Nutro

[3catsn1dog]

So we are thinking of switching our dogs food to Nutro brand. We have been hearing good things about it and we had gotten a sample of it from expotv.com and I was wondering if it is worth making the switch totally??

 

[Zoom]

Nutro is actually a rather mediocre brand these days, despite what they try to claim on their bags. You'd be better off spending your money on something else. Go to a specialty pet food store/boutique (NOT one that sells puppies) and ask for recommendations there.

If you're looking to stick with a food that has grains, I'd suggest any of the following brands: Nature's Variety, Innova, Pinnacle, Acana and Wellness. They all also have grain-free options if you want to try that route.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

6-7 years ago when I started researching because I was pretty sure the iams I was feeding was trash.. it was a giant step up when we switched to Nutro.. Sadly now as Zoom said already it's not much of a step up anymore.

 

[maquignon]

It depends on what you are switching from. If you are feeding Ol Roy, Alpo or Purina Dog Chow, Nutro is probably better. If you are feeding anything else, Nutro would be a step down. Nutro was a decent food before Mars bought it in 2007. Since then it has gone continually downhill. They use menadione, a synthetic form of Vitamin K in almost all of their foods. Menadione has been banned by the FDA from human supplements because of its toxicity. There is no need for a synthetic vitamin if there are enough foods rich in Vitamin K in the food as there is in most of the better foods. They routinely use corn gluten, rice gluten and pea protein in many of their foods. Most of the lower quality foods use these plant proteins to boost the protein percentage with cheap, hard to digest plant protein rather than meat. Most people who feed this food don't realize, when they look at the protein percentage in the guaranteed analysis that a hefty portion of that protein is not meat but plant protein. They "split" ingredients, a sure sign of a low quality food. They don't have a balanced ratio of Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids. You can get much better foods for about the same price.

 

[monkeys23]

Two words: Hell no.

Do some reading on the company... you won't like what you find. You can do a LOT better than Nutro.

I found Acana's four grain free formulas pretty economical when I was feeding kibble.

 

[UniquityBelgians]

Nutro has some lower grade and medium grade formulas. Certainly NOT the worst out there by any means, and alot of dogs do well on it (my friend has an entire herd of shelties on the venison formula and it's the only one they all do well on), but when you read into Nutro, the company itself has been found to do some pretty sketchy things. I believe when I looked at it a few years ago, their Ultra formulas were their best ones. I would imagine that the quality of the ingredients in the food isn't that good.

On another note.. When I was a child we had a GSD with cancer. Started off as mammary cancer that spread to other organs. The vets gave her 4 months to live, and she lived 4 YEARS; On Ol Roy (the formula that you can turn into gravy by adding water, eww). I convinced my parents to switch her to Nutro. At the time it was the highest quality food in their budget. My dog immediatly went downhill and died months after switching. Could be a coincedence..

 

[Southpaw]

We had Molly on Nutro her whole life; Lucy was on it the first 4 years of her life. We never had an issue with it--I did want to switch foods after I learned more about dog nutrition, but when a dog has been on something for 9 years and is doing fine, what's the point...

Their Ultra line doesn't look too bad--I THINK they have a grain-free line now, too? Haven't seen the ingredients though.

I wouldn't call it a BAD food (depending on which line you go with, last time I looked Nutro Max was pretty icky) but there's definitely better out there. I used to say it was a good choice if you could only go to Petco or Petsmart, but now they carry good brands so it's pretty easy to get higher quality.

 

[Saeleofu]

IF you go with Nutro go for the Ultra or Natural Choice line. I do think they actually have a grain-free formula now, but it's probably not as high-quality as most of the others.

Adult Dog Food | Grain Free Venison Meal & Potato Formula | NUTRO Natural Choice Dog Food

Venison meal is the first ingredient, but it's the ONLY meat ingredient, and it's still pretty starch-heavy, even if those starches aren't grains.

 

[smkie]

^^^ is what mine are eating, is what Mary ate for most of her long life. THeir coats are good, their weight is good, their stools are good. I thought it -was ok, but maybe i better be looking at others. Victor is so picky it is hard to find anything he is agreeable with.