is clarifying that Nutro Products, Inc. is not currently under investigation. FDA does not typically confirm or deny the existence of an FDA investigation. It has recently come to our attention, however, that a media report incorrectly concluded and reported that Nutro Products, Inc. was the subject of an investigation."

A couple weeks ago my shih-poo became very ill with bloody diarrhea and vomiting. She was hospitalized and the vet ran tests that proved inconclusive. The vet could only say that she probably ate something she shouldn't have. She was hospitalized due to dehydration and was given charcoal to absorb the unknown toxin. It was discovered that she had lost 3 pounds. She improved over the next couple weeks and then today started vomiting again right after she ate the Nutro food. Our lab has also exhibited soft stool, excessive thirst, and vomiting but not to the same extent as the smaller dog. I am discontinuing use of this dog food immediately. The first vet bill was $500 to come to the conclusion that they didn't know what was wrong with her. Now I am facing another vet bill if the vomiting continues.

I recently bought a bag of Nutro Natural Senior Cat food for my siamese. I mixed the Nutro with her Proplan. She has developed diarrhea as a result of adding the Nutro. I stopped the Nutro immediately, but the symptoms have not gone away. I'll be taking her to the vet first thing in the morning. I feel just awful for feeding her this food. I should have read all the pet owners' experiences beforehand.

Purchased Nutro Max Adult Dog Food and Adult Mini Chunk. October 11, 2009 for the first time. Our 6 yr old lab started vomiting a few times a day after starting on this food, the day I stopped feeding her the food, she had vomited all of the food 15 min. after eating and was lethargic. The following day her whole head and face swelled up. Our 1yr old chihuahua refused to eat the mini chunks, finally ate some of our labs larger chunks and became very ill the following day. Lethargic, vomiting blood, diarrhea, refusing to eat anything. I immediately stopped feeding both of them the Nutro Max food and started with home cooked rice and beef, the next day the vomiting had stopped, still obviously not back to normal health (except for a little diarrhea, slow moving and the swelling in our labs face) but feeling better. 2 days after stopping, appetites were back to normal and energy levels back. I returned the food to Petco and was given a refund to purchase a different brand. Our dogs seem to be fine now. Hopefully no permanent health problems were caused from this food. After reading about other pet owners stories we feel very lucky that we didn't lose our dogs. We are surprised this food is still on the shelves and hope their are no other deaths caused from this food.

I had reported here my cat's death after eating recalled Nutro Complete Care Adult Ocean Fish Flavor back in early September. I received results a couple of days ago from the Pet Food Product Safety Alliance on the sample I forwarded to them to have tested - and guess what? 2100 PPM ZINC.

Wow, my knees gave way and I buckled to the floor. Most certainly this food murdered my cat.

Hold on to your packaging, any leftover food you may have, do not throw any of it out. If you suspect there is something wrong with your Nutro food, have it tested, and keep some extra for yourself for further testing. Report your situation to the FDA. I've been working with a very attentive representative at the FDA, who is collecting all of my information.

I had fed Nutro natural choice for over 10 years with no issues. In April 2008, my malamute and mal/shep mix, who had never had any health issues, both became critically ill within the same weekend. They had fevers of 105, and their liver/pancreatic levels were off the charts. The vets at the emergency clinic were stumped, only said the symptoms were consistant with poisoning. (They had absolutely no access to any poisons).

My vet bills were over $2000. My 12-yr old girl died 2 days later, My 9-yr old recovered when I began cooking his own food, but still has interminttent pancreatitis and a head-tilt from the neurological damage he suffered.

I've spoken to Nutro customer service reps on multiple occasions. They read prepared statements and lie to me about looking into my case. They want all the information I have sent to their legal department, and offer no other recourse.

Have been using the same food(NUTRO max senior w/glucosomine) for several years, my dog 10 year old boxer, has been having stomach problems off and on for about 2yrs. Wrote it off to boxer breed tender digestive system. She would eat grass and vomit once a week, recently, 4 months ago, it seemed worse.

Bought a fresh bag about 2 weeks ago, she became ill, vomit diarhea, and just refused to eat the food anymore. It's been 1 week since she ate Nutro, and is doing very well now. Will never use this brand again.

I have complained before about the death of my 1 year old cat and illness of other cat after eating the recalled Nutro cat food. Just to update you my food was tested and had almost 2000 ppm zinc....way off from the 250 ppm listed on the bag and the 550 ppm that two nutro representatives have told me is the maximum found in any of the recalled food. So why is it again that mine had almost 2000 ppm? Of course no one at Nutro can address that. Slides that were taken of my deceased cats liver....the only thing that was saved....I had no idea of the recall until after she had passed away...showed that she died from a chronic toxin that poisoned her over a long period of time. Isn't it amazing that in Nutro's eyes this is not proof that the toxin that poisoned her wasn't zinc? Even more amazing is the money that we are spending on our pets while three members of the Mars family rank in at number 19 of the top wealthiest Americans with 11 BILLION DOLLARS EACH !!!!!!!

Now we know that they are saving their money by putting things in our pets food that don't belong there and providing no quality control. Check out there quality assurance statement on their website....do you think the food we are buying has been checked like they say??? It's no coincidence that they just withdrew their puppy food. Amazing that they didn't withdraw the cat food that was made on the same exact machine as this puppy food where a workers hat supposedly got sucked into a machine. Do you think production was stopped immediately when this happened. If it did would several varieties of puppy food be withdrawn or one?? No sense at all. I have never heard a word back from them about my complaint and they refused to take my food that has tested so high. What has this world come to?

Ok I started posting about my experiences back in February. This condition does not go away :( Here it is October and I'm going to speak with a 3rd vet about BeeBee. He had a mild seizure a month or so ago and I brought him to the emergency vet. It was very mild but it was the first one after his big one in May and I paniced. Good thing I did because I found that his blood protein is dangerously low. But he does not behave that way. He is alittle droopy and such but once he gets around people he's happy, wants attention, tail is going. I tried a few things that I wanted to in my mind (changing diet, etc) and that didn't help and with his water consistancy diarehha I opted for the ultrasound. I was there for the procedure - not that I could tell much - and had to make more calls to get the results than I thought I should have and they think it might be a loop in his intestine and there might be a tumor but since he's not clinical play it by ear but ELECTIVE EXPLORATORY surgery was suggested (1st vet), it's up to me but if I wait too long I might be faced wth a ruptured intestine but surgery was also suggested (2nd vet) - I have an appointment today with a 3rd vet who I have heard good things about as far as honesty and integrity and I will hopefully get all the pieces put together. I tired of hearing that he's not clinical - of course he's not. I refer back to Nutro to them but they don't seem interested in consumers experiences which makes me mad because everyone that has posted here who has had issues mirror mine exactly. I'll keep you posted as to what she says/what the surgery reveals if I have it done. Since there are so many posts here I also would like to see CA set up some kind of way to contact other posters. It might be helpful if a bunch of us in the same state/area all go to one Vet with our files - then maybe they would listen....

My kitten just spent the day in the vet's office after eating some of the food that was produced after the expiration date on the recall (9-01-10). The type she eats hasn't even been mentioned in the recall - Nutro Max Kitten. After $425 dollars worth of tests, X-rays, IV fluids and medicine, which produced negative results. I decided to look up recent pet food recalls and found this site.

The stories from other pet owners are horrifying. Her symptoms were the same, lethargy, throwing up, diarrhea and refusing food. Luckily we caught it early. The food is probably still on the shelf as I just bought it two weeks ago. They're trying to act like it's not that big of deal by calling it "not nutritionally balanced" but it is essentially metal poisoning.

All the while, Nutro is giving itself a big pat on the back for the voluntary recall. Nutro denies that any cats have even become ill from the items in this latest recall which as evidenced by the complaints on this site is an outright lie. My vet is in complete agreement that this pet food is what caused my cat's illness.

I've been feeding my dog Nutro Natural Dog Food since he was a puppy. He's 1.5 years old now, and suddenly got a bad case of uncontrollable diarrhea and mild vomiting that lasted weeks. Also, he started getting skin rashes and constant itching.

After extensive and expensive tests, the vet found nothing. I moved him off packaged food and onto chicken and rice. He recovered well for over a week. I put him back on his food, and the symptoms come back at once. I'm changing his food, and I'm relieved to see others report similar issues.

I have been feeding my kittens nutro complete care indoor kitten food. Both my kitten have been on this food for nearly 6 months, one kitten had been throwing up off and on - not realizing it was the food. Once the other kitten started throwing up. I changes their food - the throwing up has stopped. I have made several attempts to speak with someone with NUTRO- no one has returnd my calls or emails

My family has a beloved snowshoe siamese cat. he is just 16months of age and for the past 6month we have been dealing with urination issues. It took me a while to recognize what could be causing the odor in my home as i never had this problem with a pet before. After taking him to the vet i was told he had the severest case of a bladder infection and was put on an anti biotic for 2weeks. During this time my cat would not move out of a corner in the closet i thought i might loose him. a month later things weren't getting better and i found thousands of other complaints about this product.

My vet now has him on a stronger anti biotic, antidepressants and has asked me to now feed him hills science diet and things are slowly getting better.

Our 14 year old Cocker Spaniel, Dixie, became ill and was tested extensively at Animals first Vet Hospital. There were no medical reasons for these severe symptoms.
She was vomiting, diarrhea, and finally refused to eat. She became very weak and could not walk up or down stairs. She slept almost continually.
She has been leashed and rarely even leaves her own yard for walking.

We thought she was just in the last phases of dying.

She had been fed Nutro Ultra Senior Dog Food exclusively for years.

After the Vet strongly suggested changing her food, she surprisingly recovered almost completely.

After reading many of the blogs on this dog food, it seems that Dixie was probably being poisoned by her dog food.

To give you some background, I have had cats all my life (58 so far) and I am very aware of the various health issues a cat can have. What alerted us that there was something definitely wrong was losing 5 cats in less than a year.

I have never lost that many cats in that short a time... EVER! It was also hard to pin point what exactly was going on is because the vets didn't have a conclusive reason why any of the cats were sick in the first place. One was supposedly due to old age and another was because of a congenital intestinal defect but the third there was no rhyme or reason as to why they were sick. They had just stopped eating. That was the key. They had all stopped eating.

When we had finally discovered the common element in all of their sicknesses, my fiance started searching the internet (he didn't have to search far). It seems that in February of 2008, Menu Foods purchased Nutro (you may remember Menu Foods as one of the companies responsible for the contaminated pet food back in 2007). It was around that time we started to notice a change in the appearance of the catkibble.

In March of 2008, one of our oldest cats, Sebastian had stopped eating and so we took him to the vet. They did x-rays and said he had cancer of the intestines. We didn't want him to suffer and because of his advanced years (he was 16) so we decided that the most humane thing to do was to have him put down.

In the mean time, one of our newest cats Tiger had taken to not eating. We couldn't figure out why. We took him to the vet as well and they started doing tests. He would get better for a few days and then slip back to his old habits.In August, we finally took him to a Vet of Specialists. They told us that he had a blocked intestine and had to have surgery immediately. They did the surgery and removed a large chunk of his upper intestine. Needless to say he never recovered from his surgery.

When our next cat became sick and was diagnosed with an intestinal problem, my fiance knew something was wrong and figured he would check out the cat food we were feeding them. Bingo! We stopped feeding the Nutro immediately. Unfortunately, Esmeralda never recovered and had to put to sleep.

Well, we thought the threat was over. We had found the cause to why we were losing cats. What we didn't realize at the time was that heavy metal poisoning did not stop when you stop feeding them the contaminated food. Heavy metal is also extremely hard to get out of the cats system once it's there. In February of this year we lost Dolly. Because she was only 3-4 weeks old when we found her she didn't have any chance to recover with levels of toxins so high. So when our last cat, McGuffy, stopped eating in March we couldn't believe that it was because of the food. Our vet told us that it was again something in the intestines. We tried to nurse him back to health but again he was fair too gone for the efforts to help.

Now, to set the record straight. After the death of Esmeralda, I did contacted Nurto and told them what I knew to be true. They informed me that all the web hype was cause by a vicious blogger and a rival food company. As I explained that most of the information I had was on personal observation after reading just a few of the claimants on the Consumer Affairs website. I was told they would make note of my findings, contact my vet and then contact me with a decision whether or not to pay for the vet costs.

Of course I didn't hear anything back. So when Dolly passed on, I called them again and was told the same thing with the same response. I did hear back from them one last time saying it was not conclusive that any of our deaths were caused by the Nutro we had been feeding them. note: we also had 2 previous cat deaths that may or may not been caused by Nutro cat kibble but at the time the vet just said it was something with the intestines.

Well, since I can't measure in monetary values the emotional suffering that losing 5 cats (kids) can do to a person. I can measure the amount of money it cost us in vet bills. Low end estimates: Sebastian $500, Tiger $8,000, Esmeralda $1,000, Dolly $500 & McGuffy $2,000

On September 27,2009, I rushed my Yorkshire Terrier - Apollo to the Emergency Vet. He had bloody diarrhea for 2 days. Over the course of 3 weeks I was weaning Apollo and my Bischon Frise- Lola onto the new Nutro Ultra Holistic Superfood. They were eating the old formula for about a year without a problem. Nutro reformulated the Ultra line (i.e. adding avocado, pumpkin, and pomegrante)and raised the price.

As soon as I introduced the new food (I also mixed it with the old formula to reduce any upset to Apollo and Lola's systems) Lola threw up immediately. I put her back on Science Diet. Apollo was doing ok with it. I noticed he was itching here and there. He was also not eating as much as he normally did. Once the bloody diarrhea started, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Once Apollo and I were at the Emergency Vet, I was asked if Apollo got into anything. My answer was clearly No. My parents are retired . Therefore, Apollo and Lola are always home with someone when I am at work. After 3 hours of waiting, bloodwork, and radiographs, I was told by the ER vet that Apollos suffered from dietary indescretion. I asked the ER vet if the Nutro Ultra Holistic Superfood was the cause.

She told me more than likely yes. I also an assistant manager for a tri-state area pet chain. So,I also know first hand what this "Superfood" is doing. I have been told by customers that their dogs are violently throwing up, getting rashes, and their dogs will simply not even go near the food. Now, that I am a consumer with this problem myself, I am totally livid and disgusted!

My husband and I noticed that in your site there were dogs and cats were were getting sick and dying due to eating Nutro's Dog and cat food. Our two dogs have been sick vomiting and with diarrhea. They've been drinking water excessively and have had even blood in the diarrhea. They have been eating the food for the past 2 yrs and now is when they have been getting sick and having skin issues too. Our 8 month old 5 lbs chihuahua has died about 2 weeks ago from a bacteria in her liver and she had diarrhea and vomiting. We were told by the vet that she was poisoned or she ate something in the yard.. Funny thing is that she was always supervised and has no access to any chemical or poison. Nor is there anything in our yard that can kill an animal. Our other 2 dogs that are currently sick with vomiting and diarrhea is Petunia our female English Bulldog and Pettie our Jack Russell Terrier. Also our 2 cats have occasionally been vomiting and have been going in their box way more than normal and their stool smells worse than normal. All off our animals have always been pampered and spoiled with the best care and nutrition. The dogs have been eating the Small Bites Lamb and Rice formula (Bright Green Bag) and the cats have been eating the Indoor Max Cat formula. We are devastated with the loss of our chihuahua and are in $3000 in debt for all the care and bills that our chihuahua got at the vet only to loose her Sept. 13th 2009. Just to take her on a Wednesday morning at 4 a.m. cost us about $800. We have consulted with a lawyer and are pursuing with a class action law suit if there hasn't been one already done again for this company. If there has been one please contact me via phone or e-mail.

We've been feeding our dog Nutro Natural Senior food for many many years. However, over the past year she has gotten severly ill. She vomits several times a week, has gotten very lethargic and now has chronic diarrhea, which sometimes contains blood. We've taken her to the vet and spent several thousand dollars running tests on her, only to be told there's nothing wrong with her.

After researching Nutro brand dog food online, I found this website with hundreds of complaints very similar to mine. I've stopped feeding my dog the Nutro brand food and pray that she will start getting better. If this doesn't qualify for a class action lawsuit, I don't know what does!

My Chow/Shep. has been on lamb and rice for five yrs. running fevers from time to time gone the next day or so. If not I take him to my vet. Vomiting bile my vet said give him something at night, only does it during the day when he has food. Vet sugguested and anacid didn't work he gets sick once a month usely 3 piles when I get home. Found out about what's happening he is off today. Hopefully the iching he's having goes away.

OMG! I was shocked to read others experience w/ Nutro. My AmStaff is 5 yrs old and we've given him Nutro since he was 9wks old. I just ran out of food and was looking for coupons as the last bag I bought, prices went up significantly. But I found this site instead.

Our dog has been eating Nutro since he was 9wks old. Around age 2 we noticed skin irritations, like allergies and the Vet diagnosed him with skin mites..."its the breed". The Vet prescribed Ivomec (a drug used for cattle & swine) to control the "skin mites". But on a daily basis. After a year, another Vet said to give monthly. Now it's "as needed" (he's now 5). The Vet also suggested changing dog food to Lamb & rice. We stayed w/ Nutro and switched the flavor. He seemed to be doing better, off & on. Just this year, maybe the end of last year, he began vomiting, for no apparent reason. And gagging like he had a hair ball. I wrote both the vomiting and the gagging off as "he ate too fast". But then he would vomit throughout the day and he only eats in the morning & @ night.

I have spent well over $500, not including the monthly fee for the Banfield Ins Plan of $20, now almost $40/mo, taking him in for exams with the skin problem and now vomiting. The vomiting was never really diagnosed as anything, other than "eating too fast". Test were normal. Is there a specific test we should be asking for? Is it their digestive system that's being harmed? For those of you w/ seizures and deaths, was a cause determined? Needless to say, I went and bought a small bag of Eukanuba. We'll see how he does with that.

we went to petco to get the usual dog food for my 2 year old boxer (iams) when a sales rep for nutra max dog food came up to us and started her little sales pitch about how iams has processed meat parts and how that was so bad for my dog and that she had a boxer also and had been giving him nutra max and she also had switched him from iams. so after listening to her we decided to switch and see if my dog would like the new food. after about 2 weeks on the nutra max food food my dog had 3 seizures and his gums were pail white and had no energy. after trying to figure out how this could be happening my fiance looked up nutra max dog foods and realized that he had all the symptoms other dogs had from the complaints on the internet. i cant believe i switched my dogs food without looking into it first and switched from iams when he never had a problem. i am hopefully lucky in the fact that we figured it out before he had permanent damage done like some of the other customers of nutra max's pet food did. i cant believe petco would allow a sales rep from a company that obviously has many complaints and impending lawsuits push there products in their stores.

My Mainecoon cat, Seamus, has become very ill in the last 2 months. He has spent multiple days/nights at the vet's office for vomiting up bile, not eating, lethargy, etc. After reading the complaints/concerns about Nutro Pet foods on consumeraffairs.com I have become very concerned. When I got him from the breeder in March 2008, at 9 weeks old, she told me to keep him on the Nutro cat food. He has NEVER had anything else until we went to the pet store in June and it had been recalled. Later, when we could get it again we put him back on it because he didn't want to eat anything else. My husband and I have payed out over $1600 trying to find out what is wrong with him. Including a very expensive blood test that was sent to Texas A&M. They came back with a folic acid deficiency. Now he is back at the vet's office and has been since last Friday because he cam e home and the symptoms which had cleared up have started again. We are waiting for the bill for the current stay. Someone needs to start digging into why this is happening to so many animals. This goes across breeds in both dogs and cats and the age of the animal does not seem to matter.

I came across some things on the net about nutro max dog food law suit. I wanted to know if I had a case or who I would get in touch with if I do. I had my first dog on this food for 8 your and she had to be put down do to some unexplainable seizures and or brain tomer. Then I got the second dog and after 6 years on this food had to be put down for bone cancer. Does this have to do with the food like many of the other cases.

Recently I had to euthanize my 9 year old coon hound. She had severe kidney disease. The biopsy of her kidneys indicated repeated small doses of toxic substances. I have feed my dogs nutro for years. Now, only now, I'm finding out this food is killing pets. I recently went to PetSmart to purchase more Nutro and happened to inquire about whether there were any reported problems from the recall a few years back. The woman told me to never purchase nutro, that it had actually been recalled more than the one time a few years ago. WHY was this not on the news. WHY? I suspect NUTRO caused my dog's fatal illness.

our dog has had vomiting problems for years. he has been eating nutro for years. earlier this year the problem escalated to the point we were considering putting him to sleep. our carpeting was being soiled daily. he became severely constipated and we took him to our vet. an exray was taken and he was sent for an ultrasound.

we spent over $500.00 in 2 days and they found nothing to explain his problems. a urine test showed an infection and after 10 days on an antibiotic, he stopped vomiting. a few weeks later, it began again. i took a urine sample to the vet anticipating another course of antibiotics. his urine was clean. he continues to vomit every few days.

our son's dog has many of the same problems. he went to the store yesterday to purchase more NUTRO and was told about the problems and advised not to buy it. i wish he had told me before i gave our dog his breakfast. we are returning the remaining NUTRO today. i expect a big change in our dog soon.

My dog is a 10 year old rot/shepard mix. He was so healthy on nutro senior for 3 years. 6 months ago he became sick and highly alergic to nutro senior and lamb and rice. I could not even pet him because his skin hurt when i touched him. I am very disappointed in your company not only did you raise the price but you have poisoned my dog. I will look into pressing charges against you for the pain and suffering my dog has endured. He is now on diamond taste of the wild and he is 80 percent back to normal.

We bought Nutro Natural Choice Small Puppy Bites Chicken Meal, Rice, and Oatmean for our Jug (Jack Russell/Pug mix) about 2 weeks ago. She was previously on Puppy Chow when we got her and I wanted to transition her to a better quality food. I was recommended by a Nutro rep at PetSmart to try it so we did. Initially, there was no problem. We weened her slowly off Puppy Chow for about a week or so. Then we got her a larger bag of food from Pet Supplies Plus. Again, one of the employees swore by it. Said it was the best you can buy, the dog will have smaller bowel movements due to the lack of fillers, etc. After a couple weeks we noticed that the dog was drinking much larger quantities of water and would occasionally belch. We just assumed that it was due to her gaining in size and the warm, summer weather. We also noticed that she occasionally had loose stools, but assumed it was due to the newer, better quality food. This all continued, but on 9/14/09, she seemed lethargic and not interested in her food anymore. She vomited later that evening. The next day, she wouldn't really eat either, but seemed to have a little more energy. On Wed., 9/16, she at 2 meals and proceeded to vomit about 5 times between 9PM and 10:20PM.

Today, 9/17, I looked online for Nutro dog food recalls or problems and came across this site. I have to say, I was very alarmed considering there have been numerous illnesses and even deaths caused from this food. I called our vet and took her in today. He seemed to think that everything was OK. There was that concerned him when he checked her stomach and digestive area. He gave a Rx to help with digestion and gave us the go ahead to change the food based on what I learned. He also said to file a complaint with the FDA which I plan to do. The vet bill was $70 and hopefully our puppy will return to normal. We are trying out Merrick puppy food which is supposed to be really good as well. I hope we caught this early enough and hope we will be fortunate enough to not incur any additional problems. I am grateful for the internet and that we were able to learn of this potentially life threatening issue that seems to be related to this food. I hope that people band together to fix this problem and put this company out of business if an investigation proves they are not using the quality ingredients they claim.

I recently changed by dogs dog food from Royal Canin to Nutro Ultra dog food for seniors. I gradually added the new food to her old food to get her used to it. She appeared to be doing fine. After being on the Nutro for 5 days she started to have watery stools and was not her usual perky self even though she is 13 years old. On the 7th day she started to have bool in her stools. I immediately took her off the food and started giving her only rice and scrambled eggs and it appears that she is doing better now. Her stools still have blood in them but they are now starting to have a little form to them. My vet recommended that I continue to not give her any food for the next couple of days and then gradually start her back on regular dog food again. This time I will make her dog food and not ever purchase dog food from a company again. There should be a law against dog food manufactures poisioning our pets.

our 10 year old Hymalayian has been on Nutrol Adult hard food for about 3 years. we began noticing a few months ago that he was having trouble jumping up on the bed. like his rear legs couldnt didnt have enough energy. eventually he stopped trying to get up. at the same time he began going outside his litter box. he never did that before. we thought it might be old age. then a few weeks later we noticed that he wasnt eating and we were finding vomit in his food bowls. he wasnt drinking either.

we took him to the vet and they did bloodwork. the bloodwork showed an small elevated white cell count. he was dehydrated so they gave him fluids and an antibiotic. his eyes looked a little yellow at this time. the vet was not concerned, but we were. my daughter found this site and began reading all of the symtoms associated with other owners who were feeding their pets nutro brand products.

we immediately took him off of it and changed to Royal Canin and health diet soft foods. after 2 days he began to turn around and eat a little more as well as drink more water. we took him to another vet that gave him a steroid shot as well as antibiotics. we contacted Nutro but they denied everything. we believe that if we had continued feeding him this product that he most certainly would have died from it. vet bills totaling $350

I have been feeding Nutro Choice Adult light to my 10 year old dalmation for the past 8 months. It was highly recommended by PetSmart. He has since developed severe health problems, bloody diarrhea, bloating, excessive gas, vomiting bile, lethargy, weight gain, excessive thirst and urination, and a fever. He is now at the vet today and we are hoping for the best.

I am throwing out Nutro food after reading all the recent complaints about it. After reading all the complaints, these people at Nutro are poisoners and death mongers for pets. My dog may die. I am getting ready to spend an untold amount of money to try to get him well.

I believe Mar's "Nutro Natural Choice Chicken, Rice & Oatmeal for sensitive stomachs" made both of my dogs sick. Both dogs ate this food exclusively and up until June, 2009, were OK. On June 4th, our 1 year old female bulldog developed a bladder infection (peeing blood) with a high ph level. Our vet treated her with antibiotics & prednisone. She got better, but it came back in about four weeks.

While this was going on, my Bearded Collie (4 years old) was going through bloody diarrhea that wouldn't stop. He saw 3 vets at two hospitals, including an emergency hospital. Every fecal & blood test was negative. They treated for parasites anyway just in case, but no change. While eating boiled chicken & rice, he was fine. Every time I started introducing his Nutro food into the chicken/rice mix, his bloody diarrhea came right back. The vets had no idea what was wrong.

In August, when both dogs were peeing******* blood, the news about the recent Nutro cat food recall got me looking on the web and I found the complaints of sick dogs. I stopped feeding Nutro and both dogs have stopped peeing and pooping blood. It's been about a month & they are starting their second bag of another dog food and are doing just fine.

Nothing changed except I stopped feeding them Nutro! We spent almost $600 in vet bills and the vets were considering an ultrasound test on our Beardie's GI tract, which costs about $300. I will never feed Nutro again. When you buy premium food, you expect it to be good for your pets - not make them seriously ill. I have a zip-lock bag of the suspect Nutro kibble in my freezer if anyone wants to test it.

This is an update on my posting of a few days ago.

For all of you wondering where to have your pet food tested:

I contacted an organization called Pet Food Products Safety Alliance, website www.pfpsa.org. This group has conducted numerous tests on several brands of pet food, and it was very revealing. There is an interesting chart that compares American and European recommended zinc allowances for cat food - and tested Nutro pet foods is WAY higher in zinc content then those recommended numbers. I highly recommend reading through this site, no matter what brand of food you are feeding your pets. This group is helping me to get my cat's Nutro Complete Care dry food tested, as well as another brand I had been feeding her. Contact them, and they will help you out. They also have recommendations for a few labs if you want to test your food entirely independently.

Considering how unhelpful and unconcerned Nutro has been behaving, I would suggest getting a source outside the company to test the food in addition to having Nutro test it. I wouldn't trust them for one minute to give me accurate results on any test.

If your animal is suffering, request a blood toxicity test for zinc, check his/her potassium levels, test for liver enzyme counts, check blood platelet and white blood cell counts, look into kidney problems.

I changed my dog's food to Nutro Choice adult, large breed, and after a few days the dog started having difficulty eating the food, then had dihareea, and bleeding. The dog is in pain. I had to take her to the vet, spent hundreds of dollars, and I am very concerned about my dog's life, since she continued with the bleeding and with the uncontrollable dihareea as soon as I finished the antibiotics.

I also had the discard a very nice area rug that could not be properly cleaned. We are exhausted of cleaning the floors evey morning, since the dog can not control itself over night because of the sickness. She never had these kind of accidents before. Now we have to get the dog again on medication, and pray that our beloved dog will get better.

my two 5 year old plott hounds have been eating nutro large breed dog food and just lately both have been lethargic and have diareera.so far no throwing up. i always buy the 35lb bag and have two on hand right now one is not even opened.pet supplies plus wont reimburse me because i took off the proof of purchase tag.( buy 10 bags get one free ) i wont be doing that any more. i will switch to wellness dog food

My puppy changed to eating Nutra Dog Food and immediately experienced diarrhea. After looking on the web for information regarding Nutra, I learned that many dogs have become ill from the food. I have just changed back to my old food and am hoping she will be okay.

Our Lab has eaten Nutro puppy food products all his life. Now that he is a year old I decided it was time to put him on an adult product. Sept.3rd I gave him his first bowl of Nutro Max Natural. In the AM on Sept.4th he had a second serving. That evening he developed severe diarrhea, which quickly turned to watery diarrhea. By 8am on the 5th the watery diarrhea was accompanied with bright red blood. He was seen by a vet at 10:00am. His temp was 104+ but all tests showed no parasites. Dr. believed he had ingested some type of poison. He gave him some shots (not sure what exactly they were), an antibiotic, and med to slow down the diarrhea.

Today is Sept 6th, the bleeding seems to have stopped but he has to be coxed into drinking water. I am afraid he will become dehydrated now. I just don't feel the battle for his life is over yet.

He never goes outside without being on a leash and is in a crate when we are not home with him. There is no chance that he ate anything without me knowing. I truly believe this Nutro Max is the culprit. To date I have spent $510 on vet bill but he is still not 100% so we may be making another trip to the vet.

I have e-mailed and called Nutro numerous times. I have had no one call me back or e-mail regarding my complaints that i have submited to comsumer affairs.com and to Nutro it self. I have A bag of Nutro Lamb and Rice that I want tested but am unsure where to take it. This company needs to take our complaints seriously befor more of our pets die or get sick !!!!

I just spent $800.00 at the Vet on my 3yr old dog whose been vomiting yellow bile for a month, then drinking excessively, throwing up everything, dehydrated, lethargic, sore all over, just plain miserable. Graham is still very sick, Vet has no idea why. On Wednesday Sept 2, 2009 he was so sick I was worried he might not make it through the night. I am hoping he is getting better, he is eating again(a new food prescribed by my vet along with many probiotics, antibiotics and pills that suppress vomiting, but he can barely walk, I have to carry him around and hold him up so he can go to the bathroom. The food was around $50.00 and so far I have spent $800.00 in Vet bills and I'm not sure he's "out of the woods" yet!

My 12-year-old cat had been eating Nutro foods for about 5 years. She's an indoor cat, so there is very little trouble she can get herself into. It seemed things were fine, but, reading all of these reports, I'm thinking twice - especially since she died two days ago, out of the blue.

She recently began meowling at her food dish. She had done that from time to time, it became really persistent lately. I thought it was because she really wanted the treats that I had been giving her instead. But she started meowling so persistently, looking at her food dish... In the last few years, she had started vomitting from time to time, and the vet told me it was probably stress. The vet suggested that she was probably gorging herself when she ate - I work a lot, so she'd often be alone. I got her an automatic feeder so she'd always know that her meal would be there. The vomitting improved, but didn't go away. But hey, cats do that, they vomit - but do they vomit water? She started doing that.

Then there was the bloated stomach. She kinda had some extra weight on here, but her stomach seemed to be disproportionate.

She had also lost interest in playing. Some of her favorite toys had gone untouched for so long. I thought she was just getting older.

Then, out of nowhwere, she just died two days ago. She was fine, she was her usual affectionate self, she was roaming around the apartment as usual. I was working from home, and I saw nothing wrong. I went out for a couple hours to have some lunch and sit in the park for a bit - and I found her dead on the floor when I got back, like she'd had a seizure or heart attack or something.

It didn't make any sense, until I started reading these comments. It's the only explanation for a cat that seemed mostly OK. She'd been eating the recently recalled foods that were high in zinc and low in potassium.

I think I'll have a necropsy and toxicology test done.

My 12-year-old cat had been eating Nutro foods for about 5 years. She's an indoor cat, so there is very little trouble she can get herself into. It seemed things were fine, but, reading all of these reports, I'm thinking twice - especially since she died two days ago, out of the blue.

She recently began meowling at her food dish. She had done that from time to time, it became really persistent lately. I thought it was because she really wanted the treats that I had been giving her instead. But she started meowling so persistently, looking at her food dish... In the last few years, she had started vomitting from time to time, and the vet told me it was probably stress. The vet suggested that she was probably gorging herself when she ate - I work a lot, so she'd often be alone. I got her an automatic feeder so she'd always know that her meal would be there. The vomitting improved, but didn't go away. But hey, cats do that, they vomit - but do they vomit water? She started doing that.

Then there was the bloated stomach. She kinda had some extra weight on here, but her stomach seemed to be disproportionate.

She had also lost interest in playing. Some of her favorite toys had gone untouched for so long. I thought she was just getting older.

Then, out of nowhwere, she just died two days ago. She was fine, she was her usual affectionate self, she was roaming around the apartment as usual. I was working from home, and I saw nothing wrong. I went out for a couple hours to have some lunch and sit in the park for a bit - and I found her dead on the floor when I got back, like she'd had a seizure or heart attack or something.

It didn't make any sense, until I started reading these comments. It's the only explanation for a cat that seemed mostly OK. She'd been eating the recently recalled foods that were high in zinc and low in potassium.

I think I'll have a necropsy and toxicology test done.

My Pug puppy is 1 year old and has had a clean bill of health from the time we brought her home. She has been on Nutro Puppy food from Nov 2008 until Aug 31 2009 (with no problems) however, when I tried to slowly introduce her to Nutro Mini Chunk. After the first night of adding a few pieces of the Mini Chunk to the Puppy food she woke up in the middle of the night vomiting.

Then on the morning of Sept 1 she woke up at 4 am with diarrhea. Sept 2 she ate a few bites of the same Mini Chunks mixed w/the Puppy food and then had diarrhea and was lethargic for most of the day, and refused to eat any more food, she had severe vomiting in the evening.

I later fed her rice and hamburger, which she ate then seemed to bounce back. (keeping my fingers crossed) After reading these horrific stories I refuse to feed her anymore Nutro! I have also sent an email to Nutro and am awaiting a response.

Started our healthy 14 week old puppy on Nutro dry food - Large Breed Puppy. Almost immediately she developed diarrhea and terrible gas. Also somewhat lethargic. Stopped the food after 5 days, and she is already improving on a new dry food. We did not make a gradual change because her sx were too severe. Even with the abrupt change she is dramatically improved. I hope there are no long term problems.

I have (2) dogs, both under the age of two yrs. and have given them Nutro Dog Food for sensitive stomachs for over a year now. Ironicallly, they both continue to have diarrhea on a consistent basis and it's getting worse instead of better. In fact, my Maltipoo (who is only 1.5 yrs old) never had a problem with her stomach until I put her on the Nutro food because they eat eachother's food I decided to put them on the same food.

I've spend a small fortune in vet bills, taking each of them numerous times with the same symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting. I receive rxs for immodium and stomach relaxers- they improve a bit then I introduce the dry food back into their diet and they're right back where they were. I've taken them off of all treats, thinking that it was the treats that caused the problem however, it's worse than ever! My friend (who also has her dog on Nutro for sensitive stomachs) told me about the complaints against the company and I just researched it for myself- I am shocked an amazed at the number of complaints, all of which are similar to the problems I am having. We do so much to care for our pets, it is incomprehendible that a pet food company could continue to manufacture such a deadly product! I will be changing their food today!

I have two dogs, which were on seperate foods for about 2 years. and recently within the last 7 months they have been on the same food. I switched to Nutro (chicken meal, rice and oatmeal formula). I have had nothing but problems my lab mix has a sensitive stomach and my cocker spaniel has a tuff tummy. But when it came to this, they both have had diaherria upset stomachs, throwing up, etc. The poor things were getting poisned. I smelt the food yesterday and didnt realize that it smelt nothing like her food usually does. It smelt like a poison was in it. I couldnt believe it, I felt so bad that my two dogs were getting so sick and everything. Just wanted to say that i will never buy Nutro again!

Our family has had animals all our lives and we have been feeding Nutro for over 20 years. However, about 5-6 yrs ago our beloved pet died of stomach/ liver/ pancreas related problems. We were devastated and spent about 10 k trying to nurse him back to health before it became too much of a financial burden and we had to put him to sleep.

About a yr after that, we lost our other dog who experienced a very similar type of sudden degradation of health condition as the 1st dog. Still reeling from our last vet bills, we simply could not afford to provide the second dog the same treatment, so we opted for euthanasia without the drastic medical treatments. we were shocked, she was still only about 10 yrs old and had been so well taken care of but I guess these things happen.

I never thought their food could be poisoning them. Then our cat died also of stomach related problems and I thought wow all our animals going so close to each other, well, he was an older cat so I figured ok it must be time, but it was surprising how he also had liver / kidney failure. I was devastated. we had only our sweet elderly lady cat who we believed was next. She began throwing up more frequently and would not eat much at all, I had begun to prepare myself emotionally to say goodbye when by luck I happened to see an article on the very under publicized Nutro pet food recall and immediately realized that my previous 3 animals all must have been victims of their food.

I immediately switched our cat and our brand new puppies foods without even slowly switching their foods, expecting that they would all experience some bowel problems, and to my shock none of them had any problems with the immediate change in food! Nutro was sold to Mars. inc sometime fairly recently and evidently since their takeover, has been slipping small amounts of toxins into our animals foods. One might ask why a company would have a motive for doing that intentionally. Well, Mars, also owns Banfield pet hospital. Who has also been very dirty in their handling of customers. I personally had to ask the bbb for help in dealing with them.

Since June 18,2009 my Persian cat became gravely sick and has always eaten Nutro cat food. He experienced sudden weight loss,diarrhea, vomiting, loss of hair etc..He tongue was extremely swollen and he was having trouble breathing. His mouth had several ulcers also!Upon taking him to the vet they did extensive blood work and x-rays. They also gave him I.V. fluids to hydrate him.I was told I would have to wait for the blood work to come back.The next day he was on deaths door and we had to take him to a specialty hospital for an ultrasound and be admitted to I.C.U.we were informed he was in total renal failure with one kidney already lost and the other very oversized!He was hospitalized there for 3 days and we were told his chances were very slim as the only thing in his favor was his young age.The hospital has been remarkable and he is now working as an outpatient going to have his kidneys flushed out with I.V. treatments at a very costly and long stressful time for us! Nutro continues to say no cats have been sick so far? We thought buying a high quality"cat food would assure us of a healthy cat but feel we were misled!

My dog's breed (Parson Russell Terrier) is said to have a cast iron stomach. I bought a case of Nutro Natural Choice Yankee Pot Roast Entre Chunks in Gravy in soft packages and slowy began adding it to her kibble because I thought it would be easier for the dog sitter to give her (than canned food) when we went out of town. But she's been throwing up fairly frequently, something she's never done that before. I eliminated snacks and foods and re-introduced one at a time and it became clear that her vomiting was related to this food.

