Any K-9 Problems with Nutro (Dry) foods/treats? (lab, veterinary, symptoms)

[Mtn. States Resident]

Hi everyone. I apologize if there is already a thread about this. Each time I tried to search I got booted totally out of the thread.

I wanted to check here, thanks to a great suggestion from Cleosmom, to learn if anyone here has recently had a k-9 have severe illness or even death soon after using a dry Nutro Natural Choice product food or snack? Unfortunately, have, but fortunately I had given the snack so my fur baby is home now after her hospital stay, but still on antibiotics. She's had a tough go of it.

I thought it was just me until a friend linked me with two others yesterday. They are neighbors thousands of miles away from me. Like me, they had used Nutro products for years and their beloved fur babies did well on them. Unlike me, they both used Nutro food.

Sadly, both of these neighbors had symptoms so similar to what I saw in my beloved fur baby, but their special family members both died due to liver failure.

I'm outraged looking at Consumer Reports that Nutro has had complaints about certain Nutro dry foods as far back as 2008, yet they've done nothing. Now, Nutro has a PR firm fronting as their direct representatives. The FDA started an investigation but I can't see that they followed up on anything.

If nothing else, please be aware if you purchased products in Jan - Feb 2012, those are the reported dates so far of the last round of problems from Nutro.

I sincerely did not post this to trash Nutro as their product helped my little one for many years, but mostly to alert others and learn if anyone else had additional information. I wish they would respond to those of us who have had pet get sick, and especially those those who lost fur babies, after eating from a newly opened bag of a Nutro product.

Thank you in advance for anything you can add.

MSR

[cool rob]

Nutro never gave me quite the results I wanted with my dogs- also I have never been able to have a consitant stool, it was always wet/soft, so I gave up on them.

[Amazonchix]

We've been feeding Nutro for 7 years at our house. We feed Nutro Max to the dogs and Nutro Natural to the cats. We also supplement their kibble with other natural food adds. So far we haven't had any issues. I did a few years ago send samples back to Nutro and tossed a bag because I noticed little fibers sticking out of the kibble. Nutro tested it and said they didn't find any problems. To be safe we didn't feed that bag to our dogs.

I'm signed up on the FDA recall list for pet food. What exactly do you mean there are problems with Nutro foods dating Jan-Fe 2012? I haven't received any emails from the FDA regarding Nutro.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by Amazonchix

We've been feeding Nutro for 7 years at our house. We feed Nutro Max to the dogs and Nutro Natural to the cats. We also supplement their kibble with other natural food adds. So far we haven't had any issues. I did a few years ago send samples back to Nutro and tossed a bag because I noticed little fibers sticking out of the kibble. Nutro tested it and said they didn't find any problems. To be safe we didn't feed that bag to our dogs.

I'm signed up on the FDA recall list for pet food. What exactly do you mean there are problems with Nutro foods dating Jan-Fe 2012? I haven't received any emails from the FDA regarding Nutro.

Amazonchix, do a search for Nutro and Consumer Affairs and you'll see what MSR is talking about.

[Mtn. States Resident]

Thanks for the responses. I hope people will read this as an alert. Given privacy issues for two who lost their pets 3-4 days ago, and PRESSURE from NUTRO for all of us to send our purchased food for them to analyze (which all of us refused to do), I can say a very large and good Medical School/Veterinary School Toxicology Dept. has already started testing the food.

I know more, but it's best not to post it at this point. After all, Nutro has hired a Public Relations firm to answer emails and phone calls about complaints. They also had major problems in 2008-9 with many pet owners losing animals and hospitalizations. They paid a lot of $ in settlements, given what was found. Please trust it's safest for those of us who have gotten this investigation started to be a little vague about who is testing the food.

I feel so blessed in a way given that I used Nutro products for 7.5 years and they helped. But, things were different with my last purchase.

Please alert any friends anyone has who uses Nutro Natural Choice (it seems so far limited to canines) who have had very ill pets to read my original post. If they want to inform me of what happened to their pets and prefer a PM that is fine. I mostly want to alert others that there is a problem with a few of their dry dog food/treat products purchased in Feb, 2012.

Sadly, one of my new friends who lost her lab over the weekend told me her pet ate Nutro for 10 years and did fine with it. Then with the new bag he didn't want to eat that food but would eat chicken she cooked.

Pets do tell us information if we'll take the time to communicate in the ways they know how to tell us something makes them sick.


Thanks everyone and I sincerely hope no one here has to go through, what is becoming a larger group of us, recently have.

MSR

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by cleosmom

Amazonchix, do a search for Nutro and Consumer Affairs and you'll see what MSR is talking about.

Hi - it looks like you and I were posting at the same time. I'll email you on FB of what lab is doing the testing already. We have a lot of info.

Thanks for your help here and on FB!

[subject2change]

Wouldn't it be better to send the food, or a portion of it if you want some for proof if needed, so they can test it? This is how problems are brought to light and the ball gets rolling on recalls.

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by subject2change

Wouldn't it be better to send the food, or a portion of it if you want some for proof if needed, so they can test it? This is how problems are brought to light and the ball gets rolling on recalls.

You raise a good question subject2change. IN a perfect world I'd say yes. Read the consumer reports about Cleosmom referenced above. Sadly, many owners from the 2008-9 problem did send their food in and the company refused any further communication with them.

An outside lab, with the expertise and personnel to run the test, is the only way to ensure we get results, not just a sweet PR response. This is a very serious situation when liver failure leads to death in a totally healthy pet, who is dead in less than 12 hours.

Nutro doesn't exactly have proof of being good at relaying accurate information back to the treating DVMs and the owners. I wish they did.

Thanks for your post and please alert any K-9 owners in the U.S. (I'm not sure about Canada) if they feed DRY Nutro treats/food to check the dates of purchase and look at the Consumer Affairs site Cleosmom mentioned. One of those who lost her pet posted yesterday so Consumer Affairs could start to get the word out. You may be surprised how many agencies, and others have been alerted in 3 days time, given how awful this situation has been.

BTW - any experienced lab saves "samples" both for the FDA, and the manufacturer of the food to run their own tests. The whole point of an indepedent lab is they report what they find not what some corporation wants them to report.

Thanks again!

MSR

[Mtn. States Resident]

Originally Posted by Amazonchix

We've been feeding Nutro for 7 years at our house. We feed Nutro Max to the dogs and Nutro Natural to the cats. We also supplement their kibble with other natural food adds. So far we haven't had any issues. I did a few years ago send samples back to Nutro and tossed a bag because I noticed little fibers sticking out of the kibble. Nutro tested it and said they didn't find any problems. To be safe we didn't feed that bag to our dogs.

I'm signed up on the FDA recall list for pet food. What exactly do you mean there are problems with Nutro foods dating Jan-Fe 2012? I haven't received any emails from the FDA regarding Nutro.

The FDA has only recently been notified. Keep watching those recalls. Would you mind post that link here as I need to get off for now? It would be a huge help to any owner. I've learned this week, that not many know how to find the foods/medicines being recalled by the FDA.

I appreciate your interest and help Amazonchix. I hope all of your fur babies are well and happy and remain that way. I need to be vague for now. And if you consider that two of the owners had happy, healthy pets a week ago today and now don't have living pets, we're moving on this fast. I've filed many SAE reports to the FDA regarding humans. given my professional human work. I know the timeframe and as individuals we're making it happen faster as Nutro won't even talk to us. They promised things they didn't deliver so the DVMs and owners said ENOUGH - let's get to the bottom of this so no one else will lose their beloved pet.

thanks!

MSR

[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.