Dog food again - Page 1

Anybody have any experience with Nutro Natural Choice foods? Are there really no chemical preservatives in the stuff? My frinds in Germany are twisting my are to feed food with oatmeal in it, no preservatives, which I don't need anyway as fast as I go through dog food. The stuff is readily available around here, inexpensive, great breeder program, but the mass production issue scares me some. I hate trying different dog foods, always worried through the months-long test period that I am doing more harm than good. And no... I am not going the 100% raw route. although am feeding some fresh meat a couple times a week. I can't afford $55-60. for 30# either.

Thanks in advance,

SS

I used to feed their food with good results.   No,  they do not use chemical preservatives.  Here is a link to their website.

http://www.nutroproducts.com/default.asp

Heather

Shelley, I compared my Diamond Naturals to the Nutro Natural Choice ingredients and I still prefer the Diamond Natural. 

Here are the ingredients for the Diamond:

Ingredients
Chicken, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, white rice, cracked pearled barley, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, beet pulp, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, potassium chloride, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

And the Nutro:

Chicken Meal, Rice Flour, Ground Rice, Rice Bran, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Soybean Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Oatmeal, Natural Flavors, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Dried Kelp, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Taurine, Ferrous Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Biotin, Niacin, Garlic Flavor, Manganese Oxide, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Vitamin A Supplement, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Chondroitin Sulfate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid.

Major difference would be that Diamond has Chicken as it's first ingredient and Nutro has Chicken Meal.  Both have oatmeal.

Diamond is still way cheaper too.

I fed Nutro Naturals for a over a year with good results. I used the same Oatmeal formula your friends are refering to. My dogs loved it, did well on it but I stopped using it after the dog food scare. It was good on my boys sensitive tummy and the females crappy coat. Good stools and the 10th bag free.

I now feed RAW to my puppy with occasional kibble for emergencies. I go back and forth on his kibble everytime I buy, depending on his pano, weight and whatever else is going on with him. Right now Chicken Soup Senior for lower protein and fat.

Adult female gets Diamond Naturals as it's $10 cheaper a bag than Nutro. I figure they are both mass produced so the dangers are about the same. I may as well go cheaper.

LOL MI_GSD I guess we both agree...

Yeah except for the fact that the your females get the cheap stuff.  LOL why the girls?  Why not the boys?  We work harder!

She is a spayed rescue, age almost 7. My baby boy is the worker and I want him on the best I can get, especially while he is growing. He is wrestling with Pano off and on, in training and still developing. I did allot of research looking for the right pup and now I research everything that goes in his mouth. My other rescue was a male and he got the "cheaper" stuff too. Everybody gets raw once in awhile for the health aspect and a yummy treat.

My pup is on a strict diet, the rescue has a feeder in her run and free feeds. She consumes allot of kibble. Fat brat, I can't afford EVO or the likes, for her appitite. The pup 80#, as I laugh calling him pup...is on a stringent diet and when eatting kibble, never gets more than 2 1/2 cups a day, topped with salmon oil. I bet he hates the days he gets kibble. The raw seems like so much more food for the tummy.

I fed the Nutro Performance kibble (orange/yellow bag with greyhound picture) for quite a few years.  My dogs did very well on it.  Nutro didn't seem to switch the ingredients around or the ingredient order on the bag.  However, I spooked off from Nutro after the dog food scare this past spring, even though this product did not appear on the list of tainted foods. 

Feeding Eagle Pack and semi-raw right now.  Not too happy with Eagle Pack for shifting the ingredient order at mid-summer.  :(  May have to switch again--arg!  Also, I noticed a bit more stool volume with Eagle Pack.  Firmer stools and less volume with the Nutro Performance.

In the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, I fed Eukanuba to my hunting Labradors, but alas, that product is no longer the outstanding product it once was.   Want to find something like the old Eukanuba if possible.; my dogs had good coats, good muscle tone and very good stamina.

I don't know if this helps or not.  Just a few observations anyway.

CM

I found the same ting with Eukanuba. When P & G bought the private company out, things went way down hill.

For the moment I am going with Eagle Pack Holistic formula for the young dogs and Canidae with the adults, except for the ones who cannot adjust and continure to produce large quantities of loose stools, which I will also put on Eagle Pack Hollistic. At $40./33#, its a little more pricey than Euk, but I'm hoping the benefits outweigh the cost difference.

Will keep ya'll informed of my unscientific results.

SS