My Dog ,Pablo, has been a healthy 7 1/2 yr. old Australian Shepherd HIS ENTIRE LIFE. About 3 months ago I bought a 35lb bag of Nutro Natural choice, small bite, dry dog food and have been feeding it to him every day since I bought the bag. [he previously was on another dry dog food]. Last week I took him to the vet because he was acting lethargic and was sick (vomited in the house). He never has done this. I paid for a CBC blood panel and other tests to see what was going on. The vet noticed lowered levels of red blood cells and told me just to monitor him and then come back and we would retest.

After the retest, I was told his platelet counts were lower and to come in for a cortisol levels test. This is the third visit to the vet. I took him off of his regular NUTRO diet and put him on a rice and cottage cheese diet. His blood work showed some improvement but not significant enough to be cheering victory. I have one more test next week to see if his blood levels improve and his energy returns. He will be approx. 10 days off of his Nutro Diet. IF his symptoms go away or his blood levels improve, I will attribute his illness to the NUTRO dog food I was feeding him. As, this is the only thing I can see that has been altered in his life over the past three months.

If there is no improvement, I will wait until the vet diagnosis the issues with my dog-and move on from the food issue with NUTRO - However; I do think it has something to do with his food, as he has never been this sick before and he has always been a heathy dog. These sudden changes in his health are not typical of my dog and, in my opinion, are diet related.

We have fed our seven year old lab/husky mix Nutro max since we got him as a pup. We have had some issues in the past with him all of a sudden using the basement as a bathroom. This past week we just got him a new bag of adult breed, I don't remember the "flavor". For the last four days he has had diarrhea and used the basement instead of his usual spot in the backyard. After reading numerous other complaints on this site, we are swithcing his food immediately. We also have a cat that we feed Nutro Max and we will be switching immediately.

We switched our three dogs (two labs and a rot) to Nutro when our vet suggested that we change to a dog food that had glus. in it. We did so and within 1.5 years all of our dogs had to be put down. The first was from bone cancer, the second was a bone issue and the third was also a bone/hip issue with some brain issues.

The doctor suggested it was cancer in all of these cases.

Our 31/2 year old Miniture Snauzer suddenly became ill and started vomiting, we took her to the vet and had blood work run and she was diagnoised with pancaritis. Nutro dog food for sensitive stomach and their treats are all she eats, and is what she has been on all her life.

She is in the vet hospital now and will be there for atleast 3 days. The first trip was $140.00 and I'm not sure what this will be. We are praying there will not be lasting damage. But I can assure you she will never eat Nutro again.

I just read how Nutro cat food's zinc levels were sky high in test results, causing liver damage. I lost my beloved cat Tammy in March. Over her 22 years, 4 months and 1 week life, I fed her Nutro most of the time. She had liver damage and was surviving on little liver function for about 7 years. At about then, she was diagnosed as having only 25 percent function. I kept her alive on love, feline probiotics, and for the last year and a half to two years, injecting water under her skin. I wonder if this food compromised her liver to the point where she was so toxic that bacteria consumed her. The probiotics kicked in many times and gave her renewed and longer life. Tammy meant more to me than anyone.

Never in 20+ years have I had any problems with this brand of cat food. Both of my 13 year old cats have eaten the Max Cat Roasted Chicken flavor food for their entire lives. Starting with kitten to the adult cat type now.

I received a recall notice from Nutro Products stating its cat food did not have the proper mix of nutrients. My kitties had been eating Nutro cat food for at least a year, or more. The bag I was feeding them at the time the recall notice was received was dated during the affected period. I switched my kitties to Wellness cat food.

In June, 2009, one of my kitties developed bloody urine and painful urination. She has been on three course of antibiotics for this condition since June, 2009. After over $700-$800 in veterinary bills, I am told she may have stage 1 kidney disease at the tender age of 3. This problem started very shortly after I received the Nutro recall notice. She was a healthy cat prior to that time with no health problems whatsoever.

My 7 yr old dog has been eating Nutro lamb and rice small bites all of her adult life. She has always had a problem w/throwing up yellow bile maybe 2X a week. Vet didn't consider this a problem and had me feeding her 3X a day instead of 2. This past June she became quite sick with bloody stools and vomiting. After all the blood work nothing came back abnormal - but she did have a fever. The vet thought she may have some type of unknown new dog flu. Put her on the chicken/or hamburger and rice diet - she was on that for 2 wks with very little improvement.

Took her back to the vet - she still had a fever - he thought she may have colitis and put her on the hills RD canned dog food - that changed her around completely. It's a high fiber diet and helped her stools to become normal again. When I gradually began weaning her off that and mixing in some of the Nutro kibble the stools became a bit loose, by the time I got her to mostly kibble - very loose. That's when I decided to research her dog food and found this site.

I talked to my vet this A.M. and related all this info here - his response was "if you research any dog food on the internet, you are going to see complaints". I haven't done that, but will. Meanwhile, I will also note that my other dog, now gone was also fed this same food, until she developed pancreatitis at age 5 - never overweight, or fed scraps. My dog who is now sick will go back on the Hills RD and I will wean her off that again, but with a different kibble. I do believe all these problems to be from the Nutro.

Because of the price increase on Nutro dog food, I went online to see if I could find it cheaper. As I scanned my search I came across this website and started to read the first complaint. I immediately started to get upset because last year we had to put our 1 year old puppy down. He was experiencing diarrhea, vomiting and he was lethargic. There would be episodes of this that became increasingly more often. We spent $2500.00 testing and trying to figure out what was wrong. They could find nothing, all tests were normal. The vet thought possibly Pacreatitis but the test came back ok..

The next step she wanted to take was exploritory surgery to find the cause for a whopping $2000.00. He had been so sick at this point. In and out of the vets office to hydrate him and test him. We made the hardest decision and had him put down. Now I read these complaints and I am horrified that this dog food was probably responsible for my dogs illness. And I can't believe that I could have just taken him off this food and maybe saved him.

We got a little female of the same bread and in the last two weeks she has started to show some of the symptoms. Enough for me to take her to the vet. No problems could be found. I thought, oh my god, here we go again. Thank goodness I read these complaints today and found out about Nutro Products. We got rid of all the Nutro/Max food in the house. I will tell everyone I know about this.

I had 2 chocolate lab litter mates born 2/12/07. Both of them have been on Nutro Large breed puppy and then adult foods since I got them. On July 12 2009, one of them started vomiting profusely and then was taken to the vet when he became lethargic, he was then diagnosed with SEVERE pancreatitis. My 2 year old did not survive the emergency surgery. Exactly 3 weeks later (almost to the hour) the other 2 year old came down with the same symptoms. I rushed him to the hospital and after 1 week under intense care, he his finally able to come home. There was not a clear-cut diagnosis of pancreatitis, or anything else, on the second dog but his blood tests seemed to have indicated possible pancreatic problems. He remained lethargic and did not eat anything for 4 days.

I have not only incurred the loss of a puppy to a disease that typically only affects small, older dogs (per vet) but also $6000.00 in costs in 3 weeks. After speaking with Nutro yesterday, it seems that approximately 10 months ago, they changed formula from all beef to all chicken and for some strange reason (?) they are now in the process of switching all the US plants back to all beef. The Canadian plants will remain all chicken. This just seems kind of odd that all of a sudden, the formula is changing again. I currently have a case number with Nutro and am waiting for them to send me return envelopes in order to submit the food for testing.

They have also asked for me to send the vet records of both of my dogs along with the food. I took all the remaining food back last night to Petco for full refund and have switched food. The emotional and financial stress of this situation is quite overwhelming. To watch 2 yr old puppies and see the life going right out of them, is more than anyone should bear and I have done this twice now in the last month. My pets are fed only home-made dog biscuits and have never had table food. I am known as a complete maniac about table food to my dogs. They have never even had a piece of bread. The Nutro food seems to be the only common denominator and the only thing going into their systems. As a pet-owner I feel terribly responsible for the death of my dog and even more responsible for the illness of his brother.

According to the vet, pancreatitis can easily come back once the dog has had it, it is just a waiting game for when it will return. I know have a lifetime to watch for this and go through the agony and expense when this disease will most definitely occur again. I have read that the FDA is not investigating Nutro Products Inc. but I think that someone should, and soon, before any more lives are lost.

Our two cats are sisters, adopted as kittens three years ago from a local animal shelter. When we adopted them, they were sent home with sample packets of Nutro MAX CAT Kitten Food Roasted Chicken Flavor. We continued to feed Nutro MAX CAT Kitten Food Roasted Chicken Flavor for a year, then transitioned to Nutro MAX CAT Adult Food Roasted Chicken Flavor as recommended.

We learned of the recall of Nutro MAX CAT Adult Food Roasted Chicken Flavor when we went to a local pet store to purchase cat food, and found that the shelves were empty. By then, our two cats had already consumed an entire 16 pound bag of the recalled cat food. There had been one incident of vomiting. There had been one incident of diarrhea. We were concerned, but not overly concerned, having been reassured by a representative of Nutro Products, Inc. that the recall was strictly "voluntary". We were sent a coupon for a free 16 pound replacement bag of Nutro MAX CAT adult Food Roasted Chicken Flavor by Nutro Products, Inc. It was several weeks after the recall, before the cat food made it back on to local pet store shelves. We purchased a 16 pound replacement bag of Nutro MAX CAT Adult Food Roasted Chicken Flavor with the coupon provided by Nutro Products, Inc.

A little more than a week has passed since we started feeding our two cats Nutro MAX CAT Adult Food Roasted Chicken Flavor again. There have been two incidents of vomiting. The replacement bag of cat food is labeled "BEST BY 09 01 10 88 2 925E2UICO3 09 : 38 CAPFOOO24. We are done with Nutro Products, Inc. We would like our two cats to be thoroughly examined and tested by a licensed veterinarian, and we expect Nutro Products, Inc. to pay for it.

Just about a week ago,my mother purchased a bag of cat dry food called"NUTRO NATURAL CHOICE,COMPLETE CARE WEIGHT MANAGEMENT OCEANFISH FLAVOR (8 lbs) ADULT CAT FOOD" He only consumed like 2 bowls of the dry food,and soon after began puking, i was worried because he was puking like every 30mins and doing like big MEOWS like i never heard before. I knew right away it was the nutro cat food that was causing this because it was the first time that he tried this food.

so i did a little research to see if anyone had the same problems as me and yes i saw many complaints about the food, and i want something done about this, because its unexcusable that this company makes FOOD thats supposed to make cat live but instead they producing poison.

This is the purchase CODE bar if u need it 0 79105 20517 7 and the food expires on AUGUST 22, 2010. I went to the nutro website to see if this product was recalled, it was but it had a different code bar. PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS I DONT WANT ANY OTHER CAT OR ANIMAL GOING THROUGH THIS!

Over the past few months my chocolate lab dog has been very ill, some of her symptoms where hair loss, lethargic, swelling of the paws and around her eyes and having trouble walking. My vet did a bunch of test from allergies to skin infections. All tests came back negative. She's on seven different kind of medication.

So far over the past four months my bill from the Vet has totaled $2,000 and rising. I was at my wits end and knew in my heart the time was near to put my baby down. I just couldn't bare to see her suffer anymore. It wasn't fare to my dog and I was only making it worse by keeping her alive. I just couldn't say goodbye, not yet.

Since her illness started I researched everything I could to learn more about allergies and skin infections. I then by pure accident went onto the FDA website. I wasn't sure what I was looking for or what I would find but I was desperate to find the answer to my dog's illness. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a headline that read FDA confirms probe of NUTRO pet illness.

I quickly opened up the article to read it and couldn't believe my eyes. I had to read the article twice to soak it in. It has been NUTRO dog food that has been making my dog so ill. It was in front of me the whole time. I would have never thought that her dog food could do this to her. The vet even asked me what kind of food I fed my dog. I couldn't believe that Vets are so unaware of such a potential danger to dogs.

I have so many thoughts and feeling running through my head it's hard to choose just which one of them to act upon. I have been feeding my dog NUTRO for 5 years and swore to everyone how good her dog food is. Little did I know I was poisoning my own dog. It all made sense now why none of her medication has really worked. My dog has trouble walking and cannot control her bowel movements. She's seems very uncomfortable, panting a lot. The time has come to put her down.

I am so disgusted by NUTRO pet food. How can a company be so aware of the 100s of dogs falling ill because their product (FDA has confirmed this) and do nothing g about it? I'll tell you why GREED! A big company (MARS) like NUTRO pet food only cares about the bottom line. Shame on you!

I have started to warn everyone about the poison NUTRO pet food is selling to dogs. I'm faxing the FDA article to EVERY Vet in the state of Arizona. I've posted the FDA article on my blog, myspace and facebook websites. I feel everyone must be warn of the potential sickness and sometimes fatal outcome that is effecting dogs all the country. I can't sue a big company like MARs but I sure can bring some bad PR their way.

I have 4 cats and went through alot of research about finding a good food, but was I ever wrong. As of todays date 11 Aug 2009, none of the pet stores here are posting anything about a recall on the Nutro cat food. 1 store told me that Nutro was adding more flavors to their dog food and were reducing the production of the cat food and that was why they didn't have any. Another store told me they were changing the look of the bag. Not once was I informed about the recall. Why am I so mad? I had a 18 year old healthy cat named Snoopy, she was a beauitful orange and white cat that use to crawl under the covers every night with me. She was the most loving cat I have ever known. Snoopy was on Nutro Max chicken for most of her life. .

Late last fall 2008, Snoopy starting to lose alot of weight and started to howl. The vet told me she had become deaf and did not know why she was lossing weight or why she kept getting sick of yellow liquid. It seemed everytime she ate she would throw up. At the beginning of Dec 2008, I came home and my beloved Snoopy could barely stand up without falling over. Her body felt like a rack of bones.I had to take my Snoopy into the vets and have her put down, she had suffered enough.Her regular blood work showed no problem, her kidneys were working and she had no worms. Yes she was 16 years old but the fast weight loss, even with extra feedings, and the throwing up after each meal, makes me wonder if the problems with Nutro go alot further then what they are saying. .

Why the cover up at my pet stores? Nutro told me Max"s shelf life was 14 months. Can someone explain to me if the cat food they are recalling was made in Dec 2008 and has a best before date May and Aug 2010, how is that possible?? Thats 17 months, from Dec 2008 to May 2010. Sounds very odd, did they just pull those dates out of a hat?? How long has this problem really been going on?? All the garbage about how safe their food is and the qc on their web site is false!!! Today my youngest daughter watched her cat who is going through the weight loss, just fall over in the kitchen. She has asked me to phone the vets and make an appointment to put her cat down so that suffering will stop.If Nutro had been more honest I may have saved our cats.

My 3 year old pug has been given Nutro products exclusively since she was a pup. This past year she required several emergency trips(4)to the vet due to diarrhea and excessive vomitting.

Each time her blood work showed elevated liver enzymes above the 1000 range (normal range should not exceed 120) Her fecal tests were all negative suggesting it may have been something she ingested and not a parasite. She has recently had another bout of bloody diarrhea, vommiting, pain, and bloated belly 20 minutes after eating her PM meal (Nutro, Natural Choice, Lamb and Rice Formula).

Again to the vet, again her liver enzymes were off the charts. We put her on a rice and cottage cheese diet for one week and had another blood test done at the Vet's request. This time it showed her liver enzymes at the normal range of 47. This left the Vet a bit miffed as she suspected a possible liver shunt with these types of test results. We wanted to figure out what our dogs underlying problem was, so we ordered a sonogram. It showed nothing abnormal with the exception of crystals in her bladder.

This lead us to suspect her food was tainted in some way, causing her episodic bouts of illness usually occurring after eating her normal meals. My dogs symptoms are typical with Salmonella poisoning or excessive Zinc ingestion. I have promptly changed her food and am hopeful my dogs health can be restored fully.

My dog was fed Nutro Max Lamb & Rice Formula for about 4 years (until he became very overweight). In 2007 I put him on a low calorie dog food by Royal Canin. In July 2008 he developed a bleeding ulcer from medication, and was very anemic. I put him back on the Nutro Max diet because he needed to gain weight back after his surgery. His anemia never got much better, and his stomach took a long time to heal.

In January 2009 he had a series of tests to find out why his anemia was still a factor. We were asked if he was exposed to high levels of zinc(Vet at U Penn suggested zinc toxicity as a reason for his anemia)fi. I eventually took him off the Nutro Max diet, and by March 2009 I had switched him completely over to Nature's Variety brand food. By end of March his stomach was so much better, and miraculously, his anemia disappeared and his blood count came back to normal by beginning of April 2009. I attribute this perfect health now to taking him off the Nutro Max kibble.

My 2 year old yellow lab was eating Nutro products for 2 years, recently in the past month she became quite sick and was diagnosed with gastroeneritis. Lots of throwing up and diarrhea. She was treated by her vet but then sent to the emergency vet because the throwing up would not stop. She was kept overnight with an IV for fluids and flagyl. She has recovered but I had to switch dog foods an after two weeks I'm still giving her rice and chicken.

Nutro natural choice senior turkey and rice.

Batch 79105 37307 bar code . I should not have to buy inferior food because someone is not doing their job. There had been deaths reported for month . My dog had a horrible sezure and i thought he died in front of me. I am was tramatized . He is all i have i have raised him his whole life..Please test this food.

Nutro's exorbitant price increase for Nutro-Max-Puppy food is outrageous. During the past six months, I have purchased Nutro-Max-Puppy food and was rather satisfied with the quality as well as the cost. However, recently the cost of a 5 lb. has increased from $8.99 to $9.99/bag while the 17.5 lb. bag has increased from $19.99 to $25.99/bag. Either someone at Nutro has completely lost what little mind they had or insatiable greed has become progressively rampant than suspected.

The increase has indeed appalled me, especially the increase for the 17.5 lb. bag which was my regular purchase at Tractor Supply Co. Such an exorbitant increase is absolute nonsense.

Furthermore, by imposing an exorbitant price increase on dog foodis indicative of heartless greediness. Akin to myself, there are many people barely surviving on a fixed income and a substantial price increase in dog food is the last imposition needed. Moreover, I really do not appreciate having to spend a moment of time flipping through receipts and writing a complaint letter about anything.

No wonder so many people are forced to abandon their pets. By the way, Nutro has the audacity to increase prices while people are complaining about their pets becoming ill and in some instances dying from using Nutro products. Maybe Nutro's price increase is a necessary warning sign to change my pet's diet, thus I feel fortunate.

Nevertheless, as a conscientious customer, it is my responsibility not only to voice my dissatisfaction, but to also discontinue purchasing Nutro products. By the same token, it is my wish that other conscientious customers do likewise. Hopefully, suppliers such as Tractor Supply Co. and other carriers will also eventually discontinue selling Nutro's over-priced products. Perhaps, my wish and hopefulness may seem a tad bit too big coming from a little person such as myself, but mountains have been moved by those much smaller than me.

I had written at the beginning of the year stating all that went wrong with my dog after feeding Nutro but I'm wondering about long term. I have a pug and more recently, in June, I had to bring him to the emergency vet due to seizures - I believe it was February when I stopped feeding him Nutro and he improved but was not perfect. His ph balance was off as well as other aspects of his health. He is now on anti- seizure meds, science diet (he's getting very thin) and the doc has me give him 125 mg of vitamin c every day because he had bladder crystals and he's trying to keep the ph down so they don't turn into stones. Has anyone had residual health problems that have surfaced after Nutro was stopped? His stool is still loose - seems to firm up with anti-biotics and it seems when I do get him on track if I feed him hard food, like kibble (science diet) it just brings me back to diarehha...

Purchased Nurto Kitten Dry Food.

1st Kitten that we had died about 2 weeks after we got it.The kitten had recurring bouts of vomiting and explosive and often bloody diarrhea after eating NUTROs foods.There were two other kittens in the litter, neither one received Nutros Kitten food and survived. Adopted another kitten from the Human Society gave it the Nutro's Kitten food, the same symptons. We were able to get it to the vets in time, but it was a touch and go situation. Both vets stated that the Nutro's Kitten food was at fault.

Purchased Nutro dogfoodw/glocosomine@chondroitin 40# silver bag. Read carefully all ingredients & was satisfied of ingredients.Filled my container & tossed bag. 3 weekes of use & saw a noticed decline in my 10yr.old boxer-spanielX He is older & weather was warm so were not imediatly surprised with signs of congestive heart failure as others noticed his symptoms and comented on his age and what others had experienced. The symptoms increased to very lethargic and heavy breathing loose stools. Very bad smell! This dog is older & has arthritis so most of these symtoms could be explained away. They were very pronounced though. In my ignorance the signs had not set off a bell yet.

My vet suggested lamb & rice so went on line to see if what I had bought was that. Found lots of blogs about Nutro dog food. These stories were exactly what We had experienced. 2 other dogd had been at my home & had eaten the food. Both had been ill while here. Since reading these stories I have stopped feeding this food. The dog is markedly improved and back to himself. I reported this to petco-Rochester. They want the rest of the food & will give me a refund. I am not sure if there is still contaminated food on the shelves that some other unsuspecting consumer will feed & hurt their dog with. I have not yet returned the food. Will keepsome in case.I see complaints back to 4-2007. This is 8-2009.My dog could easily have died.The public needs to know & this needs to be off the shelves!

We just purchased one bag of Natural Choice Complete Care Senior dry cat food in a 4 LBS bag this Saturday morning, on August 1st. We have three cats. They all ate some of it. Saturday afternoon, the youngest cat started have diarrhea. The next day, the oldest cat started diarrhea also. We immediately stopped using the dry cat food. The third cat did not show any symptom of diarrhea. However, all three cats' activities level were low. After stopping the new cat food since Sunday, the diarrhea in the two cats improved a bit. We will have to see how they all improve.

We have been using the same brand, same type of cat food for at least couple of months. There had not been any problem. Just this new bag seems to have something not quite right for the cats. The stamp on the bag is :
BEST BY 08 22 10 27 1

919E1LEB0419:02

25-85002-01

I am going to take the food back to PetsMart where it was purchased. I think someone needs to look into this.

Thanks,

The bar code is 0 79105 20616 7

This is a continuation...I had sent in a complaint about how my dog became ill after eating NutroMax High Energy. I had called the company to say that her liver enzymes were over 1200 and this is a dog who is not ill. They said becuase she was 8 years old, she was old and dogs can go into liver failure for no reason. True, but for a Jack Russell, 8 is not old. Anyway...
1 week later and NO NutroMax food...her liver enzymes are down to 200. WEIRD.

I asked the company if they can test the food and off course they can't becuase I do not have the original packaging. I wish I could find an outside company who would test the zinc levels of this food. I have not given up. In my heart, this food is almost killed my dog. She is not out of the woods yet, but she is acting more normal as each day passes. Good luck to any animal eating this food.

I posted previously and wanted to update my story. I have four cats that were eating nutro dry food. A month ago one of my cats became ill. She was lethargic and not eating much and her belly was swollen. I took her to the vet and he kept her for some testing, but we were very worried. He withdrew fluid from her abdomen which was bloodtinged. He said we needed to do surgery to see what was wrong.

She was spending her third night there when she passed away before surgery. We do know at this point from looking after her death that her liver was in a chronic state. Four days later while in petsmart to purchase more cat food, I was surprised to find the nutro aisle almost empty with small recall signs posted. I couldn't believe it. I ran home and looked at my bag comparing the expiration dates to the recalled food and it matched. I had bought four large bags of that recalled food and was on the last one.

I called Nutro and they told me I could take my other three cats for exams and a zinc test and I would be reimbursed for it. No they would not give me that in writing. One of my cats had a very high zinc level of 3.6 when a cat's zinc level should be .5-1. He has since gone for further testing and just tested average for zinc. There is no doubt in my mind that if he kept eating that food he would be dead also.

The New York State wildlife pathologist Dr. Ward Stone has tested my recalled food for me. Nutro says that the highest level of zinc in a recalled bag is 550mg. My food was tested in two samples and came out at over 1800mg and 1900mg! There is no doubt in my mind what happened to my cat that passed away. I am over $1100 in vet bills right now and we have lost our beloved blue-point siamese one year old cat.

We have watched another cat overcoming his illness hoping he would make it without any lasting damage. He has made it, but do we really know if his organs were damaged without opening him up and looking? I have been disgusted with Nutros response and their attitude and quotes of not receiving any reports of illness or consumer complaints.

It is sick and I am sick to my stomach every day about how my cats have suffered and my children have dealt with this loss. When will someone contact me about what has happened? I have written here, I have contacted the FDA, and nothing. I'm just supposed to forget about it? Dr. Stone is doing further testing and hopefully..............Nutro needs to be investigated and stop this madness. Please call your local FDA complaint line and the department of agriculture and markets and be heard.

I have an 8 year old Jack Russell who has been in great health all her life, expect the occation stomach issue. She has an incredable appitite and has always ripped through her food, unless she had 'stomach ache' and she would just walk away. Three weeks ago, she refused to eat, spitting out nuggets and walking away. She would still knock me over for dog biscuits and people food but not her dog food.

I took her to the vet for her yearly shots and mentioned the eating problem. We decided to do a complete blood work up and found her liver enzymes over 1200 (normal range I believe is in the low 100's). We went to the next step and followed up with a sonogram. Nothing was unusual on the sonogram (slighly enlarged sleen) was noted. My vet put my dog a variety of med's to help lower the liver enzymes. The specialist (internal medicine vet) did feel that my dog had some kind of toxicity but wanted to wait two weeks for the meds to start working before we go into further testing.

We are only on day three of the med's but I found this webstite and was shocked! I brought the idea of zinc toxicity and the posts on this website to my vet and he became very interested. We are going to further investigate this possible 'lead' to my dog's illness.

I did speak with a customer service rep and she stated that there weren't any problems with their dog food and only some cat foods had a 'zinc issue' but not toxic levels. She stated in her opinion my dog is in liver failure becuase of her age and that is what happens when a dog gets old. She also suggested I go to another vet becuase how can a vet suggest that it is a toxicity problem when the dog is old. I will defintely keep you posted.

I have been feeding my cats nutro products (dry food) for about 6 years I believe. Recently one of my cats has begun to produce bloody diarrhea for about 3-4 weeks. She is in constant pain crying when she uses the bathroom and she hides everyday in corners as if she is severely depressed or in pain. She also started urinating and defecating in odd places, including our bed. Another of my cats also has watery diarrhea and another one has started vomiting about 2 weeks ago (about twice a day). Recently, I discovered that the exact bag of food I was feeding them was recalled due to toxic amounts of zinc and potassium. I have contacted nutro through email and they responded by saying that I needed to call them to discuss it with them. I tried and no one answers. It continually leaves me waiting for a person. I told them through email that I expect them to pay for my vet bills because this is THEIR mistake. If any of my cats were to die, I believe this should be a lawsuit against them. THis mistake is unfixable and they should not even be allowed to continue making food. If I read correctly this is their second or third recall. Why is someone like this still in business? I don't understand.

Since we brought our yellow lab puppy home from the breeder, she has developed a problem with urination and voiding. She has many frequent piddles and soft or unformed bowl movements , yellow in color. A trip to the vet showed crystals in her urine and a very high PH. the exact symtoms described by several of people on this website. I have immediately taken her off of this food and hopefully she will be ok

I posted info about my experiance with Nutro food and the death of my Chow back on June 2/2009 and I see the complaints are still coming in ! I have the bag of Nutro still, i have called the company many times and they say they have received no complaints, and that there is nothing wrong with there dog food. I dont beleive that to be true at all !! Something needs to be done.

I purchased a box on July 11, 2009 and opened it on July 25, 2009 and found it infested with moths. The box is completely covered in plastic before it is opened. I returned it to the store I purchased it from and they said I could have another one. I asked if I could open it up before I left and, when I did, that box was also infested with moths. When they checked the lot number on the two boxes that had moths they were both the same lot number. I then took the last remaining box off the shelf and opened it and the box was clean. The last box had a different lot number. I am concerned that there are many other boxes out there with moth infestation. I did not get the lot number. I believe it is the most recent shipment since I only purchased them two weeks ago.

I adopted two kitten in November 2008 and fed them Nutro brand kitten food. One of my kittens, Hallie, started peeing outside of the litterbox infrequently towards the end of the December. After Hallie started to pee on the couch occasionally. When she peed the futon upstairs, where she sleeps at night, I knew something was very wrong and immediately rushed her to the vet. She was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection, as well as having lots and lots of struvite crystals. The vet seemed surprised and told me that urinary crystals in kittens/ young cats are extremely rare.
I never could have imagined that the cat food was the cause, until I read about other pet owners complaints against Nutro.

I have paid hundreds of dollars in vet bills for diagnosis, treatment, and repeat testing. Hallie will also have to be on expensive medicated food for the rest of her life (retails for 2x price of regular cat food). My other cat may be sick as well (I will monitor her and take her to the vet if symptoms show up) I will also have to throw out my Max cat dry and canned food.

As a follow up to my previous message. Our golden retriever refused to eat the bag of Nutro we purchased in June. Vomiting, loose stools and many tests at the vet followed. She has high liver enzyme levels and kidney failure. At almost thirteen years of age, my husband and I feel that she is in God's hand. We did a subcutaneous hydration treatment but she remains very ill. I will always in my heart believe that Nutro Dog food has made her ill. I spoke to a representative at Nutro who never bothered to take my name and said that all of the people on the internet have sick dogs and Nutro is not the cause. I don't believe them for a minute. How can so many pet owners on Nutro have the same kind of problems ~ liver and kidney failure? If you have any doubt that it is doing your dog harm, please call Nutro and discontinue feeding them this product.

I purchase Nutro Adult Indoor cat food for the first time from Petco, as I was looking for an improved diet and nutritious cat food for my 2 cats. I became aware of the recall after feeding my cats this food for approximately 3 to 4 weeks. I returned the large bag of Nutro and purchased a smaller bag of Nutro in another flavor (adult oceanfish). I did notice that there were bags of Nutro on the shelf that had been recalled and mentioned it to the store manager, who stated that he had to check the listing again. I fed my cats the recently purchased Nutro for 2 days. My cats began to have diarrhea with blood. I checked on the internet and found out that the new bag I purchased was one of those listed as a recall. I now have to find out how to treat my cats and find a new cat food, but slowly weaning them off of the Nutro brand. It is difficult for me to believe that I am dealing with this rediculous chain of events, as I strove to find the best cat food to feed my pets. I am angry that the Petco store did not remove the recalled Nutro cat food from their shelves and continued to sell it.

My white Shepherd -Lab mix is dead of lung cancer Nov. 2008 . We also have a black and tan German shepherd who has bone cancer. Both dogs were running around playing and barking but now after they ate that crap we have to watch our last dog fight to breathe and live with the loss every day of our other dog! When I found out how sick our dogs were and I read on the internet about this horrible company I was mortified to think that I fed them this crap and now I have to live with this guilt because someone was negligent in their duty or they just wanted to kill our dogs in that case they should be on trial for murder.

When will there be accountability for our animals? Our dogs couldn"t even tell us how bad they were off until it was too late. They can't talk like us so who will protect them? I for one will not stop until these criminals are brought to justice!Our dogs names are BABY who died around Thanksgiving 2008. It was an awful Thanksgiving as all wee did was cry. Our other dog's name is Princess she can hardly get around as her one leg is all swollen and it is now being dragged around. She is in a lot of pain and chews on sticks in our house which we bring her to keep her comfortable.

I wish I had kept the dog food but in anger I threw it out! I still can't believe what I see with my own eyes every day. God is the only reason we still have our Princess it sure isn't those criminals. Please I'm begging you to make these criminals pay so we will not have to face this horrible loss for nothing. I believe any company who does this should pay the price. Thank you and God bless all of our wonderful animals!

I have been feeding my 12-week-old kitten Nutro MaxCat Kitten for 8 weeks now, and have not observed any ill effects --quite the contrary, actually! I was initially feeding him Purina Kitten Chow, and he was VERY slow to gain weight; he was also stinking up his litter box 4-5 times a day. Now, he's gaining weight and muscle very quickly is MUCH more active and friendly, and I only have to clean his litter twice a day, on a much more predictable schedule now.

The more expensive food seems to be what was recalled -- it only appears that my effort to save money has indeed saved my cat.

I bought an 8 week old Weimaraner just a week ago. I wanted to put him on the best food possible and when I went to Pet Smart there was an aisle full of people from "Nutro" trying to sell their product. They had stopped me as I grabbed a different bag of dog food, and told me about all the good things it has and the bad things it doesn't have. I took him home and he began chowing it down, loved it. However, he got very sick. I called Petsmart and they told me it was just because I switched his food, keep in mind that when I got him he was feeding off of his mother & had solid bowel movements. He had diareha non stop so I called back three days later because it even started hurting him to go. Once again, they said it is not the food, Nutro is very good for your pets.

Sunday morning I took him outside to go the bathroom and noticed there was blood in his diareha, I immediatley took him to the Iowa Veterinary Specialists, which is the ER basically, and they told me right away it was Nutro. That Nutro is one of the WORST foods for your anmials. My parents had fed their labradors Science Diet, so I asked if I should switch to that...this time, she said "No way." I guess Science Diet is just as bad for your pets, full of by-products and not so good stuff. I went to an actual Anmial Speciality store, nothing like PetSmart or PetCo. I was told by the Vet to get EaglePack. The store was out of it so I ended up getting something else that the owner told me was 100% good. I did pay $17 for a small bag, but you get what you pay for.

I asked her about Nutro and she basically cried for me and told me no one should of had my puppy on that. I'm not sure if this helps anyone, but please, save yourself the devestation of watching your animal be in pain & consider spending an extra $5-10 to keep your pet in good health. STAY AWAY from that Nutro! ps- I cannot believe the reviews I have read on here, I wish I would have looked further into it because I want to go back to PetSmart and give the woman who sold me this bag of soil a little piece of my mind. He has been on different food since yesterday and his stool's are 100% solid and much much healthier!!!

I saw an item on the local news regarding a possible investigation into Nutro pet foods and have started to follow up because it immediately struck a nerve. Earlier this year we started giving our 7 year old Airedale terrier Nutro Natural Choice because of its' claim to be an all natural premium product for your pet. We had tried a couple of varieties but all for the large breed and had just opened the 3rd bag for our boy. All of a sudden one afternoon he had difficulty walking and was very stiff. He seemed to be trying to have a bowel movement but was in great discomfort. He then just laid down on the ground and could not get up again. I had to carry him in to the house because he could not move.

I rushed him to our vet's after hours clinic where they tried to run several tests. They could not draw blood from his legs and told me I needed to get him to the Animal Emergency Hospital immediately. They were waiting for me when I arrived and promptly placed him on IV fluids. They also tried to draw blood for tests with very little success. They pointed out that his gums were almost white and if you looked at his abdomen he was extremely swollen. They did an ultrasound and determined he was bleeding internally in the stomach area very severely. The vet was very consistent in trying to determine if he could have ingested something poisonous? She truly believed this was related to a toxic reaction, but I insisted he could not have ingested anything outside because he only went out on the leash with either my wife or me and he had no access to anything toxic in the house.

Unfortunately the bleeding was beyond control and my vet recommended putting him to sleep or he would bleed to death. My dog was in top shape and had just turned 7 years old, on May 19th unable to even lift his head, he died. His environment did not alter in any way from where he played, slept or walked. The only thing that changed was his diet and that change was switching to Nutro Natural Choice. My Airedale was AKC registered and a conformation Champion. I have checked with his breeder and none of his littermates have had any health problems in fact his parents had a total of 4 litters and he was the only one to experience anything like this. I am now convinced that something in Nutro killed my dog.

I have a 6.5 year old female cat who has been fed Nutro Natural Choice Cat Food since we adopted her as a kitten. @ weeks ago she began acting funny by not eating and isolating herself. This quickly led to vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy and loss of appetite completly. We have had her to the vet, and she has just returned home after being hospitalized.

We have missed days of work and spent hundreds of dollars trying to make her well. She has all the symptoms of zinc poisoning, but we were unaware of the recall of Nutro cat food. I was feeding my cat poison, and did not know. She is still very sick, and we hope she will survive. We could not afford to keep her at the hospital any longer, so we are trying to handle this at home. We were devastated when I went to the internet tonight and found out about the recall! I have read many posts of similar stories, but on the Nutro website they claim they are not aware of any animal getting sick. That just can not be true.

1) We have 3 cats and 1 dog. We have been feeding them Nutro for 5 years.

2) Jan. 2008- one of our cats (Toonces) became odd for several days ---she just hid under the bed or couch. She normally is an avid eater, but would not eat, nor would she venture out from under the bed or couch to be enticed by the treat of canned food we offered. We took her to the vet, had blood tests run, but no cause was found. She returned to normal. She weighed 15 lbs at this time.

3)Oct 2008 - Our dog started bleeding from her right nostril. She had snuffled and then a small amount of blood came out. We contacted our vet immediately. It was scary.

Over the next several weeks, she began to bleed profusely on occasions from the right nostril. We went to our vet, and in December 2008 took her to a specialty vet hospital for a CT scan and rhinoscopy. The good news was no cancer, lesion or tumor was found. The bad news, today is 7/15/09 and she has bleeds off and on, constantly has a dripping nose, often with blood mixed in the mucous. Our vet has no idea what is causing this. We wonder--- is it Nutro food?

4) On 6/25/09 our cat mentioned in #2 above, began vomiting bile (over 5 times in 2 hours), was EXTREMELY lethargic and unresponsive. I took her to the vet immediately. She weighed 10 lbs. We had noticed a weight loss, but just thought it was because we had stopped free feeding them 24 hours a day.

At this time, we were unaware of the Nutro Cat food recall. The vet ran blood tests, took x-rays, nothing. She was also constipated, would not eat or drink and when we tried to force feed her, she vomited it up immediately.

We brought her home on Saturday and had to give her fluids via the skin just to keep her hydrated. We tried all weekend to get her to eat something: soft food, NutriCal, lactose free milk--- she wasn't interested. VERY LETHARGIC this whole time. She did not have a bowel movement this whole time.

The following Monday, 6/29/09 we returned her to the vet. The vet did an enema, ran more blood tests, an ultrasound to look for a tumor or other obstruction (none found). When food was given to her (forced) she immediately vomited. The vet put in a feeding tube, but that was also rejected. She continued to be VERY LETHARGIC and non-responsive.

On July 2, 2009, we put her to sleep as she was not improving and was not eating or drinking. We are HEARTBROKEN and were caught so off guard.

5)on 6/28/09 I had to go buy more cat food. That is when I found out there was a Nutro Recall. We usually buy a 20# bag, so it lasts awhile. When I read the symptoms of others cats, it rang a big warning bell in my mind, that this is what our Toonces experienced. We NEVER heard anything on the news about this recall, and had I not gone to Petsmart on 6/28 and seen the signs posted on the shelves, both our cats and dogs would still be eating this poison.

Let me begin by saying for at least 15 years I have fed my cats Nutro products- both canned cat food and dry. They thrived on them. I love Nutro's approach to marketing, nutrition, & price. I recommended them to anyone who asked my opinion.
That was until yesterday, July 15th, 2009.
Last Saturday my husband went to buy a sack of Nutro kibble for the cats. The Nutro shelf was empty and he asked about it. The woman at the shop told him about the recall and gave him some samples of other foods for us to try.

When he got home and told me what happened I didn't think twice about it. I was skeptical- there wasn't anything in the news about the recall. Nutro being recalled was inconvenient, but we weren't totally out of it yet- we had some free samples in the meantime...

Yesterday I did a little internet research to see what was going on with Nutro. I was curious & wanted to form my own opinion. Sure enough the information I sought revealed itself. In a strange way it made me both happy and sick.
Since before Christmas my 16 year old cat had been in decline. She started urinating in the house right in front of me. I chalked it up to the fact she was getting old. I started using a litter box for her. She never used one before- always went out for that.

