Nutro Dog Food Reviews

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 UPenn suggested zinc toxicity as a reason for his anemia).

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 gastroenteritis, 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 and after two weeks, I am still giving her rice and chicken.

This complaint is about Nutro Natural Choice "Senior" Turkey & 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 months. My dog had a horrible seizure and I thought he died in front of me. I was traumatized. He is all I have. I have raised him his whole life. Please test this food. At $1.65 a can - they can poison my dog.

It is necessary to get straight to the point. Nutro’s exorbitant price increase for Nutro Max Puppy food is outrageous. While it was necessary to express my dissatisfaction regarding the excessive price increase with a Tractor Supply representative, it is equally important to share my dissatisfaction with Nutro Products, Inc. As a conscientious customer, it is also my responsibility to discontinue the use of your products.

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 medicines, Science Diet (he's getting very thin) and the doctor 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 antibiotics and it seems that when I do get him on track if I feed him hard food, like kibble (Science Diet), it just brings me back to diarrhea.

I purchased Nutro Kitten Dry Food. The first kitten that we had, died about 2 weeks after we got it. The kitten had recurring bouts of vomiting, and explosive, often bloody, diarrhea after eating Nutro. There were two other kittens in the litter. Neither one received Nutro Kitten food and survived. We adopted another kitten from the Human Society and gave it the Nutro Kitten food; the same symptoms. 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 Kitten food was at fault.

I purchased a Nutro dog food with glucosamine and chondroitin 40# silver bag. I read carefully all ingredients and was satisfied of the ingredients. Filled my container and tossed bag. Three weeks of use, I saw and noticed a decline in my 10 year old boxer-spaniel X. He is older and the weather was warm so were not immediately surprised with signs of congestive heart failure as others noticed his symptoms and commented on his age and what others had experienced.

We just purchased one bag of Natural Choice Complete Care Senior dry cat food in a 4lbs 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' activity levels were low. After stopping the new cat food since Sunday, the diarrhea on the two cats improved a bit. We will have to see how they all improve.

This is a continuation. I had sent in a complaint about how my dog became ill after eating Nutro Max 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 because she was 8 years old, she was old and dogs can go into liver failure for no reason. True, but eight is not old for a Jack Russell. Anyway, a week later and no Nutro Max food, her liver enzymes are down to 200. Weird. I asked the company if they can test the food, and of course they can't because 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 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 blood-tinged. 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 have an 8-year old Jack Russell who has been in great health all her life, expect the occasional stomach issue. She has an incredible appetite 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 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.

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 bowel movements, yellowish in color. A trip to the vet showed crystals in her urine and a very high PH, the exact symptoms described by several of people on this website. I have immediately taken her off of this food and hopefully she will be okay.

I posted info about my experience 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 their dog food. I don't believe that to be true at all! Something needs to be done before more pets get sick and die from eating their so called good food. Please if you or anyone you know is feeding this garbage to their pets, please take them off of it before they get sick or die from it. My dog died and I believe it had something to do with the dog food. She was a champion and had just turned three years old!

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 was 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 kittens 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 on 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 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.

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.

My white Shepherd -Lab mix is dead of lung cancer in November 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 had 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 in 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.

I have been feeding my 12-week-old kitten Nutro MaxCat Kitten for 8 weeks now, and I have not observed any ill effects - which was 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 and 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 PetSmart, 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 and had solid bowel movements. He had diarrhea non-stop so I called back three days later because it even started hurting him to go.

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

This is in response to the Nutro pet food recalls, most recently, the cat food.

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, and 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.

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 Petco's guidance 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 weight loss but has recovered since I changed food. I spent $2K on my cat's illness. I'm not a wealthy person and I think Nutro should be held accountable.

After hearing about this product on your website, my wife and I finally figured out what was causing our dogs to behave the way they are. We have had them to the vet for blood work. He wanted to put them on meds. They are experiencing high enzyme levels in the liver. One has started stargazing, diarrhea.

We purchased a few dozen 3 oz. 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 December ’08. We adopted her when no one claimed her. She's an adult who seemed quite healthy until February of ‘09. I had just taken 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-calorie 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.

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 it's more related to the food. I thought perhaps it was the Omega 3s and her stomach got overly sensitive to the Omega, so I got on the internet. After reading other pet owner 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 recalled 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 three 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, uncontrollable 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 vet’s.

