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Sandi K
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« Reply #105 on: July 11, 2008, 01:59:38 PM » |
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More complaints at Nutro, this is really sad. I dont understand why ASPCA or FDA or someone cant get to the bottom of this. There are too many complaints to ignore and just brush it off. I really hope Consumer Affairs can help these people get answers. Perhaps someone should notify Cornell or some other University to get them involved...... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.html Nutro Pet Foods
Scott of Anderson IN (07/10/08)
We began feeding our Malamute Polar Nutro Lamb and Rice and senior two weeks ago. Soon after he started vomiting hourly. Our vet made a house call July 4, 2008 and was concerned he was having kidney failure. We stopped feeding Nutro he vomited for 45 minutes on Sunday. Monday his kidneys failed and the vet ended his suffering. Our neighbors also were feeding Nutro and both of their dogs had vomiting and were very lazy. Their male kept vomiting they stopped feeding and they both are recovering. We lost a valuble pet due to someones carelessness. Polar was doing fine until the food change
over 200.00 dollars in vet bills and cremation fees. the loss of a days work for my wife. Severe emotional stress of losing a beloved pet. Damage to our carpets from his constant vomiting. We are so distraught that my wife cries at the slightest thing and I can not get the image of my best friend suffering for profit
Beverly of Austin TX (07/09/08)
In April, I purchased a healthy Rottweiler puppy. One Saturday I changed her food to Nutro wet canned food. The very next day she stopped moving, would not eat or drink. Her condition worsened during the night and we took her to an overnight emergency hospital. She was young, around 8 lbs, and yet the sonogram showed her kidneys were swollen to the size of a grown labrador retriever.
Had we not taken her to the hospital, she would have died. She was in acute renal failure and was hospitalized for four or five days with multiple follow up visits costing over $2000. I emailed Nutro during this time because the timing of the food and the resulting health failure were so close together. Nutro only responded with a form letter saying they were sorry my dog did not like the food.
I was infuriated with the lack of response and could find no way to contact them and reach a human being. I returned the food to Petsmart and told them what I had experienced and they promised a sales rep would call me. I never heard from them. I contacted a private testing company in Texas, however, the cost of having the food tested independently was too much after spending so much on the treatment. I was astounded to suddenly see other complaints during the same month about Nutro wet dog food. I want to add my experience to the list of people who followed through with posting. This country needs a central reporting agency so that death/health clusters are easily identified and testing should not left in the hands of the manufacturers.
my puppy survived, barely. The final medical expenses were over $3000 not to mention the mental anguish. My pets are my children and having lost my old ten year old dog the month before, this experience was especially painful.
Adam of Knoxville TN (07/09/08)
As a pet supply store employee, we often have meetings with pet food reps to give them a chance to talk to us about their foods and why they want us to recommend their foods. Shortly after all of the Menu Foods recalls, we had an opportunity to talk with the local Nutro sales rep.
One of my co-workers asked the rep what is nutro doing to ensure that the foods being shipped out are free of melamine and other harmful chemicals? The response we got was astonishing. We were told that Nutro does NOT quality test their foods. Instead they have a partnership with many kennels around their factory. They send samples from the batches of food to these kennels, free of charge, for the kennels to feed their dogs. The Rep said if there was anything wrong with the food, they would know within 3 days. If no dog got sick within those 3 days, the food is shipped. After hearing this, I immediately stopped feeding my pets nutro and switched to a more reputable brand that does extensive quality testing and cares about the well being of my pets. I NEVER recommend Nutro.
Sean of Littleton CO (07/09/08)
I have a 4 year old Rottweiler and she has always been very healthy her whole life. She was on Nutro Lamb and Rice food when she became very ill. She was vomitting, shaking, and very week. We rushed her to the vet.
After some tests on my doggy named Ruffian, her kidney levels were high and my vet thought there might be an infection, she also thought it might be Pyometria. They went in to do an emergency Spay and when they got in one of her kidneys was completely shut down and black in color. A specialist was called in to remove her kidney immediately. They believe it was connected to the food there were tests done for cancer and they came back negative.