The litter box made me aware of something else. She was having the runs regularly. I could hear the explosion of fluid- see it when I cleaned the box.

The vet had been asking me if she was having diarrhea the last few visits. He said she was bloated, could hear something going on in her gut. I could never say if she did have the runs before the litter box. Her heart was making unhappy arhythmic sounds too. Blood work didn't turn up anything substantially out of the ordinary.
Her condition went from that to worse. She's been on several antibiotics, naturopathic drops- many different approaches my vet has tried to stop the gastric troubles. At one point he gave me a couple cans of Science Diet C/D canned cat food for her. The cat would perk up for a day or two then relapse. Nothing seemed to help for long.

Two days ago, on July 14th, I began using the sample kibbles. By yesterday, just 24 hours later, the 16 year old cat was acting less sick- she even had a near normal bowel movement. The symptoms described for the zinc toxicity match to the letter what was happening with my cat- right down to how changing food makes the cat feel better.

I am glad to find out just changing food will stop the runs. I hope the other changes reverse themselves too, so I can get rid of the litter box. I am grateful the cat survived being poisoned by her food. I could really use the money that's been spent trying to heal her tummy these last 6-8 months- My vet has records of all our visits- so if the chance to get reimbursed happens I'm game. I am disappointed that Nutro, a company I really trusted to feed my pets, let me down. It makes me sick!

I adopted two kittens in October. After talking to the rep. at the store I purchased Nutro Max Dry Cat Food. Wyatt especially enjoyed it while his brother Colt preferred a different brand.

I just had to euthanize Wyatt Monday night (FLUTD) while Colt is healthy. I didn't know about the recall until I stumbled upon a notice on the internet while researching FLUTD on Tuesday.

My cat has never eaten any food but Nutro Max cat and was eating the Adult max chicken that was part of the recent recall. I took him off the food and at Petcos guidence put him on Nutro Kitten food, I was told this would be the best food for him until Nutro fixed the problem with the adult food, he still became very sick with a blockage that the vet said was food related. My other cat became very ill with vomiting and wieght loss but has recovered since I changed food.

after hearing about this product on your web site my wife and I finally figured out what was causing our dogs to behave the way they are. we have had them to yhe vet for blood work he wanted to put them on meds. They are experiancing high enzime levels in the liver,one has started star gazing,diaria

We purchased a few dozen 3oz packages of the Nutro Max Cat Gourmet Classics - Beef & Egg Skillet, Savory Hunter's Stew with Venison and California Chicken Supreme Dinner sometime during June 2009 from a local pet store in 12590. On at least two occasions, our cat became sick and vomited soon after eating and crying in distress (extremely uncommon). On two occasions, she did not vomit but became visibly disoriented, wobbly and dizzy. She was scared to or unable to jump up and down from the couch and bed and acted drowsy.

On the first occasion, this occurred overnight and continued into the next day. My spouse worked from home to observe and after continued symptoms, we elected to take her to our vet. After a full inspection/physical, the vet had no conclusive cause (aside from the food our cat had eaten). We discontinued the use of the food and the symptoms dissipated and did not return. We tried once more two weeks later because based on the ingredient list this food should be healthy! However, again our cat cannot walk straight and is clearly disoriented and scared.

I just discovered that other people were experiencing the same issue as I. Our dog appeared on the doorstep in Dec 08, we adopted her when no one claimed her. She's an adult who seemed quite healthy until Feb of 09. I had just take her to the vet for an infected tooth and he had upped her dose of antibiotics. He also suggested I put her on a low cal food because she was a little overweight. Because I wanted to get her on a more holistic diet since she was now 'ours', I opted for Nutro Ultra Weight Management. About 10 days later the vomiting began. This actually followed a couple of blood stools and some diarreaha, but I dismissed them because they were brief occurances. But the vomitting became a daily occurance from the get go and lasted for months.

In fact, I have a journal for part of that time because the vet had me keep one to try to diagnose the issue. At first I thought it was the vet's fault, that he'd prescribed her too heavy a dose of antibiotics and they had destroyed her stomache. But it just never got better. Here and there she would go a day or two without throwing up the yellow foamy bile (only twice in months did it have actual food in it), but in general my boyfriend I got used to shooting out of bed between 7am and 9am to throw a bag under the dog. I even started keeping towels by the bed because I knew she'd likely throw up in the morning. Otherwise she was fine, however, most of the time, unless she had a day when she seemed extra sick and threw up more than once. But she still had energy when taken out of doors. The first time I really considered the food was when I heard that Nutro cat food had been recalled. Frustrated with the journaling that didn't seem to yeild any patterns, I decided to go ahead and switch her food.

Within a couple of days the vomitting almost completely stopped. This was at the beginning of May 09. She went weeks without throwing up. She's had a couple of days here and there where I think that the food wasn't the issue because she'll vomit for a couple days in a row. But in general it's gone from once a week NOT throwing up to once a week she might throw up, since getting off Nutro. Granted, perhaps there is something else wrong with her, perhaps the antibiotics did cause sensitivity, but I think it's valuable to add my input on this, since there is an investigation underway. If I can answer any more questions, or share the journal I kept for those doing the investigation, please let me know.

One other thing I forgot to mention... for a few weeks when the vomitting first started, she would also occasionally get this overwhelming smell of blood about her. It was an awful smell that would just start all of a sudden and would linger on anything she laid on. We had a difficult time telling which end it was coming from, her mouth or her bottom. She was not in heat though, she's fixed and there was no visible blood.

I switched my dog from Vans to Nutro about 4 months ago. Over the last 3 months she has been vomiting at least 3 times a week. At first I thought she was eating something outside that may be the cause. We began to watch her when she is out in the yard and feel its more related to the food. I thought perhpas it was the Omega 3's and her stomach overly sensitive to the Omega so got on the internet. After reading other pet oner experiences and descriptions of pet issues after ingesting the food I am convinced it's the Nutro food making my dog ill.

My cat got very sick from eating the reacalled Nutro cat food. I have been working with their Insurance Company, but they said that they would not cover all of my vet bills unless I had a written document from my vet stating that the illness was due specifically to the food. Even though they have all of the test results including the test that shows his Zinc levels at 1.9 (which according to my vet is way above normal range of 0.5 to 0.9). I have also asked them to cover the cost of another check-up in 3 months to see if there has been any residual damage. They do not agree to this.

I have a strange report - I have 2 Greyhounds, both of which are ex-racers. I had fed them Nutro Pet foods since the age of 5 when we got them with no problems. Both of them were healthy happy dogs with beautiful soft fur. However, this past November, 2008, our male dog at the age of 12 got extremely sick: Vomiting, uncontrolable diarrhea and losing a ton of weight. He had never been sick since the day we got him so we were pretty worried and immediately took him to the vets. After a ton of testing, ex-rays, and ultra sounds, we couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Was it old age? It never dawned on me that it could've been a sensitivity to his food - the part that makes this strange is that our other greyhond was completely fine. So what's the deal? Are some dogs just super sensitive to some change Nutro may have made to their food? I find it strange that so many people have reported the exact same symptoms with their pets. Nutro is the only linking factor and in my personal opinion, some dogs are obviously way more sensitive to the change that nutro made to their food than others.

The consequences to our male greyhound were extreme. When he got sick, we never even considered that it was the food that was causing it - as I said, our female dog seemed fine so we had no reason to beleive that was the case. We continued to feed him Nutro dog food during his illness and now that I read these other complaints that was obviously the wrong thing to do. He continued to be sick and no matter what medicine the vet prescribed, our poor dog never got better. We spent our christmas of 2008 trying to nurse him back to health but nothing worked. In the end, he had lost so much weight that he wasn't even able to get himself out of his bed on his own anymore. We had to carry him outside for him to do his business. When it hit the point where he couldn't get out of bed on his own and ended up doing his business in his bed without any control, we knew it was the end. On Dec. 31, 2008 our poor friend had to be put down with no idea as to why he had got so sick - that is the worst feeling in the world. I had spent thousands of dollars desperately trying to diagnose the problem. If I find out that Nutro is the reason why my dog got so sick, there will be hell to pay.

i had 2 very healthy papillon dogs. the breeeder of the younger dog advised me to feed my dogs nutro brand dog food and i took that advice.

i had always bought the smaller bags and there seemed to be no trouble until i got a 40 lb bag. they both walked away from the food and didn't want to eat it. i kept trying to give them the food since it had always been ok & didn't seem to smell rancid. i thought it was strange for them to turn down the food day after day and since they had liked to food prior to that bag i tried to continue to feed it to them.

a month later my 5 year old dog seemed listless and started to loose weight. the vet said he was dying and his kidneys were failing. the numbers were off the charts and there was no hope for a cure.

i am heartbroken at my loss and have always suspected something was wrong with the nutro. the vet didn't seem to think there were any recalls on it & nutro said they had no recalls.

I had fed Nutro Lamb and Rice to my dogs for at least 5 years. About 3 months ago after purchasing a new bag of Nutro Lamb and Rice Small bites for my 2 dogs, my 8 year old Corgi-Terrier Mix that always had a ravenous appetite started vomiting foamy yellow bile and was lethargic, had loss of appetite, was extremely thirsty and was very jaundiced. I took her to an emergency vet for blood work and IV fluids for dehydration and an ultrasound. They told me she had a bacterial blood infection and would need her spleen removed. They also saw problems with her gallbladder and liver. They said it was from something she ingested.

I could not afford to spend the $5,000 they wanted for the operation, so I took her home with antibiotics and anti nausea medication and tried to get her to eat. I was looking on the internet to find a dog food that would be easy for her to digest when I came across the complaints about Nutro. I immediately threw away the rest of the food and switched to a different brand. She now has her appetite back. The jaundice is gone and the vet said her spleen doesn't feel enlarged anymore.

My 14 year old Chow mix vomited about once a day, was extremely thirsty and lost a lot of weight and had loss of control of his hind legs. We had him put down this past weekend. I can't be sure if the Nutro food contributed to his decline, but it seems like he got old fast after starting the new bag of Nutro. I had suspected something was wrong with the food since both dogs started being very picky since I started the new bag-only eating if I added something to it for flavor and even then they would leave half of it and spit pieces out on the floor.

Janet presented at our hospital with her cat Spenser complaining of a loss of appetite and observing pet shaking/trembling. Pet had been eating Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Adult Cat food and expiration date was 6/28/2010. The food the cat has been eating is among the food listed in the voluntary recall recently issued on May 21st by Nutro.

The cat required a complete blood count and chemistry panel to evaluate condition of pet and bloodwork shows elevated values of cholesterol creatinine kinase and a low white blood cell count. We suspect the cat is showing sypmtoms as a result of the food recall. Diet has been changed and we would expect to see an increase in the appetite and decrease in the shaking/trembling the owner was observing as a result of the diet being changed.

The food had no potasium and too much zinc which created a nightmare for my show persian cat-We needed to do a c-section because we were worried about the kittens-one was born missing a finger and her abdomen was open-the vet stitched her up and after 4 weeks she is a survivor. The other kitten was tiny and died a few days later.

Nutro is not returning my calls or emails since I sent them pictures and the amount I feel I should be compensated for

My 3 year old Labradoodle has been eating Nutro since she was a puppy because it helped her coat. I just opened a new bag three days ago. Yesterday, she refused to eat the food (very uncharacteristic) and then starting vomiting and had bloody diarehhia. She has been so ill and with a fever she now is at the vet's office with an IV. I had heard of problems with Nutro before and should have listened. I will never buy again!!

We had been feeding our three dogs Nutro dog food and, encouraged by the pet food store, changed to the senior brand recently, whereupon all three dogs became sick - throwing up, dirrera, urinating in the house, etc. After $2500 in vet bills - and no diagnosis - testing for addisons disease, parasites, etc. were all clear, our Westie had to be put to sleep due to kidney failure. He had been fine three weeks earlier during his routine exam.

Our westie, who had been find three weeks prior, faded from being a robust, extremely healthy dog to being unable to digest food, intestines became horribly infected - large and small intestines were torn up and kidney failure set in where there had been no problems whatsoever with his kidneys. There is no doubt in my mind this was due to Nutro pet food. This must be taken off the market immediately!

PLEASE contact me for details - I will gladly show you all records and medical history - when our other two dogs began throwing up and having accidents in the house - just after putting our westie down - I began to suspect the food and learned there have been complaints and cover ups about this problem for the last few years. What is up with this? PLEASE CONTACT ME! We are devistated

My pug dog is 4 years old and has been eating Nutro small bites since she was a pup.She is also an indoor dog.Recently i have purchased a new bag of Nutro dog food and after she ate, the next day she began to vomit and had diarrhea.She has been doing this for 5 days and then began to vomit blood.

I had purchased 4 bags of nutro cat food. I realized today that there was a recall only when I went in Petsmart and saw a sign. I called nutro and the 4 bags I had were recalled for extremely high levels of zinc. One of my cats passed away 4 days ago. My 3 others are going to the vet tomorrow to be checked and for blood work. Nutro did nothing to inform people of the recall. The company has my email and home address, etc. but did nothing to inform me of the problem.

They are also in denial of the sickness and deaths in pets that this is causing. I am thoroughly disgusted that they can get away with this. My family is devastated with the suffering and loss of our pet. Hopefully the others will make it. It is amazing that nothing was done to notify anyone of this problem. If I had been notified,I would have immediately stopped feeding my pets the food and my cat would still be alive today. Instead, Nutro decided to disclose as little as possible to the public and she is dead.

My 2 dachshunds have just recovered from vomiting and diarrhea. Jackson developed pancreatitis; however; the younger dachshund, Thomas, did not. I just had recently purchased the Nutro Natural Lite canned food and also the dry and had been mixing the two foods.

Thomas was treated by the vet and was sent on and Jackson spent 4 days at the vets office and this was not a cheap fix, however, I am pleased to report, both are doing fine. I have been feeding them boiled chicken and rice several times per day in small amounts. I think that we will be switching to Hills Science Diet.

I have to admit, if my little ones did not make it, I would be looking for blood. These are house dogs and I just dont know what else it could be except the dog food. They are not feed off the table no matter how much they beg. My vet bill was over $750.00 plus the 1.5 hour drive twice a day

Our 10 year old rottweiler has been eating Nutro's large breed weight loss formula for approximately 3 years now. Within 2 weeks of opening our current bag, (purchased 6.6.09), Faust began vomiting after meals. I then switched from the dog food to chicken mixed with kefir. The vomiting stopped. On the occasions (several), that I switched back to the dog food, the vomiting resumed. This past Friday I contacted Petsmart regarding returning the food as I felt that it was making me sick. I have yet to have to opportunity to do so. Faust is now in the ICU at our vet for pancreatitis and renal failure. He is receiving IV fluids and pain medication at this time. I strongly suspect a link between his condition and the Nutro brand food I have been feeding him. Have their been other links of this type reported? Do you have recommendations on where to go from here?

Puppies were find and we went to pet smart and purchased nutro puppy food from that day on their health declined.diarreaha so severe, vomitting letargic loss of appetite they became severely emanciated in a short time after all our efforts to keep them alive along with the vet and different types of meds and syringe feeding(food and water)this has been a long and hard heart breaking experience.

Puppies were seen at the vet five times and then was hospitalized for 8 nights and nine days (three of them one had already died)puppies had already been and had to return all deposits and one had already been paid for that i had to return money for and now im out 1500 per puppy and owe a tremendous vet bill which i havent recieve yet one died at the vet and the vet sent two sicker dogs home and we're doing everything we can but there just slowly dieing and the expences has totally whiped us out and can't even afford to pay the vet to put them down

I received a letter from Nutro Max stating that a bag of food I had bought @ Petco (with my petco card) matched with the recalled bags of regular dry cat food. The letter stated there was mineral imbalances, nothing about too much zinc was ever mentioned. My 3 cats had already finished the bag when I got the letter. Luckily I had already switched to organic cat food because my 10 month old was having bouts of diarreah and I thought it might be a food allergy. I also took him to the vet where they could find nothing wrong with a regular exam (no blood work because I did not think the food could cause the symptoms)

I finally started looking around websites and after reading everyone's stories put 2 and 2 together. I now have my cats on milk thistle (to help regrow liver cells and help with the digestion issues) and that has helped clear up the issues. I am convinced that if Nutro Max would have been upfront with the recall and let us know that it was too much zinc and to go to the vet to have blood work checked in case of vomiting or diareah most of the cases and cats could have been saved.

We have been feeding our two 8 year old Maine Coons cats Nutro for many years. They both became sick around the same time the recall came out. They were vomiting yellow stuff, explosive bloody diarrhea and one had anemia. After taking the boys off the food they recovered.

After feeding my cats Nutro Max Cat Indoor Weight Control she developed liver failure. She is a 6 yr old healthy cat that weighed almost 11 lbs. She lost 4 lbs in a month, vomitting, strange howling, irritation, and turned yellow on her skin. I quit the food immediately. The vet advised a new dry cat food, and then feed her wet food with droplets of milk thistle. After 2 months she came out of it. She still has another month or so to stay on the milk thistle mix.

My vet is a professor of epidemology also.

I am very concerned about our beloved twelve year old golden retriever, Phoebe. We have purchased Nutro products since she was a puppy. During the past few weeks, she will not eat the Nutro. There has been weight loss and lethargy.

Due to our relocation, a new vet has been chosen. Blood tests were taken and the results were normal. After reading the concerns/complaints about Nutro products, I fully intend to discontinue their use. Hopefully, there is just a problem/recall with Nutro cat food, but why are so many people on line about their dogs if there is not a problem?

My 4 year old cat stopped eating about 4 weeks ago throwing up yellow bile she was so sick and yes I fed her nutro max cat. 1000.00 dollars and three weeks of rehab she starting to look better I will never buy Nutro again!!!

We have been feeding our dog Nutro Ultra Adult dog food and Nutro Ultra Adult dog biscuits for the past 6 months - ever since we got him as a 10 week old puppy (we are feeding him the adult food based on our breeder's specific recommendations). Up until a week ago everything seemed fine - he had tremendous energy, a beautiful coat and good stool (although he did have regular gas, but nothing alarming). Then a week ago he got diarrhea. After 4 days of no improvement and now becoming very lathargic, we took him to the vet thinking he just ate something in the park. Nothing showed up in the stool sample - not sure what all was tested for though. Either way, he was put on antibiotics and anti-diarrhea medicine.

After a couple of days on the medicines, he started to get better - so we stopped the anti-diarrhea medicine (per the vet's instructions). The diarrhea came back within two days. So the question then seemed to be - did he suddenly develop an allergic reaction to the food, or is the food just bad? We then started to feed him just boiled chicken and white rice and 16 hours later he had the best stool he has had in more than a week and is acting "normal" again. It is still very early, but my gut feeling is that the food and/or biscuits caused his problems.

I called the pet food store and they said they have not had anyone return Nutro Ultra food, or complain about it. I purchased the bag of food on June 13, 2009 - but no longer have the label since we store the food in a plastic bin. If it was the food, it took a few days for the diarrhea to kick in, although I do remember him having some exceptionally nasty gas in the days leading up to the onset of diarrhea. So I am posting this to see if anyone else is currently having problems with the same food or biscuits (Nutro Ultra Adult).

This is an update from my earlier post regarding my 5 cats, all of whom became ill after eating Nutro. My 13 year old Ben was the worst, his blood work shows he is suffering from nutritionally deficient anemia. I've already spent over $500.00 in vet bills and I'm not done yet. He goes back next week for follow up blood work, I'm afraid for what it will show.

I called Nutro AGAIN and informed them about the anemia. My vet told me it is caused from the food being deficient in nutrients and toxic levels of zinc. The person I talked to had the nerve to tell me my vet was wrong! Excuse me??? She said she never heard of excess zinc causing anemia and that my cat must require more nutrients than other cats. What?? Who is she??? I looked it up in the Merck Veterinary Manual (the bible for vets) and it says in there that anemia can be caused from toxic levels of zinc. How dare those answering the phone contradict our highly trained and skilled vets and dismiss our complaints?

I know that Nutro is not going to come out and admit fault, however, a little compassion or empathy would go a long ways. I wouldn't be quite as angry if I could hear them say I'm sorry your kitty is ill or let me refer you to our vet or nutritionist to see if they have any suggestions to make your cat better. There are things they could say without admitting fault. The continued denials are a slap in the face to pet parents.

After a recent purchase of Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice my dogs became violently ill with a digestive issue that causes explosive bowel movements and an inability to control said bowel movements. Upon taking fecal samples to the vet it was discovered that they have a serious digestive infection that the vet said is directly linked to the Nutro food. This has cost me time and money and my dogs continue to be violently ill as their system purges the remaining food in their system.

We were feeding our Doberman puppy Nutro puppy food when he suddenly became ill with vomiting and diarrhea. We took him to the vet and the vet said he had a stomach virus. Blood work came back showing Giardia So the vet started him on antibiotics. He wasn't getting any better. The vet put him on IV fluids and kept him for two nights. He got much worse and we had to be put him to sleep. The vet was surprised he didn't get better once the antibiotics were started. The vet determined that he died from a combination of Giardia and a stomach virus.

We purchased another Doberman puppy a few weeks later and weened him onto the Nutro. Shortly after we started to ween him onto the Nutro, he also started with the diarrhea. Blood work was done and all was normal. Our vet suggested switching puppy food because she heard not good things about Nutro and recommended Eukanuba puppy food. Within a few days the diarrhea stopped and we had a healthy, happy puppy.

But wierd thing is, a friend of mine also got a Labradoodle puppy at the same time we got our second puppy and she was also feeding her puppy Nutro and he was having the same problems. Her vet also recommended switching from the Nutro to another puppy food and recommended Science Diet. She did and her pup's diarrhea stopped. My friend contacted Nutro about what we both experienced and they said we could take our food back to where we purchased it for a full refund. And that we did.

After reading the reports from the FDA and all of the consumer complaints,the many, many blogs on the internet and remembering what my vet said about Nutro, I feel Nutro is partially responsible for the death of our first puppy. I feel the combination of the Giardia and Nutro dog food is what caused the severe dehydration. The Giardia alone could have been taken care of by antibiotics. But the combo of the two was too much for his very young digestive system.

I am just heartsick over the pain so many people are experiencing over the sicknesses and deaths of their beloved pets because of the poison in Nutro pet products... and the fact that absolutely nothing is being done to stop this company! How come? If lawyers are contacted when complaints have legal merit then there should be over 800 lawyers contacting people who are complaining about Nutro products. Please contact the kind of lawyer who can handle something this big and who can do something about this nightmare, like shutting down Nutro, otherwise hundreds and thousands of pets will continue to die at the mercy of Nutro :( The FDA and other so-called regulatory companies are obviously lacking authority, which makes them useless. What can these poor people who have lost their pets do to get justice? How can a company so evil continue to stay in business? Their poison is being stocked on store shelves while no one does anything about it. This is so wrong and sooo disturbing it really makes me sick.

We have 7 cats and have been feeding them Nutro pet food for some time. In March a 10 year old female rapidly lost weight, began vomiting and stopped eating. We took her to our vet who could not find any physical cause. We changed to a different brand of food and she began to eat and over 8 weeks regained the weight she had lost.

Another 10 year old cat began a rapid weight loss at the end of April 2009 and lost 3 pounds in 2 weeks. She had stopped eating, vomited yellow bile and became very lethargic. Our vet again could find no reasons for the illness. We changed food and began a prednisone treatment. Her condition went up and down for several weeks and she died yesterday, June 21, 2009.

Besides the 7 inside cats, we feed 3 ferals who live outside. All of the cats at times vomited the Nutro food and we have completely changed over to another brand. All the cats have recovered except for Endora who died yesterday.

My cat Raskal went missing this Sunday morning and I spent all morning looking for him.Around 1130 I found him behind our couch lethargic and in pain. We spent the rest of the day at the animal emergency clinic. It turns out he was extremely ill with elevated liver enzymes and anemia. This was something that came on very suddenly..he is only 3 and had no history of health problems.

He spent the night at the emergency clinic on IV fluids, antibiotics and pain medicine. This morning I learned of the Nutro pet food recall and confirmed he had been fed food from a recalled bag. I am just horrified. Upon contacting Nutro they denied my cats symptoms could be caused by their food, however said they would pay for testing related to Potassium and Zinc. I have the bag, about 6 pieces of the tainted kibble, and all these bills. I feel Nutro Pet food is responsible for my cats sudden illness and would like to seek legal action.

There Dog food almost killed my dog. My St. Bernard has been eating this food since he was born. Something happened with there food that was not announced and my saint dropped down to 90 lbs. (which is sickly for a saint) and lost almost all of his hair and was very lathargic. I took him to 3 or 4 vets (which was very expensive) and no one could figure it out. I didn't think it could be the food because he was on it so long and never had a problem. Until I remembered that when he started getting sick you could hardly find his food in store and they said it was because nutro was making changes. I didn't know they were making deadly changes. I finally switched his food and 2 months later he has gained weight, he is spunky again, and has grown most of his hair back. My dog almost died. Incurred high vet bills (over $2,000)

I have been using Nutro Natural Choice Lambmeal and rice formula for my small dog for the last 3.5 years. Recently this week he has had non-stop diarreah for the last 5 days as well as vommiting. I decided to look up some info on the net and found many many complaints about this ped food. Especially since they have sold or partnered with Mars Pet food. Who apparently have had to recall pet food due to possible salmonella contamination. My dog is lathargic and can't hold any food in his body.

This is an update of a report I filed on June 5 on this website regarding my cat who had stopped eating, was lethargic and had been eating Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Weight Management for many years.

After we found out about the recall we took our sick cat to our vet for tests and discovered severely elevated liver enzymes in his blood work and later upon x-ray, -- an enlarged liver.

Our vet contacted Nutro directly asking for any blood work or other verifiable information that could help with his diagnosis. At first the company denied there had been any complaints and refused to discuss it with him. Several phone calls later, our vet spoke with someone who responded that they had tested the food on several cat populations and there had been no reported signs of illness. When he asked about blood work which accompanied their study, the Nutro representative refused his request as there were no observable problems with their test population.

Since changing to a different brand of cat food our cat has gained weight, become less lethargic -- we pray that he will have no lasting damage to his liver. In the meantime, we are giving him "milk thistle supplements for cats" in the hope that it will help with his liver damage.

Unfortunately we didn't think to keep the bags of tainted food -- I would love to see a class action suit against this company. Still it won't bring back the pets who have died or help those who have suffered permanent damage or restore my faith in this company,

I just adopted two kittens and was researching food products to feed them and came across the recall of Nutro for cats. I then began to read about problems with dogs that were fed Nutro as well.

My Thai Ridgeback, Jake, has not been doing well lately, some vomiting, diarrhea and lethargic. My husband claims that when cleaning up the yard the **** smelled "funny" and especially bad. Today,Jake refused to eat. I also have a 2 year old Boxer who has been having gastrointestinal problems as well. After everything I have been reading, I am no longer giving either of them any product from the Nutro line.

I believe Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care made 2 of my cats very sick . One cat seems to be recovering since stopping Nutro food but the other continues to be very ill and has lost over a 1/3rd of his body weight. A week ago he was throwing up yellow bile with a high fever and I had to rush him to an emergency visit. My vet has put him through all types of test trying to find out what could be wrong with him. Yesterday was when I found out about the recall and notified my vet immediately. Hopefully she can find out the best treatment for recovery so I wont loose him. The recall is for Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Weight Management for the 3lb, 6 lb and 16 lb bags. However I have the remains of the 8 lb bag which I strongly believe should be added to the list. The expiration date is 7/26/2010.

I tried to pamper my pets by purchasing an expensive healthy food. What a mistake!

The product was Nutro dried food and it caused ataxia in 19 cats that I know of (5 mine) in SE Qld in 2007. My complaint was #002 and Trevor McDowell's was 001. Trevor was paid his veterinary expenses but I am still waiting. It was irradiated dried food and the same problem just experienced in Sydney by irradiated Orijen dried food. Vets are still working on what actually was wrong with the food.

I lost my Brown Burmese male and 5 girls were crippled. Some 34+ kittens born dead or died screaming in agony and rigid soon after birthday.

Nutro visited my home and saw my cats and after that offered the irradiated food to show exhibitors at "never to be repeated prices".

My vet bills were over $4500 and I have been contacted by Dr Georgina Child (Sydney University Feline Neurologist) and Dr Joanna Milan (Naturopath Vet).

Food samples were sent to USA on two occasions and I have never received a copy of the laboratory of Nutro's choice test results.

I tested for melamine in 2007 and it came back 1ppm. My cats had ataxia, loss of appetite and those pregnant had a terrible foetal result.
The food stank but cats continued to get sick after they delivered some "non-irradiated batches". This is an extract of a letter I can send you written by James Brow:

"There is an opportunity to purchase from the imperfect stock if you would like. Contact us for "never to be repeated prices" It is signed by James Brow and I can send this to you via email along with the medical records I had at the time and vet bills.

To pay one person and not the other is discrimination and I believe Trevor's bill was paid in full. His cat was euthanised with permanent neurological damage.
AQIS accept no responsibility for damage to food as that is up to the importer to establish safety of the product. No bags were labelled as irradiated.

The cause might have been more than irradiation - it could have been a zinc problem in the premix as well as nutrients destroyed by irradiation, in particular Vitamin A and Ppotassium. Burmese breeding cats have a high need for both.

I just read your report about Nutro cat food. I had a cat who died in 2005 from a severe kidney disease, and he had been eating Nutro dry food. How long has this problem been going on with the high levels of zinc in the food? We didn't know what caused his problem. That's really sad.

I had to take my cat Ollie to the emergency hospital last month - she and my bigger cat are indoor-only and eat Nutro dry food since last year.

Recently, I fed my cats a medium size bag of indoor adult food, and started noticing odd symptoms. We had no idea what was wrong with Ollie when we took her to the vet/ER, and the vets tested for pancreatitis (but the test came back negative), but now that I read about these symptoms- I realize they are spot on for my cats' symptoms for decreased potassium and increased zinc. Apparently pancreatitis-like symptoms are the most likely symptoms for increased zinc levels as found in recalled food, so this makes even more sense.

At some point I wondered if it was the food, but my cats did not get the same exact symptoms: my other cat, Penny, got diarrhea for a while but Ollie stopped moving and eating, had a stiff gait, fever, malaise and lots of pain.

After intense care at the ER, she slowly seemed less sickly, but seemed to have lost coordination and had diarrhea. I even had to take Ollie back to the vet again after that because she couldn't walk on one of her legs, which was strange for a normally healthy and coordinated kitty. Vet bills so far are about $1200!

After I saw the recall in the store recently, (only after going through 2 bags of Nutro food),it all came together. I contacted Nutro via online form and via phone and spoke to Nicole to report my pet's illness. I describe Ollie's symptoms and situation, and she said to call my vet and have the vet fax over the medical bills and documentation if they believe that there could be a food "quality-related" issue (not a recall issue).

Both vets who treated Ollie said they would fax over the documentation to Nicole at Nutro. At this point I am still awaiting a resolution. I am also concerned about longer term kidney or liver damage that may not be apparent yet.

This is an update on my kitty TIGI. I'm sad to say that we had to put Tigi down this morning. He had a kidney shutdown and hadn't urinated for 3 days. My wife and eye are so sad today. He was the nicest kitty we ever had and only 6 years old. We're thankful that we got to spend the entire night with him (even though we know he was suffering...we could tell he was glad to be with us..he purred and looked at us).

I know this was from Nutro. I had just started feeding him the tainted package.

I honestly think that Nutro is lying even more. They state zinc and low potassium. Tigi had high potasium and his creatinine and urea because of his kidney shutdown. Nutro told me that they were 10% above accepted levels. This is a lie too. My kitty was never sick. Anyhow, I'm too sad to type more and nothing I can do now. I just really miss him.

After feeding my puppy Nutro Max Puppy food he began getting diarrhea which turned to bloody diarrhea. He still drank water. He got better when I changed his food and worse again when the food was reintroduced. I feel that his problem is the food and am stopping use of it.

I have feed Nutro Lamb & Rice Dog Food for the last 12 years to my dogs... I even demoed for them & really believed in their product.The past few days my dogs have gone off their feed , one very lethargic. One I feed Eukanuba's Shepherd ... he ate the Nutro a couple times ... now he's not hungry . We just had our elderly pug PTS (many factors ). One factor that concerns me was his kidney function... not considered important at the time b/c of his age .

Then I decided to check the web for recalls on the product ... found no recalls , but many complaints ... I will be returning this dog food & NEVER using it again ... I might be paranoid , but it did smell different, more pungent ... thought maybe a different kind of lamb! Please look into this before something happens ... there was a shortage of the Lamb & Rice for a while ... what was the real reason & where are they now getting this lamb ?

Our cat has blood in her urine, vomiting, and a kidney stone. This was after eating the Max Cat Salmon Flavor Indoor cat food (Manufactured by NUTRO) She developed these symptoms after being exposed to Max Cat for about 2 weeks. Before that she was perfectly healthy. We now have over $700 in Vet Bills.

There has been a recall on certain varieties of NUTRO Natural Choice Complete Care dry cat foods and NUTRO Max cat dry food ...

I called Nutro today at 1-800-833-5330 and spoke to a Diana. She said that the recall was voluntary and that the pet food was safe. She said that Nutros cat food had nothing to do with my cats symptoms. I asked her, If your Cat food is safe, why are you doing a recall?. She said that they were doing the recall because Nutro wants the ingredients to MATCH what is on the bag, and did not want to engage in false advertising.

Fortunately, Nutro will pay for my cats health exam, and any tests that measure the zinc and potassium levels in the cats urine. They will NOT pay for my cats medications or surgery to remove the kidney stone. I do plan on fighting this further. My Vet has backed me up and will provide me with any documentation that I might need.

I read this article on ther FDA investigating the nutro dog food company and relized my dog has the same symptoms as the people in the article. She is always vomiting diharrea and has a problem urinating.

Our beloved HEALTHY 8 year old basset hound developed sudden and fatal illness in January 2009 and died March 2009. Vets have no explanation of cause of numerous symptoms including elevated liver enzymes, which mocked hepatitis. Penny was an indoor pet who goes out into a fenced yard with no contact with wild animals, woods, etc.

After being charged in excess of $16,000 in vet and hospital bills, she died in March. I've been reading all about the NUTRO complaints and the Nutro Lamb and Rice Lite was all she was fed for the past several years.
Can you please help or guide me into further investigation?? I had absolutekly no idea of what was going on with NUTRO as they were not on the publicized recall lists so it did not even occur to me that could be the problem. Now I have a strong suspicion there is a connection as we had no previous health issues with her of this type.

Thank You

My Greyhound had loved her Nuto Lamb & Rice. One night she became very ill. She was dizzy and began to vomit bile. I took her to the emergency vet. He started her on medication and she seemed to stabilize. I took her to her vet first thing in the morning. He ran test and determined it to be her kidneys. He gave her medication and she seemed to get better over the next couple of days. She was eating boiled chicken and rice (No Kibble) and taking prescription medication but when her vet told me to add kibble back to her diet she became ill again.

She spent several days in the hospital and then the recall broke the news! For almost a year I kept her on grain free foods, homemade foods and her kidney medication. She seemed healthy and happy but one day we were playing in the yard and ran to me and dropped to the ground dead!

I will never purchase anything made by Nuto ever again!

My poodle recently became sick with vomiting and diarrhea. He has always been very healthy. I put him on rice and chicken for a day and he got better. I took him to the vet and he said he was eating grass to make himself sick. We changed his diet and I watched him every time he went out so he would not eat anything else. Long story short, he is still sick and I took him back to the vet who said it must be his food. Also, my border collie became ill yesterday also. We have used Nutro for years, but this is the first time we have had problems. All signs point to the food. We are now trying bland food, and I hope both of them will get well. The border collie was actually crying last night because he felt so bad. I have trusted this food for years--now I absolutely do not.

I have been feeding my 2 year old pitbull mix Nutro dog food for about 1.5 years. Recently I switched to the new Ultra brand. About 2 weeks ago, she started having severe diarrhea. I took her to a vet who tested her for a bacterial infection and gave her x-rays. He determined there was no bacterial infection and no bowl obstruction. He determined she must have "ate something she shouldn't have" and sent her home with some antibiotics and a shot of anti-diarrhea medicine. Her conditioned improved for a week or so and then she developed diarrhea again. This bout lasted for four days.

Over the four days we did a process of elimination on what we fed her until we were down to only the Nutro food. I then went to the internet and read some of the recent consumer complaints against Nutro. I took her off the food immediately and fed her ground sirloin and veggies for dinner. The very next day her condition improved and the diarrhea stopped suddenly. I will never again feed my dog Nutro or any product made by it's manufacturers! I had a friend who was also using the brand, and I called him immediately to tell him about the complaints!

I have been feeding my 2 year old dog Nutro Ultra since her adoption in 9/08. She would have occassional GI upsets with yellow bile vomit. I thought this was just normal upset until 2 1/2 weeks ago when she started having extreme diarreah and fecal vomiting. I took her to the Pet ER and after a series of tests, fluids and medications she was sent home on Flagyl and a bland diet. She recovered after a few days and I started her back on her Nutro Ultra. A week later she started having diarrhea again so I put her on rice and chicken for a few days and everything resolved. Last night she started having diarrhea and fecal vomiting again. I did not feed her yesterday and this morning I gave her rice and chicken. She seems to feel better but is still lethargic. She did have an appetite though. I decided to google Nutro to see if there was a recall as I was at my wits end what could be causing this. I was very alarmed to read all the letters from pet owners. I will not be using Nutro any longer. I just hope that my little baby will be alright.

My cat has been vomitting for the past 3 days. He's in terrible pain (he has never ever been sick before). I told the vet all I fed him was nutro. Now I see this recall and realize the food I'm feeding him has an expiry of June 2010. IT'S THE NUTRO CAT FOOD MAKING HIM SICK. They wanted to admist my cat to intensive care at $2400 for the first 24 hours and $600 per day thereafter. I could not afford to do that. I paid $500 and now my cat is here at home vomitting and very sick.

This is ridiculous. Nutro has to be held responsible. Is anyone aware of any class action lawsuits?

On June 9th 2009, I switched my puppy food for my 9 month old pomperanian to Nutro Small Bites Dry food(Chicken Meal, rice @ oatmeal formula) and Lamb & Rice wet food, suddenly within hours of the single serving my dog became sick - diarreha with blood, vomiting with yellow bile substance and became very lethargic. This lasted for almost three days where she mostly slept but I was able to slowly transition her to a BARF sytle diet - fresh vegatables, fruit and fresh organic raw ground beef, cooked fish and chicken. She quickly made a full recovery without having to take her to the vet.

I am convince that the particular batch of dry & wet Nutro dog food was responsible. Furthermore, I have another Pomeranian who has been eating Nutro Small Bites Dry Lamb meal rice formula for years and from time to time has had these symptoms - vomiting bile and diarreha but mostly vomiting of yellow bile maybe once a month. He's now on BARF and I have seems much better. As for my puppy I definitely think there's a problem with the food but with my adult dog it seems to be very inconsistent but why take the chance.

Shortly after feeding my two dogs Nutro Natural lamb and rice dry food, I noticed sporadic periods of vomiting. Unfortunately, I continued with the food thinking that they must have eaten something that they were not supposed to. I finally d/c the food when my dogs became violently ill almost to the point of dehydration.

After 1 week of being on NUTRO MAX senior cat food, she developed a urinary tract infection for the first time ever in her 14 years. There are red blood cells & crystals in her urine. This week we have to get x-rays for her. She also has to be on anti-biotics for 2 weeks & get a repeat urinalysis.

