Any K-9 Problems with Nutro (Dry) foods/treats? (shepherd, allergic, shepherds)

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

MSR is right, something alarming seems to be going on with Nutro dry foods:

Consumer complaints about Nutro Pet Foods

Thanks for alerting us, MSR.

Thanks, CFF, for reading the thread and reposting critical info. I know even more info today, including that Nutro has already informed one DVM there is "nothing wrong with their food, " without even requesting a food sample to test or the notes/records/labs etc. of the K-9 patients. It's best that I not write more specific info for now. I know three separate DVMs all aren't accepting the company pitch about no problems with their food. I pulled a report from Dec. where Iams had a voluntary recall for ONE BATCH only for a toxin. Fortunately, no pets were injured by IAMS/P and G's quick actions to recall that food. If IAMS can admit they had a problem with a batch of food in Dec., why can't Nutro.

We'll see what the toxicology reports show.

CFF, I'll check what you posted as that may be the new post one of my new friends posted about her lab. She personally has notified about 12 Gov't or watchdog agencies since Sunday. Please let any of your friends or veterinary clinics know. My cocker was the first to get sick so I thought it was a very regional/local problem until a mutual friend remembered my fur baby's rapid onset of severe symptoms and connected me with those living thousands of miles away.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Oh, I can't remember what their "branded" names are, but Nutro manufactures and packages food under two other names. If I can find them again (or if someone else does), please post them here.

Thanks again everyone for your help! Hug and cuddle/ love your fur babies and keep them as healthy as you can.

MSR

[Mtn. States Resident]

I checked the link you posted, CFF, to Consumer Complaints. I'm glad owners are posting, but sadden to see how many NEW posts there are since my friend posted about her lab. And they were from more and different states. All are saying the same clinical information.

Dying from liver failure is a horrible death for an animal. PLEASE everyone, take a few minutes and let your friends/relatives know about this problem if they are using DRY NUTRO CANINE PRODUCTS. If nothing else direct them to this thread and they can send me a PM if they aren't sure what they should do. No question is a dumb question when trying to protect an innocent animal. I'm not a DVM, just a dedicated owner of a very loved fur baby who was the lucky one - and she's still on antibiotics after 3-4 weeks.

tyvm for your help!

MSR

[mistyriver]

Interesting thread for me.
We may have had a problem 4 years ago with Nutro. A new flavor came out and we bought it for my daughter's pug and my BC/Aussie.
A day later the pug toppled over on his side and seemed to either faint or being having a non-convulsive seizure. This happened repeatedly.
The vet found that he was alarmingly anemic (he'd just had his teeth done the week before and had his blood checked prior to anesthesia and he was not anemic then) and they had no idea why.
He ended up at Washington State University for several days where he recovered, but they never found a reason for his episodes.We spent a fortune on that little visit. Later I did some reading and found that his symptoms were similar to those of a dog ingesting onions and getting Heinz bodies hemolytic anemia. His type of anemia was hemolytic.

WSU said they tested every thing but I never got a straight answer about heinz bodies. Anyway, I worried that there was something in that new bag of Nutro so I dumped it and never fed the brand again.

He's not ever had a recurrence of the illness again.

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by mistyriverranch

Interesting thread for me.
We may have had a problem 4 years ago with Nutro. A new flavor came out and we bought it for my daughter's pug and my BC/Aussie.
A day later the pug toppled over on his side and seemed to either faint or being having a non-convulsive seizure. This happened repeatedly.
The vet found that he was alarmingly anemic (he'd just had his teeth done the week before and had his blood checked prior to anesthesia and he was not anemic then) and they had no idea why.
He ended up at Washington State University for several days where he recovered, but they never found a reason for his episodes.We spent a fortune on that little visit. Later I did some reading and found that his symptoms were similar to those of a dog ingesting onions and getting Heinz bodies hemolytic anemia. His type of anemia was hemolytic.

WSU said they tested every thing but I never got a straight answer about heinz bodies. Anyway, I worried that there was something in that new bag of Nutro so I dumped it and never fed the brand again.

He's not ever had a recurrence of the illness again.

Thanks for posting here MRR. I knew the "porch" folks would help.

If you check the link to consumer affairs (and be prepared to either vomit yourself when you read the complaints all with the same symptoms, or start cursing etc.) as you read backwards from 2012 current posts back to the 2008-09. I'll try to send you a link later via PM about some more info on the 08-09 problems they found. Another food company also had to settle a multi-mullion dollar lawsuit during that time.

I can't send you that stuff until potentially tomorrow. I'll send you a PM right now with a bit more info. I hope you will share it with your local DVM community.

Thanks to those who are helping to get this information out to owners who don't know what is wrong but know their pets. I totally believe their vets who are giving them accurate clinical information for what the animal presented with at that time. That doesn't mean all is well with Nutro DRY K-9 foods. Toxicology reports take time. It's safest, if your K-9 is displaying the symptoms to change to a different food and see what happens.

I've not heard of ANY cases where owners and DVMs were disagreeing there was a problem; there simply hasn't been information sent yet to DVMs until lab tests or Consumer Affairs can intervene. Each individual owner can alert their own DVM there are dozens of U.S. cases reported where the symptoms match. Trust your gut feelings, common sense and observation of your own pet. Recalls happen when the right set of owners/DVMs take action to prove the point.