$5000.00 later my baby is safe and healthy again and off Nutro. I heard that Nutro was bought out by Proctor and Gamble and since then the quality of the food and ingrediants have gone way down, Is this true? If there is anything you can help me with this problem please do
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menusux
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« Reply #106 on: July 11, 2008, 03:26:45 PM » |
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To the competitors of Nutro: You're all aware of the controversies surrounding this company and its products, and you are all aware that whether your company was caught up in last year's recalls or not, all PFCs have difficulty restoring consumers' pre-recall trust--in both individual PFCs and the industry as a whole. From Pet Food Industry-July, 2008- Anyone read the July issue? http://www.petfoodindustry-digital.com/petfoodindustry/200807/?u1=texterityPage 88 - Is it really over?
Though the number and emotional intensity of blog posting and responses about the recalls and petfood in general have declined from their high this time last year, it is still not unusual to see consumer comments disparaging specific brands, companies or the industry overall. We still have a ways to go to regain the trust of many pet owners.
One possible way to regain consumer trust could be to try to determine what may be causing all of the reports of illnesses and deaths from your competitor's products and making that information available to the consumers who, at this point, have become jaded enough to see all of you as the "Pet Food Mafia", protecting your own when necessary. Hill's was sufficiently motivated enough to attempt to disprove Nutro's ad claims last year This report doesn't indicate that there were any deaths or illnesses connected with the attempt to disprove the claim--just a business matter of attempting to keep a competitor honest. http://www.adlawbyrequest.com/_db/_documents/NAD,_Nurtro_Products.pdfHills vs Nutro-Case #4714 August 21, 2007 Hills="challenger" Nutro="advertiser" Page 3- "The testing protocol that Nutro attached (to its submission) indicates, without support, that any product samples created at least twenty minutes apart constitute separate "production batches". This statement seems to suggest that the average MEC (Metabolizable Energy Content) for the individual samples from a SINGLE production run--such as the 3057 kcal/kg result Nutro obtained on June 21--could, by itself, substantiate Nutro's "Lite" claim, even though Nutro averages the results from THREE separate production runs and cites this as its support in its submission. Nutro's "20 minute" definition finds no support in AAFCO's guidelines, nor is there any authority to support it. In practice, samples from different production batches--as is required by AAFCO--are most easily identified on the retail shelf by looking for products that bear different date codes, as Hill's did in its testing. In fact, AAFCO has issued a guidance memorandum, which is available to the public at: http://www.aafco.org/Portals/0/Public/Guidance%20DocFinal.pdf describing how animal feed manufacturers should identify different "production batches" (a term the document uses interchangably with "production lots") using such codes on the packaging. According to the guidance memo, "All feed and feed ingredients should contain a code that links the individual production lot to production records so as to provide a history of such product. The code should be contained either on the product packaging, labeling or other distribution records..." In any event, Nutro itself cites the average MEC from THREE data points, one for each production run it tested--not the average from the individual samples within any single production run--as the relevant final "number" that it claims relates to AAFCO's "Lite" standard. Nutro's own method thus recognizes these three results as the relevant data. Page 4- "The challenger took issue with the advertiser's explanation that the high MEC values obtained by the challenger's testing might be linked to temporary product irregularities caused by Nutro's switchover from its Wilson Way production facility to new factories. The challenger argued that it was unlikely that the samples it tested all came from the Victorville, CA plant, as opposed to Nutro's other production facility in Lebanon, TN, which, argued the challenger, the advertiser admitted has produced its "lite" dry products continuously since 1996. Moreover, argued the challenger, the advertiser had not provided evidence that there were, in fact, such temporary irregularities in its "lite" dry products' MEC levels at the Victorville facility.Second, argued the challenger, the samples it tested came from products actually available to the public for purchase (which is how it acquired them). It selected the products to be tested based on the date codes printed on the bags, to ensure a range of unique production lots, argued the challenger, and reported these codes with the test results. On the other hand, contended the challenger, the advertiser apparently tested samples coming straight off the production line at one of its facilities (without specifying which one). Additionally, the advertiser did not state whether it tested samples of the same product formula that is now on store shelves and available to Page 5 " consumers. Based on such information, argued the challenger, it is impossible to know exactly what the advertiser tested, including whether the three production runs tested were of the same formula and, if so, whether this was the reformulation described by the advertiser.