Both of my cats have been eating the Nutro dry cat food for 1 year now. One cat is 2 the other 6 years old.The 6 year old started developing problems in April of 2009, after eating the recalled food we had purchase in a 16 lb bag.We had bought 2 16 lb bags of the lot # and dates of the recalled food and that is what the cats had been eating for a couple of months. The 2 year old started vomiting and refusing the food, and our 6 year old started having motor difficulties, spacy behavior and vomiting. We took the 6 year old to the vet, had bloodwork done and complete check up, but still could not find what was wrong with her. Our vet bill totaled over 160.00. Shortly after the vet visit I found out about the food recall. Both our bags were that of the contaminated food.

I e mailed the company and did not get a response from them for a couple of weeks. They said they would contact me with in 72 hrs. I want it on record that I feel I recieved poor customer sevice, and I dont feel the company has been truthful about the side affects and complaints from pet owners that had given their pets this food. The company claims that no sickness had resulted from the tainted food, when indeed I know several people have had sick cats.

Nutro Natural Choice Senior Dry Dog Food has made my mini pincher extremely ill. Vomiting and lethargic for weeks now. The only change, I switched his food to Nutro.

this food makes my dog extremely sick, he has had severe diaherra for days

Nutro Healthy Choice Large Breed Puppy food

I have had my dogs on Nuetro Max Adult their whole lives. I was happy with the product until this last bag, that I bought on June 7th. I bought it and brought it home to my dogs and fed them from it, they immediately began throwing up. I was concerned but not too much so, thought they might have gotten into something. The next morning, my male dog didn't want to eat his food and when I encouraged him, he ate it and they both went outside and started throwing up till their stomachs were completely empty. I was more concerned but thought that maybe they weren't quite over the flu. They acted really hungry because basically they hadn't had anything to eat in a day by then.

I fed it to them a third time, on the night of the 6th of June and they both looked at me like I was crazy neither one wanted to eat it, but they both ended up eating after they got hungry enough. I watched them really carefully this time and it was immediate, they began vomiting, my boy dog almost didn't make it through the dog door. So, I was angry and decided to take the food back to my local Petsmart where I bought it.

When I walked in to the Petsmart the employees gave me that look, I didn't even open my mouth before they said, "You have a return, right". I was like, "Yeah, I do", kind of surprised. "O.K., no worries, just put it down here", and they indicated the front register. I was surprised by thier reaction and I wanted to tell them what I had found because I am for the animals, first, always. So I explained the whole thing, telling them in detail what had happened. The cashier said after I finished, "You are like the third return we have had of that dog food in the last two days." I was appalled!

They (Petsmart) realized there was a big problem with the food and they didn't pull it from the shelves, just kept selling it, which is how I got it. I returned the food and bought a completely different brand. It has taken all this time for my dogs to get better. There was an immediate improvement because they had been feeling a bit lethargic and now they have energy and dance around like they used to...but my boy dog still occasionally throws up a little bile in the evenings, still he is so much better now that he is off that food.

Also while they were on the Nuetro they were farting so badly, and so often, that they could clear a room, and I could tell how uncomfortable they were with gas because they would groan a lot. Anyway I e-mailed Neutro and told them the whole story and they just sent me a form/canned response, "Thank you for your interest in out food." I was NOT 'interested in their food', I was trying to save some other dog owners some stress and heartache. I was trying to let them know that there was a big problem with their dog food!

Be very cautious if you are feeding this dog food right now...I noticed in these complaints that there are a rash of new complaints all dated to the first of this month or later. Pass it on, people NEED to know before something bad happens to their dogs from feeding this food, it is obvious to me that the corporations won't do anything and it is up to word of mouth...hopefully before someones pets are injured!

My healthy 5 year old cat suddenly began to loose weight and refuse food. I recieved a post card from pet co on 6/2 about a recall of the food he eats, Max Cat Adult Chicken. I called nutro on 6/3/09 and they said they had recieved no other complaints and that their in house vet would call me. They never called back.

I returned the food to the place of purchase and substituted a "safe" nutro food. My cat got so sick I took him to the vet on Saturday, 6/6/09. They treated him with sub q fluids and did a blood panel showing dangerous creatin and bun levels indicating kidney failure. I took him to emergency clinic and was quoted $1400 iv therapy that I could not afford. I took him home and continued with sub q fluids until tuesday morning when he began to recieve iv fluids from my vet. He still has not recovered and is at the vet currently.

I called nutro sgain and they said they would get in touch with my vet today 6/10/09. I am waiting to hear more about my cats prognosis.

I just read a report printed in April of this about this product possibly making dogs sick or killing them. My little poodle died last month after eating Nutro for over a year - maybe a coincidence, maybe not. I had a blood and urine test done and they said he was diabetic, but he did not respond to insulin. He was 14 years old and had never been sick before. I still have the blood test results if it might be of any help.

My first dog Jupiter is almost 2 yrs old. I have been feeding him dog chow since he was a puppy. I decided to get a new puppy from the animal shelter. We went to a pet supply store and there was a sales man there selling Nutro pet food products. He explained to us the benefits of switching and how switching all of our animals, including my three cats to this food would be healthier for them, and they would eat less of it because it is more filling so I was all for it!

I had noticed an issue with all of my pets almost after the first week but I wasnt sure what the issue was. Jupiter was vomiting and eating grass and had serious gas issues. He was lethargic and nothing like himself. Our puppy was always super thirsty (which I thought was maybe because we tried to limit his water for potty training purposes) but he was really gung ho for it, it was strange. My three cats were urinated everywhere but the litterbox, one of them had blood in his urine and they all started vomiting and had diarriah. One of my cats started secluding himself for days on end in a cabinet.

The thing that pushed me over the edge was when our puppy started having diarriah and there was large amounts of fresh bright red blood in his stool. I was terrified and so went online to see if I could find a reason, and hopefully a solution. I found all of these complaints about Nutro and realised that the issue started when I switch everyones food! I felt so guilty!

Immediaty I began feeding our puppy boiled chicken and garlic as I discovered it works as an antimicrobial and can help push infection out. I then went back to the food supply store and they allowed me to return all three bags of the Nutro Max food for puppy, the bag for adult dog and the bag for cat food, and to switch them out for new food. Now that everyone is on new food, everyone is doing fantastic!

When I called Nutro about this situation, they said they cant do anything to help, I needed to take it up with the store I bought the food from. After everything I have read and the results I have gotten, I cannot beleive that Nutro has not been sued yet for what they are doing. Not only are they supplying faulty and dangerous food, but they deny any responsibility and dont seem to care at all for the well being of the consumer's pets! FDA please do something. If ANY of my animals would have died, I would have sued! CONSUMERS BEWARE!

I had fed my two cats (ages 17 plus) Nutro catfood for a couple of years without any problems. However, both started with the vomiting and diarrhea at about the same time and this went on for several months. They had been very healthy, active and loving kitty cats until this happened. I took them to the vet as soon as the first episode happened but he only gave them an antibiotic and told me to keep them off their food until the two problems quit. Shortly after they were back on their food, the same problems reoccured.

Again, they were medicated. They were never the same again. Never did I or the vet ever think it was their food as I bought it at a well-known pet chain store and it was not a cheap product. Also, their feces was a bright yellow color. Both were strictly housecats so they could not have picked something up from outside or inside. I also kept them up-to-date with their vaccinations, health checkups, etc. Why are the pet food manufacturers not subjected to any kind of quality control on their consumable products??? Obviously their only interest is financial and they could care less about the pets who are eating their junk. This company needs to be put out of business and should have to reimburse everyone who had vet expenses for their lack of a quality product which most definitely was and, in my opinion, is poisonous!!!!

unfortunately, I had never heard anything negative about this cat food until it was too late for my animals. Their conditions deteriorated and they eventually had to be put to sleep. I was - and still am - devastated as I had them for most of their lives, always took excellent care of them and I loved them dearly. Never did I equate their problems with their food nor did the vet. This company should be forced to go completely out of business and the different pet shops should not sell ANY KIND of their products!! This company also should be forced to go out of business and reimburse every person for medical expenses due to their poisonous product but I am sure this will never happen.

I still have two kitty cats and I worry constantly about the food I buy for them. I have tried several kinds at this point and what I am feeding them now is even more expensive than Nutro. However, if it does not kill them or give them permanent damages, it is worth it!!!

I took my 4 year old Shiba to the vet last tuesday, the 2nd of June, 2009. When I woke up she had a fever of 104.5, was lethargic, wouldn't touch her food or water, and she hadn't been too active or interested in her food the night before. Not eating or drinking are usually common when a dog has a fever, so I didn't think much of it. The vet thought it was most likely a UTI as she isn't spayed and has had one before.

After testing her fluids, an x-ray, an ultrasound, and a week on fluids, antibiotics, and then steroids, she is now eating rice and chicken on her own. Her temperature is now normal and she will be ready to come home tomorrow, yet the vet and I are unsure of what may have caused these problems.

After seeing the articles and complaints about Nutro, I am starting to think it might be somehow responsible for our traumatic week. She has been on Nutro for the 2 years she's lived with us, my other Shiba has for 4 years. She has had problems vomiting for some time, but I had been convinced this was due to her eating and drinking too fast. My boy has had bouts frequent bouts of diarrhea, but I assumed he had a sensitive stomach. Before she comes home, I will ask the vet about a better food and will cut out the 35 lbs. of Nutro I purchased just two weeks ago.

I have been feeding one dog Nutro Ultra. I bought a new bag June 1st, she had begun having horrible gas, diarrhea, and now vomiting and is up all night with pain and does not want to lie down. She acts as if she is in pain and will not jump up onto the couch (which is her favorite place). My other dog is on a completely different company brand and has zero problems.

I am concerned that the Nutro cat food that was recalled wasn't the only Nutro affected. Are they 1000 percent sure that it was not canned food also? I fed Nutro Kitten canned food that was manufactured during the recall dates of the dry food and also Nutro dry kitten food that wasn't manufactured during the recall dates and I had a kitten get such severe diarrhea that he had to be euthanized, and an adult cat that is having problems too.

I'm also fostering and feeding a new set of kittens, and a neighbor is feeding Nutro too and the cats and kittens seem to have an allergy that they can't shake. The common denominator? They have been eating the pouches of Nutro all along. I'm wondering if there is something in the food causing the allergy?

I purchased their dry NUTRO NATURAL CHOICE COMPLETE CARE Adult Oceanfish Flavor food at a Pet food store locally and within 3 weeks my cat began vomiting.

We only learned today about the recall on their food and have been lucky that our cats did not die from eating it.

I came home on 06-06-2009 to find my 4.5 year old black lab/basenji mix dog, Sadie, on the couch unable to climb off to greet me. She hadn't been acting herself recently and had diarrhea for about 3 days. She has had a gas problem that could clear the house! I finally coaxed her off the couch and she couldn't walk well. She acted like she was injured in her hip area. She went outside, suffered from diarrhea again and so after I got her to come back inside I decided to look up online what could be causing her to act so strangely. I did a search for dog gas and then I did a search for dog and weak rear end. That is when I found the consumer action blog and became very concerned. My other dog had basically stopped eating the dog food. I had purchased a bag of Nutro about a month ago from our military commissary. I weaned my dogs off of the other food over the course of two weeks by mixing the Nutro in 1/2 and 1/2. In the last two weeks I had given them just the Nutro. These dogs are both 50 pounds. Sadie would end up eating her food about every other day...I just assumed that it was more filling and they needed less.

I have about 7 pounds of Nutro leftover, that will not be fed to the dogs. That means the dogs ate about 2/3 of a bag over 4 weeks, which isn't much.

Last night at 10:30 I made rice and hamburger for them and fed them a can of pumpkin and some whole wheat bread.

Since Sadie couldn't sleep upstairs with me, I made a bed on the floor downstairs and made her a bed out of two bean bags, so she could sleep next to me. Sadie had been needing outside in the middle of night(1 to 2 times) and I didn't want her falling down the full flight of stairs from lack of use of her back legs/rear end. She actually slept through the night and didn't go outside until 7 am this morning.

This morning, Sadie, is doing better, she still needs assistance going up 5 stairs from our lower level to our main level, but she counter-surfed for the first time in over a week. She is getting better. Both dogs anxiously awaited another meal of hamburger and rice this morning, with a small scoop of pumpkin.

Both dogs have more energy this morning (Kaboo, a 4.5 yr old shepherd/basenji mix, has more energy because she finally got food in her and Sadie because the Nutro is working out of her system). Sadie did not eat but a small handful of kibble yesterday. I am hoping I caught this problem early enough and hope there aren't any long term effects. I emailed Nutro last night to make them aware of the problem.

Back in April 2008, my then 4 yr old healthy Chocolate Lab became very ill while on Nutro. I don't want to go into the whole story again being that I posted in June & August 2008 on this site. I have checked the daily postings since June of 2008 and watch in horror as so many more pets become sick & die. This has been on going for almost a year and a half from when the complaints started coming in. How can Nutro keep claiming their products are safe. They have just recalled some cat foods stating high levels of zinc, but this has been on going for more that a year with their dog foods containing too high levels of copper & zinc??. What's the story with this?

They kept denying that there was something wrong now this comes out.

I've been feeding my 5 cats Nutro dry food for years. In the middle of May they all started showing signs of being ill. Some were vomiting, some not eating, some were lethargic. My 13 year old, Ben, seemed the worse. I took him to the vet and she ran blood tests which showed him to be severely anemic due to nutrional deficiencies! I am shocked. He's on medication and of course I am not feeding Nutro anymore.

The cats are now eating, but Ben is still very weak and I am very worried about him. I too have called Nutro and am appalled they still claim there have been no complaints about Nutro. If there are any attornies out there listening, please consider a class action suit. I'm sure you will have many animal parents participating.

I started reading these complaints and can't read anymore. It is heartbreaking and immoral for a US based company to not only market nutrionally deficient food, but to react with such disregard.

Below is a copy of an email that I sent to the FDA, thought I would also send it to Consumer Affairs since you seem to be looking into issues with Nutro Pet Foods.

I recently had a 9 year old Boxer develop unexplainable severe abdominal pains, and eventually passed away from what appears to be some sort of internal bleeding.

The Veterinarian ran all sorts of blood tests, an ultrasound, and x-rays with no determination of the cause of the pain. This Boxer, and also a 7 1/2 year old Boxer, have been on Nutro for Seniors dry food for years. I purchased a new bag of Nutro for Seniors dry food five days prior to my 9 year old passing away, although his symptoms did start 2-3 weeks before he passed. My 7 1/2 year old Boxer appears to also be having some abdominal pain and refuses to eat the Nutro dog food, she would smell the food and walk away from it even though she has been eating that brand for years. She would not eat the dog food, but would eat treats, for a couple of days until I bought her a bag of Purina One and now she appears to be back eating normally.

I have read several pieces of information on the Internet that said that the FDA and Consumer Affairs are investigating Nutro Pet food. And also that Consumer Affairs has received numerous complaints from people that seem to think that the Nutro Pet Food is responsible for their pets getting ill. I do not have the bag that the pet food came in, but do have almost the entire contents of the bag in a large Tupperware container.

Is there anything that the FDA is investigating in reference to Nutro Pet Foods ?

If so, should I hold on to the Nutro Pet Food I have for any kind of testing ?

I've fed my dogs and cats Nutro for the past several years. Early this year one of cats began refusing the food and has been eating at the neighbors house ever since. Two other cats have wondered off and died.

In Feb 09' I took my American Eskimo in for a dental cleaning and they required bloodwork to be done because he is 14 yrs old. The lab results came back with elevated white blood count and high on the live and pancreas scale. They were not sure what was going on without further testing and weren't too alarmed because my dog seems to be in good health despite his mild weight loss. Here it is June and I receive the recall notice from Petco about the cat food. upon doing some further investigation I found that Nutro has a record of bad business and selling unhealthy pet foods. I just switched to Purina One. Please pray that my two dogs don't die from Nutro's negligence. I have had my American Eskimo longer than my two kids!

My dog took ill and was vomiting, I took her to the vet and they said she ate something bad. NUTRO NATURAL CHOICE DOG FOOD

My niece also had same problem with her dog and her vet told her that her dog also ate something bad.

My 3 cats had been on the Natural Choice Indoor Senior dry formula for a year when my oldest cat (just turned 11) started vomiting in late March. After visiting the vet and going on medication the vomiting got worse, and he stopped eating his food and having bowel movements. Emergency exploratory surgery found that he had developed an ileus (inflamed section of intestine) that was not allowing stool to pass, and a biopsy was negative for intestinal cancer but positive for inflammatory cells. Suspecting a food sensitivity we started him on a food trial in early April (taking him off the Nutro) but he never got better. Everything he ate, he threw up and he went from 12.4 lbs to 8.8 lbs in 6 weeks. I was forced to put him to sleep May 9 after his body became so run down he couldnt walk, eat or drink. We dont know what happened to him- he had been very healthy and active until he started vomiting. Even as a former vet tech, the experience taught me a lot about pet nutrition and I learned that Nutro contains a lot of fillers and ingredients that arent good for cats. My surviving cats are now on a holistic diet and doing well.

I purchased Nutro Small Bites Lamb and Rice from Petco off McCarren Blvd in Reno,Nevada on 06-01-09 for my 3 1/2 yr old Yorkie. She starte vomitting up her food about 2-3 hrs after she ate. This has been happening since I started feeding her the Nutro. The last time she vomitted was approx 2 hrs ago on today's date 06-04-09 which would be 9pm.. I then realized it was the Nutro. I saved what she vomitted, put it in a plastice bag and bagged up the rest of the nutro. I cleaned the food container thoroughly with HOT WATER. I have made her steam rice and boiled chicken. I lost another Yorkie about 5 yrs ago with symptoms that began with vomitting and thank GOD that I realized what may be happening to my current Yorkie. My little Yorkie is a healthy 10 lb girl until I started feeding her the new dog food. Hopefully this food hasn't harmed her. But isn't it STRANGE that since she has been eating this food she has been vomitting????

For many years we have fed our eight cats almost exclusively on Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Weight Management. A few weeks ago some of our older cats began losing weight. We thought it might be age-related and changed two of them to another brand of wet cat food. (They are both doing fine.) Two weeks ago another of our older cats began losing weight very quickly -- from 15.5 pounds three months ago to 11.4 pounds this week. He had virtually stopped eating and was periodically vomiting. Having heard about the Nutro recall on Sunday (05/31) when my husband went to the pet food store, we immediately switched to another brand. The same day when we opened the bag of other dry food, our starving cat literally dove into the bag of non Nutro cat food and began eating voraciously. His appetite is back and he appears to be gaining weight slowly. He is still very lethargic.

I too have a cat that fell ill from eating Nutro Max Cat Indoor CHicken. After 1 trip to the vet and a new prescription bag of food from the Dr he was fine. Once the food ran out he went back to eating Nutro and immediately got sick again (this was before teh recall). I immediately switched him toa new food and all was OK again.

I have contacted Nutro and they have a case logged - the fact that continue to say they have received no complaints is crazy to say the least. If they are able to assign a case number to it, then there must be others!

I have everything documented (vet visits, receipts for food) and I also sent them a sample of the food for testing. I still have some if anyone else would like to test it... Unfortunately the bag the food came in was discarded after purchase, so I do not have a UPC code.

I had begun my dogs on Nutropro Lamb and rice puppy food but it was discontinued. I tried switching them to the Chicken and rice puppy food but they just wouldn't eat it. I found another dog food. They ate it but not very well.

I noticed that NutroPro had a Lamb and rice adult food. You see my dogs are 2 years old. When I put them on it they began eating it well.

We own a 5 1/2 year old female rhodesian ridgeback. We have used Nutro since she was born, however on May 15th after buying a new bag she stopped eating, literally. She lost 32 lbs. in 4 weeks. After spending over $1,000 in vet bills and everthing coming up inconclusive the only thing that changed is the new bag of food. She almost died because of this food.

We own a 5 1/2 year old female rhodesian ridgeback. We have used Nutro since she was born, however on May 15th after buying a new bag she stopped eating, literally. She lost 32 lbs. in 4 weeks. After spending over $1,000 in vet bills and everthing coming up inconclusive the only thing that changed is the new bag of food. She almost died because of this food.

I have been feeding my dog Nutro Lamb and Rice for several years. Recently she started vomiting violently and was not even able to keep water down. We took her to the vet where she was examined and given anti vomiting meds and we were told to only give her ice chips. After several hours, she was still vomiting and then passed a bloody stool. We called the vet and took her back in at which time we were told she was very dehydrated and would need an IV and since she was not able to keep anything down, they would give her the meds through her IV. They also took xrays of her abdomen and found 2 suspicious areas where the intestines were distended but no foreign body was evident. They would observe her overnight and xray her again in the morning to see if there was any change.

In the morning she was still not able to keep any fluids down and the new xrays didn't show any change. We were then advised to have them do an endoscopy to examine the stomach for a foreign body and these suspicious areas. Nothing was found in the stomach but once the scope was placed in the intestines, she produced a "rotten" stool according to the vet. They were not able to find any foreign objects or any evidence of a problem. They believed that since she had passed this stool that was so malodorous, perhaps this is what had been blocking the intestines and preventing her from keeping anything down. When the Doctor called to update me, he asked me what type of food I fed her.

When I advised that I fed her Nutro, he said that the symptoms made a little more sense. He said they had had another dog in recently with the same symptoms that had also been fed Nutro and that there had been a recall on some "bad food". For Emma though, they were hoping that in the morning they would be able to start her on water and food. This morning, however, she was still vomiting and still unable to keep even water down. They then began giving her anti vomiting meds and hoped she would be able to keep water and possibly food down in the next few hours. She continued to vomit,though the amount was smaller, she was still vomiting. They then gave her a second dose, and she was still vomiting. I then began looking online and am finding an awful lot of stories that are very similar to ours.

I have fed my four cats Nutro Max Cat dry Roasted Chicken Flavor cat food for five years. Since this last bag I bought at Petsmart, three of my four cats have become ill with weight loss, diahrrea, vomiting, shedding excessively, and their coat is losing the texture and shine. The most serious symptoms are the daily vomiting and diahrrea. None of the cats were ill with prior to the bag I bought in May. I went to buy another bag today and was told about the recall. Now, their problems make sense. I thought every cat had eaten some household item or gotten a disease. I will be taking them to my vet; however, I dread the bill with four cats. I am sure the blood tests alone with cost a bundle. So, now that I have read Nutro's claim that no cats have been effected, I sent them an email and I am notifying consumer affairs. I am positive the food is the cause and I will follow up once the vet determines the etiology of their symptoms.

I have two indoor only cats that have been eating Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Indoor Senior food for approximately a year and a half. Both cats (11 & 12 years old) have never had a health issue and were very active, affectionate and talkative with beautiful coats.

Over the last 4 to 6 weeks, I've noticed subtle changes in their behaviors and coats. One of the cats had a large chunk of hair missing from the top of his tail which he had been biting and licking at to no end, as well as a sore from licking his neck. Both have become very lethargic and have sick looking eyes. One had lost a considerable amount of weight. I found yellow, sticky mucous diarrhea in the cat box.

I took one of them to the vet for a full checkup including extensive blood work and urinalysis. The vet called the next day and said everything was normal with a very slight elevation in kidney enzymes, but not unusual for his age. My cat didn't leave his bed that entire day, but looked uncomfortable and not sleeping.

The next day, the cat cried and cried and cried and then passed a small amount of diarrhea on a towel. I called the vet and we decided to treat him for gastrointestinal problems with antibiotics and steroids. That night, I was awakened, for the second time that week, by the other cat howling and vomiting again and again and again.

The vet advised that I change their food to a kidney friendly diet because of their age and slight elevation in kidney enzymes. I purchased the food yesterday. Last night I decided to do some research on cat food to see if there was any good alternative to this expensive prescription diet. Only then did I find out about Nutro's recall of dry cat food including the Natural Choice Complete Care line. I then came across the hundreds of consumer complaints for animals eating Nutro food having unexplained illnesses and sometimes death and it all finally made sense. Many of the stories were very similar to mine with the animals having similar symptoms yet the vet cannot find anything wrong with them. Some are gravely ill. Some are dying. I was (am) horrified.

No improvement in either cat today. Their food bowls and containers have been scrubbed and replaced with prescription food. Luckily, they both still have appetites and are drinking water. I'm praying that they don't have permanent damage and will recover with time on quality food, but right now they are both very sick looking, lethargic, antisocial and move very little all day.

On May 29, 2009 my 3.5 year old German Shepherd died 9 days after switching (mixing 1/2 & 1/2) her regular dog food with Nutro. Two separate vets tried, in vain, to figure out what was wrong with her. They never found anything wrong with her. In hindsight and having time to reflect on the situation, I am highly suspicious of the nutro dog food since that was the only change in her life and there were no health issues, other than a heart murmer which the vet assured me wouldn't cause her to simply quit eating & drinking and then her body shut down totally. I wonder how many more hundreds/thousands of pets have died from this product wherein the owner isn't suspicious until it's too late.

My Cat has been eating Nutro Natural Choice cat food for the past year and half and about a month ago became gravely ill, he started vomiting and experiencing uncontrollable diarrhea with foul smelling bile. He also had a reduction in appetite, sever weight loss to the point that he is now severely dehydrated and is also shedding.. I took him to the veterinarian back on May 1, 2009 and he was given a series of medication, with follow ups a few other times until now and still my cat is still sick.

I received an e-mail on May 22, 2009, stating there is a recall on the food I have been feeding my cat which is Nutro Natural Choice dry cat food. It stated that there was incorrect levels of zinc and potassium and pet owners should immediately stop feeding this to their pets.

my cats got sick from Nutro cat food. One died.

I brought a bad of nutro kibble for my dogs 5 days ago. My dog now has vomiting and running bowel movements that are bright yellow, he has been running around unable to lie down due to stomach pain.

After three days of intermittent vomiting and diarrhea, my thirteen year-old cat (on my birthday and his adoption anniversary), became lethargic and dehydrated. I rushed him to the emergency vet where he was diagnosed with elevated liver enzymes. Today, after a sonogram, the vets determined he had pancreatitis. He is still in the hospital, in pain, waiting to see if his liver enzymes return to normal. His prognosis is "okay"-- as long as his liver and pancreas can recover. He has eaten Nutro food for the past two years, at least. We were a week into a new bag (one included in the recall time window) when his illness became apparent. I only read about this recall tonight, and my four other cats were immediately taken off this food. One had vomited today, and I am planning on taking them all in for bloodwork to ensure their liver functions are normal.

This is an update. When I last wrote, I had just gotten the recall notice from Petco and immediately stopped feeding my two cats Nutro. However, I didn't have the bag, so I didn't know if they were eating the food in question. At that time, I fairly confident that my cats were OK. Now I am not so sure.

The smaller cat used to live for when I put her wet food out-- she watched me do it and would dig right in. Now she is just licking the gravy, and the only food she seems interested in are her treats. They are indoor-outdoor cats, so I don't see their **** or pee. However, when I was in the back yard, there were two ***** that I believe were cat ****s. One was old and dried up, the other was soft and very smelly, but not diarrhea. I have never seen their ****s before as they always bury them. I am keeping a very careful eye on both cats now, but especially the smaller one. So far she remains active and appears healthy, but I fear that that could change at any time. The larger cat seems to be just fine, and she liked and ate the dry food much more than the smaller cat.

I wish I knew more about the long-terms effects, if any. Can I breathe a sigh of relief if all goes well in the coming days, or will there by nasty surprises down the line? From what I have read, except for the very sick animals, those switched to a different diet seem to get better.

I wrote an e-mail to Nutro Products requesting that they test the food that I do have left over. At lest I could stop worrying if I knew they didn't eat the tainted food.

I have fed Nutro Lamb and Rice Dog food for over 12 years ! Untill recently I never thought much about this food, i liked it ect. Then on April 6th 2009 my female chow chow who had just turned 3 in march got very sick, throwing up food and water.

Took her into the vet she was deydrated and lethargic, they gave her fluids and a shot to stop the vomiting. I took her home.the next day same thing i took her back to the vet they did bloodwork and took x-rays. She went from being a very active dog to laying around doing nothing. She refused to eat and drink. The bloodwork showed her white cell count was really high and all liver enzymes were elevated. x-rays showed nothing abnormal.

After about 5 days of not eating she started eating canned food the vet had given me. She refused to eat her nutro kibble so instead i cooked up chicken and rice for her. She seemed to be on the mend or so i thought. I put her back on Nutro lamb and rice with canned food on top she started eating again and was becoming more active. Then i received an e-mail from a friend about nutro it got me thinking but it was to late she started getting really sick again i took her into the vet. they were puzzled so they sent her to a animal hospital in Toronto to have ultrasounds done. I took her there and ending up having to put her down that night. They gave her a 20% chance of making it through the surgery at a cost of 7000.00 dollars.

She was suffering, she had lost almost 20 pounds in 3 weeks and could barley get up. The ultrasound said there were ulcers in her stomak and there were preforated holes which was leaking fluids into her abdomin. her body was going toxic. She passed away April 28,2009.

I have 2 other chows that have passed on and they were fed this food as well and all ther life they always threw up yellow bile. I have a 2 year old chow who also throws up yellow bile but since this incident with my female he has been on Calfifornia Natural and has not thrown up once since he has been on it . Makes me very angry to think i thought i was buying a good food and i was actually hurting my dog!

I switched my cats to Nutro Max Cat food approximately six months ago. In recent weeks one of my two cats had slight lethargy, but her appetite still seemed good. Petsmart sent me an email that I had purchased a recalled Nutro product and I discontinued use immediately. Less than one week later the lethargic cat passed away of a massive heart attack while at the vet's office. Tissue samples have been taken and are being sent for analysis.

Just bought Nutro Max last Friday, May 29, 2009 and our 5 month-old min-pin chihuahua mix became severely lethargic. He is normally a ball of energy and very loving and friendly! We Googled Nutro reviews and found this site and were alarmed. Good thing it's only been two days so he's off it as of today. I'm buying a different brand. Reading others' experiences has been heartbreaking. I pray our little guy will be fine as soon as he gets other food in him.

My cat became sick and was unable to urinate. I took him to the vet where he was catheterized. After a week and over $1,000 in vet bills his kidneys failed and I had him put to sleep. The next day I got a recall notice from Petsmart on the Nutro cat food he had been eating. I would have never associated his illness with the food, however after reading numerous stories of similar problems I now feel the food was the cause of his death.

We used to feed our dog Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice formula for dogs. It was also what she was fed by the rescue we got her from. The rescue believed she had a sensitive stomach and told us that this was a good food for sensitive dogs. It never made any of the recall lists, so we continued to feed it to her from when we adopted her in May of 2006 through October of 2007. Throughout that time she experienced frequent diarrhea and occasional vomiting. In the fall of 2007 we began to notice that she was chewing at her rear and she began straining to defecate, often crying and howling.

She had bloody stools and frequent constipation followed by bouts of diarrhea. Shortly after we were married (October 2007) we took our dog to the vet because of how awful her rear-end looked. After near $1000 in bills for medication and vet expenses she was diagnosed with peri-anal fistula. This disease is thought to be autoimmune, and to manifest when the dog is exposed to allergens or toxins. I did much research and tracked down a breeder in Hawaii (where she was born) who works with dogs in her bloodline and says they have no history of autoimmune problems. It had not previously occurred to me that her problems could be from what I'd been feeding her. When she was diagnosed we put her on a limited ingredient diet, and she has improved since. Her condition is chronic, and once it presents it never totally goes away.

For months we spent about $230 on medication plus $200-$300 every few months for a blood test to make sure the medication wasn't harming her in anyway. Now we spend about $250 every 6 months for a chronic medication profile and about $160 each month for her oral medication (cyclosporine). We also spend another $100 each year on topical medication (topical tacrolimus- similar to protopic).

a now 6 month old puppy has been fed the Small Bites Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Nutro Brand dog food since we brought her home from breeder. Food was recommended by breeder. Off and on we'd see her throw up occasionally not thinking too much about it since it only happened occasionally. Starting in April, 2009 I noticed our puppy was not eating as much, several bouts of vomiting, loose stools, not drinking water, lethargy, generally not the same puppy.

After about 2-3 weeks of this I did a quick search on the web and read about Nutro brand was making dogs/cats sick. I immediately purchased another dog food and fed my puppy the new food. She ate for 2-3 days like she'd not been eating for months. She has not been sick again since taking her off the Nutro food. She's been on the new food for almost a month and she's happy and healthy!!

I recently had to change my German Shpherd to a new dog food sue to a sensitive stomach and diarrhea. My vet recommended 4 foods including Nutro with venison and potato. I made the switch to Nutro, being the only one at the time I could find with those ingredients. I also had my previous GSD on Nutro for many years with no problems. I just wonder what the difference would make that I am WA state rather than in CA or others. I am keeping a close watch out for color inconsistencies in the food or behavious changes in my GSD but so far so good, knock on wood

After reading the Consumer Affairs blogs on Saturday and seeing it affected both cats and dogs, dry and canned foods, I let some friends know. As of this morning: one woman's dog has already started showing symptoms and other's is dead. Bad mojo on Nutro.

We have been exclusively feeding our cat Nutro Max Adult dry food for years. Recently his hair began to fall out and he experienced severe weight loss. The vet could not pinpoint the cause and guessed at some sort of allergic reaction. Our poor cat is showing signs of early kidney failure, is weak and lethargic. The only reason we found out about the Nutro recall was thanks to Petco for sending us a postcard in the mail. Now after reading about the symptoms other pet owners have witnessed, it all makes sense. I immediately switched his food and I can only hope that his health will improve over time.

In February 2009 our cat stopped eating and lost a considerable amount of weight. We took her to the vet and he put her on med to stimulate her appitite and we continued feeding her the Max Cat but added different foods with it. By May of 2009 she was losing more weight and not eating again we went to the vet and he suggested a prescription food which she ate readily but by this time she was very weak. Yesterday May 31 2009 she died.

WE had beed very satisfied with the Max Cat product up until Feb but when we received a notice from Petco that the food we had purchased over the last 6 monts was being recalled it all made sense

I have been feeding my cats Nutro CC products for several years and with good results until recently. After my last purchase all 3 of my cats experienced vomiting. It wasn't a lot, but it was of concern to me. I returned to the store where I had purchased the food & found all the bags were gone from the shelves and there was a notice of a recall. I checked the bag I still had at home and it was from the time period of the recall. I purchased another product to feed my cats for the time being, and I hope Nutro gets their problem straightened out because my cats really do like their food.

We have had our cat about a year and a half now. He has always been healthy and we have fed him Natures Choice Oceanfish flavor. Around the end of April/beginning of May we noticed that he was struggling going to the bathroom and blood was even coming out. We took him to the vet and they could not find anything wrong with him. He got some antibiotics but the problems persisted. He was not using his litterbox anymore, instead going on the floor and bed, something he had never done before, ever. The vet said this was because he was associating the pain of urinating with the litter box and did not want to go there.

About 2 weeks after the first vet trip, he was getting worse. We took him in again and this time he had to have an emergency procedure. He had to have a catheter placed in and his bladder drained because he could no longer urinate. He had also lost one pound since the first vet trip. About a week after that vet trip, we learned of the recall with Nutro. We immediately switched to Purina and he is recovering. He is eating again and becoming a lot more active.

It is the NUTRO dogfood. My border collie/blue healer is 14 years old. Aobut 9 months ago we changed her food to NUTRO. For the past several months she has been lethargic. I thought she is just getting old. Now within the past month she has been vomitting, sometimes yellow bile color as well as gingival sore and ulcerations. We just returned home from the Blaine County Vet where they showed me the article published on your website about NUTRO.

It has been 5 days since her vet visit, 2.5 days which were spent there getting testing. Her food was immediately changed to Science Diet. The vomitting that was now happening daily when we took her to the vet has stopped. She is already more alert. Her liver enzymes are off but fortunately the liver will regenerate is not that much damage is done. The PH of her urine was a little high but not off the scales for a dod this age. I have always tried to take care of my dog, feeding her what I thought was high quality food. Since her symptoms via your web info on NUTRO sound like you are writing about my dog I wanted to issue this statement.

The thought that I was making my own dog sick by what I was feeding her makes me sick. Someone needs to infor the public at large, do a controlled study, print what the FDA has already determined. Make the public aware, I implore you.

My 3 year old, healthy indoor cat, Angel became ill May 16, 2009 after beginning a new bag of Nutro Max cat food. We took her to the vet on Monday where they had to do a blood transfusion on her. On Thursday, the doctor called and informed us of the Nutro recall and figured that was the cause of her illness. On Friday, we had her zinc levels tested. I've never seen a perfectly healthy cat lose the ability to go to the bathroom in her litter box, lose her appetite, and lose her ability to play. She became extremely ill so suddenly after the contaminated bag of Nutro. On Saturday, she died. It was a horrible death. It sickens me to learn that her own cat food that was suppose to provide her nutrition is the caused of her premature death. I will never forget the graphic images of her grasping for air.

We have 3 working & trialing dogs, 2 Australian Shepherds & 1 Border Collie. Been a loyal customer of Nutro since we

brought our first Aussie home 7 years ago. The price of the Nutro has become too expensive. It is almost $50 for a 35 Lb bag now, & have been told by the feed store where we get it, that it is goin up in price again! It was costing me an average of $44.00 for a 35 Lb bag, now it costs me $36.00 for a 50 Lb bag of Black Gold.

Our two cats have thrown up on our carpets every day for two months. Sometimes, there were five places of vomit on the carpet. We have had to have the carpets shampooed twice this year because of it. Upon getting the e mail from PetSmart about Nutro Max Cat, I understood. They were being poisoned. I changed cat foods and the very same day, the vomiting ceased. I would like to know if a Class Action Law Suit comes into being. I would like our cats examined and would like to be reimbursed for the carpet.

Our previously very healthy and loved cat became ill after eating nutro brand cat food. He had been eating Nutro for about 10 days. He became ill and before we could bring him to the veterinarian he disappeared Monday May 25th. We searched for him endlessly, posting signs all over the neighborhood and talking to our neighbors. Three days later a neighbor found our beloved cat dead. We are devastated, we loved our cat and there is no other reason why he died. I repeat he was a perfectly healthy cat whom we took care of very well. Our cat was 7 years old, we owned him ever since he was a kitten. In his 7 years of life he had never become ill.

Our happy, healthy 3 1/2 year old Briard had diarreah for about a week and then got better in the beginning of April. A few weeks later he started having seizures. We took him to the vet, he had a fever of 102 and had a weakness in his back legs. They ran tests and blood work on him but everything looked okay.

They put him on phenabarbitol and he was soon back to his old self after several days.

About 3 weeks later, he totally stopped eating. I switched to the chicken and rice, but that did not help. I changed his treats but he still did not eat anything, just kept drinking lots of water.

I made an appointment with the vet the next day and he started seizing again (even though he was on pb. By the time I got him to the vet he was drooling a white foamy liquid. He again had a 102 fever. He had terribly bad breath.

They took x-rays, did blood work, his liver was elevated, and his white count was up. They could not find any reason for it.

The next day, while in the hospital he crashed and they could not revive him. He went from a healthy dog to seizing to dying in a month, and they found no reason for it.

After reading the other incidents on this website, I knew I had to write.

After a week and a half of ingesting the food, both cats are vomiting and unable to retain food or drink. Food has been discontinued, pets are being treated by a veterinarian. Food has a "best if used by" date of July 23, 2010, therfore, is within recall range.