I had 2 very healthy Papillon dogs. The breeder 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 okay and 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 the food prior to that bag, I tried to continue to feed it to them.

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, which 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, 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.

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

The food had no potassium 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 started vomiting and had bloody diarrhea. She has been so ill and with a fever. She is now at the vet's office with an IV. I had heard of problems with Nutro before, and should have listened. I will never buy Nutro again! I have large vet medical bills but hopefully, will have a healthy puppy after all her treatment!

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, diarrhea, urinating in the house, etc. After $2,500 in vet bills, and no diagnosis, testing for Addison's 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.

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 found out 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 two 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 but Jackson spent four days at the vet's office and this was not a cheap fix. However, I am pleased to report that both dogs 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.

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 there been other links of this type reported? Do you have recommendations on where to go from here?

Puppies were fine and we went to Petsmart and purchased Nutro puppy food. From that day on, their health declined, diarrhea so severe, vomiting, lethargic, loss of appetite. They became severely emaciated 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 heartbreaking experience. Puppies were seen at the vet five times and then was hospitalized for eight nights and nine days (three of them 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 I'm out $1500 per puppy and owe a tremendous vet bill which I haven't received yet. One died at the vet and the vet sent two sicker dogs home and we're doing everything we can but they're just slowly dying and the expenses has totally wiped 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 at 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 diarrhea 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.

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. The vet bill would have been avoided if Nutro would have been more careful. We were looking at having to put the one to sleep. This has been so upsetting to both my husband and myself, as these cats are "our children" and we thought we were feeding them well. What also upsets me is that Nutro said there were no complaints!

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, vomiting, howling strangely, irritated, 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 epidemiology also. To date I have spent approx. $400 to get my cat's health back and keep her alive.

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 online about their dogs if there is not a problem?

My four-year old cat stopped eating about four weeks ago throwing up yellow bile. She was so sick and yes, I fed her Nutro max cat. Three weeks of rehab and $1000 later, she's 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 (though he did have regular gas, but nothing alarming).

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.

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 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.

My cat Raskal went missing this Sunday morning and I spent all morning looking for him. Around 1130H, 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, they said they would pay for testing related to Potassium and Zinc. This incident has cost my husband and I over $1000 so far and this is only day two. My cat is still sick! I have the bag, about 6 pieces of the tainted kibble and all these bills. I feel Nutro Pet food is responsible for my cat's sudden illness and would like to seek legal action.

Their dog food almost killed my dog. My St. Bernard has been eating this food since he was born. Something happened with their food that was not announced, and my Saint dropped down to 90 lb (which is sickly for a saint) and lost almost all of his hair and was very lethargic. I took him to 3 or 4 vets (which was very expensive), and no one could figure it out.

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 diarrhea for the last 5 days as well as vomiting. I decided to look up some info on the net and found many, many complaints about this pet food, especially since they have sold or partnered with Mars Pet Food. Apparently, they have had to recall the pet food due to possible Salmonella contamination. Presently, my dog is lethargic 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.

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 two 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 third 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 won't lose him. The recall is for Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Weight Management for the 3lb, 6lb and 16lb bags. However, I have the remains of the 8lb 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 tests and emergency visits now tally over $900. If he remains stable, he's scheduled for another visit in two weeks to check his weight and for another ultrasound monitoring of his kidney size.

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 #** and Trevor **'s was **. 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 just read your report about Nutro cat food. I had a cat that 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.

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 I 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.

After feeding my puppy Nutro Max Puppy food, he began getting diarrhea which turned to a 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. I am stop using it.

I have feed Nutro Lamb & Rice Dog Food for the last 12 years to my dogs. I even demoed for them and really believed in their product. The past few days, my dogs have gone off their feed. One was very lethargic--the one I feed was 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, which was not considered important at the time because of his age.

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 Nutro's cat food had nothing to do with my cat's 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.

I read this article on the FDA investigating the Nutro dog food company and realized my dog has the same symptoms as the people in the article. She is always vomiting, diarrhea and has a problem urinating.

Our beloved healthy 8-year-old basset hound developed sudden and fatal illness in January 2009 and died in March 2009. Vets have no explanation of cause of numerous symptoms which included 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.

My Greyhound had loved her Nutro Lamb & Rice. One night she became very ill. She was dizzy and began to vomit bile. I took her to the emergency veterinary. He started her on medication and she seemed to stabilize. I took her to her veterinarian 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 veterinarian told me to add kibble back to her diet she became ill 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.

