What do you think of Nutro dog food?

Question

I have been feeding my dog's Nutro, because at Petsmart, it is one of the best brands they offer. However, I have been looking at Petco, since I found one near-ish to me, and have found some foods that look better. One is Natural Balance Original, one I saw listed in another post. It costs about $15 more a bag, at least. Would it really be better for my dogs, or is Nutro a good dog food?

Answer 1

Natural Balance is definitely better then Nutro. However, neither food is that great compared to the higher quality foods like Innova, Wellness, Fromm, etc. Here are the ingredient comparisons -



Nutro Max:



-Chicken Meal (Good!)

-Wheat Flour (should not be in foods, no nutrition, filler)

-Ground Whole Wheat (low grade filler, causes allergies

-Rice Bran (good for digestion)

-Poultry Fat (bad as the type of poultry is not identified - means the company is hiding something)

-Corn Gluten Meal (the dried residue left over from processing corn, low grade filler)

-Ground Rice (good but should be left whole)

-Lamb Meal (good)

-Dried Egg Product (egg shells or eggs not fit for humans)



Natural Balance Original:



-Chicken (good, but meal is better as it has had the water removed meaning more meat in the food)

-Brown Rice (great)

-Duck (good)

-Lamb Meal (good)

-Oatmeal (good)

-Pearled Barley (good)

-Potatoes (good)

-Chicken Fat (okay)

-Tomato Pomace (tomato skins, okay but better if the whole fresh tomato was used)



Innova:



-Turkey (good)

-Chicken (good)

-Chicken Meal (great)

-Ground Barley (good)

-Ground Brown Rice (great)

-Potatoes (good)

-Natural Flavors (good)

-Ground White Rice (good)

-Chicken Fat (okay)

-Herring (good)

-Apples (great)

-Carrots (great)

-Cottage Cheese (good)

-Sunflower Oil (good)

-Alfalfa Sprouts (great)

-Egg (excellent)



Innova is the healthiest pet food in the world so you can see when comparing Natural Balance and Nutro to it that Natural Balance definitely comes closer to resembling the ideal ingredients for a pet food.



If you are thinking about switching to a higher quality food then it would be my first recommendation that you go with Innova because it is the better of the three however, Innova is not sold at Petco or most mass suppliers. The company likes to put its food into smaller stores where the staff tend to be more knowledgeable about food. If you check out their website www.naturapet.com you can find out if there are any other stores near you that sell it.



If you can't find it then by all means go with the Natural Balance as your dog will benefit from the added nutrition.



*My only other piece of advice that I like to pass on the people (and I mention it because of another post to your question) - VETS do NOT receive adequate nutrition training and are therefore not able to provide their clients with true beneficial nutritional advice for their pets. Most vets prescribe or recommend foods like Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina, Royal Canin, Walthams, etc and these foods are all lower quality then the Nutro. So for the best nutritional advice, find a small pet specialty store with friendly knowledgeable staff and also take the time to check out ingredients yourself.



All the best and good luck choosing a new food.

Answer 2

Nutro Naturals used to be a pretty good food! I used it myself for years. But a few years ago, they were sold to MARS Pet, and it's gone downhill ever since. Ingredients are now of lower quality than they used to be, numerous recalls, and overpriced for what it is these days. So at this point, Nutro is an 'average' food with a 'premium' price tag. The bag I used to buy 2 yrs ago for $32 is now $52 and the ingredients are worse, have recalls, etc. They were a great food and it's been sad to watch their decline. With a pit/Lab mix, your dog needs to be on puppy food for another 6-8 months or so. It's critical to his growing joints! I'd look at Canidae ALS, Merrick, Wellness, Blue Buffalo, etc. Better quality for what you are paying now. They all have puppy formulas except the Canidae ALS, which can be used safely with pups. In the past, I might have recommended Innova/California Naturals, but they were also just sold so the food will change. Better to find one that you can stick with.

Answer 3

I have been rescuing Pugs and Pug X's for a while - and along with these dogs; I have also had German Shepherds, Springer Spaniels, and a Cocker Spaniel. With all of these dogs, and all of the food that I have used; Nutro was worth every penny. Right now I only use Ultra, both Puppy and Adult, for my dogs. This food has lowered the skin infection (by yeast and other things) in the wrinkles of my dogs; along with supporting the nutritional needs of the diversity of dogs that I had at one time. Just about all my dogs were used as therapy dogs for special needs children; and this food helped keep them healthy and happy!!!

Answer 4

I have owned dogs for over 30 years and tried every dog food out there. Nutro Max is what I feed now and will stick to until I find something even better. I have seen the Natural Balance and did not find it's ingredients better than Nutro Max. Nutro Max is still the only dog food with the highest amount of linoleac acid...which translates to better coat and skin. Also, I have not had allergic reactions to it in any of my dogs, nor have I had weight problems with them. It's Nutro Max for me.

Answer 5

I feed my husky Nutro also, for 40LBS. it's $36.00 and that last about 15 days. I'm thinking about doing a gradual switch over to some comparable. There for we need to check out every ingredients and ask some questions.

Answer 6

Nutro dog food is excellent. Some people may not know about it because it is only sold at pet stores, not in grocery stores. My puppy eats the lamb meal and rice flavor and is in excellent health with strong teeth, and a beautiful coat. I wouldn't feed her anything else.

Answer 7

Nutro is a very good dog food, and my dog eats it too. I work for a veterinarian, and the foods that he recommends to people the most are Nutro, Science Diet, Purina, Eukanuba, and Iams.

Answer 8

I have never heard of NUTRO dog food.. Evidently.. it is a brand of dog food that was STARTED in one part of the country and is just getting started.. if business is good.. it might be sold in other states as well

Answer 9

Neutro is one of the best dog foods out there! I know many HIGH QUALITY breeders that use it and I use it myself.

Answer 10

in my opinion.. no its not the best.. my dog would not eat it.. i had to switch.