I received a recall notice today from PETCO for the food that I have regularly been feeding my two cats-- Max Cat Nutro Natural Choice Roasted Chicken. My cats appear healthy, but now I am worried sick. I also feed them canned food-- a different brand, thank goodness. One cat ate more of the dry food than the other. This cat has regularly been vomiting. I thought nothing of it since I was told cats do vomit at times. The other cat lost some hair from her back-- again, I thought nothing of it. Now I am very worried. They are indoor/outdoor cats, so I don't know about diarrhea. There doesn't seem to be evidence of it.

I don't have the packaging as I put their food into a feeder. However, I have some left over and will save it.

My Beagle Dean became overweight last year and I thought by switching to Nutro I would be pushing his nutrition up while controlling his weight. I started feeding him Nutro Natural Light. He seemed to enjoy the food but suddenly became scarcely thin. I started to feed him a little extra, this helped for a while as well. Then I changed the flavor of his food Nutro Max Weight Control. The switch caused many problems. I understand that dogs are sensitive to a food switch but this was beyond the switch. My dog became extremely bloated with soft stools. His stomach grew to about twice the size. I immediately thought he had a food allergy of sorts and quickly integrated his old style Nutro back into his diet. The switch back didn't do much but make him look underweight and sick. After a couple of days his abdomen became stretched and bloated again. I gave it a day or so to watch any changes, he became bigger and bigger. His stomach began to take on a "water balloon" feel to it.

I finally got on the Internet and looked up reviews of Nutro food and was shocked to discover the many stories had similarities to what my dog was going through. He suffered from extreme discomfort, breathing problems due to bloating, oozing eyes, loose bowels, increase in water consumption, drooling, lethargy, shallow breathing and inconsistent urination.

The bloating was getting worse so I took him to the vet. They took x-rays that didn't show much due to the amount of liquid in his abdomen. The blood test revealed that his hemoglobin's were off as well as his protein levels, his liver and kidneys seem to be performing properly.

The vet had no real explanation to what was happening. We decided it would be best to take a sample of the liquid in his abdomen and send it off for tests. I am still waiting to hear back from lab for the test results. I have hit the max amount that I can spend on testing without any conclusions. The vet suggested I do another test which involved an ultrasound and draining the liquid.

Overnight, the bloating has shifted in his body and the pressure from the bloating has decreased. He now has a sack of fluid taking up the entire right side of his underbelly. He tires easily but is dealing with it the best he can.

I have since switched his food and it is hard to see a difference yet, but I hope it will help. I saved samples of both foods in question and put them in the freezer. I discussed Nutro with my vet who was unaware of any problems other than the cat food.

I have never had one health problem with my 4 year old beagle until using Nutro food. I am positive that this is the cause of his many uncalled for conditions.

All 4 of my dogs were being fed Nutro Lamb & Rice dry kibble. They started getting seriously ill after a while and when speaking with a friend who fed the same food, I discovered her dogs had gotten ill and she had switched foods. I switched my dogs to Nutro Chicken and Rice and all 4 dogs got very ill, very quickly. Violent diarrhea and vomiting along with stools that would turn moldy overnight. No energy, bad breath and were acting confused.The next morning, my Best in Show Smooth Collie could not stand up. All 4 dogs had been put on homemade rice and turkey however 2 continued to get sicker. I immediately took all of the dogs to the vets.

I had been feeding my dog Nutro Max canned dog food for 2 or 3 months when on Sunday 4-26-09 he suddenly became very ill-I immediately took him to the emergency vet clinic - he had a bad case of constipation and a uniary tract infection with a high ph level in his urine-the constipation turned into diarrea -after treatment at the clinic I followed up on Monday with my regular vet-he kept the dog for several days due to diarrea and to make sure the dog didn't become dehydrated and also to treat the uniary tract infection-

I've had the dog for near 5 years and he's never had constipation or uniary tract problems-after reading about the same thing from others feeding their dog Nutro Max I suspect that it may have played a role in my dog's illiness-

The vet bills totaled nearly $600 - I emailed a letter to Nutro Max a few days after the illiness but did not receive a response-just ignored!

Needless to say I no longer feed my dog Nutro Max products nor my cat-

I stopped using Nutro cat food a year ago after my cats started having horrible litter box issues and would take a long time to finish. As soon as I changed to another brand, within days they seemed normal again.

We've been feeding our cat NUTRO Max Cat since we got her from Animal Rescue a month and a half ago. She started acting ill; slight fever, lethargic with diarrhea. We took her to the vet to have her checked for worms etc. but the test were negative. They gave us an antibiotic and told us to give her baby food (chicken) to help get her system back on track and it got rid of her diarrhea. Shortly after she was switched back to Max Cat she started showing the previous symptoms again. We didn't make the connection until reading about the recall on this site.

2 healthy American Bulldogs.
They have become very lethargic.
Increased bowel movements.

Throwing up yellow bile.

Food was lighter in color than normal.

Dogs are choosing not to eat the food.

I know that there has been recalls on the regular Nutro, but I feel that the Nutro Ultra needs to be investigated.

My two dogs consumed a) Innova - Adult Dry Dog Food, Large Bites and b) EVO - Reduced Fat Dry Dog Food (purchased at Lemos in Atascadero, California).
On Saturday, May 16, 2009, both dogs began to vomit, have diarrhea, and became extremely thirsty at the same time.
After several hours of this condition, they were both hospitalized.

Doctors indicated they consumed something toxic.

It is believed that the subject dog food contains such toxin based on similar cases in San Luis Obispo County as well as the nation.
We are having the food tested.

On Sunday, May 17, 2009, one dog died. The second dog survived and is currently on a special diet as well as medication after several thousand dollars later. Our dead dog was autopsied and samples sent to UCDavis for testing.

I have been feeding Nutro Ultra for Large Breed adults to my dog for 3 years. Over the past 3 years she has had several bouts of throwing up and diarhea. About a month ago I bought a new bag and the symptoms became much worse with lots of blood in the stool. Have questioned the vet each time, she has had lots of tests run, is parasite free so they know that is not the issue. The vet usually attributes the throwing up and diarhea to her having a sensitive digestive tract. But, when I feed her plain chicken and rice she always gets better.

I have spent several thousand dollars on vet bills to try to determine what the problem is. My once healthy dog is now getting very thin and lethargic, but she still eats her food every day. I am switching food brands today.

I purchased a bag of this dog food for my 4 year old Pure Bred Shi Tsu back in April 2009.
Our dog seemed to like the food. After a couple of days he vomited up bright yellow fluid. He had not done this in the past. This ocurred every few days. I was concerned but continued with the NUTRO food.
I happened to read the articles on your web site about this dog food and the reports of some dogs spitting up yellow fluid.
I then switched back to the brand I had used for several years- Eukanuba Lamb and Rice. In the last 3 weeks he has not spit up anything.

I now feel the NUTRO was the cause of his spitting up. I did not onsult with our veterinarian on this.

I had received a coupon (with no specific dollar value) from Nutro to try a bag of the Nutro Complete Care Cat Food. I went to a local Pet Value in Toronto, ON Canada and purchased a 20 lb bag of food for my cat. This bag was purchased approx between November and December 2008 and would last my cat approx. 2-3 months. Since then, my cat had fallen ill on March 29, 2009 and I rushed him to a local emergency clinic where he went into cardiac arrest and died due to high levels of PH in his system.

The emergency vet on call asked me what kind of food I was feeding my cat, and I told him that I have been trying him on the Nutro Complete Care for the past couple of months. He was a healthy 4 year old tabby prior to this incident and should not have died.

I can not determine if the food I purchased was indeed part of the recall, because I no longer have it. However Pet Value should have a recorded register tap of the purchase (approx 65.00 cad) and Nurto should also have a copy of the coupon with the UPC Code on it for reimbursment to Pet Value, this may determine if the product was indeed affected. They should also have mine or my husbands name on file requesting the coupon.

My 4 year old cat passed away. This has been very hard emotionally and financially for my family the vet costs were $1200.00 cad. This sort of thing should never have happened.

I have been feeding Nutro to my agility dog for about a year and up until now have been very happy with the results. I started a new bag of Lamb and Rice on May 15th/09 and by the 18th my 6 yr old Border Collie mix got diarrhea which progressivly worsened. By the middle of the night on the 20th we ended up in the Emerg clinic with her vomiting straight blood and diarrhea. Our first thoughts were that she was blocked but all tests showed that not to be the case. Both the Emerg Vet and my Vet believed that she had gotten into something or her food was bad. After two days of feeding her rice and beef and of course metronidazole, she is on the road to recovery. I checked the bag and the expiry date and all seemed ok. After hearing negative comments about Nutro I started to do some research on my own and stumbled on this website. Oh my god have I been poisoning my dog? After reading all these letters I am now in search of a new food and not one more Nutro kibble will touch her lips. Hopefully it's not too late!!

We brought a Scottish Terrier puppy home about 3 weeks ago. When looking for food, we were told in the pet store that Nutro Puppy Food was a good, even great, choice. We have been feeding this food for the last 3 weeks, and have had no problems and have even been happy with the products.

However, about a month ago, my adult miniature schnauzer got very sick, throwing up and diarrhea. I have know idea what was wrong, except that perhaps she had a virus of some kind. She is on a Science diet lamb and rice, small bite, food. She is well now, and continues to eat this food.

I just think all of this talk about Nutro is not true. I'll be sure to update, however.

for 7 weeks now, my cat has been unresponsive to antibiotics for treatment of urinary tract problems. he continues to urinate blood. it clears up for a 10 day period, but returns.
there is no sign of extreme infection, and xrays indicate no stones present - typically the cause.
the veternarian is puzzled the root cause.
now I see this recall for nutro max dry cat food.
i have fed this to mat cat exclusively for over 3 years now. indoor cat, salmon.

i feel perhaps this may be the cause of his problems.

I am responsing about Nutro dog food. My dog has been on it for about a year and loves it...and is fine. He has a very sensitive stomach and was on other foods with many issues. We switched him to the lamb and rice formula and has been fine with no stomach upset.

Its a shame you dont report the positive things about this product. What people are reporting could have nothing to do with the food...as the symptoms and complaits reported are very common among dogs.

Even when my dog was getting sick off of the other brands, my vet said it is still impossible to be 100% sure it is the food causing the sickness. Its just the first thing people look at when thier pets get sick...diet. And since there has been such negative press about Nutro...people whos dogs are on it and get sick assume its the food with no concrete evidence. Think about it...why would Nutro want to make a product that makes pets sick and possibly kills them? Whey would they want to sell less packages or face expensive lawsuits. It just doesnt make much sense when you look at it logicaly.

My dog hasn't been eating for weeks. He has been losing tremendous amounts of hair, getting very bad bouts of diareha and vomiting, and sleeping all the time. For weeks we have tried adding things to his food like tuna and chicken to try and get him to eat, but all he would do was pick out the regular dog food and eat what we put in to try and help him. He has had numerous vet visits but we could not figure out what was wrong. Finally today I decided I would change his food from Nutro Large Puppy Breed.

After bringing the new food home and putting it in his bowl, much to my surprise he gobbled it up immediately and was pushing his bowl toward me for more. I couldn't believe it. He hasn't eaten in days! Later this evening, not wanting to throw away a half way full bag of dog food, I mixed a cup of the Nutro in and my dog would not touch it. My boyfriend picked out all the Nutro and my dog once again gobbled up the new food quickly. He decided to research Nutro Food to see if anyone else has had problems, and I cannot believe what we have been reading, I actually was sitting here crying.

Our dog has been so sick. There have been mornings when we have woke up to find him in his crate covered in his own feces and vomit shaking terribly. He has not had a solid stool in weeks and sometimes sleeps all day. His hair has been falling out so badly that he has bald patches everywhere, where he used to have the most beautiful shiny coat. Now that I think about it he was so sick so many times as a puppy and we struggled to find out why then too.

My sisters dog recently had to be put to sleep. When I asked why she said because of the damage from the food she had been giving her. She told me the Vet said there was nothing they could do for her little girl Ginger. I never thought to inquire what she fed her dog, but tomorrow I will and I hope it wasn't Nutro.

This is a update to the article dated May 19,2009. I had let everyone know about my dog having seizures. Today we lost our dedicated pet. Our 8 year old Rotti/ retrieverX had to be euthanized. I know it was the food. It is too bad that we put so much trust in the makers of our pets food.

I have to put my two cents in. I started a a pet food supply business after nearly losing our dog nearly 7 years ago because of Nutro. We had many vets who had no clue why our dog got hospitalized for a severe case of pancreatitis. Our dog was on Nutro, and constantly had been vomiting yellow bile.

Genetically our dog is prone to diabetes which made her pancreas much more sensitive to the Nutro ingredient panel, and as a result showed symptoms much quicker than most dogs. After switching our dog onto an oils fat source based food she recovered (single source oil is much easier on the pancreas than a rendered fat). Also avoiding sugars and salts is recommended.

As a store owner now I have new customers, almost every single day since we opened 5 years ago, that say their dog is vomiting yellow bile... I don't even ask them what food they are feeding, I just say "Stop feeding Nutro." They look at me with amazement wondering how I knew what they were feeding.

Thanks to you there is a national forum that allows the consumer to connect the dots with common sense, rather than rely on the FDA to protect them.

I have spent the last couple of years trying to post in forums, groups about this issue, pointing out the commonalities. However I felt like a lone crazy voice shouting about soylent green... thank you again for standing up.

I have been feeding my beloved Dalmation Ember Nutro for 10 years. Upon purchasing her last back of Nutro Lite Lamb and Rice and the end of March beginning of April. It was lighter in color and had a funny odor. she started spitting out her food. Then she started vomiting the food with bile. The Vet put her on Pepcid AC. We then took her to the Vet and her blood levels were high including her white blood count. He said she had pancreatis and abdominal infection.

She was placed on a bland diet of chop meat and rice or boiled chicken and rice. She was beginning to get better. Then once again she began the vomiting. She was brought to an Emergency Vet on Sunday May 17th she was dehydrated and was given a shot for vomiting. On Monday, May 18th I took her to her Vet and he did an ultra sound and more blood work. He also gave her medicine for the vomiting and infection since her gastrointestinal infection with the pancreatis was still evident. All thanks to Nutro.

The sad part of this story is that she died today because of all the stress from the vomiting and being sick thanks to Nutro. I loss my wonderful, loving, caring most gentlest Dalmation 10 years today and now hopefully she is resting in peace in heaven. I miss and love her so much. So if anyone is feed any of their pets Nutro Food Stop!!! Save your pets life. We tried but to no advail.

My dog has been on Natural Choice dog food for about 6 weeks now. Prior he has been healthy and just checked at the vet in December 2008. Just last night my sister informed me that her 8 month old dog was having seizures and vomiting bile, as well as not wanting to eat her food. I told her to watch her animal closely. I then came home and went to give my dog a treat (Carrot) my dog suddenly went into a seizure in front of me. I knew that the only thing I had changed in my dogs routine was the food.

I called my sister and to my amazement she had her dog on Nutro food also. I Know that this was the direct cause, as my dog was healthy and would randomly vomit yellow bile right after his meal. I'm shocked at what I have read on the net with all the complaints and would like to know who I should contact in Canada. Please let me know as soon as posible.

I strongly urge pet owners to contact their local FDA regarding Nutro food problems. The FDA will only investigate if they notice a pattern but it has to be reported. My pure bred Portuguese Water dog began vomiting, having loose stools and acting lethargic after 4 months on Nutro Natural Choice Herring & Rice Formula. The vet could not explain, blood levels normal, intestinal antibiotics/probiotics given, intestines 2x normal size, surgery revealed no obstructions, every time food was readministered it began again. Vet suggested I stop Nutro after learning about other dogs problems. My dog is now on Natural Balance and is doing perfectly fine.

I have used Nutro dry dog food for years. The last bag I bought, looked a little lighter in color. After a few days from this bag, my two brittany spaniels had a yellowish and mushy stool which then progessed into full fledged bloody diarrhea that was the consistency of a stream of shooting water. I called my vet and started feeding them rice and hamburger mixed. It stopped for 1 day, but is now starting up again so I will continue with the rice mixture

I made a complaint on this board on May 6th. My dog was on nutro senior for a few months. It made him vomit, lose weight and not want to eat! I am happy to report that my 8 y/o dog is back to his normal healthy self AFTER stopping nutro!!!!!!

This nutro food caused his alk phos level (a liver enzyme)to double...and i have the labs to prove it!!!! Today i called the FDA in my state and lodged a complaint...and i want to beg all of you to do the same!!!!The FDA was VERY interested in my complaint and spent alot of time with me! PLEASE, everyone..it is NOT enough to make a complaint on this board!! Please call the FDA office in your state...they WANT to hear from you!!! Make your awful experience count and help prevent other animals from getting sick or even die! We can make a difference!!!!!

Last week I told my story here about Max, but only a portion of it appeared.

I am resubmitting the final portion as I think other pet owners could benefit from knowing the story of how Max (my 8 year old Chow/Retriever mix)died.

Max ate Nutro for a number of years and was sick off and on with lethargy and occasional diarrhea. A day before we had to put him to sleep, he began panting, had excessive thirst and his stomach was very bloated. He would not pee. We brought him to the vet and after a blood test and xrays, we were told that he had blood in his abdomen and more than liekly a tumor in his spleen. He was so anemic that we were referred for emergency care and transfusions prior to the recommended operation. The emergency ver said that he had lost way too much blood and that he had non-clotting blood in hid abdomen and chest. They asked if he had gotten into rat poison because of all the non-clotting blood.

They concluded that he had hemangiosarcoma (cancer) and that his chances for survival even with surgery and radiation and chemo were grim. So, upon their advice we put our beloved pet (only 8 yrs old) to sleep.

Now I am wondering how much of his agony and symptoms was related to his Nutro food-mostly canned Nutro Sr. Lamb and Rice. With so many animlas sick or dying after eating Nutro food, I only hope that someone will be held accountable. Throughout my pet's discomfort, no one ever asked me about his diet. Our hearts are broken!

I've been feeding my 8 year old male Sheltie for the last 6 years of his life. On and off he would throw up yellow bile. Actually now that I think of it, it would happen once a month or so. I would normally just give him the sensative stomach Nutro dog food due to him vomiting. I told them vet and he told me it was nothing to worry about. He was the one that told me to feed him nutro!

After reading these complaints I'm very worried! I found out last week Friday that my dig has congestive heart failure and that he can go anytime between now and 2 years! He is my baby! I'm a complete mess! He is now on 5 pills per day! I had to get him off Nutro (I put him on Senior diet as he turned 8)as I found out that it has .30% SODIUM! My dog has high blood pressure!

Please do not feed your dog Nutro! I'm wondering if this caused any of his heart failure condition or high blood pressure. He also has an enlarged heart and a leaky heat valve! He was throwing up blood in the ER and he couldn't breath! I thought I was going to loose him last Thursday night! The ER speciality center wanted to charge me $3,900!

After several trips to the vet with my Chocolate Lab, I was told they could not find anything wrong with her. She is 12 years old and has never been ill other than an ear infection. So the vomiting, diarrhea, staggering, groaning, drooling, and other symptoms were very disturbing. She was in pain and neither of us were getting sleep. They gave her anti seizure meds, antibiotics, and put her on a liquid diet. After she started getting better, I never fed her regular dog food again. I believe it was the food. It was a new bag of Nutro when her symptoms started. She is better now but OMG, I thought we were going to have to put her down. We spent over $800 in x-rays, meds, blood tests, and emergency appointments.

December 11, 2008 I lost my dog to some kind of liver ailment. The weekend before she had a loose stool and thrown up chunks of her food. She could not keep anything down. Took her to the vet and they tried to save her, but I watched her slowly fade away. She was only 6 yrs old. I have fed her Nutro Dog food almost her whole life. She on and off had thrown up yellow bile and had diareha. I switched to the sensitive stomach and it worked for a while, but she still had it off and on. I cannot believe all the same complaints pet owners have had and not heard a word about it!

I have an 8 month old Chocolate Lab. On the suggestion of his vet, I started feeding him Nutro Large Breed Puppy dry food and his treats/bones were Nutro puppy bones. There were no problems initially. However once he started getting his puppy vaccinations, every few weeks he had diarreah and occasional vomiting, but NEVER at the same time. I took him to the vet where they did a few tests, determined he had not had any kind of poison in his system, no forigen objects were stuck in his stomach or intestines. They sent me home with a bottle of antibiotics and some vet perscribed dry food.

Fast forward to two nights ago - He literally had explosive diarreah in his crate, it was on the wall, his bedding, and all over him. About 45 minutes after I gave him a bath and cleaned up his crate and bedding, he vomited his dinner. It had been just sitting in his stomach for OVER FOUR HOURS!! My poor little guy. He vomited two more times until all the food was out of his stomach. I got scared and took him to the emergency vet - $552 later - he had another xray of his stomach/intestines, a shot to help ease his vomiting, and two blood tests for electrolytes and toxins.

The emergency vet gave him the ok to go home, suggested a diet of boiled chicken and rice for three days, then integrate his dry food back into the mixture and phase it out until he's back on his dry food completely. I did some research online and found many complaints against Nutro, as well as a dog food rating website. Nutro isn't even listed in the 1 star rating catagory. The FDA seriously needs to continue to investigate not only the deaths but also the dogs and cats that are getting sick from this. I personally have spent over $1000 in vet visits and antibiotics to correct a problem that could have been avoided by just changing my dog's food.

For most of the time I've had my 2 1/2-year-old Rottie, I've fed her Nutro. She has often had diarrhea, but I chalked that up to her having a sensitive tummy. Last Friday, however, she vomited all of her dinner and then refused to eat for a day and a half. I had bought a new bag of Nutro only two days prior. She is now eating rice with a little Nutro mixed in, and her stool is very runny. Moreover, she does not want to finish the Nutro like she wants to finish the rice in her bowl--very weird for a dog who loves her food.

I am going to the pet store today to buy her new food, as she doesn't want to eat Nutro and I very much fear that it's made her sick.

I was just reading the article of the FDA's investigation into Nutro dog and cat foods, and I wanted to let someone know that our AWESOME cat (who was only about 3 years old) had to be put down in January after he developed crystals in his urethra and couldn't urinate. He was so sick; we took him to the vet for treatment and he devloped a ruptured urethra and had to be put down. If this, in any way, was the result of Nutro foods, which our animals (1 dog, 2 cats) have been on exclusively since birth, I want answers. Saying goodbye to my cat on that cold, dreary day in January was one of the worst days of my life!

I got a new puppy on 2-13-09 that was born on 12-31-08 She is 1/2 collie 1/2 shepard. We went to our local Petco to find a good dry food that we could feed her 24/7 in between her canned food a couple times daily.The salesman told us that the Nutro brand was a great food for her as it was all natural, with no corn or grains being listed as the first ingredients.I had told him that we had used Pedigree for our 17 year old Chow, canned & dry for her whole life and that she had done great with that.(We had to have her put to sleep in January due to age). He said that this Nutro was better than Pedigree for her, so we got the dry & canned.She did NOT WANT TO EAT IT!!!!!!! I tried to mix them together, add cottage cheese, anything that I could to get her to eat.After a few days she was eating it then she started getting EXPLOSIVE DIARRHEA.Luckily I got this e-mail & changed her food to Science Diet small bites.SHE LOVES IT,EATS IT DRY WITH NOTHING MIXED INTO IT.& NO DIARRHEA!!!!!!!!!!!. I spoke to our vet, she recomended the Science Diet. I thank GOD that i found out about Nutro before I had caused her any harm

We just had to put our 8 year old dog, Max to sleep. He was a chow/retriever mix that we rescued when he was three.

He had been eating Nutro's canned foods (various varieties) for a number of years when in January 2009, he had trememdous belly pain and moved with great difficulty. He had had loose stools, but had not thrown up on this occasion.

The vet diagnosed him with pancreatitis

after doing blood tests and xrays. He was put on an IV and got better in two days. We were told to feed him small portions of Hills I/D for a few days and then re-introduce his food.

He has never been a fan of dry food, so we offered him a variety of Nutro foods (most specifically Sr. Lamb and Rice and sometimes Sr chicken and rice or Nutro Max senior chicken.)

Even though he improved after his bout with pancreatitis, every week or 10 days, he would be lethargic and show no interest in eating or walking-his favorite activitiy. He would just lie around the house, not moving all day.

When I brought him to the vets for his lethargy, I was told that he had back problems, and most recently told to give him glucoasamine and chondrointin.

Recently,for variety, I had also been giving him Hills Science diet- Chicken -Mature adult and Nature's Recipe lamb and Rice

My 5 month old puppy has been on Nutro's Large Breed Puppy formula for 2 months now (since March of 2009). It hasn't been a problem until this last bag I bought. A week ago I bought a new bag and he immediately became ill (diarrhea and vomiting yellow bile and food chunks). We didn't know what was wrong, so we took him to the vet and she put him on antibiotics. I asked if she thought it was the new bag of food and she said more than likely he just got into something when we weren't looking. He has not gotten any better and I was planning on taking him back to the vet tomorrow, but I got an email stating that the FDA was performing an investigation on Nutro. As I read the other complaints, I realized that it WAS the food that was a problem. My dog is having the same exact symptoms as the other dogs who were having problems with Nutro. Needless to say, I will be changing his food as of today.

I heard about all of the dog food recalls, and like everyone else was skeptical and very careful of choosing a new brand of dog food. I decided on NutroMax mini chunks dog food for my 2 miniature schnauzers. About a week after use Trixie started getting this disgusting diaherra. She had just weaned her puppies so I ASSUMED her body was trying to get back to normal. Boy, did I assume wrong. The problem with her was the dog food. My mother told me about all of the complaints about their dog food and I went out that day to purchase a different brand of dog food.

Now that my dogs are fully on the new brand of dog food, she is herself again. She plays now. And she does NOT have diaherra anymore. I am outraged that nothing has been done about this. I have almost a full bag of nutromax dog food that was a waste of money and is unusable. This company needs to take some action for what has happened.

I have been feeding my puppy (Chihuahua / Dachsund Mix) Nutro soft food for at least 4 months. In the past few months, she has had major urinary, digestive, allergy problems, and may have possible kidney damage. She is just turning a year old, and is my world.

I am deeply angered that Nutro continues to ignore complaints, investigations, and studies showing their food is POISONOUS to animals.

I thought Nutro was all natural, and spent the extra money to make sure my pet was eating the best. Since finding out about the deaths and cases caused by Nutro, I have switched my pup to a raw diet, give her natural anti-biotics, and urinary and kidney supplements. I hope I can reverse the effects of this awful company's greed and bring my pup back to full health and happiness.

To those ignorant consumers who think their pets are doing just fine on the food: You may think your pets are just fine, but Nutro's could be causing unseen damage to their organs, something a vet would only be able to check through major testing.

So the question is, if you haven't take them off the Nutro Food, have you had a MAJOR exam and test run on them?

If you truly care about your pets, you will, and you'll change them to a natural diet (just to be safe), that is closer to the ones that wolves consume (raw diet).

After buying a new bag of Nutro lite lamb and rice dog food for my dalmation in late March early April my dalmation starting vomiting chunk of food and bile. This continued on and off for almost a month. When I took her to the Vet and he took blood tests he said she had a gastrointestinal problem. He placed her on two antibiotics one was for tainted dog food and he also put her on anti-vomiting medicine. She was placed on a bland chop meat/chicken and rice diet. During the time she was vomiting etc. she lost 10 pounds in one month.

i had just tried to put in a complaint but some how i must have done something wrong with summiting it
any way my dog too has been on nurto holistic for most of his life ,he's 4/12 yrs old..

i feel sick to think what i tought i was doing for him was the right thing..buying him a good brand a healthy brand..i just happended upon the site of complaints is there anyone out there who could PLEASE recommend a true and safe hard food for my guy..i dont know what to do now..he too has suffered with stomach problems,not active,large very smelly bowel movements,has had a few accidents in the house that have woke me up to find on the floor and too see him look at me with such sadness is heartbreaking..

i would tell him its ok and that im not mad at him i just wish i knew what was wrong..he too has been to the vet with stomach problems put on meds and told to feed him boiled chicken breast and rice..and he would bounce back..but it starting happening again..and i just put it together with the last bag of ultra holistic small bred..he'd leave it sit in the bowl,im so upset to think i may have hurt my companion,AGAIN PLEASE CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT FOOD THEY FEEL I SHOULD SWITCH TOO??? and arent you suppose to slowly introduce a new hard food into their old food?? or in this case should i just switch and hope for the best..?

im sitting here crying writing this..i've been sensing something wasnt right..he's like my child and he's brought such joy to my life PLEASE HELP

I have a 7 yr. old chinese pug that I had been feeding Nutro dog food to for years. Approximately 9 months ago she began vomitting and having bloody diaherra. I put her on sensitive stomach Nutro and cut down the amount I was feeding her. The diaherra went away but the vomitting continued. When I heard about the complaints filed against Nutro, I immediately took her off of it and the vomitting stopped and has not occurred since. I received a mail circular from Pet Smart today with the whole back page advertising Nutro dog food. What has to be done to stop these people?

After switching to Nutro Max dog food both my healthy goldens started to vomit bile and yellowish, foamy stinky liquid. Loose bowels. Stopped dog food and changed to another and they are fine now. Just read about Nutro Dog Food and my assumption was right. Something wasn't good in the food.

I was approached by a rep for Nutro Cat food in January, 2009. I told her we had just adopted two Ragdoll kittens and she told us that Nutro brand was so good and natural and she had Ragdolls and it would be very good for them, etc. We purchased it and slowly changed their food over to Nutro.

They began vomiting yellow and were shedding hair like crazy and had gas, etc. I found this site and was horrified to read what folks have been going thru and was so thankful to habe learned that Nutro was dangerous food and I dodged a bullet by switching cat food immediately.

My heart goes out to everyone who has lost a beloved pet or been thru many vet visits and bills.

Please, please someone of authority...get this food off the market now!!

Hi! I have been using Nutro Hairball stop catfood for sometime. Recently, after a new bag of food, I noticed my 15 pound cat vomiting up the food... my other cat, a Himalayan wouldn't eat it. i thought it was because she was grooming and removing hairballs... withiun 3 weeks, my cat lost 3-4 pounds and was lathargic, and still vomiting...I got woried and phoned their company and was eventually yelled at by "Diane" the onsumer receptionist...I contacted the store where I bought it, and was told another client complained of a very sick cat. A rep contacted me and was rude to me...I ended up throwing the crap out, and putting them on Kirkland cat food...I also took my 66 pound Chow-Chows off their food... My cat gained back ALL of her weight within 2 months... I was treated very badly by those roaches at Nutro...

I have fed my two large dogs Nutro Max or Natural Choice Dog Food for the last several years. The last bag purchased in April had a different odor to it and appeared to have green specs in the pieces. Knowing that dog food is not held to the same standards of consistency as human food, I thought nothing of it, and proceeded to feed it to my dogs. My older, 11, Aussie/hound mix, would turn his nose up at it from time to time. Well, he ate his dinner Tuesday May, 4th and on the morning Wednesday the 5th vomittd repeatedly and had diarhea that was nothing more than blood and mucous.$200 later I have him on antibiotics and am trading the rest of the bag in for another brand. I feel very fortunate that my lab mix only has bad gas from the experience. My dogs are my best friends and I felt like I was doing them a favor by spending a decent amount of money to possibly expand their life span. I think this shows that it is time for better regulations from the FDA in regards to pet food standards. There seem to be a lot of these complaints, so something needs attention here. I have submitted my food sample, through my vet's office to the FDA. Hopefully something will be done. Only buy dog food that guarantees its contents for each bag, many not, and these are the consequences.

I would like to add my complaint to the very long list of families who's pets have been afflicted with intestinal illnesses by the use of Nutro brand pet food.

Most importantly I want everyone who has had these problems to contact their states FDA. Michigans is in Detroit. The individual to contact is fairly easy to find through the FDA web-site. My contact person is following up with our veterinarian. We need to push this forward!

I purchased a new bag of Natural Choice Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal on January 21,2009. I purchased this bag before running out of my usual food because I don't get to the Escanaba, MI that often. Sometime late in February I started transitioning my 2-1/2 year old Dachshund into the Nutro, just a few kibbles at a time mixed with the old stuff. I thought I was going more natural and therefore healthier for him as he is a nervous rescue dog. At the time I also had an 18 year old dachshund on prescription food and home cooked vegetables. On March 6th in the middle of the night Boregard started throwing up buttery color mucus all over the house. This continued Saturday and into Sunday. He had no interest in food and just laid around looking depressed. By Sunday evening he had urgent bouts of diarrhea and by Monday a.m. was still throwing up so I rushed him to the vet. They checked him for an obstruction, gave him something for nausea and an intestinal antibiotic.

He got better for one day then I rushed him back in on March 11 because he was pooping pure blood and it was urgent. They kept him overnight on an IV, sedatives and antibiotics. Still no tests showed anything except crystals in his urine which the doctor said would not be associated with the GI condition, but now I see there are other pets with this. He has had major blood tests run, X-Rays, worming even though he didn't have them in the stool sample, and extended term antibiotics.

During this same couple of weeks when my senior dog would not eat his prescription food I would hand him a couple kibbles of the Nutro and he was satisfied with 'real' food. I was satisfied to know he ate something, anything at all. Of course thinking it was not going to kill him. My senior dog was getting very listless, constipated, not eating and finally throwing up also. At the time I attributed it to his age of 18 and on March 26th we had him put to sleep because he couldn't go to the bathroom, didn't want to eat and became emaciated. This old dog was doing well up until March, 2009.

I had been running scenarios through my mind of having to have Boregard put to sleep. This beautiful young dog that has been through so much trauma in his short life. When finally April 20th my mother-in-law called to say there was another dog food being investigated by the FDA. Lo and behold ..... I looked it up online ..... there were 100s of stories out there of people loosing their beloved dogs and cats after feeding them Nutro brand feed! Some dated back as far as fall of 2007!

What in the hell is going on? Obviously there is a problem with the food. Why hasn't the public and Veterinarians been notified. I don't have cable or satellite t.v. so if it hadn't been for that phone call I'd have killed another one of my dogs! With FOOD!

I have notified everyone I can that has dogs, my Veterinarian of course and a Vet in Escanaba, the Tractor Supply Store where I bought the food, Consumer Affairs, Nutro, FDA, CVM, US Farm Report and The Oprah Show. Something has got to happen here.

Our local Pet supply store gave me a copy of a letter sent by Nutro stating there is nothing to worry about with regards to thier food. I set the owner straight, that there is definitely something wrong and someone has got to do something about it before we loose any more pets. Nutro is just trying to keep their sales up no matter what.

I have about 12 lbs of the 17.5 lbs bag of food here (for testing)
SKU# 07910523054

Best if used by April 29, 2010

I truely hope you will publish this because everyone who has had these problems with their pet has got to contact their states FDA department.

In 2007, my dog became extremely ill. She had vomiting and bloody diarhea. I took her to the vet where she was put on antibiotics. In fact she was put on a 10 day round of antibiotics each month for those issues. As time went on, she didn't want to eat, so we added ketchup and water to her food, since we believed that we were giving her one of the best foods on the market, and as she got weaker, we hand fed her! She dropped weight quickly, was extremely thirsty and was restless. We took her to the vet again to see if there was anything to be done and she was put to sleep. At the same time we were feeding our cat Nutro and she became skin and bones and was lethargic. I changed her food, just to try to rebuild her body and she is now a normal sized cat, she is sociable and does not sleep 24/7.

We lost our BELOVED pet to a pet food. to see that it has been reported to the authorities and is blatently being ignored sickens me! I watched my dog die a slow, horrible death and now I know she would be her TODAY, HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE GREED OF THIS COMPANY!! I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THEIR PRODUCT IS STILL ON THE SHELF. In fact, a few months ago I was approached by a salesperson regarding Nutro, purchased another bag since it is supposed to be made of top ingredients, a few days after opening it, it smelled like death! My dog would not touch it, I threw it out and went back to my other brand. IT IS TIME THAT ACTION IS TAKEN!! IT IS TIME THAT THE FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS ARE RECOGNIZED AND COMPENSATED FOR THEIR HUGE LOSS!

i switched my dog to nutro senior dry dog food. he started vomiting up his food about 3 weeks after the change. he also started leaving the food untouched which was very unusual for him to do. i have stopped feeding him the dog food for several days, and he is eating normally again without vomiting

I also experienced a very sick dog when feeding her Nutro Max Dog food Beef and Chicken flavor. My dog is a 3 year old Australian shepherd mix who had been fed Canadae but as prices went up and having many pets to feed we went to Petsmart and asked their opinion of a good medium priced dog food. The Nutro rep just happened to be there and sold us on the food. My dog experienced diarrhea and severe gas for the first week but we just thought it was the transition. After 3 months, my dog continued with horrible bouts of diarrhea,vomiting and gas. We changed her back to Canadae and she has been fine for 3 weeks with no issues.

We have been feeding our dog Nutro Max dog food at the recommendation of the breeder for the lifetime of our dog (three years). He's always had a sensitive stomach and we learned early on that he needed to have food available to him at all times due to what the vet described as an acidic stomach. Over the last couple of months, I've noticed that the new bags of Nutro Max have had a very strong and new odor. I would describe it as very fishy. About three weeks ago, we came home to a dog who seemed to have lost control of his bowels. He had several accidents throughout the day, most of which was very runny with a stong odor. We thought he had a stomach bug, but a few days later found the same thing had happened again.

This went on for several weeks, so we decided we would switch dog food and see if there was a difference. The Nutro rep happened to be in the store while we were looking at other types of food. She tried to convince us to try a new bag of food, but after our refusal she admitted that there were reports the FDA was investigating Nutro. She just so happened to have a statement in her pocket that she printed from the internet from the FDA. She continued to try to convince us that we should try a different bag as maybe the bag we had was stored incorrectly. We went against her advice and three days after giving our dog an entirely different brand of food, he has not had an issue since and seems like our dog once again. I'm disgusted by this and feel terrible that we were feeding our dog something that was making him sick. It seems when issues arise lately, companies spend more time attempting to cover their own rears than taking care of the customers who trusted them.

My dog became ill within a few weeks of eating nutro. I thought it was because I changed his food so i agve him another two weeks. He finally started ******** blood. Thats when I took him to the vets. I gave him steriods for the swelling and irritation in the bowels and antibiotics in case of viral. It is neither. Science within one day was better. Within 2 days of nutro was ill again. I bought Science diet one day was better so that is what i am buying from here on out. This company is making animals sick. I want to know what is really in this food and where it is really made. My dog had diarriah to start with got to point he wouldnt eat and then blood in his stool. I am going to tell everyone not to buy this food.

Ive been feeding my 5 dogs nutro for 2 years.My mom just bought a new bag 2 weeks ago and my dog cassie a chihuahua died from it.I took her to the vet and they told me that she had symptoms as if she was poisoned.My other dogs were puking a lot as well but I thought it was because they eat grass which cleans their stomachs.Cassie was fine and then one day she looked really sad and weak I placed her in my room in a kennel and gave her water.She was really thirsty the whole day and then she fell asleep the next day she looked even more sick and I took her to the vet.The vet told me that she was critical and asked me if she had all her shots.I told him yes.The he asked me if she had ate poison.I told him no way! He didn't know what could of cause so much damaged but It hit her fast because her immune system was really weak she had just had puppies 2 months ago.After her check up I stayed right by her side hoping she would get better.Instead she had multiple seizures that killed her.I took my dog to the vet at 8am she died at 12.Please stop nutro. Right after I read about similar stories I knew I had to change dog foods. Now Im feeding my dogs Halo.

