Nutro dry food - potential investigation

Looking around this morning I came acroos this thought you might be interested
 
[linkhttp://www.itchmo.com/read/fda-press-conference_20070330]FDA Finds Other Toxin, Possibly Also in Dry Food[/link]
March 30th, 2007

The [linkhttp://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/03/fda_plastics_ch.html]FDA announced[/link] that it#%92s investigation did not reveal the rat poison found by the NY lab, but instead found melamine — a fertilizer known to be fatal to rats. They also indicated that “[linkhttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/30/114249/411]pet food poison may be in dry food, too.[/link]” FDA said another company used the wheat gluten from China in dry food, yet the FDA is withholding that company#%92s name.
 
[linkhttp://www.itchmo.com]http://www.itchmo.com[/link]

Conrad has always, no matter what food we've had him on, been prone to vomiting yellow bile if it's been too long between feedings. If we keep him on a normal feeding schedule he's fine, but if he gets off the schedule for whatever reason and has to go longer between meals, he will vomit bile. I've talked to our vet and a number of other people about it and they all have said that unless it's excessive and for no apparent reason, it's totally normal and some dogs are just pukier than others.

We currently feed Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed and are just fine, for whatever that is worth.

ORIGINAL: ron2

Yes, but people love to crap on Nutro. So, right now, it's a free-for-all, thanks to the supposed email of another member on another board, 2nd or 3rd hand.

I should start a thread for those of us who have had problems with Innova.

Ron, don't take it personally. You didn't manufacture the food, right? I know you're a Nutro fan... however wouldn't you want a heads-up if something is wrong with the food you are giving to Shadow?

I *LOVE* Solid Gold, but if there were any chance that my dogs were in danger... rumor or not, bring it on. I'll make a decision based on the info and decide whether or not it's time to home cook. I think at this point with so many dead pets out there... maybe shoot first and ask questions later.

(BTW - my dogs hate innova [] )

This post was another another board on March 21.

The dog was eating NutroMax Senior Dry
"About 3 weeks ago her dog became seriously ill and was diagnosed with kidney damage. He was put on meds, and fed a diet of boiled chicken and rice. Last Wednesday, his kidney tests were near normal, and she was advised she could begin feeding kibble again. This is KIBBLE. She fed him one of the varieties of NutroMax senior on Thursday (his regular food) and Friday morning he threw it up and became lethargic again. Saturday she took him back to the vet and he stayed in ICU until he passed away yesterday. Upon some investigation by her and the vet, they discovered her brand of kibble contained wheat gluten. Her vet advised her to call the FDA and report it. She did, and they told her that she was the 49th caller to report problems with DRY KIBBLE, but they needed to do a thorough investigation before "unduly alarming the public".

[link=692015]http://www.igpost.com/index.php?showtopic=60952&view=findpost&=692015[/link]>http://www.igpost.com/index.php?showtopic=60952&view=findpost&=692015]http://www.igpost.com/index.php?showtopic=60952&view=findpost&=692015[/link]

Ron, don't take it personally

 
This is a case of where you may have mistaken my personal take on it. I am not offended. I was just stating an observation that seems obvious to me. Nutro takes more heat than Ol Roy, perhaps because most people here don't even feed Ol Roy and consider Nutro the bottom of their barrel.
 
When I suggested starting a thread on problems with Innova, I was being silly and I think Glenda caught that, I just didn't remember to put some kind of "I'm just kidding" smiley on it.
 
We tried Innova and it didn't work and I have refrained from making comments about how could Innova, who like many others, brags about making their own foods, could sub out the wet food division and no one knew about it until this catastrophe. Now, they have to come clean about it. I even took some heat before about how Innova's claims were advertising and not necessarily accurate. Here, it turns out I was right, but I won't gloat about that, either.
 
We all feed whatever we feed and this recall certainly concerns a great number of people. And now's not the time to fight over bones, so to speak. It's better to know what all the facts are, good or bad, and proceed from there.
 