And again, PLEASE DO not Send your food back to NUTRO, if you have a problem. Don't feed it but don't send it all back so you have none left to test by an outside source.

Thanks!

[Mtn. States Resident]

Just a quick update and to hopefully keep reminding those who dogs/ puppies are showing symptoms they have never seen before, if they are eating a NUTRO DRY FOOD PRODUCT (FOOD OR SNACK), please read the consumer reports link posted earlier in this thread. READ THE SYMPTOMS posted by several owners, there is a pattern of what 100% of these animals have done.

I'll say analysis of the food has started at a major lab that has participated in analyzing pet food which was eventually recalled in the past. They need their privacy right now so they can focus on their analysis.

I'll also say the first set of phone calls are starting to come to those of us who ramped up the alert to others from the FDA and others involved. We need more people who have noticed problems with their pets and recently purchased/opened bags of NUTRO DRY DOG TREATS AND/OR FOOD to let the FDA know, or at least post or contact Consumer Affairs at the link posted above.


My deepest and heartfelt thanks to those who have helped me get this info out here!

MSR

[LionFamily]

I headed over here after noticing the reference in the Idaho forum. My canine friend gets Blue Buffalo, but the just-moved-into-the-house-from-the-barn feline WAS getting Nutro. She'll get chicken and treats tonight and I'll be looking for a replacement food in the meantime.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Thanks, Lion, but the credit goes to MSR who started the thread and mentioned it on the Idaho forum. I've been telling everyone I know with a pet to hold off on Nutro dry food for a while until we see how this story develops...I guess we all remember the Melamine tragedies of 2006-07. We're still not sure if that was indeed what took First Dog's life...

[Blondieskatz]

I had fed my Yorkies Nutro for years without problems until I bought my last bag. My smallest four pound Yorkie became deathly ill~ vomiting and bloody diarrhea. He was in the hospital on IV fluids and lots of meds. When he came home he was fed nothing but boiled chicken breast and fried eggs. They couldn't find anything wrong with him. I switched the food immediately after researching Nutro. I haven't had any problems since.

[mels85]

I also had an issue with Nutro in Jan. 2012 and have been looking to network with others that had a similar experience. We almost lost our 9 year old Saint Bernard to what we thought was a mystery illness in January, then after finding the consumer complaints page about Nutro I see that was the only possible culprit. She was fatigued, had lost 8lbs, and had extremely red/inflamed gums at first observation. At first we thought it was some sort of dental issue because she showed pain when I tried to get her pills down her, and touched her jaw. I work at a veterinary clinic so I was bringing her to work with me every day for more tests. Her problems kept changing, it went from pain in her mouth, to a bladder infection, to a possible kidney infection/failure to horrible pain in her hips, back and sides. It was like something was attacking all of her body systems. She was urinating and deficating on herself because it caused her so much pain to get up and walk outside. We did bloodwork (showed elevated white bloodcell count, as well as liver enzymes out of wack but everything else was normal), xrays, ultrasound, fecal tests, urinalysis and couldn't really find anything of note that would explain her strange array of symptoms, the only suggestion was poisoning but I knew she hadn't gotten into anything. We really thought we were just going to have to put her down. We had her on multiple antibiotics as well as tramodol but nothing seemed to help. Thankfully after over a week of trying to nurse her back to health and feeding her some homemade food, we saw some slight improvements in her. We did more xrays this time of her hips and saw she now had some arthritis going on in her hips and hip dysplasia. Her kidney function was still showing normal on her blood work so we started her on rimadyl and continued with the tramodol as well, and the next day it was like we had our dog back. She is back on Purina One dog food, which is what she had been fed for most of her life and doing great now. Whats strange to me is the severe arthritis that has developed. I have had large breed dogs in the past and arthritis always came somewhat slow, where our saint hadn't had any issues climbing stairs, jumping up on a bed, walking or running at all until this illness. Its like it aged her 5 years overnight. It makes me sick to think that a dog food is what caused us to almost lose her. I talked with our vet about the food, as well as some senior technicians and they all agreed it was the food that did this. We do have another dog that is much younger who also experienced problems on the nutro but far less severe. He began to eat dirt in December, everytime he went outside, and then started eating grass and vomiting right after his meals every day, twice a day. I was feeding him the homemade bland diet as well, and he also got switched back to the Purina One, and has since stopped eating dirt, and he has stopped with the vomiting as well. I have a sample of food that I would love to have tested and was hoping to find a university or other organization that is doing testing on this food.

[Amyvee77]

Hi. I have two dogs that are on the nutro sensitive stomach dry food. Last week took my male dog to vet because he was peeing both in the house and when I took him out he squatted like he wanted to go (he goes like his sister ) but nothing happened. Was given an anti biotic for possible uti but vet states unlikely for male dog to have uti. Now the past couple days my female dog hasn't wanted to pee. Today I has to rub her belly to tyr an get her to go. I just searched for kidney problems and nitro and pulled up this post. Just curious wha ever came of this. Wondering of it still an issue and what was everyone's dogs symptoms. Think I'm calling my vet in the am. Any thoughts greatly appreciated.