Ive been feeding my 5 dogs nutro for 2 years.My mom just bought a new bag 2 weeks ago and my dog cassie a chihuahua died from it.I took her to the vet and they told me that she had symptoms as if she was poisoned.My other dogs were puking a lot as well but I thought it was because they eat grass which cleans their stomachs.Cassie was fine and then one day she looked really sad and weak I placed her in my room in a kennel and gave her water.She was really thirsty the whole day and then she fell asleep the next day she looked even more sick and I took her to the vet.The vet told me that she was critical and asked me if she had all her shots.I told him yes.The he asked me if she had ate poison.I told him no way! He didn't know what could of cause so much damaged but It hit her fast because her immune system was really weak she had just had puppies 2 months ago.After her check up I stayed right by her side hoping she would get better.Instead she had multiple seizures that killed her.I took my dog to the vet at 8am she died at 12.Please stop nutro. Right after I read about similar stories I knew I had to change dog foods. Now Im feeding my dogs Halo.

We had two small dogs, an Italian Greyhound and a Miniature Pinscher that we put on Natural Choice Lamb and Rice Small Bites. They loved the food and their coats were nice and shiny. But after awhile our Italian Greyhound, Honey, starting having accidents all over the house. She was litter trained and we never had an issue. It seemed like she couldn't hold it long enough to get to wear she needed to go. She was constantly getting in trouble for it and seemed to know it was bad, but the issue didn't stop. We attributed it to emotional issues. The vet said it was possible she had a bladder infection and she was put on antibiotics.

She was also vomiting on a fairly regular basis and her feces was often runny. We thought her mental and physical health were delining so we chose to have her put down, the hardest day of my life. In the mean time my miniature pinscher was also having accidents all over the house. With a small child and a new baby on the way we decided to give him up. After a very short time at his new home he no longer had accidents. He was not on Natural Choice at his new home.

After the loss of our two dogs we got two new Miniature Pinschers a year later. We immediately put them on Natural Choice lamb and rice small bites. Once again their coats were brilliant, but the female, fully potty trained, started having urinary accidents about the house. The male, also potty trained was having similar issues but also violent vomiting and diarrhea. I started to investigate different dog foods and that is when I found all the complaints about Natural Choice. I immediately switched them and within a week, no more accidents, no more vomiting or diarrhea. I can't beleive this is a coincidence. I am sickened that it was simply the food that led to my other dogs being put down and given away. I wish I would have read up sooner. My dogs are happy and healthy on Wellness dog food now. I think Nutro foods needs to be held accountable.

My 3yr old Golden Retriever has been on Nutro Natural Choice- Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal since she was born. Her breeder recommended this brand so we stayed with it. She has skin allergies and ear problems which are common with her breed. Yet in October of last year her energy level dropped drastically and she threw up yellow foamy bile off and on for weeks. She has suffered from three UTI infections in the last year. The last two infections cleared with antibiotics but reoccured quickly. After xrays taken this last week, the vet suspects bladder stones. We are returning to the vet next week to determine her treatment.

I am shocked and frightened to read that other pets have had the same problems for the last 6 months. Now I am wondering what permanent damage has be done to our beautiful girl.

On Monday 4/13/09 I went to Petco in Bloomfiled Hills MI, to purchase Iam's Senior Cat Food on recomendation of my Vet since my cat of 13 years has been on Iams since we got him when he was a tiny kitten. He has been on Iam's Senior Active for the past 4 years, only eats their hard food has never wanted wet or treats of any kind. I couldn't find the senior brand of Iams so asked the store manager, he suggested I try Nutro's Natural Choice Complete Care for Senior cats 7 years and older, the ingredients sounded very good with no fillers etc. so I purchased a 4# bag at $14.00. When I got home and put a little in his food dish to see if he would eat it since he is so particular I saw him eat at it so the next day blended some of it in his Iams Senior Active and he ate the combination so I blended half the bag with half of the Iams.

The next morning 4/15/09 my husband and I left for CA to see our grandkids and left him in the care of our nieghbor who stays at our home while we're away. She came in about 4 hours after we left and saw that he had thrown up a yellow bile and that his stool was loose. the following two days she found it hard to find him has he was hiding but came out a little vomiting several times and very loose stools, didn't eat anything Saturday, by Sunday morning 4/19/09 he was very sick with his stomach twice the size so with the help of another neighbor got him to Oakland Veterinary Hospital for an emergency exam. They did an urinalysis, blood work, radiographs, injections of amoxicillin and fluids subcutaneous, she paid by her credit card $609.00, then filled a 10 day supply of amoxicilliln drops. The tentative diagnosis was Urinary tract infection, Struvite crystaluria, suspect hairball in stomach and Grade 1/V1 systolic mumur, put him on perscription hard diet food. He had gone from 9#s to 5#s in less then 5 days.

On 4/21 she was watching Channel 4 television and saw the name of the cat food I mentioned I had put him on just two days before leaving, Nutro's Natural Choice, that FDA warning to be cautious and stop feeding animals this food as they were investigating it for deaths and sickness to animals. I have complete documentation of all I have stated and half the bag of their cat food available if required to test.

On Monday 4/13/09 I went to Petco in Bloomfiled Hills MI, to purchase Iam's Senior Cat Food on recomendation of my Vet since my cat of 13 years has been on Iams since we got him when he was a tiny kitten. He has been on Iam's Senior Active for the past 4 years, only eats their hard food has never wanted wet or treats of any kind. I couldn't find the senior brand of Iams so asked the store manager, he suggested I try Nutro's Natural Choice Complete Care for Senior cats 7 years and older, the ingredients sounded very good with no fillers etc. so I purchased a 4# bag at $14.00. When I got home and put a little in his food dish to see if he would eat it since he is so particular I saw him eat at it so the next day blended some of it in his Iams Senior Active and he ate the combination so I blended half the bag with half of the Iams.

The next morning 4/15/09 my husband and I left for CA to see our grandkids and left him in the care of our nieghbor who stays at our home while we're away. She came in about 4 hours after we left and saw that he had thrown up a yellow bile and that his stool was loose. the following two days she found it hard to find him has he was hiding but came out a little vomiting several times and very loose stools, didn't eat anything Saturday, by Sunday morning 4/19/09 he was very sick with his stomach twice the size so with the help of another neighbor got him to Oakland Veterinary Hospital for an emergency exam. They did an urinalysis, blood work, radiographs, injections of amoxicillin and fluids subcutaneous, she paid by her credit card $609.00, then filled a 10 day supply of amoxicilliln drops. The tentative diagnosis was Urinary tract infection, Struvite crystaluria, suspect hairball in stomach and Grade 1/V1 systolic mumur, put him on perscription hard diet food. He had gone from 9#s to 5#s in less then 5 days. On 4/21 she was watching Channel 4 television and saw the name of the cat food I mentioned I had put him on just two days before leaving, Nutro's Natural Choice, that FDA warning to be cautious and stop feeding animals this food as they were investigating it for deaths and sickness to animals. I have complete documentation of all I have stated and half the bag of their cat food available if required to test.

I have a 19 lb cockapoo at the clinic who has been suffering from intractable hemorrhagic diarrhea for the last 6 days. This dog had been fed Nutro Lamb and Rice for the past 2 years without a problem until now.

I just started feeding my dog nutro senior ultra holistic nutrition dog food. In one week he has been listless, vomiting, and just not his usual self. I was horrified to read all the negative and sickening stories about this dog food. I'm not really sure why this food is still on the market but I'm sick to my stomach with this company as they should be ashamed of their harmful product.

I had used Nutro dog food for at least 5 years. I had always had good health and wonderful skin and coats on my dogs as they advertise. I am a Saint Bernard breeder and i do show my dogs. Aproximately 2.5 years ago I started experiencing severe diareha with a litter of 10 puppies at 10 days old. No they were not on Nutro...but their mother was. I had a 2nd litter born about a week later and again the same thing happened. this is a very dangerous thing, to have puppies this young with diareha. i tried to wean these pups early and put them on some baby rice ceral...rice to help firm them up and rice would easy on the stomach. they immediately firmed up.

i spoke with at least a dozen other breeders and my vets office. we could not come up w any explanation. my vets office sold me medicines for coccidia. they pups stools samples did not show coccidia but we treated for it anyway. the pups still had horrible smelly shooting diareha. when the pups were old enough i got metronitozole meds from my vet for all of these pups...20 pups in 2 different litters. i thought it must have been a virus. the metronitizole meds. seemed to work or at least help until i took them off and then it would start violently again. "it certainly could not be the food, its the best food out there and i'm paying dearly for it" I started to have bouts with different dogs having diareha some of the time after this.

2 of the pups which i had kept, (1 from each litter) continually had diareha. i wondered if they had something and sometimes it would affect the other adult dogs, but the adult dogs systems were perhaps more mature and could get thru it. well the bouts w the diareha occurred more frequently and i noticed some of the dogs had bouts with throwing up yellow bile, usually i'd find it in the morning. that is not uncommon for dogs to do but they were doing it very frequently. i had at the time 10 dogs and i'd find bile every morning in at least someones kennel and sometimes more than one.

so i decided to switch within the Nutro brand to Nutro's sensitive stomach. it got even worse. these dogs took turns having 'shooting diareha. all this time i am buying 'whole bottles' of metronitizole from my vet. and it aint' working. i have receipts i have never added up but i'm sure i have spent well over $1500.00 in some kind of diareha medicine. i tried immodium, pepto, even tried some holistic stuff. NOTHING WORKED.

My husband begged me to switch foods. and I wouldn't listen. My son has 2 dogs whom do not live here and his dogs were on the same food, he never had any diareha but a rare occasional bile throw up. i went online and did my research to try to find another good food for my dogs. i still did not believe it was the food. i also put a post onto an online forum called 'dogshow stuff' it is where people buy and sell dog show items. my post and i still have it was" if there is anyone on this list who uses or has used Nutro dog food and is having any issues with it would you please email me privately"

i received aproximately 17 replies. i did not divulge what issues i was having, so that i would not influence their responses. i would be very happy to share each and every one of these emails. 16 of the 17 people were or had experienced vomiting and diareha. I now have my dogs on a totally different brand of food and we have no diareha...none! i would really appreciate it if someone did contact me concerning this. please.

I just received an article from a friend about the problems and lawsuit against Nutro - She sent it to me because she knew of my dogs death a few years back, when I had to put him down-I fed him Nutro dog-food for most of hi life and he was a very ill dog, most of the time. When I had to put him down, it was due to a gastrointestinal issue he had had off and on for YEARS. I am so sick to think this may have been caused by the dog-food he was eating! AND that no vet ever changed his food or suggested that (I think one did many years ago as a solution and we switched to Nutro, thinking it was better for him). Both of my dogs have eaten this food for most of their lives. I now have my last dog, Kandi on the Nutro, Natural Choice Senior diet. I too, notice they changes the look and shape of the food recently. Now I know why and I am just sick!

I will be changing the food and woul like a response to this complaint immediately! I can't tell you how many times I have taken my current living dog in for stomach issues and all the medicine I have given her for this. (My deceased dog had more bills then I could ever even describe-I will have to get all his records).

All my dogs have been on Nutro dog food for many years. My Yellow Lab, who has very bad allergies has done very well with Nutro. I took her off her Prescribed dog food available only at the vets office over 2 years ago. I also have a Black Lab and both of their coats are so soft and shiny. My Weimer is on Nutro lite. All of my girls love Nutro. Over the years, my girls had started with other brands that I was not satisfied with, but once I found Nutro I have been very happy with the product.

When I acquired a 1-1/2 year old Rotti, I took him knowing that he had hip dysplasia. I took 20 lbs. off of him and immediately started using the Nutro with Glucosamine and Chondroitin in it. Fed it to my other 2 older dogs with joint problems. Everything was good for 1 1/2 to 2 years. then all 3 dogs started having diarrhea a good part of the time. Not everyday, but a lot. I work at a Vet clinic and tested for worms often(negative), used Flagyl to stop the diarrhea in all 3. then it would come back again a few weeks later. Eventually started to gradually change to Iams mini chunks and by the time switched over completely, the diarrhea was gone and never had a problem again. 2 old dogs gone now, but the Rotti is 8 now and doing well on the Iams.

Maggie was fine until I switched her food to Nutro mini-bites with Lamb. I had no idea that this could be the cause at the time why she was getting so sick. I recently met a woman at Petco told me that her dog gor very sick and they determined it was from the same food! Maggie was being treated for digestive disorder with appetite stimulant and medicine. We then after a series of diagnostic tests discovered she had cancer and had it removed. I was still feeding her the food as she had made a nice recovery last summer. In the fall, again we treated her for stomach problems and vomiting. She passed away on Feb 20th, 2009.

This link was attached to an article that was forwarded to me about the investigation on Nutro Pet products.

My Brazillian mastiff had to be euthanized (Oct 2008) after he became ill and did not respond to medication. All he ate was Nutro Lamb and rice. He had all the symptoms listed by other pet owners. I had no idea this was going on or was being investigated.

My 5 month old german shep. puppy has been on Nutro since we brought her home around 8wks. About 2 wks after she was home she stopped eating the nutro food and we had to mix in some iams puppy that the vet had given us. She will only eat the food if it is mixed together. I have noticed that she is very thirsty all the time (more than normal) and she has thrown up her food twice now, once with the yellow bile mentioned in the article I read. I am hoping it is just regular puppy stuff but she is going to the vet tomorrow and as of this minute will no longer be on Nutro. Puppies get sick and I realize this but with her extreme thrist and other red flags I'm not taking any chances. I think more people should be aware!

Wow! Why are there so many problems with pet food? This is very depressing. Regarding Nutro, I have fed my cats Nutro Max Cat for years. We have not had a problem and I notice that most issues are related to the dog food, especially lamb. However, I did note at least one problem with cats. Are there other cases with cats? We just purchased a big bag and are hesitant now that there may be a problem with this new bag. For now, we have switched them to Purina One. I like the premium foods, but now I'm not sure. We had a bad situation with Canidae last year with our puppies and older dog. The canned food was creating the same problems that people are now talking about with the Nutro--extreme lethargy, diarrhea, a worried look on their faces telling us that they are really not feeling well (interestingly enough it affected the boys the most and not the girl so much). We didn't have a problem with the dry Canidae, although I know that some people did. We switched foods to Purina One canned and Solid Gold Millennia dry and all is well. However, I would like to put them back on an all-premium diet. I have purchased (in addition to Solid Gold) Blue Organics (Blue Buffalo) and Pinnacle for the dogs and Blue Spa Selects (Blue Buffalo) for the cats. Has anyone tried these and what are your thoughts? We have decided not to purchase lamb products on principal for our animals and ourselves (also veal). The products listed above are either beef, turkey or chicken based. Thanks! I know that all of us want to do the best for our pets. Of course, Nutro and Cannidae are out of our diets for good.

Wow! Why are there so many problems with pet food? This is very depressing. Regarding Nutro, I have fed my cats Nutro Max Cat for years. We have not had a problem and I notice that most issues are related to the dog food, especially lamb. However, I did note at least one problem with cats. Are there other cases with cats? We just purchased a big bag and are hesitant now that there may be a problem with this new bag. For now, we have switched them to Purina One. I like the premium foods, but now I'm not sure.

We had a bad situation with Canidae last year with our puppies and older dog. The canned food was creating the same problems that people are now talking about with the Nutro--extreme lethargy, diarrhea, a worried look on their faces telling us that they are really not feeling well (interestingly enough it affected the boys the most and not the girl so much). We didn't have a problem with the dry Canidae, although I know that some people did. We switched foods to Purina One canned and Solid Gold Millennia dry and all is well. However, I would like to put them back on an all-premium diet.

I have purchased (in addition to Solid Gold) Blue Organics (Blue Buffalo) and Pinnacle for the dogs and Blue Spa Selects (Blue Buffalo) for the cats. Has anyone tried these and what are your thoughts? We have decided not to purchase lamb products on principal for our animals and ourselves (also veal). The products listed above are either beef, turkey or chicken based. Thanks! I know that all of us want to do the best for our pets. Of course, Nutro and Cannidae are out of our diets for good.

we purchased nutro dog food and we have had problems with it .It has made our dog have problems in two ways I have spoked to the manager and his assistant to see if any others might have had any problems with there dogs I was told no.So I went to A web sight to see if it was only me or my dog it is not .their are many many dogs have been sick or died from this food Icalled my vet right away and she told me she also has heard a lot of horror stories about this food and told me to stop feeding it to my dog we intend to send a sample of it to thye state lab to see if they will test it for us.After reading all of the problems people have had I don't think that nutro would give an hornest finding so I will do it my self but untill I find the truth I would ask all pet owners to stop feeding nutro to their dogs.

I cannot believe your criticism of Nutro! I work for Nutro and how dare you start unmitigated rumors about our fabulous premium pet foods! I personally own two large dogs, and 7 cats, all who eat Nutro. I am out in the field five days a week speaking to customers and I have not received one complaint regarding Nutro; instead, I hear nothing but praise about how our foods have, in fact, made their pets healthier. Nutro is a wonderful product and you are taking the stories of people who are out to cause issues. Your story about antifreeze and the kennel dog sound a little suspicious. Everyone is always out to blame the obvious, but don't look beyond the obvious. Your organization should be ashamed. Nutro has nothing to hide and is the best pet food in the world! Why don't you pick on someone else?

I have a Doberman, I feed my dog Nutro dog foods, my dog always has bloody diarrhea, and vomiting, I thought perhaps his running so hard made him that way. I saw information about some other dog owners complaint; I believe my dog was sick from the dog food Nutro Choice. Where should I contact make sure my dogs are ok and I do not want my dog to die. Please help me.

If Nutro has no doubt that thier dog food is safe, then what am I to do when my 2 Great Danes have suddenly become ill with all the signs of tainted dog food being the only factor to have changed. The last bag of Large Breed (Blue Bag) dog food (purchased on April 27, 2009) has caused both Jake(8), and Dakota(10 months), to have diareah, shortness of breath, total lack of energy, and depression. I would like to explain that I'm not new to Nutro, Jake has been fed Nutro for 7 years, and never shown any signs like these. Dakota has been fed Large Breed puppy chow and now at 120lbs and 31 inches at the shoulder we've slowly moved him to large breed

blue bag. Don't just put your back up and deny what the real issue is, something went wrong FIX IT AND FESS UP TO YOUR LONG TIME CUSTOMERS THE TRUTH. I would expect my money back on the last bag of food, and the expence of any vet bills that may occur. I hope to hear back asap from you and I hope your attitude is one that doesn't have implacations of a bunch of b.s. about how your not at fault. My boys are very important to me and would make for bad advertisement if this issue isn't resolved. I'm willing to supply any samples, product upc codes ect.

I have fed my 3 small dogs Nutro Small Bites dog food off and on for several years. I recently added Nutro canned food over the dry food. I had previously used Pedigree canned food, but I wanted a better quality food for them. One dog a 14 lb poodle mix developed bloody diarrhea and vomiting. She was hospitalized for 3 days. There was no infection or worms of any kind. She did not have a fever - just the stomach problems. They did discover that she had kidney problems, so we switched to K/D Science diet for her. They felt that the kidney problems were not severe enough to have caused the digestive problems. Then less than a week later, one of the other dogs, an 8 lb. Yorkie developed diarrhea without vomiting. She was still eating the Nutro. The other dog improved.

My dog Lennon ate Nutro Natural Choice for a few years. I had him on the sensitive stomach formula because of persistant vomiting. He seemed to be in good health except for the occasional throw up (always bile).

Then not even two months ago we noticed he became severely jaundiced (yellow skin, whites of eyes, gums). He became lethargic and wasn't excited about eating, which is totally unheard of for Lenny! We took him in to get blood work done and his liver enzymes were EXTREMELY elevated.

The vet started him on a couple of different antibiotics and Denamarin to help aid the liver. 3 weeks later he was retested and his liver enzymes had gotten substantially worse. They kept him at the vet for 4 days on IV fluids to flush his system and hopefully decrease his bilirubin (what made him yellow) levels. He was put on another antibiotic until his next vet appointment. Two weeks later he had more blood work done and we actually got some good news! His liver enzymes, although still very high, had improved. His bilirubin levels went from 12-16 which was not good news. We scheduled an ultrasound/possible biopsies for the next week.

I was nervous for the appointment because we were going to finally find out what was wrong with our buddy. The vet was thinking possibly liver cancer or maybe something as simple as gall stones. I got a call at work the day of his appointment that Lennon's ultrasound showed his liver was severely damaged. As he was coming out of anesthesia his blood sugar dropped to 22 (common with liver failure) and he had a seizure. They stabilized him but he never came out of a comatose state. I rushed to the vet and he wasn't breathing on his own anymore. We had to put him down.

This all happened yesterday, one day short of his 5th birthday.

We are having an autopsy done just to get the final word on his liver, whether it was cancer or just severely damaged from a toxin.

He was my best friend and his life was cut waaayyyy too short. These complaints outrage me. Nutro is supposed to be a "premium" food. I wouldn't just blame his dog food if it wasn't for all the other stories here (many of them liver problems!). My animals will be getting raw food diets from now on. I trust no one.

As with some others, I was feeding Nutro . my 2 dogs vomited alot of bile

after switching dog food it has totally stopped and never have done this again.

I feel that Nutro should be removed from the market

My dog has been eating Nutro's Lamb and rice dry dog food for 10 years now. He is the healthiest I have ever had. His coat is shiny and he is bright and full of energy. He has never vomited and never has diarrhea.Has an amazing appetite and still loves his food. I would recommend this food to all pet owners as I have tried many many other brand in the past and have had some problems with allergies and skin conditions.

I believe our purebred, extremely healthy Shetland Sheepdog was a victim of tained Nutro Lamb & Rice dog food. Kipp had never had any health concerns until approx May 2007 when he became very ill, lethargic and vomiting. Diagnosis at that time was pancreatitis. Kipp was able to recover somewhat but was never as well as he previously was. March 2008 Kipp died very suddently of pancreatic and abdominal cancer at the age of 12 years.

We adopted a 6 month old Shih Tzu Maltese, Suki in December. We were told that Nutro Max Puppy food was the best for her; so we purchased all of the Nutro that was in PetLand which was going out of business. I believe we had 5 bags. Suki has already gone through 2 and 1/2 bags and I have two more remaining. For sometime now, we noticed that she has been throwing up, diarriah, lathargic and not herself. She has also been weezing, sneezing and makes serious gagging noises regularly. We noticed that she has also developed brownish spots on her stomach (which is visible since her hair has not grown back from her Spay. Yesterday, I inquired with her foster mom about switching her food, because she does not want to eat it until she is extremely hungry. Today, she suggested we stop feeding and sent us the article dated April 20, 2009. We are very concerned and don't have any alternative dog food for her right now and are not sure what to feed her.

We adopted a 6 month old Shih Tzu Maltese, Suki in December. We were told that Nutro Max Puppy food was the best for her; so we purchased all of the Nutro that was in PetLand which was going out of business. I believe we had 5 bags. Suki has already gone through 2 and 1/2 bags and I have two more remaining. For sometime now, we noticed that she has been throwing up, diarriah, lathargic and not herself. She has also been weezing, sneezing and makes serious gagging noises regularly. We noticed that she has also developed brownish spots on her stomach (which is visible since her hair has not grown back from her Spay. Yesterday, I inquired with her foster mom about switching her food, because she does not want to eat it until she is extremely hungry. Today, she suggested we stop feeding and sent us the article dated April 20, 2009. We are very concerned and don't have any alternative dog food for her right now and are not sure what to feed her.

After 2 yrs of feeing my mastiff Nutro Max, he began throwing up a couple months ago every morning. Because his blood work was fine, the vet thought possibly acid problems, so i began using pepcid daily. Still throwing up & VERY LETHARGIC. A friend suggested a 5 ingredient or less product + holistic canned food. The first day we changed his diet, he stopped throwing. Unfortunately, he is still lethargic and we are petrified that too much damage is done! I poisoned my own dog!

We boarded our dog last Fall, and when he ran out of dog food there, they fed him Nutro Adult Dog Food. When he came home and I let him out to potty, he had nothing but blood coming from his bowels. I contacted my vet right away, and she told me she had several dogs coming in with the same problem, all of them eating the same dog food. She went so far as to hang a warning sign in her office not to feed Nutro. After purchasing special digestive food at a cost of $45, my dog got better, and I threw out the Nutro, put him on a diferent dog food, and he has been fine ever since. This is the USA, our food and what we feed our pets should be safe!!!

I have a Sheltie puppy which was being fed Pro Plan when I bought him, then I decided to gradually change him to Nutro Ultra puppy because my other Sheltie eats Nutro, plus he started eating Nutro Ultra puppy treats. His stool gradually loosened to the point of severe diahhrea, then frequent urination, after being tested there were traces of white blood cells in the urine. His stool tested negative for any parasites. He is now on an anti-biotic just in case there is an infection. He was also temporarily put on a prescription canned dog food which cured him of his diahhrea instantly and I have gradually changed him over to Science Diet (dry food). He now has no problems. I would hate to think that Nutro is tainted, or possibly the formula is off. I have been feeding it to my other Sheltie for two years - he has never liked it, but never had any health problems. Just to be safe, I took him off Nutro also and I have ever seen him have such an appetite for the new food. Upon contacting Nutro, they insist there is no FDA probe, so I don't know if it's a fact or not. But one cannot discount all these complaints and the similarity amongst them. Nutro also requested a sample of the puppy food which I sent out today. If your dog(s) is/are on Nutro, why take the chance? You just never know. I am sooo thankful that my puppy did a turn-around after changing foods. I pray that he has no problems in the future as a result of all this.

I was feeding my Lab mix puppy Coal Nutro Puppy and he became very sick with vomiting and bloody diarrhea. We thought it was a result of a recent surgery he had had. It took us about three weeks to figure out it was the Nutri dog food. I took a notice of Nutro compalints to PetSmart after discovering this, along with the rest of the food I had last purcahsed and asked them to pull it from the shelves and they refused. I was very frustrated because we had already changed his food three times (Eukanuaba, Iams, Nutro) due to recalls. I asked my Vet what I should do since all these "high end" foods turned out to be crap. He told me that since Purina has been in business (80 some years?) they have NEVER had a problem and had good, quality ingredients intheir high end foods. I switched immediately to the High Performance all Life Stages Formula and Coal's recovery was also immediate. That was a year ago. Guess Petsmart should have heeded my request?

Our four & 1/2 year old poodle,Lucy,has been eating Nutro MAX Chicken, Rice & Lamb Dinner. This past week we bought a new supply of her canned food. By Wednesday of this past week she developed a severe case of diarrhea and loss of appitite, along with dehydration. We brought her to Lone Mountain Animal Hospital here in Las Vegas as they have been her vet since birth. After extensive testing and IV feeding, she was released to us on Saturday afternoon with three prescriptions and four cans of a new brand of food. The total bill was $1034.48 for the services rendered. Thank G-D Lucy is showing signs of recovery and is eating the new food.Dr. White, the hospital's top veternarian, told us of the countless complaints against Nutro for contributing to the same symptoms as Lucy exhibited.

We love Lucy as a member of our family and would suffer a great loss if we lost her to this incident. Elaine is going to return the unused product to PetSmart and exchange it for the brand Dr. White reccommended. We plan to document the exchange for future reference.

I'm not sure if my has developed tremors as a result of eating Nutro for several years. I had no idea until just now - that Nutro has caused problems in dogs and there are lawsuits. My standard poodle just turned 12 and as of yesterday, for the first time, could not take her usual almost daily walk around two short lakes. She laid down to rest mid second lake. Today, she laid down at the door. My husband insisted she come and we were only going to take her around one lake but she didn't even get to the lake, which is just across the street. We took her home after a brief rest. Her limbs shake uncontrollably. Could this be as a result of feeding her Nutro for years? I thought the lamb and rice was superior to other meats and I rarely changed to chicken to give her a change. As well, she slowed down about 1 1/2 years ago and has been unable to run since then.

I was just made aware of this ongoing Nutro problem today and I was sick ! I have been feeding my dog Nutro Senior for about 3 years now. Like another reader mentioned, I also noticed a slight color change in the food in the past few bags, but thought it was just due to a different "batch". Two weeks ago, my dog started vomiting,not eating and was hunched over in obvious pain. She could not sit still and could not sleep. She just could not get comfortable, and every hour had to go outside. She kept trying to have a bowel movement, but very little came out. Then she stopped eating all together, and no bowel movements at all. She just would not eat - not even her favorite treats. My vet diagnosed pancreatitis and gave me an antibiotic, a "pepcid" type medicine and an anti vomit med. After four days on this, she still would not eat. She no longer was hunched over, but still no eating.

Another vet visit to take x-rays.. nothing showed up. Bloodwork was done, nothing definitive showed up here either. Fluids were administered, which did help give her the will to eat. After 4 more days, we did a Barium Series on her. Again, nothing showed up. All was OK - then again, another dose of fluids. She has been feeling much better for about 3 days now. She is eating again, and more importantly, she WANTS to eat. She is getting her spunk back and is getting back to her old self. She still is a bit lethargic, not playing with toys, but she is on her way I think. She has been off the Nutro now for 2 weeks and is eating a diet of chicken/rice and some Hills i/d. I can't say for sure if the NUTRO really caused this problem, but after 3 visits to the vet and all the testing, and over $1,000, the vet cannot give me a straight answer as to what happened to her.

Within an hour of learning of this thru and e-mail that was sent to me by one of my family members who knows what I've been going through, I threw out the food I had left. I am not taking any chances. These stories are all too coincidental. There are far too many other great natural/holistic foods out there to take this kind of risk.

We recently started feeding our dogs Nutro Ultra Large Dog Food for Adult Dogs made by the Mars Corp. Our two-year old, female mixed breed dog started having problems that at the time I did not related to her food. But now after doing research on the brand, I feel the food was the cause of her ailments.

She started out with major problems with her anal glands. When a dog is fed an improper diet, the anal glands are unable to empty themselves on a regular basis when the dog defecates and they need to be squeezed to relieve them of the fluid build up. Some normal build up is usual in some breeds and they may need maintenance by a vet or groomer several times a year. My dog however, was having severe issues with the anal gland build up and needed to see the vet every two weeks at $19 each time. In between times, she would leak out this extremely foul smelling anal liquid all over our house and carpet, not to mention that she was very uncomfortable.

Then she developed incontinence. Just sitting down or lying in her bed caused urine to leak out of her. She no control over when she urinated or not. Incontinence usually only happens in older dogs, not supposedly healthy two year old energetic dogs. She has also seemed anxious and her feces is a loose bright yellow.

The most recent development was a rash on her buttocks that looked like diaper rash. That's when I realized it could be food allergies although Nutro Natural was supposed to be a top brand quality dog food, which is why we chose it. Then two days later (after finding the rash) I read in the paper that the company was being investigated. We have started to wean both dogs off of this food and two symptoms have already disappeared--the incontinence and I believe the anal gland issues. I am hoping that as we add our new dog more and more and replace all of it that the remaining symptoms will disappear as well.

About Nutro Natural Choice dog food.
I have always wondered if this food had anything to do with my dogs death July 12th 2008, he was 2 years of age. Then I came across complaints from others about the product and about the FDA infestation towards this dog food company. Much to my surprise I'm reading about other sick animals on this same brand of diet!

My story... I had a Shar pei named Capote. I had been feeding him natural choice rice and lamb meal since he was a puppy. Yes sure he would have days he didnt seem well but most dogs do I wrote it off... the turning point came when I brought in Porgy a 3 month female Shar pei puppy from a different breeder altogether . I tranfered her diet over to Nutro about a week into Nutro lamb and rice with a 3 to one mix of her old food and Nutro , (what Capote was eating). I also was giving them Nutro Natural choice chops (dog biscuts), by the gobs form training a puppy etc.

With in a week Porgy was sick with temps up around 107 for 2 days. Some vomiting and could not walk ( her hide legs she could not stand on). I got her back to normal with aspirin ice baths but had ran out off the dog biscuts so almost a month passed before re-buying (she stayed healthy). Than on the 3rd of June I bought another box of the biscuts. July 5th Porgy was sick once again high fevers/ couldnt walk, got her cured. Then to my surprice July 10th Capote my 2 year old Shar pei 1st time ever sick...temps up to 107 and couldnt walk due to his hind legs too. Tried same cures on him, was keeping his temp down ...took him outside to urinate that 2nd morning. I had to carry a 47 pound out to potty. He tryed and could not urinate .

I rushed him into the vet that day. Within one hour his body was getting boils all over and his pink skin was turning black. I couldnt save him his kidneys where failing and had to put him down. And have him in an urine. I now use California natural dog food and never have or will go back to Nutro!!! Porgy off and on still to this day will get a high fever, I feel Nutro damaged her. I saved the dog biscuts and see it has no expiration date listed anywhere on it. I'm seeking somewhere to have it analyzed at very little or no cost if I can! Anyone know of such? I feel it strange a 2 year old dog never sick in a day of his life and a new puppy eating the same food one dies just days after the new biscuits where given and the other gets sick again.

someone please tell me where to go...Capote was the soul of my life and I do feel this food had something to do with his death!

I don't know if this is related to Nutro food or not, but my greyhound just fell over dead this morning. Although she had not had any food this morning, she has been eating nutro food for years. She seemed very healthy up to now, but my other grey will be switching to some other food right away. She has had some of those same episodes of diarrhea and vomiting food and bile in the past, so I won't be taking any chances with nutro products anymore!

Damage is emotional only, the greyhound was my deceased wife's dog. She passed away a few years ago. This dog was a profound comfort to me during those tuff times and I am devastated over the thought that I will no longer have her to hug when thoughts of my wife make me cry!

I breed and show border terriers and have fed all of my dogs Nutro Ultra for many years. I even recommend this food to families who take puppies home from my kennel. About a month ago I noticed my dogs seemed listless and all had diarrhea. Being border terriers, they did continue to eat though. I thought maybe it was the change to hotter weather. However, recently I had a young male border terrier on science diet which was recommended to me because he was down on his pasterns and he had been eating this food for about 9 months. Once that improved, I switched him over to Nutro gradually about 2 weeks ago and he is now vomiting whole meals and bile and has terrible diarrhea. He is listless and in just terrible shape.

I took him off of the Nutro and started feeding him Taste of the Wild and he has improved significantly. I was shocked to read about Nutro on one of the dog lists I'm on as I had no idea although I did think the food looked different than it usually does. I had long ago switched the others to another food because all of a sudden it seemed their coats were dull and dry, but thought this male should continue on the Nutro as that was the original food he was on. Since then I have discarded all the Nutro food I had left and have completely switched over to another brand. This male is still recovering and I feel very upset that he has had to go through this. I will not be recommending Nutro dog food for this next litter. Thanks, Donna Ray

My healthy 8 year old black lab got ill from eating Nutro Ultra dog food. Within two weeks we had to have a vet put her down.I have some of the food left and I want to get it tested.Just like the other people reporting, she got sick, drinking lots of water and laying around like she was almost dead. Someone needs to put a stop to Nutro's Greed and make them be accountable for the products they produce, or put them out of business.To many loved pets are dying for no reason, Why???

Thunder, was the best companion in the world, she was almost human. She went everywhere with me, fishing,hunting,to work, to the supermarket etc !!! I won't ever get over her unnecessary death.

I work for NUTRO as a Pet Nutrition Specs. I also feed my dogs and cats NUTO. I have never had any health issues nor problems with any of the products. I would suggest that everybody investigate the latest FDA/Consumer "complaints" and find out that there is no investigation by the FDA. When I sell NUTRO to a new customer I always tell them to take a minimum of 6 days to switch over to NUTRO since a sudden switch can cause the pet to have upset stomach, gas, and intestinal problems possibly. This is a must! I will continue to feed my "babies" NUTRO.

I took my Doberman Punscher to the vet 4/24/09 for severe vomiting and diarrhea; the vet did all the parasite tests and also a complete blood panel and he is all normal; came home to read online that many have experienced the same and wanted to report. I have switched him to a whole foods homemade diet for now and he is fine. Vet bill for $200 and much worry about my Dobie pal.

I just want to let you know that I feed my dogs Nutro food as well. My dog has recently started vomitting and I am going to switch as soon as I can figure out what would be good, it seems so hard these days to find a decent food where the company is not all about the money. I have found BUGS in Nutro treat boxes in the stores and told someone that worked for Nutro, never heard anything back. Someone in an earlier post said they thought that NUTRO had switched or changed ingredients in their foods recently and called someone and they denied. they were lying. they changed their ingredients.

Not to mention, they say if you feed dogs Nutro it will make them consume and **** less and then you feed them less. NOT TRUE, when they changed the ingredients they changed something and now you feed your dog anywhere from an extra scoop a day to 2 extra scoops a day. What is this company trying to do? If they were trying to make more money they are FAILING big time now!

Our Maltese has been on the Nutro Lamb & Rice small bites for years, but has taken to refusing her food and picking the kibble out of her bowl over the last several months. She has recently started vomiting and is lethargic. She has begun refusing the food completely. She scratches her muzzle constantly and is not the same dog she was even a few months ago. So far, vet bills.

I have fed Nutro Natural Choice Chicken and Oatmeal for years, but it has made my Shetland Sheepdog, Paige, sick. She would get white gums, have stomach pain, no appitite, vomit and have no energy. I had bloodwork, x-rays, and an ultrasound. we could not figure it out. I stopped feeding the food and now she seems to be better. Time will tell. I hope this does not leave any lasting effects. There has been alot of time and money lost to this. It is an outrage that they sat on this info for so long. Just them strait out dening this instead of stating they will look into the accusation tells me this is a company never to trust!

I use only the highest quality foods for my dogs, mixed with fresh/frozen Buffalo, Mother Hubbard, etc. I purchased Nutro's "Ultra" at Petsmnart & my dogs vomited (all 6 of them); returned unopen cans & purchased Nutro's "Max"; they ALL got diahrea, one became dehydrated and had to be taken to the vet she became so sick; I have read Nutro's disclaimers & I cannot be convinced that Nutro was not the cause of my dog's problems.

I use only the highest quality foods for my dogs, mixed with fresh/frozeb/canned vegs, etc. I purchased Nutro's "Ultra" at Petsmnart & my dogs vomited (all 6 of them);returned unopen cans & purchased Nutro's "Max"; they ALL got diahrea, one became dehydrated and had to be taken to the vet she became so sick; I have read Nutro's disclaimers & I cannot be convinced that Nutro was not the cause of my dog's problems.

In December I lost two greyhound dogs from bone cancer in their right leg. Both dogs had switched their food to Nutro Senior 3 month prior. They had been on Nutro for the past five years. One dog was 7 and one 11. Not from the same family. I have a hard time believing that their deaths did not come from thier food. That is the only common demoninator. IT seems strange that 2 dogs, dies with the same cancer a week apart in the same household.

Both dogs were in excellent health and had a regular relationship with a vet.

My dog got sick in November. I had just switched food to NUTRO Natural Choice for Sensitive Stomachs a couple weeks prior to her becoming ill. She was vomitting and refusing to eat. She had elevated liver enzymes and was treated at my vets office and sent home on prescription food. She as retested the following month and her enzyme levels were better. I had trouble getting her to eat the prescription food, she did not seem to like it. So, I ended up putting her back on the NUTRO, not linking the ilness to the food at that time.

About a week and half later, she was again vomitting and not eating at all. Her liver enzymes were tested and again very elevated. After an ultrasound, her liver looked OK but her gall bladded waas large. SHe had her gall bladder removed and biopsied along with some liver samples because she had lesions on her liver. There have been no found disease to explain what caused her illness but she is now doing much better and eating Science Diet. I did not even think that the cause could have been the food until I read these stories about other dogs with similar problems. Now I can't help but think that this is a possibility.