The dog was eating NutroMax Senior Dry "About 3 weeks ago her dog became seriously ill and was diagnosed with kidney damage. This is KIBBLE. She fed him one of the varieties of NutroMax senior on Thursday..... Upon some investigation by her and the vet, they discovered her brand of kibble contained wheat gluten

For the life of me -- I cannot find wheat gluten in the dry food. Whole ground wheat, wheat flour and corn gluten, yes.....

Nutro Max Senior Ingredients
Ground Rice, Chicken Meal, Wheat Flour, Rice Bran, Ground Whole Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Poultry Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a source of Natural Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Herring Meal (source of DHA), Natural Flavors, Sunflower Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a source of Natural Vitamin E), Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Vitamin E Supplement, Dried Kelp, Chicory Extract, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Choline Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Biotin, Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Niacin, Garlic, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin (source of Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Copper Proteinate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex

Maybe they think it is something else in the food???

 Welcome to the forum;  I can't find wheat gluten in the ingredients either and am guessing that the pet owner, being in a state of grief, may have misread the ingredients and combined wheat flour and corn gluten in her mind to be wheat gluten, since that's the ingredient she was looking for, especially since one is listed right after the other. 

Welcome to the forum;  I can't find wheat gluten in the ingredients either and am guessing that the pet owner, being in a state of grief, may have misread the ingredients and combined wheat flour and corn gluten in her mind to be wheat gluten, since that's the ingredient she was looking for, especially since one is listed right after the other. 

Hello -- I guess I must have two accounts!! I accidently put in highlander and it worked! LOL

OK, so we can probably assume this dog did not die of the wheat gluten problem? There must have been something else. And a new development, as they were sure it was because of the dry kibble. Am I reading it wrong? I am so easily confused.

Does Natura leave the ingredient choices up to the outside party?  I think that may be the distinction in that while the cheaper foods may leave the ingredient decisions up to the outside party, the premium foods source their own ingredients and use the third party to make it.  That's just speculation.  I think most of the premium kibble manufacturers outsource for canned though so it shouldn't be a big revelation that Natura does this.

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This was an interesting read for me.  We let Jax go on the same day the first recall news broke.  Actually a few hours after his death.  I almost freaked out because he just overnight stopped eating, vomiting and became very lethargic and depressed.  Like a different dog overnight.  I tempted him to eat his dry Pro Plan Senior by mixing steak, rice, hamburger etc in it.  A few times he did eat.  Then go a few more days with next to nothing in him again.  It wound up to be kidney failure.  With no news about a food recall.....we put him to sleep within an hour of finding the news out that only flushing would buy him so more time.  And I didn't want that for him.  I can't help but wonder if more will come of this.  I hear kidney failure can be slow coming on in normal circumstances.  He didn't have any indications of anything wrong with his kidneys on prior blood work although it was a year and half prior to this.  I am anxious to see how this plays out.  Our new pup is on Pro Plan Selects that doesn't have wheat gluten listed on the label nor does it have wheat of any kind listed.  I just hope that Jax died because it was time for him and that he wasn't taken from me too soon due to this mess.  My sister in laws mom's poodle died from the Iams pouch products.   And a friend of mine works for Nutro and she is ready to quit work because of the stress of all this.  She takes all the heat at store level for this mess and has no clue what to tell customers other than I am sorry.  Its been hard on all the store employees all over trying to help customers-they act like it was there faults!  We might never know for sure the fault here.  But I agree that this is a wake up call for the food industry at large, human and pet.

Susan, kidney failure is rough.  Honestly, if I had it to do over again I probably would have stopped the IV fluids to keep Rusty flushed out sooner than I did.  I was selfish and didn't let him go peacefully, and I'll always live with that.  Of course I KNOW that he has forgiven me, he loved me too much to hold a grudge.  But, I can't forgive me.  So, be thankful that you let him go when you did and don't have to live with any regrets.
 
Folks, lets TRY to keep this thread on topic, that being the potentia investigation of Nutro Max dry.  I have no problem with posting concerns and symptoms we've seen in our dogs, but lets not wander too far afield.