My cat has been vomiting for the past three 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 that's making him sick. They wanted to admit 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 vomiting and very sick. This is ridiculous. Nutro has to be held responsible. Is anyone aware of any class action lawsuit?

On June 9, 2009, I switched my puppy food for my 9-month old Pomeranian to Nutro Small Bites Dry food (chicken meal, rice and oatmeal formula) and Lamb and Rice wet food. Suddenly, within hours of the single serving, my dog became sick – diarrhea 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 style diet – fresh vegetables, fruit, fresh organic raw ground beef, cooked fish and chicken.

Shortly after feeding my two dogs with 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 discontinued 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 and crystals in her urine. This week, we have to get x-rays for her. She also has to be on antibiotics for 2 weeks and get a repeat urinalysis. This is very upsetting and I hope that my cat will be okay. In addition to the emotional aspect of this, there is also the financial. We have spent $500 so far in vet bills just because of Nutro's cat food!

Both of my cats have been eating the Nutro dry cat food for 1 year now. One cat is 2 and the other is 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, spacey behavior and vomiting.

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. Huge vet bill and my little baby is still vomiting.

This food makes my dog extremely sick, he has had severe diarrhea for days, Nutro Healthy Choice Large Breed Puppy food, and this makes for costly vet bills!

I have had my dogs on Nutro 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 I thought they might have gotten into something.

My healthy five-year old cat suddenly began to lose weight and refuse food. I received a post card from Petco 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 received 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 creatinine 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 receive IV fluids from my vet. He still has not recovered and is at the vet currently. I called Nutro again and they said they would get in touch with my vet today, 6/10/09. I am waiting to hear more about my cat's prognosis.

I just read a report printed in April 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 years 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 salesman 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 wasn’t 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 urinating everywhere but the litterbox. One of them had blood in his urine and they all started vomiting and had diarrhea. 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 diarrhea and there was a large amount 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 realized that the issue started when I switched everyone’s food! I felt so guilty!

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 reoccurred.

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, 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 is 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.

I have been feeding one dog Nutro Ultra. I bought a new bag on 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 Ocean Fish flavor 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. Our oldest cat has lost some weight, and is very sick. We are switching food immediately, being out the cost of the food purchased.

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.

Back in April 2008, my then 4 year 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 and August 2008, on this site. I have checked the daily postings since June of 2008 and watched in horror as so many more pets became sick and died. This has been ongoing 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 ongoing for more than a year with their dog foods, containing high levels of copper and zinc? What's the story with this? They kept denying that there was something wrong and now this comes out.

I've been feeding my five 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 nutritional 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 attorneys 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 nutritionally deficient food but to react with such disregard.

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

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 February '09, I took my American Eskimo in for a dental cleaning and they required blood work to be done because he is 14 years old. The lab results came back with elevated white blood count and high on the liver 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 got 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 the same problem with her dog and her vet told her that her dog also ate something bad.

My three 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.

I purchased Nutro Small Bites Lamb and Rice from Petco off McCarren Blvd in Reno, Nevada on 6/1/09 for my 3 1/2 year old Yorkie. She started vomiting up her food about two to three hours after she ate. This has been happening since I started feeding her the Nutro. The last time she vomited was approximately two hours ago on today's date 6/4/09 which would be 9 p.m.

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 lbs three months ago to 11.4 lbs 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 one trip to the vet and a new prescription bag of food from the doctor, he was fine. Once the food ran out he went back to eating Nutro and immediately got sick again (this was before the recall). I immediately switched him to a new food and all was okay again. I have contacted Nutro and they have a case logged. The fact that they 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. So far my cat is back to normal, but I hate to think what may have happened if I had continued to feed him the Nutro.

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. Now both dogs are starting to exhibit conditions that they never did before. My male dog has diarrhea and my female dog is constipated terribly. I have been taking them to the vet and the most I had been told was that they have an allergy to something. It cost hundreds of dollars every time I go. After reading some of the comments on here I think I may have found out what their allergy is.

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 everything coming up inconclusive the only thing that changed is the new bag of food. She almost died because of this food. Our dog is a skeleton and is very lethargic. She is slowly starting to eat a food I have bought that is not affiliated with Nutro or a company owned by them. The vet bills of over $1000 were very stressful for our family as well as not knowing what the matter with our dog was. We are still guessing that is was the food; however, she is eating this new food. We need our money reimbursed.

