Dog Community

My Meeting With a Nutro Rep

Posted : 9/8/2008 12:26:00 PM

During the weekend I was browsing some Nutro products at a Petco because a friend of mine feeds them the large breed variety.

I was reading the ingredients and a Nutro rep approaches me and started explaining to me how great Nutro is such as no by-product meals, and no wheat.

So I ask her a few basic questions that I new the question to.

I see the Nutro large breed dog food has corn gluten meal and the normal Nutro doesn't, can you tell me why? And what is corn gluten meal used for?

I see that three out of the top four ingredients are Ground Rice, Rice Flour, and Rice Bran. Why are there three rice ingredients? What are each of the ingredients for?

Her response was 'I don't know but Nutro has been around for 80 years blah, blah, blah'... I'm thinking 'Great, please be quiet so I can leave now'

I'm not stating that Nutro is good or bad just that the Rep could have been better informed.

Bonita of Bwana

Posted : 9/8/2008 12:34:39 PM

We fed Nutro for ages then they changed the formula..... sigh we stopped with in a couple of months ...My dogs who can eat road kill became gassy, chunky and had less energy. Years later (06) we ran into our old Nutro Rep who argeed the regular Nutro had been through a ton of changes and asked me if I had tried the Ultra?? Long story short I did wean that litter on the Ultra, was pleased with the results but displeased with the cost, the difficulty getting the right sized bags to send home with each puppy and later we went grain free so it was moot .... The pups from that litter have for the most part been changed to a grain free diet , the couple who are still on Ultra however are in excellent shape and energy levels..

I have what is considered a large breed, and we are very careful about how our puppies are brought along, we have never, knock on wood, had pano or joint issues from rapid growth or unbalanced fats and protiens...

But I hear you when you say the reps can go on and on and on..... even at show sites they can push like it is the only food in the universe!

Bonita of Bwana

NikoAwesomo

Posted : 9/13/2008 7:09:15 AM

At a Petco near my house, a Nutro rep used to be here every week... She is aggressive. I remember being in the store one day browsing and she approached me and asked what I was looking for. I mentioned that I was looking at the holistic/natural lines of pet food and that this Petco (at the time) did not carry brands like Solid Gold, Pinnacle, and etc. like other Petco closer to my work. She then said that she had never heard of those brands....

ron2

Posted : 9/13/2008 4:33:34 PM

I agree. I know more about canine nutrition than our local Nutro reps. Fortunately, the food is designed by a vet with specialty in small animal nutrition, not designed by reps. One of our local reps is retired from marketing. They are given a set list of info to give and most, I think, just do it for the part-time income.

But, believe it or not, I get my best nutrition advice from Dr. Remilliard's site and the vet at Momentum Foods. He's a vet who races sled dogs and helped design the special food just for sled dogs. As for using Nutro, I use it because it works for us, not because of clingy rep. If Nutro didn't work for us, I would be on to something else quicker than you can blink. But I would say that about any food. With the exception of Innova which I gave a pretty good shot, possibly longer than necessary. Then I switched back to Nutro and the symptoms went away.

You should see Shadow. He looks cute with his cardboard sign saying "will work for gluten." Big Smile