I have spent about $5000 in vet bills.

I lost my 13 yr old poodle last week with bloody stools and another one of my small young dogs was sick with the same thing. she was in the hospital for 2 days on medication and IV's and got well. the poodle was put to sleep. Tody my 15 yr old poodl came down with the same symptoms. all my house dogs eat the Ulta Adult dog food. my outside dogs eat another brand and are fine. Vet bill on Chichuhua was 472.00 the poodle was 55.00 to put to sleep

I don't understand. I have 3 huge dogs (Mastiff, Pyr & Ridgeback) and they all eat Nutro. They are healthier than ever. My two cats eat it as well. My 15 yo cat looks and acts half his age. I think too many people see a symptom, google it and then jump on a bandwagon. I don't know what I'd do without this food. With this many pets in my house I appreciate the reduced shedding and for such large breeds, they don't eat that much. I got all of my neighbors to switch when I bought my house. Not one of them has told me there is a problem with it but they do tell me it has helped with hotspots, scratching and sensitive stomach issues.

My Great Pyr gets diahhrea once in a while, but he is my scavenger. When he's out he tastes all of the grass, if I drop something when cooking, he's on it before I can get it and if I don't watch carefully, he's quite the garbage picker. There's where his tummy issues come from. I just think it's a shame that this website has scared so many people unnecessarily and they had to give up the benefits of living with a Nutro fed dog.

My dog has been eating natural choice lamb and rice dry and wet combined for 8 yrs. I'm extremely concerned. I buy seven cases of the cans at a time and one 40lb. bag. Scarlett (the lab mix) weighs 76 lbs. she gets one heaping cup of dry to a 1/4 can of wet mixed together 2 x's a day. In the last 8 weeks she has been constipated, has had diarrhea has vomited yellow phlegm and has vomited up her food and has been extremely tired. I figured she was just getting up there in years, you know, slowing down.

After reading some complaints on this site I don't think she's slowing down I think it just might be something in the food. Did I mention that her urine is extremely acidic. The proof is in the back yard. I truly hope something is done. To think I've been feeding my dog whom I love so so much bad food breaks my heart. I plan to gradually introduce a new food immediately.

I was trying to ask Nutro why the DHS would send a letter to your reporter saying that her request for records was denied because disclosing the information would interfere with law enforcement proceedings. They have blocked their website from e-mails by not allowing you to enter your state and then saying the e-mail can't be sent unless you enter your state.

This is the e-mail I attempted to send them: "I fed your Lamb Meal and Rice Adult food for almost 13 years to my previous Golden Retriever. As a private dog trainer, I continue to recommend it to all of my clients who are seeking a lower-cost premium feed. This consumeraffairs.com posting has me concerned and VERY alarmed. Why does the DHS deny consumeraffaris.com's reporter's request for records about Nutro's products saying that those records are non-disclosable because disclosing them could interfere with law enforcement proceedings? Are you suing consumeraffiars.com or what?"

I am trying to send on correct information to my many clients who use their products ON MY RECOMMENDATION! I don't want any of their pets to become ill! And I want them to know there's a problem before the FDA moves or the company acknowledges their problems and voluntarily recalls affected products. Hey, I read "Pet Food Politics." I know how this stuff works.

I have 3 Jack Russell Terriers who have eaten Nutro High Energy every day for years. Within weeks of putting them on any other food they look anorexic. The dogs are my almost 13 years old Daisy and her 2 kids, almost 10 years old. Another Jack Russell Terrier of mine is almost 14 years old. Every morning she bounces up and down, for about 30 ft, to the kennel where her food is - Nutro Senior. I also had my grand dog, a 60 lb Lab/Border Collie staying with me for 3 months. I switched her to Nutro Senior and she has done very well on it. Her "parents" say she still gets Nutro.

I have fed Nutro for a year + now. I have had some vomiting after feeding it but it was never a constant daily thing. Loki would get sick a few times a week. So did not attribute it to the food. But I quit feeding it and don't have my Loki throwing up now. In reading your article about the Nutro I am glad that I quit feeding it.

For the past 6 months my Lab./Russell mix has been vomiting bile like so many others I'm reading about. After numerous X-rays, repeated trips to the Vet., and even a Barium test put through her poor little system, it was determined that she had an enlarged stomach due to ulcers. We thought it was from a bone I'd given her during the holidays, I felt just awful! So we took her off of ALL food and treats for a month and put her on Sci. Diet I.D. she didn't vomit once. But during that month no running, no off-leash walks, no catch.

Then sure enough, the big bloated belly and the vomiting started again as soon as we put her back on the Nutro. So I took her off her treats, still more vomiting, only one thing left to take away and it's obviously not water!

Not to mention, I certainly cannot afford the vet. bills, prescription food, and other med.'s which are steadily climbing!

My beagle has had problems with allergies, skin irritation, and a sensitive stomach nearly her entire life. I've went through at least twelve different brands of dog food all claiming that they were for sensitive systems or sensitive skin. With most foods she had a reaction within days or weeks. Some foods she didn't start having a bad reaction to for months. With all the foods that she was on, we had to routinely give her fish oil pills and/or benadryl. Nutro Venison Meal & Whole Brown Rice Formula is the FIRST dog food that A- she loves, B-doen't make her ****, C-doesn't make her skin freak out, D-doesn't make her a fat cow.

Almost immediately after we started feeding her this food, her skin actually improved and she hasn't had to take any medicine for approximately eight months now. Then just the other day I hear about the investigation. I'm really ****** that there is an investigation, but we the consumer aren't being told a whole lot. Yesterday, I went and bought her a different brand of food... some other ridiculously priced undersized quantity of "premium" dog something or another that promises it's the best crap my dog has ever put in her mouth. I just want to know if the Nutro she was eating is safe. Have there been problems with all Nutro foods?

Several months after switchinig over to Nutro's Natural Choice Senior formula cat food, my cat became very ill. She vomited repeatedly over the course of several months and became very lethargic, finally it got so bad that I had to take her to the vet. At one point, there was blood in her vomit. The vet initially thought she had a stomach ulcer and tried to treat her for that with medications. When that didn't help, he did extensive tests, including blood tests, ultrasound, a barium study, and x-rays. She spent a week at the vet hospital because she was so sick. The vet informed me that she could have cancer and wanted to send her to a local vet school for more tests. However, at the vet's they were offering her a different food, and over the course of that week she got her appetite back and gradually improved - she stopped vomiting and became more active. I am convinced that it was the Nutro food that made her so sick. I just read about the FDA's investigation of Nutro and I thought I should send in this complaint.

I am very sorry to see that so many dogs have been having problems.

While everyone is paying more attention to what they feed their dog I would like to point out a few things.

Nutro Max and Nutro Natural Choice are both sub-par foods to start with.

They both are loaded with corn, wheat, soy, and by-products. These 4 ingredients can all cause this issues that many of the complaints have listed weather it it Nutro or another brand. These ingredients are literally the cheapest ingredient that a food maker can use and still have the FDA approve the food. They provide absolutely NO nutritional value to your pet. The cheap fillers are used simply to keep the cost down. Many pet owners opt for a sensitive stomach food, these foods typically have less bad fillers but are still not good for your pet. If you were to use a more natural food where the filler is rice, potato's, sweet potato's, green pea, or oatmeal in most cases the sensitive stomach issue will go away. The cheap fillers are also the main culprit for dogs that develop allergies. Dogs who get dry skin, ear infections, hot spots and rashes are all showing signs that something in their food is not agreeing with them. You should switch you food to an allergy formula that does not contain any bad fillers.

Foods that do not contain these ingredients are readily available and are becoming more popular. Some pet stores are now dedicating sections of their stores to natural foods. The criteria for the food and treats to be in the natural section is that it can not contain any corn, wheat, soy or by-product. At one point these foods were very expensive compared to "filler foods" but today they are at most few dollars more. In some case food that contains corn has become more expensive than natural foods because the high demand of corn that is used in ethanol and gasoline.

You should read the ingredients of your dogs food. If corn, wheat, soy, or by-product is listed you should strongly think about switching your food. While some of these ingredients may seem natural to humans they are not for dogs and while some dogs seem to do fine on these types of food they almost always do even better on filler free foods.

check with your local pet store for natural foods and do some research on what the best food is for your dog.

Animals were sick while on this diet, of course it took some trial and error as well as the recall to figure out what was happening to the animals

I was absolutely ready to ignore these stories as paranoia until I read the syptom 'frequent urination... unexplained accidents...crystals in urine' complaints. This was our big clue that something wasn't right. From a lifetime user of Nutro:

9 year old Lab and 6 year old Rottie. Both on Nutro (various) since birth. Never any problems. Suddenly (last year) both dogs developed excessive flatulence with extrememly bad smell, yellow bile vomit and, in the rottie, frequent urination with unexplained 'accidents' in the house. We noticed the upset stomach to be associated with Lamb and Rice. I too noticed the sudden change in color in the food (which flavor?) from tan to mustard color. There was also a particular smell associated with that change/bag of food--not bad, but different.

Rottie was taken to Vet for possible UTI. Vet diagnosed 'crystals in urine' and some signs of infection-like symptoms, but no specific culture. Dog put on antibiotics. Symptoms abated, but we also changed flavors of dog food during this time. When we put them on Senior food (our Lab gains weight easily) both dogs became frantically hungry/thirsty and began to forage for food in trash cans, yard etc. Behavior change was so bad, we began to feed additional (near double) food rations and got another bag of large-breed food to blend-in and to quell behaviors.

I now believe that we misread the symptoms--not hunger pangs, but something was clearly wrong with the food formulation. We will immediately pull the dogs off Nutro and save Vet bills, house bills and receipts. Damage to rugs, wood floors and carpet. Vet visit, blood and urine tests, prescriptions

I had just bought Nutro for my new puppy when I read on your site about the FDA probe. I contacted the local pet food store where I bought the product and told the owner about the probe. He contacted Nutro. Nutro responded with a statement of refutation in which they said they were suing you for slander. Is this true? I don't know what to believe any more.

I was shocked to hear about this on the news. I have been feeding my 13 year old Catahoula Nutro Venison and Brown Rice formula for several years. I had recently purchased a new 50 pound bag of food and began giving it to her. She started having explosive diarrhea and vomiting. I took her to the vet who prescribed antibiotics and a canned dog food to slowly start weening her back to food. Several days later, she seemed like she was getting better. So we went back to our normal routine.

Within the next 2 feedings, she began having the same problem with diarrhea and vomiting. I took her back to the vet who gave her a stronger antibiotic and we had to ween her back onto solid food, again. Take into consideration that my dog is 13 YEARS OLD. She struggled with being ill and I was very afraid of losing her.

Luckily, she pulled through because I CHANGED DOG FOOD. I am appalled to hear about these recent developments. I will NEVER buy the Nutro brand again. I have read about some owners losing their animals, if these were people there would most certainly be some consequences for this company. But what some do not understand is, to me, my DOG IS A PERSON to me.

Wow.

Someone just forwarded me the FDA confirmation and I read through the article, and by the end, I was curious what kind of dog food we served our little boston terrier. I was pretty sure it wasn't Nutro, but he did just vomit an incredibly brilliant neon puddle onto our couch, so this got me thinking. And as I finished the story, I realized that since we got Bailey from a rescue shelter in November, he's vomited about 2 to 3 times weekly, and we kept feeding him whatever food the shelter had given us.

So, I get up and go into the pantry to see what kind of food we have. "Natural Choice." Phew. Not this stuff. But, I notice a little symbol above those words, and because it's dark, can't make it out so I turn on the light. And it was straight out of a horror movie. Cue the piercing violins and extreme panning. "NUTRO." I felt my heart sink. We've been just kind of assuming that all this vomiting was normal for him. We were told by the rescue shelter (which evidently feeds all their dogs Nutro) that they just thought he had a sensitive stomach.

I've just thrown out all of our Nutro, and my wife will be talking to the head of the shelter tomorrow about this website. I feel bad for jumping ship on a company without concrete evidence, but this is just way too much to risk on an extremely important part of our family. Thanks for your hard work, Consumer Affairs, and thanks to all the people who have shared their stories.

My Labrador Bayley has eaten Nutro Dog Food her entire life. She became ill in Dec'08 and died in Jan'09 The vet diagnoised kidney failure. It happened so sudden, I never thought it could be from her food. We had no knowledge that Nutro was having problems with quality. I spent $1,000.00 trying to save my dog, but the damage was too servere and she couldn't be saved. I don't know if her food was the cause for her kidneys failing, but she was only 7 years old. Bayley's general health was great so this was a complete mystery to us. If this company is in anyway responsible for my beatiful dogs untimely death, I hope that they are held accountable.

I sent pictures (of dead dog and vomit under the pens) and information to Neutro and talked with them--and sent samples of the food. I had 11 pens of dogs that threw up severly after eating Neutro Puppy (little reddish colored O shapes). All had loose stools and vomit. Took extensive pictures and my Vet was involved also. One dog threw up and asperated and died from the food. The company said that they were sorry, but that there was nothing wrong with their food -- it was because I had changed the dogs over to their food so quickly--but te food was mixed withother food for 1 week and they chose the other food over the Neutro food. The day that they got so sick (again all 11 pens) was the first day that they got the Neutro dog food -- not mixed with any other brand. My Vet and myself both argued the point with them , but my hands were tied because I sent th eremaining food back to them at their request. I should have gotten an attorney and used an independant lab, but I was stupid and trusted them.

I sent pictures (of dead dig and viomit under the pens) and information to Neutro and talked with them--and sent samples of the food. I had 11 pens of dogs that threw up severly after eating Neutro Puppy (little reddish colored O shapes). All had loose stools and vomit. Took extensive pictures and my Vet was involved also. One dog threw up and asperated and died from the food.

The company said that they were sorry, but that there was nothing wrong with their food -- it was because I had changed the dogs over to their food so quickly--but te food was mixed withother food for 1 week and they chose the other food over the Neutro food. The day that they got so sick (again all 11 pens) was the first day that they got the Neutro dog food -- not mixed with any other brand. My Vet and myself both argued the point with them , but my hands were tied because I sent th eremaining food back to them at their request. I should have gotten an attorney and used an independant lab, but I was stupid and trusted them.

The dogs all got okay after the food was changed back to what they had been eating. The vomiting and loose stools stopped when Neutro was not fed to them. The only real problem that I noticed was that the one dog (an very much loved and expensive Yorkshire Terrier dies from choking on her own vomit) and the other dogs did have reoccuring loose stools and it seemed like their urine was a darker color for a while, but they all recovered with antibiotics and a medication that coated their stomachs and intestines. I think that it was carafate (may be spelled wrong, but is for ulcers in people) they did drink a lot of water afterward , for a while, but may have been due to dehydration due to the stomach upset and loosing fluids.

I have a Saint Bernard puppy. She is around 8 months old. She was on NUTRO NATURAL CHOICE PUPPY FOOD untill she was 7 and a half months old. She used to be ok for some time and would all off a sudden have motion as well as vommitting bouts( Yellow Bile ), I suspected the food initially but I was not sure, Last couple of weeks she has been ******* blood and I had to do a urinary test, The vet suspects kidney stone.I now feed her IAMS and she seems to be doing ok now...Just a thought NUTRO NATURAL CHOICE PUPPY FOOD I feel is the culprit.

I have been feeding NutroMax Indoor Senior dry cat food to my 4 indoor cats for years, never had any problems. The last 2 bags that I bought, which was the first couple of months of this year, started a vomiting issue and I also noticed they were not eating much of it like they use too. Every morning I would find vomit and then one of my cats became very ill, lethargic, not eating or drinking, and problems swallowing. I immediately switched brands and everything got better. My ill cat was back to himself in 2 days and no more vomitting from any of them. It has been about 2 1/2 months now that things have been fine, no vomiting or any other issues. I can't say that it was Nutro for sure, but it sure seems very coincedental that they got better after swithching brands and everybody else seems to be having the same issues. Please, for every pet owner's sake, investigate and test Nutro products. There are way too many of the same instances for it to be ignored. We love our pets and don't want to feel like we killed them by feeding them!!!!! I feel that my cats knew something was wrong with the food, thats why they would not eat much of it, they walked away...If only they could talk!

You need to add another tragic and unexpected death to your tally in your excellent article about Nutro on April 20th. You wrote that "Six dogs unexpectedly died or were euthanized in 2008 after eating NUTRO pet food." I wrote in July of 2008 that our Elkhound, Ali, died on July 13th after eating Nutro. Nutro is directly responsible for her death, and I'm sure the FDA will find them culpable for all the suffering posted on this site.

You need to add another tragic and unexpected death to your tally in your excellent article about Nutro on April 20th. You wrote that "Six dogs unexpectedly died or were euthanized in 2008 after eating NUTRO pet food." I wrote in July of 2008 that our Elkhound, Ali, died on July 13th after eating Nutro. Nutro is directly responsible for her death, and I'm sure the FDA will find them culpable for all the suffering posted on this site.

We own a 9 year old GSP and she has never eaten any food but Nutro High Energy. She is as healthy and active as one could expect a 9 y/o to be. We have just started weaning her onto Nutro Senior Max by slowly mixing it in with the High Energy, and have experienced no problems at all.

I think it's extremely dangerous and irresponsible for people to throw accusations about a particular product when they have no definitive proof. The are so many environmental hazards to pets today that I would suggest that rather maligning a great product like Nutro, people would be better served checking the fertilizers they put on their lawns and the chemical cleaners they use in their homes.

I have two dogs one a 11 year old male Golden Retriever and a 3 year old female Greyhound. I had been feeding the dogs Nutro lamb and rice small bites when both of them started getting ill. vomiting bile, diarrhea, listlessness, and then the Golden started ******* black liquid. He seemed like he was dying. I brought him in to vet and the vet said he had pancreatitis, and that he was dying! He was there for a week we almost lost him prematurely. I took them both off of when he came home the food and they both recovered. They both were SOOO sick! Frustrated that this food could be hurting other dogs and almost killed ours!

I just read your article about Nutro pet foods. I feed 16 dogs / day NutroMax Adult or NutroMax Puppy food. I have experienced some of my dogs having bouts of unexplained diarrhea for about two years. Of course, dogs can get diarrhea for many reasons and having a large number of dogs, I would see more of it than someone who has one or two dogs. So, I tried not to jump to conclusions about the cause. I have found that specific dogs seem to be more suseptible to when I open a new bag of NutroMax - and curiously it is a mother and her two daughters that seem to be very quick to show symptoms. The other dogs do so well on Nutro, that I didn't want to find a new food for all of them if I did not have to. I began feeding raw meat every other day and Nutro the other days. When I feed Nutro two days in a row, the three dogs almost ALWAYS have diarrhea. I cannot afford raw meat every day for 16 dogs. Your article has substantiated my experience and made me feel far more compelled to find another food. Unfortunately, I live in a rural area with few choices for premium food.

i had a puppy that i fed the nutro natural rice and lamb dog food. it was taken off the market for awhile. i called the company and they said it was because of a shortage of rice. she had severe vomiting so the vet put her on a perscription hills brand.still going down hill blood was taken and we found out she was in renal failure. she recieved around the clock care for several weeks but did not pull through.

I bought a bag of this for my 5yr old Frech Mastiff on thursday night. By saturday night she was unable to control and bowel or bladder function. SHe is in horrible pain and discomfort, She has been in the hospital for the past two days and the Vet was told about the report on this site and is doing bloodwork. She has NEVER EVER had any stumach upsets. She has a stomach like an iron kettle. She can eat shoes, carpet, logs, cheese, etc. Literally everything and has never had any bowel/diahhrea issues.

My 6 year old Chihuahua frequently vomited yellow bile and developed cancer and died - her gums were pale and she began bruising. The vomiting began after she started eating Nutro. Treatment cost me between $2700 and $3000, she died April 3, 2009. 9 days after becoming acutely ill with symptoms of a blood disorder that was actually pancreatic cancer.

About a month or so ago, my chocolate lab continued to vomit. This dog has NEVER vomited like this. It was 4-6 times a day, very flemmy, and had a yellow/ brown color to it. I was worried and took her into the vet and they couldn't find any reason for the illness. That night, same thing happened. During the night she got sick 2 more times. I called the vet the next day and they prescribed an anti-nausea medicine and I started feeding her turkey and rice. Once I started that, there was no additional episodes.

When I had purchased the bag of nutro pet food, I noticed that the coloring of the food was lighter and the smell was different. But I didn't think anything of it. So I fed it to my dog, not realizing at the time, this was the cause of her vomiting.

I should also note, that my brother and sister in laws lab was doing the same thing and they also use Nutro.

Thanks to this website I was able to finally understand why my dog was getting sick all the time.

As a Nutro rep, I want to thank you for going off half cocked about some (probably) ignorant person(s) that had no scientific evidence to your claim. I cannot wait until my weekend demonstration where I have to slap down your slanderous accusations.

Just read article regarding Nutro

pet food. I purchased the dry Nutro Natural Choice Venison and brown rice upon the recommendation of clerk in store. They did not have my usual Natural Balance Venison. Since that time my dogs have been sick. Took them to the Vet who gave them antibiotics. I have small portion left. Who should I contact and what should I do to determine if this food is contaminated.

I have two cats that are 9 months old. I have been feeding them Nutro kitten food since they were babies. Recently ,one of them begain to lose weight and was vomiting on average of twice per day. I took him to the vet, and they ran numerous tests( and a big vet bill), put him on an IV drip to rehydrate him , and prescribed numerous (and costly) medications, but could not really determine the problem. After seeing the news reports about other animals getting sick after eating this food, I intend to go to a different brand. Hopefully this will eleviate the problem. Thanks for reporting on this issue, at least now I know something to try (switching brands).

I have used this product for many years...never an issue...in fact my dog was always sick on other foods....and we switched to Nutro Lamb and Rice and he is fine...active...healthy skin...normal stools. Please post this POSITIVE complaint on your site. The complaints issued have no bearing and there is no connection between the food and sick dogs...it could be so many other issues.

Again...my dog has been on Nutro for 2 years and is fine...before he was on so many other foods and was always sick


I had been feeding my 2 70lb dogs Nutro Max Lamb and Rice dry dog food. As they are now 11 and 10 yrs old, I switched to the Nutro Max Senior food with chondriotin and glucosamine figuring it would be good for my dogs stiffness and joint issues. With in the time of using 1 large bag, about 1 month, both my dogs had massive problems with vomiting and diarrhea, became lethargic and basically not their usual happy selves. I thought maybe the additives; Chondriotin and Glucosamine were in too large of a quantity for them to handle and was affecting their systems, but I wanted to get more information.

Now that I have read the other people's experience with this, I too have to be concerned about their food's ability to supply my dogs with the proper nutrients and safety. I will be switching foods to see how their systems react. Please keep me informed.

Once we stopped the senior formula, they stopped most of their stomach problems, but the lethargy issues, have not completely disappeared.

I fed my italian greyhounds Nutro Small Bites for 3 years and then switched to Nutro Ultra Small Breed as soon as it hit the market. After two years on the food, one of my IGs developed IBD. He went through 2 rounds of treatment for vomitting and diarrhea while eating prescription food. My other dogs were fine and I put my sick dog back on Nutro after he got well. He got sick again. I switched him to another high-quality holistic food. He got sick again. I finally put him on Merricks Before Grain and he hasn't had an episode in 6 months. It wasnt the Nutro... it was the GRAIN.

Dogs can develop sensitivities to individual ingredients at any point in their lives. My dog was 5 years old before he developed a sensitivity to GRAIN. I still believe Nutro is a quality food and still recommend it. I continued feeding my senior dog Nutro senior until it became more convenient to feed her Merricks because of a local service that delivers premium food to my door.

No two dog foods are exactly the same so you can not make an apples-to-apples comparison between any two brands. I'm not saying that it is impossible that a bad batch here and there could happen; however, there are too many elements that have to be considered. The bags themselves, for example. I don't know of any dog food company that also has a paper mill to create their bags from start to finish. The problem could have been in the lining from a particular distributor or anywhere along the way from the producer to the store shelves.

I have a friend with a boxer that is allergic to all proteins except fish. It took a year to determine that and, really, who expects a dog to be allergic to protein?? Being active in the animal rescue world, I see all kinds of crazy things that are seemingly unexplainable and have watched vets make a LOT of money chasing their own tails, so to speak.

If the FDA investigation is true and Nutro is at fault then they are committing business suicide by denying it. I just don't believe they are that stupid. It should also be noted that when the Chinese melamine was showing up in dog food, only Nutro canned food was affected because glutens - the tainted portion of the food - are used for texturizing. Their kibble is gluten free - something very important for an italian greyhound's diet - and NONE of it was recalled. In fact, Nutro was one of the FEW dry foods not recalled when that entire drama was playing out.


I am responding to the article you published FDA Confirms Probe of Nutro Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses. My brittney has been ill for the past two to three years with intermittent vomitting of bilous material mixed with food. The veternarians and I (I am a physician) have done numerous tests and have not been able to find a definitive cause. When I read your article I was stunned.

I had considered it might be the food (Natural Choice Lamb and Rice Small Bites) and switched to the Venison formulation. I started buying the Sensitive Stomach formulation of treats from Natural Choicethinking perhaps the dog just has a sensitive stomach. She continues to decline and has lost weight. She is constantly thirsty but is not diabetic.

Because of your article, I will immediately switch foods and treats to another brand. I am so angry to think that I was fooled into thinking I was doing the best I could to provide excellent nutrition for my dog and in reality, what I was serving her is killing her!!!!

I have spent extra money on a food which supposedly provided top nutrition for my dog when I could of purchased another less expensive brand my dog would have done well on. I have numerous vet bills and put my dog through many trips to the vet for tests causing her undu stress and pain.


Dog became very ill with GI dis-ease(primarily chronic bloating & vomiting) in March '07 after eating Nutro brand food(canned & dry). It occured same time as melamine contamination but wasn't considered to be related due to not having kidney failure---though was just as ill(needing emergency treatment after vommiting for 2 days)! Gut instinct tells me it was due to the Nutro food as has started happening again...or maybe never ended?! My dog has been having serious GI distress again(past 3 months) which started after switching to Canidae[a high level/premium brand(plus expensive), one of the brands under currrent investigation for toxin in their feed---AAAGGGHH! Now what do I do?! Would use people food but that's not much better...for humans too!

~$1500 in vet bills, medicine & prescription food


I have 2 collies and have been feeding them Nutro food for over a year. Both have been experiencing the vomiting that you describe in your article.


I would like to state that I have now been using Nutro pet foods for 9 years. My dogs are absolutely healthy, happy, nutritionally fit I would say. After reading all the negative comments about Nutro on your site and being told about it in a local pet store, I was in disbelief of what I was hearing and reading. I must say that prior to using Nutro pet foods, my dogs would shed excessively and have very bad gas. However, through the recall, I stuck with Nutro and am very satisfied with the performance of their foods.


Wow! We have used Nutro for several years with no problems. Then last month, we adopted a new buddy. We went to the pet store and bought a large bag of Nutro and slowly started to introduce him to this new food. We noticed that our female (who had eaten Nutro her entire life) refused to eat the new food. We chalked it up to the excitement of a new family member. We also noted that our newest family member was vomiting a lot and it was really foamy.

Gradually both were eating the new food but drinking a LOT of water and both started to vomit foamy stuff. Our vet could find no reason for the condition. So, a $100 later we went home and swithched foods. Both seem to be doing fine now.

This experience has been pretty traumatic. Our dogs are really important to us! Although the cost has been minimal ($154 for vet, $25 for inedible Nutro food), the emotional impact of the fear of losing our pets was incalculable.

I switched my 9 mo. old Boston Terrier to Nutro, Rice and Lamb Formula, as well as the nutro canned Rice and Lamb formula, within a couple days, she had diarrhea, the first episode was so bad the poor dog climbed out of her own puppy play pen. This continued for a week until I talked to my breeder who informed me about the risks of Nutro.

Immediately I went back to the Pet Smart that I bought the product from and let the asst. mgr. know the problem. He informed me that only the canned food had been recalled but all the quirks were worked out, but never mentioned anything else about the Nutro problems, i.e. deaths.

I bought a large bag of Science Diet and am in the process of switching my dog back. Thanks to my breeders knowledge of Nutro, my dog is safe. Hopefully somebody will be held accountable for this mess.

There is something wrong with people if they think a good quality foor such as Nutro or Eagle pack or Wellness is the cause of your animals health issues. Some foods just arent for every pet. Some are too rich in nutrients (sign soft stool or the runs) some aren't enough for the dog (signs **** to much. throws up etc).


Foods I consider an eye open is the foods like Beneful or Ol'Roy. these foods contain Dyes! PLus purina beneful is loaded with simple sugars (SUGAR) this is why all your dogs and cats (Friskies) get fat and sometimes can have diabetes. Stop and read the ingredients before you by the food. See what each one does for your dog/cat. Also most of your cats/dogs are old and some times their systems dont work like they once use to. So you find something that does work for them.

Quit trying to make law suits to get money and grow up. Think before you do. Do reading up on things and make sure it is not all bias. I understand this is America you accidentally bump into someone and can get sued. So sorry if i bump into you, i guess i will see you in court on Judge Judy or eye for eye.


I fed my dog the Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice Formal for small breeds, she was sick losing weight and became lethargic,her vet said she was having many bladder infections and then her liver tests were high in emzines,she had diarrhea & digestive problems. Abbie my dachshund lost her life 1 year ago.

lost my best friend due to some dog food that had I know I would have switched her immediately.


around christmas time and for a few weeks after my dogs tail hung down..he vomited a few times that i knew about..seemed generally 'down' ...a friend mentioned something about nutro food..i immediately stopped feeding him nutro even though i had several full unopened expensive bags left.

he now eats pet promise and immediately became his old self again..i feel certain it was the nutro food that was making him sick.

other than feeling bad for a few weeks and the cost of at least 3 big bags of rice and chicken small bites dried food my boy seems to be fine now.

NUTRO is a great product! This foolishness about making cats and dogs sick is ridiculous. Ever since I started feeding my cat Nutro, he has had a much healthier digestive system, he doesn't vomit or get diarrhea like he did on inferiour foods like Friskies & 9 LIves. Also, he likes the tasts better and is always asking for more! I do not feed him any other brand. I am very very pleased with this product!


I've been using the Nutro pet food for my dog since she was a puppy. However, in this last 6 months, she has been vomiting yellow bile, and urinating in the house (which is strange since she's been housebroken). I was concerned because the urine had bright red blood in it. I immedietly did all the home remedies (apple cider vinegar, beef broth in her water, etc.) After that didn't work, I began giving her the antibiotics. After the first round didn't work, I got a different kind and while it improved her frequent urination in the house, she occassionally still urinated in the house and was throwing up a yellow bile daily. I assumed the antibiotic was giving her an upset stomach. However, it's been over 3 months now and she still occassionally vomits the yellow bile and has a tinge of blood in her urine. I just saw the recall on the consumer affairs website and think it's connected.

Physical damage to my dog and the costs of attempting to remedy the situation.


I own two Australian Shepherds, male, one 11 years old and the other 10. They have never had any other food besides Nutro Rice and Lamb formula. They are both healthy, still act like puppies and I will continue feeding them this food.


I fed my 2 dogs Nutro Natural Lamb and Rice for their entire lives. The Golden Retriever died of stomach and liver cancer at age 11 1/2 and our other dog a McNabb died of liver failure at age 11 a biopsy was never done to see if it was cancer or not. I think it is just too big of a coincidence that 2 dogs of 2 breeds eating the same food die suddenly of liver issues. It was strange for the first dog to go down so suddenly but to have the second one do so also when both dogs had been so healthy all of their lives was very strange to me.

Both of our beloved pets died and we suffered much pain because of this loss. We had thousands of dollars in vet bills and cremation fees in the end and 2 dead dogs to show for it.


I have been feeding my dog Nutro since he was a puppy, I had orignally put him on the puppy food and then graduated him to the Nutro Adult food (Chicken and rice formula)In the beginning of March I bought a new bag of food and soon after my dog started going Diarrhea ( Yellowish color) shortly after his Diarrhea started he began to vomit. I took him to the vet and they treated him for Giardia (parasite) even though the parasite test results were negative.

I changed his food to Dick Van Patten's dog food and my dog's stool seemed to harden. My dog does have allergies and he became allergic to the new dog food( broke out in hives) my vet then recommended I put him back on his old food ( Nutro) about 2 days after putting him back on Nutro he began to go Diarrhea, vomit, and had frequent urination. The vet's have ran many tests and he is a healthy dog with no diseases or parasites. The vets ran every blood test,fecal test,urin tests,they even took x-rays and he seems to be a healthy dog. Everything points to the Nutro because once again I started him on new food (Science diet) and he is perfectly fine. (thousands of dollars later)

The vet bills have totaled $2700.00


After reading the Nutro story on teh investigation, I had to note my own. I feed Nutro Natural for several years to my boxers whom I breed and show. In theat year of the rice gluten problems from China, and before it hit the news, I started having issues with on going diahrrea in my dogs. Took stool samples to my vet, had them examine some of the dogs, and they couldn't find anything. We tried medications, but nothing stopped the diahrrea.

I contacted Nutro asking if they had made a formula change and telling them what was happening tomy dogs, and they denied changing anything in the recipe; in essense, they blew me off. I finally switched my dog to Eagle Holistic and all the dogs quit having bowel issues; even though I ended up doing a sudden switch. To me, that points directly to an issue with Nutro, especially since it has affect *all* my dogs. Nutro's response to my inquiries was also disappointing, and even after it was found they had the contaminated rice in their foods, they denied and did spins jobs on their food. Very irresponsible. So now I do not trust the company, which was good as they still seem to be having issues.

Veterinary bills, but thankfully my dogs seem to have recovered after switching foods.


I have been feeding my toy yorkshire terriers (3 generations) NUTRO small bite for sixteen years WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS.

With NUTRO my dogs have always been very healthy with shiny coats and very regular bowel movements (like clockwork!); they are never constipated. There was a short time (2 years) that I lived outside of the US with my dogs and couldn't find NUTRO.

Though I tried numerous different premium brands of dog food, none of them had the same positive results as the NUTRO. I was thankful when I moved back to the US and was able to put them back on NUTRO. I will continue to feed my dogs NUTRO until I am made aware of any dangers confirmed by the FDA. By the way, I now have a cat, and she too, has been very healthy on NUTRO for the past two years.


We have been feeding Nutro Lamb & Rice for years. We used to feed Nutro Large Breed Lamb & Rice but the company has not been making it for over a year now. We have had our 2 21 mos. old puppies on it all their lives until recently switching to their Holistic formula for all 4 dogs. They have not had any problems related to their food, although they do occasionally have stomach upsets as all animals do. I trust Nutro foods products for my dogs.

I bought Nurto Cat food (dry) and 2 other dry cat foods and Combined them in one big tub (plastic food tub) I just got an e-mail stating that Dogs & possibly cats are gettng sick/dying on their food. I'm affraid to give my cat the remainder of this food (only did 2 days worth then switched to Wet (due to my cat not wanting to eat dry.. however, I can't even give this food away for fear it could make cats sick! Please advise


Nutro Dog Food. Lamb and Rice dry, Lamb and Rice Original Recipe.

I have been using this product for over 10 years with no problem. I adopted a Siberian Husky who had very sensitive digestion and when I switched him to this food he was fine and continues to be. I see no problems at all with the product and have been very satisfied.

My last dog ate this product his whole life and he was a 70lb Rhodesian Ridgeback mix that lived to be 15.5 years old. No problems with his and the food ever.

No damage, has been a very good product for me and 2 of my dogs.


Nutro Lamb & Rice for Puppy Food purchased at FleetFarm in Mason City, Iowa for the past 3 months. In the last 2 weeks our puppy has become sick and has thrown up and has been lethargic and has been very hot/feverish. Refusing to eat her food at times. I was alerted to the FDA article released on April 20th by the breeder we purchased our dog from last January. I've called the vet for an appointment and have stopped feeding our puppy the food immediately. Hopefully there is no permanent damage done. The complaints listed in the article are exactly what we've been experiencing. I noticed our food has been lighter in color too. I'm very mad.

This puppy has been a much needed addition to our family this past January since we lost our previous collie at christmas who was 10 1/2 years old (who did not eat this food mentioned). If we loose this new puppy due to dog food, it would be a devastating 2nd blow to our children.


A year and a half ago my dog was eating nothing but Nutro dog food due to the wonderful benefits that my local pet store went on and on about. After eating the food for more than a year, my year and a half old bichon frise started experiencing frequent urination, and was unable to go to the restroom when she did try. We took her to the vet only to find out we had to pay over $150 for x-rays and other diagnostic tests. The doctor told me that she had a kidney stone the size of a grape if not bigger! A ten-pound dog with that big of a kidney stone!

She had surgery a week later. We were told that it would be a $600+ surgery, but the doctor discounted it as much as possible to $350. We can barely afford the expensive dog food! We were also told that there were other options such as putting her to sleep. How could we do that when it seemed to be our fault for giving her such a healthy food?

A $350.00 kidney-stone surgery on a ten pound dog on top of other fees for tests!! I was told she had to be on another expensive food for the rest of her life due to the size and type of the kidney stone!


Our Pembroke Welsh Corgi was on Nutro Max Mini Chunks. He suddenly died on 3/11/08 of acute kidney failure. He had just turned 8 years old. The vet was baffled by the kidney failure at his fairly young age, especially considering that he was an otherwise healthy, happy, active dog. Prior to his death, he started vomiting bile occasionally, drinking an excessive amount of water, urinating frequently, and his urine was devoid of color (it was clear). In the very end, he had horrible diarrhea and was lethargic.

I strongly believe that the food he was eating played a part in his death. We regularly checked the food recall lists, watching for Nutro brand foods, but all we ever saw was that the dry food was safe. I read that another consumer with an ill dog noticed that the food color had changed. I noticed the same thing, but didn't think much of it, believing that if there was a problem with the food, it would be reported. We never had his food tested, which I regret. However, the timing coincides with the incidents that many other pet owners reported during that time period, and I want to make sure that my experience is documented. If the food was the cause of his kidney failure, I hope that reporting it will help the FDA in their investigation. My main purpose for reporting this is not for monetary vengeance, but so that this will not happen again to other beloved pets when companies do not act responsibly.


I had been feeding Nutro Ultra for 3 years last Fall I bought the 20#(est.) size bag and 1 of my 3 westies would not eat it. One that did eat ended up with loose bowels. After I mixed the food with Ultra Adult the one not eating would eat but leave some of the Weight Management kibble in the bowl. I finished the bag and was in a pitch and bought a 5# bag of the Nutro Ultra Weight Management everyone ate and seemed to be fine. Then I bought the 20# size Nutro Ultra Weight Management again and had the bowel and refusal problems again. I have now whiched and all 3 are eating and feeling fine.

Nutro lost my business.


Bought several types of Nutro Food from puppy line and small dogs line and my dog got extremely sick including vomitting, diahaerra, and bloody stools. After switching brands, my Yorkie's symptoms all went away. Food made my dog very sick, to the point he was taken to the vet to examine what was wrong.

Vet bills and waste of money buying bags of that food.


Six years ago when I rescued my dog, a lab/husky mix I discovered very quickly that she had a sensitive stomach. I started her on the nurto puppy and kept her on that and then when she came of age I put her on their sensitve stomach. She was on Nutro for the first two years of her life with out any problems. I very much felt satisfied with this food, and the only reason I switched later on was that I could get a high quality brand for a cheaper price through work.