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 everything coming up inconclusive the only thing that changed is the new bag of food. She almost died because of this food. Our dog is a skeleton and is very lethargic. She is slowly starting to eat a food I have bought that is not affiliated with Nutro or a company owned by them.

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 x-rays of her abdomen and found two suspicious areas where the intestines were distended but no foreign body was evident. They would observe her overnight and x-ray her again in the morning to see if there was any change.

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, diarrhea, vomiting, are shedding excessively, and their coat is losing the texture and shine. The most serious symptoms are the daily vomiting and diarrhea.

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 and 12 years old) have never had a health issue and were very active, affectionate and talkative with beautiful coats.

On May 29, 2009, my 3.5 year old German shepherd died 9 days after switching (mixing ½ and 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. There were no health issues, other than a heart murmur which the vet assured me wouldn't cause her to simply quit eating and 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, he became gravely ill. He started vomiting and experiencing uncontrollable diarrhea with foul smelling bile. He also had a reduction in appetite, severe 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 cat died and I have very expensive vet bills in addition to two other cats being very sickly.

I brought a bag 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 blood work 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 with 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 was 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’d watch 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 stool or pee. However, when I was in the back yard, there were two stools that I believe were cat stools. One was old and dried up, the other was soft and very smelly, but not diarrhea. I have never seen their stools 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 likes and eats dry food much more than the smaller cat.

I have fed Nutro Lamb and Rice dog food for over 12 years! Until recently, I never thought much about this food, I liked it. Then on April 6th 2009, my female chow that had just turned 3 in March, got very sick, throwing up food and water. I took her into the vet. She was dehydrated and lethargic. They gave her fluids and a shot to stop the vomiting. I took her home.

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.

I just bought Nutro Max last Friday, May 29, 2009 and our five month-old mini 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. My daughter was devastated at the loss of her 2-year-old cat, and the vet bills totaled approximately $1,300.

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.

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 Shepherd to a new dog food due 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 when I am in WA state rather than in CA or others. I am keeping a close watch out for color inconsistencies in the food or behavior 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. My dogs and cats are not fed Nutro so I'm okay, but friends of mine have sick animals, or now, unfortunately, dead ones. People need to know!

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 appetite 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 been very satisfied with the Max Cat product up until February but when we received a notice from Petco that the food we had purchased over the last six months 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 and 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. Vomiting cats and money spent to purchase food that possibly made them sick, although I understand that I will get a refund when I take the food back to the store where I bought it.

We have had our cat for about a year and a half now. He has always been healthy, and we have fed him Nature's Choice, Ocean Fish flavor. Around the end of April or 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 litter box anymore. Instead he was going on the floor and the bed, something he had never done before.

It is the Nutro dog food. My border collie/blue healer is 14 years old. About 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 vomiting, 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 tested. Her food was immediately changed to Science Diet. The vomiting that was now happening daily when we took her to the vet has stopped.

My 3-year old, healthy indoor cat, Angel, became ill on 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 supposed to provide her nutrition is the cause of her premature death. I will never forget the graphic images of her grasping for air.

We have 3 working & trailing dogs, 2 Australian Shepherds & 1 Border Collie. I've 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 & I have been told by the feed store where we get it, that it is going up in price again!

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 email 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 lawsuit comes into being. I would like our cats examined and would like to be reimbursed for the carpet. The cost of carpet shampooing is $400. The cost of the vet visit and blood work for two cats is $320, and the daily scrubbing (ugh) and carpet spot cleaning is $30.

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 on 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 diarrhea 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 phenobarbital 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.

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, and pets are being treated by a veterinarian. Food has a "best if used by" date of July 23, 2010; therefore, it is within the 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 Lite. 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.

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 with violent diarrhea and vomiting along with stools that would turn moldy overnight. They had no energy, had 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 vet.

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 urinary tract infection with a high pH level in his urine. The constipation turned into diarrhea. After treatment at the clinic, I followed up on Monday with my regular vet. He kept the dog for several days due to diarrhea and to make sure the dog didn't become dehydrated and also to treat the urinary tract infection.

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, they seemed normal again within days.

We've been feeding our cat Nutro Max Cat food 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 tests 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 Nutro Max Cat food, she started showing the previous symptoms again. We didn't make the connection until reading about the recall on this site.

My two dogs, Innova and Evo, consumed Adult Dry Dog Food, Large Bites (for Innova) and Reduced Fat Dry Dog Food (for Evo), which were purchased at Lemos in Atascadero, California. On Saturday, May 16, 2009, both dogs began to vomit, have diarrhea, and become extremely thirsty at the same time. After several hours on this condition, they were both hospitalized. Doctors indicated they consumed something toxic. It is believed that the subject dog food contains toxin similar to the cases in San Luis Obispo County as well as the nation. We are having the food tested.

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 diarrhea. About a month ago, I bought a new bag and the symptoms became much worse with lots of blood in the stool. I have questioned the vet each time. She has had lots of tests run and is parasite-free, so they know that is not the issue. The vet usually attributes the throwing up and diarrhea 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 Shih Tzu 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 occurred every few days. I was concerned but continued with the Nutro food. I happened to read the articles on your website 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 consult 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 Valu 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, called Veterinary Emergency Clinic North, Toronto, ON where he went into cardiac arrest and died due to high levels of pH in his system.

I have been feeding Nutro to my agility dog for about a year and up until now, I have been very happy with the results. I started a new bag of Lamb and Rice on May 15th, 2009 and by the 18th, my 6-yearold Border Collie mix got diarrhea which progressively worsened. By the middle of the night on the 20th, we ended up in the emergency 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 emergency vet and my vet believed that she had gotten into something or her food was bad.

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 no 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 x-rays indicate no stones present - typically the cause. The veterinarian is puzzled about the root cause. Now, I see this recall for Nutro Max dry cat food. I have fed this to my cat (indoor cat, Salmon) exclusively for over 3 years now. I feel that perhaps this may be the cause of his problems. I have spent or incurred over $900 in veterinarian expenses. This does not include time missed from work. And my cat’s diagnosis remains unknown. There will most likely be additional treatment costs.

I am responding 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 he has been fine with no stomach upset. It's a shame you don't report the positive things about this product. What people are reporting could have nothing to do with the food as the symptoms and complaints reported are very common among dogs. Even when my dog was getting sick off the other brands, my vet said it is still impossible to be 100% sure it is the food causing the sickness. It's just the first thing people look at when their pets get sick - diet. And since there has been such negative press about Nutro, people whose dogs are on it and get sick assume it's the food with no concrete evidence.

My dog hasn't been eating for weeks. He has been losing tremendous amounts of hair, getting very bad bouts of diarrhea 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 to Science diet. 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!

This is an 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/Retriever 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 pet's 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.

I have been feeding my beloved Dalmatian, Ember, Nutro for 10 years. I purchased her last bag of Nutro Lite Lamb and Rice at 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 pancreatitis and abdominal infection. She was placed on a bland diet of chopped meat and rice or boiled chicken and rice. She was beginning to get better. Then once again she began the vomiting.

My dog has been on Natural Choice dog food for about six weeks now. Prior to that, he has been healthy and was just checked at the vet in December 2008. Just last night, my sister informed me that her 8-month old dog was having seizures, 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 dog's 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 possible.

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 were normal, intestinal antibiotics/probiotics given and intestines twice normal size. Surgery revealed no obstructions. Every time food was re-administered, 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. $3,000 later and an 8-inch unnecessary incision, plus around the clock close care and it seems to be a result of Nutro food.

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 progressed 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 one day, but is now starting up again so I will continue with the rice mixture. Of course the monetary issue of the meat and rice, vet charges driving to the vet which is 40 miles one way is a burden. My dogs groan in pain and when eliminating outdoors. During the night they can't hold it. So numerous stripped bedding and sleepless nights occur.

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 Alkaline Phosphatase 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 a lot 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.

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 sensitive stomach Nutro dog food due to him vomiting. I told the vet and he told me it was nothing to worry about. He was the one who told me to feed him Nutro! After reading these complaints, I'm very worried! I found out last week, Friday, that my dog 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 3% Sodium! My dog has high blood pressure!

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.

On December 11, 2008, I lost my dog to some kind of liver ailment. The weekend before, she had a loose stool and had thrown up chunks of her food. She could not keep anything down. I took her to the vet and they tried to save her, but I watched her slowly fade away. She was only 6 years old. I have fed her Nutro dog food almost her whole life. She on and off had thrown up yellow bile and had diarrhea. 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 I had 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 diarrhea 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 foreign objects were stuck in his stomach or intestines. They sent me home with a bottle of antibiotics and some vet prescribed dry 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, which is 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 three 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 developed a ruptured urethra and had to be put down. If this, in any way, was the result of Nutro foods, which our animals (one dog, two 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 Shepherd. 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 of 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.