However I did have my old beagle who at the time was around the age of 8 on the Nutro senior and he began to have problems urinating and it was discovered that his PH levels were high...all of this happened within a couple months of switching him over to this brand of senior food. Now as I stated before I had a great experience the first time around with Nutro, however the second dog it did not work out for. I am not complaining about this brand because I still feel that it is a good brand, the only thing is that I did my research...Certain breeds of dogs are more susceptible to bladder and urinary tract infections, crystals, and stones....which is a reaction to certain things in dog food, vitamins, and such...that is why some people are discovering that their dogs are having these similar problems...Beagles are far more likely to get crystals from a certain ingredient that nutro feeds than my mixed lab/husky would. He even had the same reaction to a hip & joint vitamin I put him on last year...it was the same ingredient used in nutro. I do not currently have my notebook with me to write down what that is, but I think Vets should do a little more in depth information during animals exams and such...I work at a kennel and it is amazing how many things we have to explain to a pet owner that their vet manages to leave out.


My cats had been eating Natural Choice Complete Care Indoor Weight Management for the past couple of years. Around Feb 17th I noticed that my cat Jabba was acting odd, sleeping a lot and not eating/drinking much. On Feb 21st she began throwing up water and not eating period. My husband rushed her to the vet who gave her some fluids and sent her home. Over the next two days she worsened (my other cat was unaffected).

On Feb 23rd my husband again to the cat to the vet (a different office) where he was told that things looked pretty bad. We received a phone call that night that Casey had passed away in her sleep. I am CERTAIN that the cat food is to blame. Since then we have switched to Purina and are happy to say that our other cat (Skinny) is happy and fine. After reading the article above I'm simply heartbroken that it seems I killed my cat by providing her with poisoned food. I wish I had known about these problems, maybe Casey would still be here.

I have not spoken with the company directly, but I did want to share my story. Use it as needed.


I use to sell Nutro as a demonstrator (Many many years ago) It was an excellent food. No by products & really a class 1 food. I raised 9 dogs on it that lived till they were 18-20 years old.

Since then I recently heard of it being recalled. I checked was really shocked UNTIL I found out that Nutro sold the company to Mars. That's when I realized Oh No! Several years ago Mars had some candy recalls as it was bad. I have never ever bought their products since. Now I see why Nutro that Used to be a great dog food is no longer made the same & I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

Just a little insight that many may not know.

I want to lodge a complaint regarding the FDA probe of the pet food maker NUTRO. There is a formal probe by the FDA and I want to say how much we've taken our Bichon Frise to the veterinarian regarding allergies, sicknesses, etc. in the past several years. How do I get involved? I feed my dog just about every NUTRO product sold.


My 16 month old Rott/Mix has been in and out of the vets since Oct 08 with stomach problems. Vomiting and diarrhea. She would be put on medication and a bland diet for a couple of weeks and be ok for awhile. I have been feedind her Nutro Max for sensitive stomach for about 9 months now and she is constantly having digestive problems. I am convinced it is the dog food. She has had x-rays and blood work ups and it all comes back negitave.

I have spent so much money on vet bills with no answers to why she keeps getting sick. I have probably spent around $1,000. since last fall on vet bills.


I have five of my own dogs and foster dogs for animal rescue. The pet store recommended Nutro Natural Choice Lamb Meal and Rice. We fed it for about 9 months. We noticed color changes with each bag. Our dogs would sometimes get sick and throw up. I called the Customer Service Line and they told me to change to the NUTRO MAX and see if the problem continued. They mailed me a sheet on how to slowly transfer the dogs over. We did that and I called them immediately after a week of being on 100% NUTRO MAX,

I called CS to let them know I had VERY sick dogs. They had diarrhea so bad I said, It looks like someone used a paintball gun on my front yard! I was very upset. We changed back to Nutro Natural Choice. Several of the dogs went to the vet for gastro issues and were put on Metronidazole. There was no explanation. The last straw...I was at the pet store buying more and another customer came in and was complaining that NUTRO had made her dog ill. Almost two years of issues and I'd never blamed the food!

I took my dogs off of it ASAP and we have not had any other issues in the past year. We fed this food for a few months and even recommended it to families that adopted dogs from us. We continued to treat for issues we blamed on every other illness we could. We had animals put on medication they didn't need! Something should be done about this company. They are obviously putting something in some of the bags of dog food.


I have been reading about how these dogs were getting sick from this product. I have a 16 year old Yokshire Terrier that has been on this his entire life. He started with yellow bile coming up periodically then he could keep no food down. I have all the vet work for his liver and pancreus damage and the last bag of food information. He is recovering but not sure if the pancreus will ever fully recover.


Last year I began feeding my black lab Nutro Max dog food. Shortly afterwards she began vomiting. Not believing that the food was to blame we continued to feed her with the same food. Our younger yellow lab began eating the same food at the same time. Lately, we have noticed a weight loss in this dog. After hearing about the possible FDA investigation of Nutro, we have decided to change name brand food. We have noticed that there is no more vomiting from my black lab, but it is too early to determine if there is weight gain from the yellow lab.

Vomiting from one dog and weight loss by the second dog.


I had been feeding my 3 cats Nutro cat
for several years and all of a sudden my cats were sick and not eating their food. We finally called the company and asked if the formula had been changed and they said it had not. We explained that our 3 cats would not eat and were sick. They sent us a bag to send in a sample of the food. We did so. My husband then called them and said our cats were still having issues. They sent us a coupon for a new bag. We got a new bag after taking back the old bag of food. We tried the new bag of food and the cats were still not eating. By this time they had lost alot of weight.

We took the food back and were told by the person working at the pet store that they had alot come back and that it had been bought by Mars Company. During the time we were feeding Nutro one of our cats got crystals twice and has never gotten them since switching food. We switched food to Natural Balance and the cats gained weight and were all better. We were talking to our neighbor and he had been feeding his cats Nutro and they had stopped eating too. I told him we had issues and had switched food. He switched food and his cats started eating again. It is hard to believe this is all a fluke. I believe there is something wrong with the food.

Many Vet visits and stress over cats health.


Our dog was a health, vibrant, and strong dog and she became pregnant and had 12 beautiful puppies, we started to give her nutro ultr puppy food since it had so many nutrients, however within a day of eating the puppy food she became ill and could not hold her bowels, she started to have several accidents, she lost a lot of weight and her hair actual stated to fall out, even though she is a short haired dog you can edfinately see the difference. She is only 3 years old and she looks lie she is 70 years, her bones are pretruding, where as our other dog who eats a different brand of dog food looks extremely healthy, with a very shinny coat. we took our dog to the vet and they gave ger antibotics, and vitaims, we were also givin her puppies the nutro and have noticed that they now have started to have the runs.....

We have decided to stop giving our dogs this food and hopefully someone will complain enough to have this brand removed from the shelves, because at the end of the day the animals that we love are suffering.This food is supposed to be really good for our animals and it actually harming them and our pockets


We have three cats and one dog and have been feeding them Nutro Max for the last four years. The oldest cat started getting sick right away and vomiting about once a day. Now he is doing it if not once a day three to four times a week. We just thought it was because he was old. The vet hasn't been able to find anything wrong with him other than he needs to loose some weight. Now our youngest cat has started vomiting a couple times a week. The dog and the other cat will only vomit every so oftin. We have never been able to explain why this was happening to our pets. Then I heard the story on CNN that others were having a problem. This is the only food that all four of our animals get and the dog is the only one that gets to go outside.

I am worried about the well being of my pets.

I have 3 indoor dogs, 2 cocker spanials, and one Cavalier King Charles spanial. I also have a cat, My oldest cocker, I have had for 9 years, he can eat anything, and will usually eat any kind of dog food, he is not picky. He was always on Pedigree, and sometimes dry cat food, when he would get into that., but never sick. since I saved the other two dogs, from the pound, I have usually fed all three, Kibbles and bits, or Pedigree. A family member who works at Petco, told me to try Nutro Ultra, since it was so well balanced and I would see a great improvement in my dogs coats and energy, instead, all I have seen is vomiting all over my living room, bedroom, and anywhere else they can,

I feel so sorry for them, they are like my children, they have been peeing constantly and eating grass, as much as they can, I was near the end of the bag, and watched CNN news and then found all the complaints, and it is NOT coincidence, my dogs have been healthy always!!! never sick, and have always switched between different foods and actually, like eating different varieties, so when I purchased this, I was surprised that they didn't want to eat it, it took them a month to eat a bag, that would normally be gone in three weeks, I never thought they GREAT, dog food, that everyone says is so good for your dog, would hurt my three little babies, they should be ashamed of themselves, for selling that to unsuspecting consumers who are trying to give there pets the proper nutriants.

Today, I saved the rest of the Nutro, and am calling the Ohio FDA line tomorrow to complain. EVERYONE should be calling to complain, before some of their pets end up like the ones I read on this website, thank God, I was watching TV, or I would of gone out and bought another bag today of Nutro, instead they got, Pedigree, and they ate like they had been starved. SHAME ON NUTRO. And Petco should forget about their friendship with the Nutro people and start worrying about their customers and direct them to another brand of dog food until, it can be figured out., No petfood brand can be that great that you would let your customers buy something that would hurt there pets!!!!

The only thing I lost is the cost of all my furniture and carpet being cleaned and hopefully my pets can recover from what ever has made them ill, and the huge 55.00 bag of food I purchased from Petco.


I own a Chocolate Labador Retriver that is now five and a half years old. I used to feed him pretty much what ever brand name dry dog food and he never seemed to care other wise he is not a picky dog in regards to his food. When he was about 16 months old he started to lose his fur and his skin was all dry and he was always scraching himself with his hind feet to the point both sides where his paws could reach had no fur left on them what so ever. I took him to our vet four times about this and was told he was alergic to his food most likely - his shampoo - and everything else they could think of.

A friend had two chocolate labs also that were doing the same thing as mine was. So she had her vet do the food test and check the dogs for alergis and they were found to have a reaction to any food with corn oil or any corn related products such as dog food containing corm meal as a filler and certain meats such as beef. I went to my local Pets Supplies store and mentioned what I was going through with my dog to the store manager and how a friends labs had been tested and were found to be alergic to anything with corn - beef in their food. The manager stated this is quite a thing with some dogs when cheaper foods use different types of fillers such as corn and he also stated he felt it was more likely an issue with either beef or chicken used in some foods and suggested I try Natural Choice Lamb and Rice to start with because they contained nothing in regards to corn and the lamb is a good choice for a meat and if this food didn't take care of the problem he had others I could try but they were quite a bit more expensive.

I asked the manager how long should I give this food a chance time wise to see if its working and I was told give it at least one month - six weeks. After about two weeks I noticed his scratching was about half of what it had been and three weeks had past sense putting my lab on Natural Choice Lamb and Rice and I noticed his scratching was cut by about 2/3's and the bald spots had fur growing back where the vet had stated it most likely would not return. A month had passed and his coat now had some gloss to it and the fur where bare was filling in and his scratching had all but stopped. I had him on the Natural Choice up untill about one year ago thinking I would try him on Natural Choices low cal. food because of a weight issue and he started his scratching all over again.

After two weeks I went back to Pets Supplies and talked to the manager about this and he reminded me that he had told me if your dog does good on the lamb and rice you had better leave well enough a lone and he was right so I put him back on the lamb and rice and in about five weeks he was back to normal again. His stools are always consistant in color and solid - his urine has not changed in color and he is like clock work as to when he has to releive himself in both area's. He drinks about 2 quarts of water put day 12 hours and his last check up at the vet 6 weeks ago found him to be very healthy.

Any time I read or hear about a dog food issue I just shutter at the thought that it could be a food issue but then I remind myself just how well he has done on this brand of food and the Lamb and Rice. I know of five other owners of dogs one being my daughter that also has a lab and they all use the same food and have yet had any problem what so ever. I just have not had any problems with Natural Choice Lamb and Rice and if I even suppected there was a problem I would have him of it yesterday - my only complaint is the large price increase over the past two years and a smaller bag. My Lab is not just my pet but he is my help dog also and my best friend I depend on him to do many things for me.


My rhodesian ridgeback has had a UTI for a year that we cannot get rid of. We found she has an enlarged adrenal gland so they thought she had cushings disease but tests came back negative. She had been vomitting up foamy bile with yellowish color, chronic diarrhea and excessive thirst. Our vet put her on hills SD for a short time and she got better but we went back to nutro natural choice lamb and rice b/c she had always been on this. First thing this morning I hear on the news that people are having a problem with Nutro.

I called my vet and we both starting looking into the matter and now think the food may be the cause of her illness. I am mad that the pet food store misled me when they were having problems stocking the food and above all they should have known there were problems instead telling me this was one of the best options in pet food. Going on Wellness as my vet has recommended. Feel betrayed by the company that they knew and did nothing. Will never go back to this brand and will tell anyone who will listen not to buy this food.

We have spent so much money at the vet it is frightening. I feel sorry for the people who can't afford the specialist and other vet bills to figure out why the pet is ill.Not to mention how horrible I feel that I was blindly killing my dog with the food I was feeding her. Even started feeding her the wet as a snack to mush up meds in. Totally disgusted. My vet asked me if I thought the food could be an issue a year ago and i said no she had been on it for 7 years with no issues. Feel foolish for not investigating this further.


We fed our dog Nutro Senior for 2 years (a previous dog ate it for many years) without incident. Approximately, two months ago, she started throwing up routinely, sometimes several times per day. She also looked sick all the time. We could tell she did not feel well. We took her to the vet to see if they could identify the problem and we started her on stomach medication.

When we ran out of the Nutro dog food, we started her on Science Diet Sensitive Stomach (a food we were feeding our other dog who does have a sensitive stomach) and she has not thrown up since. I had my suspicions that it might be the Nutro dog food just because when we stopped feeding that, she recovered. She is well and happy now. I think at minimum this should be looked into because I am convinced something was amiss with the dog food. Until I get an investigation on this, my dogs will not be eating Nutro dog food.

Several hundred dollars in vet bills and a lot of soiled carpet spots.


My miniature schnauzer daisy had been on the nutro natural choice for inactive dogs to keep her weight under control for the five years I had her. Suddenly I noticed she started losing energy and was lethargic about two months ago. So I decided to begin feeding her nutro natural choice for puppies to maybe give her more energy with the ingredients provided in that formula. After only two cups of the new food, overnight, she began to not eat or drink water and became extremely lethargic and weak.

I immediately took her to the vet to check her out and the vet said that the tests came back with pancreatitis and enlarged liver and the bile was upsetting her so she vomited and had no appetite. after treating her with antibiotics and anti-nausea drugs and feeding her and hydrating her through a IV the vet suggested that she would not recover from the pancreatitis and liver damage. If she couldn't hold down medication then it was too late.

This crisis developed on 04/01/2009 and by 04/13/2009 Daisy had to be put to sleep to stop the pain she was in. I had spent almost $1000.00 on vet intensive care and it resulted in the loss of my friend.


We began feeding our dogs the Nutro Max Sensitive Stomach brand for about 2 years now and until recently they were healthy, energetic and great dogs. But lately both dogs have been very sick. Garcia our two year old 90 pound St. Bernard mix and Lola six year old 70 pound shepherd mix have been having frequent accidents in the house, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and just not right. I took the urine samples to the vet and they found crystals in Garcia's urine and prescribed him UTI medication and antibiotics. The accidents continued two and three times daily well after the medicine was gone.

Since we have two dogs eating the same food, it was very hard for us to pinpoint which dog was sick. Then Lola started vomiting daily and was losing weight rapidly. I took her to vet and the vet said she had the doggie flu basically and have her antibiotics. During the time she was receiving her medicine, she was lethargic, listless, not eating, vomiting and sleeping a lot. She would try and get up and her back legs would give out and she would fall plus she wouldn't even jump up into my SUV to go for a ride. She didn't even want to go for her daily walks. So I started making her chicken and rice daily and she seemed to be doing better. Since she was starting to act better, I started mixing the chicken and rice with her kibble and the vomiting and urinating in the house began... which was today. After reading these messages and the Nutro food recall we threw away all the food and went out and bought all new. This explains everything. I hope this is the culprit and I don't have to keep calling the vet daily with her new symptoms. Something needs to be done immediately so no other dog is affected by this terrible pet product.


I have been feeding my dog Nutro Natural Choice and recently switched him to the senior formula a few months back. For almost three months now he has been vomiting yellow bile 1 - 2 times daily. In addition he was having other digestive problems. I took him to the vet and they ran blood work but found nothing. I am now attributing it to the food. After seeing the segement on the news today I am very concerned. I switched him to another brand immediately. Please investigate further so other poor animals dont get sick.


My healthy 9 month old female boxer began nutro dog food (lamb and rice) a couple of weeks ago. My pup became vilolently ill within a day of eating this food. I could not figure out what was wrong with her. Her diarrhea was severe and she was continually vomitting yellow bile. I could not figure out why she fell so ill so fast. I was doing some research on the internet to get to the bottom of her illness. I couldn't believe what I found. There are numerous dogs across the country with the same symptoms from this food. I cannot believe that pet stores continue to stock this product. I warn everyone that I know with a pet about this food. Her symptoms cleared up within a day of taking her off this food. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE. THIS PRODUCT IS MAKE DOGS SICK AND OWNERS WORRIED SICK. IT MUST BE TAKEN OFF THE MARKET.


We had 2 Dobermans. Duke was 9 and Isabelle was 3. We fed our dogs Nutro Large Breed lamb & rice for their entire lives. Duke was diagnosed with bone cancer on the Friday before this past Thanksgiving. He started vomitting and had blood in his stools on Sunday night. Monday morning we rushed him to the vet to send him off to puppy heaven. 3 DAYS later (Thanksgiving Day)Issy was acting lethargic and hadn't eaten. We left her home with our son who called us at 7:00 that night to report she had pooped on the kitchen floor and there was blood in her stool.

We rushed her to the emergency vet where she was diagnosed with IMHA,Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia which is a death sentence. We had to make the horrible decision to let her join Duke. All of our friends were horrified by this disatrous turn of events. After reading the information about Nutro I am now beginning to wonder if their food caused their early demise -- especially Isabelle. I know Duke had cancer but he was routinely seeing a vet and to die just 3 days after diagnosis seems severe. And then to loose our 3 year old just 3 days later????

Certain toxins can lead to hemolytic anemia. The metal zinc and certain foods (like onion and garlic) are examples of such toxins. Zinc is one of the ingredients in Nutro Large Breed formula. We purchased a new bag of dog food just prior to their deaths. We recently donated the food to a rescue and have contacted them to warn them not to feed it to their dogs and to see if we can get it back to have it analyzed for toxins.

I lost both of my beloved companions. Vet bills.


On March 7,2008 we had to put down one of our dogs. Crystal. When I heard about the problem with Nutro food, I began to wonder. I was feeding my three dogs Nutro Max Adult Beef. On February 28th, 2008 Crystal had her shots and the vet pronounced her healthy as could be expected for a dog her age. Eight days later she was deteriorating so bad, we had no option but to put her down. She was coughing so bad, peeing everywhere, walking into walls, she was blind, deaf and going in circles. Now that I think back on it, I think she had been going down hill longer than that, it was just those last eight days where it got so bad.

Anyway, around November 2007 I switched all of the dogs to Nutro Beef because Crystal could not tolerate any food with chicken, and the Nutro was supposed to be good, all beef and easy to purchase. Crystal had had urinary tract stones a few months before (just an age related problem, and the Nutro had all the right ingredients to make sure the stones did not come back. Now my other two dogs started having loose to liquid stools, and they all drank water like there was no end to it. One of my dogs was a puppy at the time and she started peeing in the house. She was house broken prior. Since changing food after Crystal was gone, totally different brand, the other two dogs now drink water normally, their stools are firm, and they are eating less. My puppy is now back to being house broken.

Is it possible, that if there is a problem with Nutro foods, that it could have been going on this long?

I also spoke to another Vet today, and he said that the insatiable thirst, peeing constantly, and alot of the syptoms that Crystal had, could have been from the Kidneys shutting down.

My Husband & I found it very painful to have this dog put down, and now, if it was from the food, we are starting to feel guilty, and we may have still had her with us.


My then 2-year old lab started vomiting (November 2007-April 2008) about an hour after eating. I exclusively fed him Nutro Sensitive Stomach for adult dogs. I took him to the vet who ran tests and, as a last resort, performed surgery to find nothing wrong with him. X-rays showed an abnormal amount of stomach gas and he constantly burped and vomited everything he ate. He was eventually put on antibiotics and I switched him food to an all natural brand and he has recovered nicely.

After $1000+ in vet bills and anguish over his welfare, my dog has since recovered but if the food was the source of his anguish, I feel that reimbursement of my vet bills is the least that is owned us.


We have been feeding our 8 lb chihuahuas Nutro small bites lamb & rice for about 3 years now. Over the last few years we noticed that our one dog, Bianca, developed a problem of urinating on the carpet and crying when you pick her up then running and hiding. We thought she had separation anxiety and depression so she was put on amitryptiline, a antidepressant. Since we assumed it was a psychological problem we didn't investigate further into it, however; we we had tests done about 6 months ago prior to her going back on the antidepressant medicine which revealed a high ph. This last month when we were on vacation we noticed blood in her urine.

We rushed her to the emergency vet and they said she had a high ph and crystals in her urine. She could have had a stone too. We had cut down on the dry food recently but her ph is still high. After reading all the horror stories about the Nutro food I am almost certain this is the cause of her problem. I am currently awaiting the results of another urine test to see if the infection is still present or if it definitley came from her diet. I have spent over $1000.00 in the last few years on vet bills for this poor baby. This last month alone will be near $500.00. I only want her to get better, but if there is a class action lawsuit against this company I am there. There should be some quality control and standards for these pet food companies. So many people and their pets have suffered over the last few years. When will it stop? Please help us. We love our pets. they are our family.


We started feeding Nutro Dog food to my dog about two months ago. She immediately started having digestive problems and then diahrea. She then refused to eat the food all together.I contacted Nutro and they assured me that it was not the food and that they adhere to the highest standards. They offered to refund my money or I could take the food back to the store for a refund or exchange.


My dog has been avoiding her Nutro Food lately, since we picked up a new bag of it about three weeks ago. And she has had an unusual bout of diarrhea and soft stools.


We had decided to try out dogson Nutro Max (Beef & Rice i believe) dog food. We slowly switched them over to it to alleviate any issues with changing foods.

When we opened the bag we noticed it smelled odd like caramel popcorn. We figured it just must be how that food smelled.

All of our dogs (we had 4 at the time) had diarrhea with this food. One of our dogs (mataya) a lab mix started to get more sick than the others on this food. She got to the point where she refused to eat that food. But her illness got worse and worse. We stopped feeding this food to our dogs after about 2-3 weeks because NONE of our dogs diarrhea got any better it was off and on the whole time and Mataya seemed to be feeling worse.

Matayas symptoms started about a week into the food, she had diarrhea, was lethargic, vomited, and didnt want to eat. She gradually became weaker and weaker.

After we stopped the Nutro Max food our other 3 dogs got better the diarrhea stopped completely.

With Mataya however this food caused something to happen in her body that sent her in a terrible downward cycle.

She became so weak we had to carry her to our car in a towel and take her to the emergency where she spent 2 days getting medications and blood transfusions.

We spent the next 2-3 weeks getting her medications, immuno-suppressents, and anti-biotics. The immuno-suppressents helped her feel better for about 10 days but then it was downhill from there her body just started attacking itself and she got to the point where she could no longer, get up without help, control her bladder and various other issues.

It broke our hearts and we had to have her put to sleep in november. We still miss her very much every single day.

We wrote nutro and told them of our problems with their food. We had even saved a sample of the food incase we needed to have it tested. We did not hear from them for a while and then got a call one day. They wanted us to send in a sample of the food we had for them to test.

The sample was nearly Everything we had saved. But we hoped they would be honest and help alleviate the emotional anguish we went through and prevent it in other pets.

We didnt hear from them for quite a while then got a letter in the mail that said basically hey were sorry your dog dies but our food is fine!

It most certainly was not fine or we wouldnt have had FOUR sick dogs and one dog pass away.

Deceased dog, nearly $2000 in vet bills, broken carpet cleaner ($200+) from cleaning the carpets so much, and untold emotional sorrow over the loss of our dog. My bf can barely even talk about her or look at her pics without crying still.


Dear FDA,

Enclosed is a copy of a letter I have sent to Nutro. I had no idea that there has been an issue with this product, but as I read everyone's comments, I would like to testify that similar events have been happening in my household with my dogs. Bright yellow vomiting has been exactly as some other people have reported, and neither one of my dogs were ever finiky about their food before, and neither one has been prone to be the vomiting type or with sensitive stomachs in the past.

I run Agility with my dogs, and they have been so lethargic, that they just lay around all day lately...
I've been feeding Nutro to my dogs since 1985, and for the last 6 months, I have been noticing random diahrrea/ excessive itching and more frequent urination on both my dogs as well. I always buy different types of bags of Nutro and mix them all together... And something I've noticed is that in the last few months both dogs have put on so much weight and have been acting so lethargic!

Just as I'm writing, Yukon (my standard 3 year old Poodle) is throwing up, and this is a new batch of two different bags I've purchased recently...

I have bought every one of your higher end dry foods in the past 6 months to see if there could be something wrong with the last batch, but to no avail. I would like to find out from you if you have been changing the ingredients on your food, which used to be the best of the best! I have been so frustrated and deeply concerned with this issue.


I have three boxers and have been feeding them Nutro Ultra for adults for years.In February of 2009 my oldest turned 10 and has been getting Adequan Injections and taking Deramaxx as needed for arthritis and has been doing fine he was able to run and play with the boys most of the time and when he couldn't, we assumed it was because he was getting older.On March 16,2009 I took him to the vet because he hadn't been eating well and when he did he was throwing it up and also throwing up yellow bile.

The vet ran tests and then bloodwork and the bloodwork came back that his liver enzymes were extremely elevated,so they kept him overnight.I went to see him the next day on March 17,2009 and stayed there with him for hours, he was laying there couldn't move, barely lift his head, they did an ultrasound and said that it looked like there could be something on his liver or he could have lepto. They tested him for lepto and he did not have that.I left the vet at 8pm that evening and within an hour received a call from the vet that he started having seizures and was going downhill fast. I went to the vet and his gums were white, eyes twitching, I ended up having to decide to put my baby to sleep that night.I was hysterical and heartbroken and the vet just attributed it to possible liver problems.I never could have thought that it could be due to the pet food.What should I do about this?What should I feed them?

MY baby, Chopper, died because of this,I missed work for days and am still heartbroken and cry almost daily.


I bought Nutro canned dog food to feed my dogs because the woman at the pet store told me that is was one of the best and I wanted to make sure my dogs weren't fed food with junk in it. So I bought it. After aproximately 1.5 - 2 weeks, they all started getting sick with throwing up and diareha. I thought it was something I was using around the house or something that may have gotten in the yard, but I hadn't changed anything or done anything different for years, so I couldn't imagine what it would have been.

I just heard this morning on HLN news about the food I was feeding and then looked into it on the internet. All the testimonials are exactly what I have experienced with my dogs. I was actually happy to know that it wasn't me but was sick to think I was the cause of their discomfort for feeding it to them. I have had to take one dog to the vet for evaulation. The others ones seem to be alright since they aren't eating it anymore. I was under the assumtion that the recall of the pet foods were past and that if I bought what I thought was good quality food, they would be alright. I am very disappointed.

I had to take one of the dogs to the vet for evualation and treated. The rest of them seem to be feeling better now they are not eating it anymore.

My dog became ill after eating the Natural Choice Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal Formula dry food. My 2 1/2 year old, 15 lbs Dachshund began having diahrea and throwing up all over. This occured every 45 minutes or so. After he had a bloody stool I took him to the Vet. They first put him on antibiotics, then a couple days later they put in an IV over night and sent us home with more intestinal upset antibiotics.

This has been going on for 7-8 weeks now. At first I was transitioning him into the new dog food, but when he went on it full time is when he got severely sick. Now he has been on prescription food only for about 2 weeks and still in stomach distress. About the time this dog got sick my now deceased 18 year old Dachshund was getting a few cernels of Nutro when he wouldn't eat other things. 2 weeks ago we had him put down because he was constipated and threw up when he ate. At 18 he could not withstand the trauma.


We have been feeding our Terrior Nutro for years and years, Recently she began refused to eat her food, we called the company and asked them if they had changed their ingrediants and they claimed that they had. Shortly after she began to vomit continuously, and we took her to the vet. The vet said that she had an inflamation in her bowel like he had never seen. He thought that it was cancer. After a 1500$ scope/biopsy, on top of regular vet bills, he determined there was no cancer and that it was just an inflamation. We were told to switch foods and have her on medication. I don't know what happend to nutro, but their product is garbage now.


I suspect that Nutro dry pet food caused my dog to become ill, eventually resulting in her death. She had digestive problems including frequent vomiting and urinary tract blockage. I thought she had a sensitive stomach and possible urinary tract infection, however, after reading this article it seems her symtoms are identicle to many other dogs who suffered because of this product.

I had to euthenize my dog in march 2009 because she was unable to urinate and in a great deal of pain.


I have had 2 dogs die with similar systoms after feeding them nutro for years. The last one came back as intestional cancer. She was only 8 years old. Her systems where vomiting and loose stools. The vet scholl I had taken her to ask me if she had been poisioned. They treated her for her cancer but she still died.

I had spent will over $15000 for her cancer treatments. But didn't know that it was the food makeing her sick. She died 3 months after her last chemo treatment.


We have a beagle that is 7 yers old. about 2 years ago, she became very sick. We nursed her back to health. She maintained for approximately 1 year and then started declinging again. This time we were pushed to the edge several times with the decision of putting her down. Her symptoms were lack of appetite, urinating in the house, throwing up her food, throwing up yellow bile, and occasionally black stools. The vet was treating her for liver failure, as that was what the lab work indicated. After a lot of love and care she has again recovered. We have kept her on a prescription food from the vets office. We have 2 labs as well as the beagle.

Not realizing that the food we were feeding our pets could be the culprit, we also fed our labs the Nutro Lamb & Rice Dog food. Our little beagle snuck into the Nutro food, and had a healthy dose. She immediatley became ill. She began throwing up food, not wanting to eat, and throwing up the yellow bile again.

This last episode was 1 week ago. I saw the news today and was so shocked and hurt that I was feeding our pets this food. We are throwing it all away today and will buy a different food.

I think this illness has permanently damaged our beagle's liver. We have spent $2,000.00 to $3,000.00 on vet bills and lab work. I need to go back and add the receipts. Our beagle is on prednizone and medication to settle her tummy. We try occasionally to ween her from the meds. If we get this food out of the house, she might not need medicine at all. I am so angry! Like many others, our pets are part of our family.


I have a German Shepherd Rescue here in Montana and have been feeding Nutro Natural Lamb and Rice, the dogs like it but they constantly have the diarrhea, started vomiting and won't stop. I wasn't sure it was the food and tried pepto bismal and metronidazole...nothing and so I switched food and they stopped vomiting and had regular stools again...I am not feeding Nutro anymore....now trying to doctor the dogs back to health..

Ill dogs, doctoring back to health, luckily none have died...


Several days after beginning to add some Nutro canned food to my dog's dry dog food, she became lethargic, began vomiting and had white gums. Her blood counts were extremely low. This was a perfectly healthy 10 month old dog. We tried giving her a different diet and some added iron for several days, but she eventually lost the battle. The only thing that was different was the addition of the Nutro food. This happened approximately 5 weeks before all the news stories about the tainted pet food occurred in late 2006. I will NEVER, ever purchase any products made by Nutro again.

Our dog died...we suffered a $1000 vet bill, but I'm more upset that we lost our dog.


Approx. 20 months ago, both of my retired racing greyhounds developed severe diarrhea, vomiting, and lethargy. This went off and on for nearly 14 months. I was feeding my dogs Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice. I had them both to the vet; however nothing showed up on exam other than weight loss. They were put on various meds to help with the diarrhea and vomiting and I home-cooked. The diarrhea and vomiting would go away, then I'd start them back on their food. Same thing....within days bloody diarrhea and vomiting yellow bile.

The vet thought maybe try a sensitive stomach formula, which I did switch them to (Nutro Sensitive Stomach). Same problems after only 3-4 days. I was afraid to try other pet foods due to the large-scale recall that was occuring. I remember being so excited that MY dogs' food was not on the recall list. My female who's normal weight was 64 pounds was down to 52 pounds and my male who's normal weight was 76 pounds was down to 61 pounds. Greyhounds look skinny normally, I looked like I had walking skeletons. Finally since nothing was helping the diarrhea and vomiting and due to the excessive weight loss (all tests were negative for cancers, etc.) I put them both on Purina EN prescription food. That's been nearly 6 months and from day 1, not even a slightly soft stool. I can understand if one dog developed severe food allergies, but BOTH dogs...at the same TIME? I just don't buy it.

My vet bills added up to over $2000.00 including medication and tests. I ended up having to rip up all of my carpeting and redo the flooring. Then some of my flooring was damaged due to the acids in the vomit. The stress on my dogs physical well-being cannot be measured. Nor can my loss of faith in this company for not coming forward. I now spend $72.00 on prescription food taht lasts me only ~3 weeks. I am too afraid to ever change their food again.


I share the following to alert you to yet another dog food related problem, and to add my complaints about NUTRO Natural Choice Large Breed Dog Food (kibble)/grain...

I. My (formerly 90 lb) MALE DOBERMAN has been on NUTRO for the past 2.5 years -- every morning he received 2 cups of NUTRO with water and a hard-boiled egg, and every evening he received 2 cups of NUTRO with water and a 1/4 lb of cooked chopped meat...

A (now large) tumor (the external portion of which is the size of 1/2 a good sized grapefruit) at the base of his floating ribs being developing ~2 years ago: It is an intra-muscular tumor that, due to its location, the vet is reluctant to remove

~1.5 months ago my male Doberman began having serious digestive problems - e.g., he became extremely gaseous after meals, and began regurgitating/re-consuming, regurgitating/re-consuming, etc. his meals

3 weeks ago my male Doberman began urinating blood, and rapidly dropped weight -- all of which STOPPED ABRUPTLY after I took his off NUTRO and began giving him home-cooked meals

Within 12 hours, his urine was clear, again. However, now, the only meals he can easily digest consists of home cooked chicken soup with yams, white potatoes, green beans and carrots -- PUREED -- and mixed with freshly cooked rice!!!!

Whereas, my male Doberman is overwhelmed with joy with the taste of his new diet, it is a struggle to get more weight back on his now skinny frame

II . As I had nearly 40 lbs of NUTRO left and did not suspect it as the cause of my male Doberman's problems...

I mixed 1/4 of a cup of NUTRO with my FEMALE DOBERMANs kibble/grain (Abady) for two consecutive meals. That night she vomited non-stop. Worse than that, the vomit was dark brown -- that is, it was infused with blood!

I immediately put my female Doberman on a diet of rice and cooked chopped meat for 2 days and, thankfully, she appears to have returned to full health

ADDITIONALLY, since I have not tossed the NUTRO and I will offer samples of NUTRO for FDA testing.

I am devastated at what has happened to my beloved pets and companions, and would appreciate receiving feedback on the findings of your investigation.


First I was sold an expired box of dog biscuits. They expired in January and I purchased and opened the box in April. I didn't notice the expiration date until after I had fed my dog one of the biscuits. Within less than 24 hours he was extremely sick. My normally active dog was so lethargic that he wouldn't even get up to walk around the house. His vomiting did not stop until given a shot from the vet. He needed IV fluids for dehydration and he wouldn't eat anything for 2 days. When I looked at the box of treats after we realized what was going on we found that the treats had holes all throughout them and there were flies/moths in the box. There were so many flies that when you opened the box they started escaping.

My vet charges came to $108.19. This was for the emergency exam, subcutaneous fluids, sucralfate (to help with his upset stomach), Cerenia (to stop the vomiting) and K9 I/D canned food to try and get him to start eating again.


I purchased an eight week old puppy from a rescue organization six months ago and immediately started him on nutro's dry puppy food. He immediately refused this food (tried to cover the dish with his bed) and never wanted to eat even though I knew he was hungry. As soon as I cut the dry food back to half/feeding a month ago, in order to add canned organic, he immediately gobbled his food. Prior to this he would often vomit, have diarrhea and occasionally was lethargic. The vet has examined him on two different occasions over the past six months and determined he had too much acid in his stomach. Her recommendation was to break his meals up into three a day. She also recommended Pepcid at night in order to prevent the vomiting; sometimes it works.

I switched to another dry dog food today after reading other consumer accounts regarding nutro, and I'm waiting to see if his symptoms subside. I might add that today I also took my cat off nutro because he would appear bloated from time to time.

The economic damage comes from spending a lot of money on dog food which may be tainted, and the cost of the vet visits (over $200). The biggest damage, if it's truly the dog food, is to my dog's health.


i switched my two chihuahuas to nutro, natural choice lamb and rice small bites a year ago after the the big recall from the grocery stores. my female died two months ago at 6 years old of a very mysterious massive heart attack. that's all the doc could tell me. he wasn't really sure but that's all he could say. my dogs are my children and are very healthy and even only drink filtered water. i still can't except the loss of my little girlchilidog. now i have corn dog who has also been on nutro for a year and the new puppy cairo who just started on nutro.

i called the store where i buy this food and they hadn't heard of the cnn reports or from the company yet. this was on 4-21-09. i noticed that cairo has been vomiting in my bed and so did chilidog and corn dog ovethe last year. thought it was just a chihuahua thing. how do i make a claim against nutro for chili's death? i will never feed them nutro again. i'm in tears typing this scared to give my dogs anything i haven't killed and cooked myself.

death of chili dog. costs were aproximately 400.00. the loss of her at 6 years old is too big to even put a number on. my male corndog now can be on his way to an early death from this food.he also vomits a lot. cairo has only been on it for two months and vomits in my bed all the time.


As the others...my dogs became very ill on the nutro food, vomitting the food and yellow bile. I contacted Nutro who told me they had had no other complaints and wanted me to send them a smaple of the bag I was feeding. I did switch the dogs food and have had no other problems.

Running the dogs to the vet...purchasing new food.


After purchaching a Bernese Mountain dog in December, the seller told me to keep my puppy on Nutro puppy food. She has now been on it for six months. I gradually switched her over to the large breed puppy formula and within a few day I started to notice that she had runny yellow diarrhea. She has never had this problem before. I also have another dog (golden retriever) that I feed an adult dog food California Choice, and she has never experienced any problems. They both live in the same back yard, drink the same water, and are exposed to the same things, other than the food. No one can deny the link between my dog getting sick and the Nutro dog food that she is eating.

Well, at the time I bought 2 bags of dog food, because my pup is going so fast. One is still unopened, and I am not using the other one anymore, so I believe they were about 47 dollars each. The resent stool drop off at the vet will cost some where around 60 dollars or so.


On 11 Mar 09, I lost one of my best friends, an appx 8 year old hound mix. Two days later I almost lost my other dog. Both dogs were lethargic, vomiting, had severe diarrhea, and the one that died experienced early stages of renal failure. My vets could not figure out the source of the problem. Your news article had provided some incredibly valuable information.

The common theme with my 2 dogs: I fed them both Nutro Natural Senior dog food. I never suspected this company would sell a tainted product, but apparently I was wrong. I trusted this company so much that I started to feed my remaining dog Nutro Sensitive Systems to help him recover, and his recover has been incomplete. I'll never feed a dog a Nutro product ever again.

Beyond the extreme emotional devastation associated with losing a best friend, I had the priviledge to pay $2500 and walk out the of the vets office with no dog but a box full of ashes. Then, I paid another $1000 to treat my remaining dog.


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