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 tremendous 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 X-rays, 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.

My 5-month old puppy has been on Nutro Large Breed Puppy formula for two 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 that 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 that 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 Nutro Max Mini Chunks dog food for my 2 miniature Schnauzers. About a week after use, Trixie started getting this disgusting diarrhea. 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 diarrhea anymore. I am outraged that nothing has been done about this. I have almost a full bag of Nutro Max 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 are 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, gave her natural antibiotics, 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.

After buying a new bag of Nutro Lite Lamb and Rice dog food for my Dalmatian in late March (early April), my dog starting vomiting chunks of food and bile. That continued on and off for almost a month. When I took her to the vet, he took blood tests and said my dog had a gastrointestinal problem. The vet placed her on two antibiotics, one was for tainted dog food. He also put her on anti-vomiting medicine. She was placed on a bland chopped meat/chicken and rice diet. During the time she was vomiting, etc., she had lost 10 pounds in one month.

I had just tried to put in a complaint but somehow I must have done something wrong with submitting it. Anyway, my dog, too, has been on Nutro Holistic for most of his life. He's 4/12 yrs old. I feel sick to think what I thought I was doing for him was the right thing, buying him a good brand, a healthy brand. I just happened upon the site of complaints. Is there anyone out there who could please recommend a true and safe hard food for my guy? I don't know what to do now. He, too, has suffered with stomach problems. He is not active, has large, very smelly bowel movements, has had a few accidents in the house that have woken me up to find on the floor and to see him look at me with such sadness is heartbreaking.

I have a 7-year-old Chinese pug that I had been feeding Nutro dog food for years. Approximately 9 months ago, she began vomiting and having bloody diarrhea. I put her on sensitive stomach Nutro and cut down the amount I was feeding her. The diarrhea went away, but the vomiting continued. When I heard about the complaints filed against Nutro, I immediately took her off of it and the vomiting stopped and has not occurred since. I received a mail circular from PetSmart today with the whole back page advertising Nutro dog food. What has to be done to stop these people? I have not had my dog's liver and kidneys tested yet, but plan to in the future.

After switching to Nutro Max dog food, both my healthy Goldens started to vomit bile and yellowish, foamy, stinky liquid. Loose bowels. I stopped the dog food and changed to another. They are fine now. Just read about Nutro dog food and my assumption was right. Something wasn't good in the food. Very upsetting to see your family animal gets sick from anything. Then, you realize it is their 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. She mentioned that she had Ragdolls too 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 through. I was so thankful to have 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 through 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 cat food 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. Within 3 weeks, my cat lost 3-4 pounds and was lethargic and still vomiting. I got worried and phoned their company and was eventually yelled at by "Diane", the consumer 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 never got reimbursed for the bad bag of cat food, and I thank God my cat is better.

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 of Wednesday, the 5th, vomited repeatedly and had diarrhea 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 had bad gas from the experience.

I would like to add my complaint to the very long list of families whose 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. Michigan's is in Detroit. The individual to contact is fairly easy to find through the FDA website. My contact person is following up with our veterinarian. We need to push this forward!

In 2007, my dog became extremely ill. She had vomiting and bloody diarrhea. 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. 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.

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 will be taking my dog to the vet to document this illness and to have appropriate tests done! I would not have suspected the food until I did some research online!

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 that seemed to have lost control of his bowels. He had several accidents throughout the day, most of which was very runny with a strong 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.

My dog became ill within a few weeks of eating Nutro. I thought it was because I changed his food, so I gave him another two weeks. He finally started ** blood. That's when I took him to the vets. I gave him steroids 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, he was ill again. I bought Science Diet and for one day he 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 diarrhea to start with. It got to the point where he wouldn't eat and then blood in his stool. I am going to tell everyone not to buy this food.

I've 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 sicker 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. Then he asked me if she had eaten poison. I told him no way! He didn't know what could have caused so much damaged, but it hit her fast because her immune system was really weak. She had just had puppies 2 months ago.

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 a while, our Italian Greyhound, Honey, started 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 where 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.

My 3 year 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 reoccurred quickly. After x-rays 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 been done to our beautiful girl. Vet visits and medication so far $900. I do not know how much the next course of treatment and prescription food will cost.

On Monday 4/13/09, I went to Petco in Bloomfield Hills, MI to purchase Iams Senior Cat Food on recommendation 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 Iams Senior Active for the past 4 years, only eats their hard food and 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.

On Monday, 4/13/09, I went to Petco in Bloomfield Hills, MI to purchase Iams Senior Cat Food on recommendation of my Vet for my cat of 13 years. He has been on Iams since we got him as a tiny kitten. He has been on Iams Senior Active for the past 4 years, only eats their hard food and has never wanted wet or treats of any kind. I couldn't find the senior brand of Iams so I asked the store manager. He suggested I try Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care for senior cats 7 years and older. The ingredients sounded very good, with no fillers, etc. So I purchased a 4lb-bag at $14. When I got home, I put a little in his food dish to see if he would eat it since he is so particular and I saw him eat it. So the next day, I 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.

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. The bill is close to $2,500 at this point and this dog may not make it. I would be interested in knowing what recourse the owners have legally and to what extent the company stands behind its product. Where does the burden of proof lie in a situation like this?

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, wonderful skin and coats on my dogs as they advertise. I am a Saint Bernard breeder and I do show my dogs. Approximately 2.5 years ago, I started experiencing severe diarrhea with a litter of 10 puppies at 10 days old. No, they were not on Nutro but their mother was. I had a second litter born about a week later and again, the same thing happened. This is a very dangerous thing to have puppies this young with diarrhea. I tried to wean these pups early and put them on some baby rice cereal - rice to help firm them up and rice would be easy on the stomach. They immediately firmed up. I spoke with at least a dozen other breeders and my vet's office. We could not come up with any explanation.

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 dog's death a few years back, when I had to put him down. I fed him Nutro dog food for most of his 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 year. 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).

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. I fed it to my other two older dogs with joint problems. Everything was good for 1 1/2 to 2 years. Then all three dogs started having diarrhea a good part of the time. Not everyday, but a lot. I work at a Vet clinic and test for worms often (negative). I used Flagyl to stop the diarrhea in all three, but then it would come back again a few weeks later. Eventually, I started to gradually change to Iams mini chunks. By the time I switched over completely, the diarrhea was gone and I never had a problem again. Two old dogs are 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. She told me that her dog got 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. My dog first had been vomiting and refusing to eat. We removed a cancerous tumor from her in May 2008 and had recovered. For months, she was having stomach issues and we treated her for digestive disorder.

My 5 months old German Shepherd puppy has been on Nutro since we brought her home around 8 weeks. About 2 weeks 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. As of this minute, she will no longer be on Nutro. Puppies get sick and I realize this; but with her extreme thirst 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 noticed 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 purchased Nutro dog food and we have had problems with it. It has made our dog have problems in two ways. I have spoken to the manager and his assistant to see if any others might have had any problems with their dogs. I was told no. So I went to a website to see if it was only me or my dog. It is not. There are many many dogs that have been sick or died from this food. I called 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 the 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 honest finding so I will do it myself but until I find the truth, I would ask all pet owners to stop feeding Nutro to their dogs.

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 owner's complaint. I believe my dog was sick from the dog food, Nutro Choice. Where should I contact to make sure my dog is okay? I do not want my dog to die. Please help me.

If Nutro has no doubt that their dog food is safe, then what am I to do when my two 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 diarrhea, 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 showed 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).

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 persistent 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.

As with some others, I was feeding Nutro. My 2 dogs vomited a lot of bile. After switching dog food, it has totally stopped and they never have done this again. I feel that Nutro should be removed from the market.

My dog has been eating Nutro 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. He 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 brands 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 tainted 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. In March 2008, Kipp died very suddenly 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, has diarrhea, lethargic and not herself. She has also been wheezing, sneezing and making 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. We are not sure what to feed her.

After 2 years of feeding 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. He's still throwing up and very lethargic. A friend suggested a 5-ingredient or less product and Holistic canned food. The first day we changed his diet, he stopped throwing up. 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. I threw out the Nutro, put my dog on a different dog food, and he has been fine ever since. This is the USA. Our food and the food 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 diarrhea, 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 antibiotic just in case there is an infection. He was also temporarily put on a prescription canned dog food which cured him of his diarrhea 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.