Third, while the challenger submitted samples of the products to an independent laboratory for testing, the advertiser conducted its own in house testing. The challenger contended that "although in-house testing may be proper in some circumstances and it not per se less reliable, in light of the other deficiencies in Nutro's data and in light of the delays in Nutro's submissions and the shifting statements Nutro has made to NAD, this is an additional reason to credit Hill's results."Moreover, argued the challenger, of the three production runs tested by the advertiser, the results from two of them (May 17 and June 15) were over AAFCO's maximum allowable MEC of 3100 kcal/kg as was the average of all three (3118 kcal/kg). The advertiser had admitted, argued the challenger, that it thus did not meet AAFCO's standard, but contended that the 3100 kcal/kg limit was only suggested and not an absolute limit. The challenger stated that, to the contrary, the plain language of the Regulation indicated the 3100 kcal/kg was "a bright-line threshold". Page 8 "In addition to its explanation that the challenger's test evidence of caloric values exceeding AAFCO recommendations was a result of product reformulation, the advertiser contended that these high caloric results were partly due to manufacturing anomalies in either or both of Nutro's manufacturing plants. Specifically, explained the advertiser, certain employees at its production facilities were adding extra fat to the extruder to increase manufacturing through-put, and this practice affected Natural Choice Lite MEC values." Our trust in you as a company and in the industry might be able to begin to re-awaken if we were to learn the reason all of these reports are attributed to Nutro's products, when that company repeats over and over again that there's nothing wrong with them. To Nutro: Repeating the words "Everything's Fine" ad infinum has done nothing about stopping the reports of deaths and illnesses in conjunction with your name. The claim was even made by someone at Consumer Affairs that no product testing is done; you've continued to claim the contrary. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.htmlAdam of Knoxville TN (07/09/08) As a pet supply store employee, we often have meetings with pet food reps to give them a chance to talk to us about their foods and why they want us to recommend their foods. Shortly after all of the Menu Foods recalls, we had an opportunity to talk with the local Nutro sales rep. One of my co-workers asked the rep what is nutro doing to ensure that the foods being shipped out are free of melamine and other harmful chemicals? The response we got was astonishing. We were told that Nutro does NOT quality test their foods. Instead they have a partnership with many kennels around their factory. They send samples from the batches of food to these kennels, free of charge, for the kennels to feed their dogs. The Rep said if there was anything wrong with the food, they would know within 3 days. If no dog got sick within those 3 days, the food is shipped. After hearing this, I immediately stopped feeding my pets nutro and switched to a more reputable brand that does extensive quality testing and cares about the well being of my pets. I NEVER recommend Nutro. This person indicated that this was not long after the recalls and we are aware that Nutro was purchased by Mars in May of 2007; the situation may no longer apply. The point being that if it doesn't, and you are making all of the checks and performing all of the tests you make claims for, it should not be so difficult for you to be able to post them on your website as proof. The other side of the coin is that perhaps your competitors will once again be testing your food, but not this time to disprove one of your advertising claims. Our trust in all of you might not be beyond hope if these reports were to stop because the cause of them has been found. |
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PFR07PS
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« Reply #107 on: July 11, 2008, 10:39:32 PM » |
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Our trust in all of you might not be beyond hope if these reports were to stop because the cause of them has been found.
"because the cause of them has been found" -- OR -- because the cause of the reports has been acknowledged, reported to the public and corrected. |
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menusux
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« Reply #108 on: July 25, 2008, 11:34:00 PM » |
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I'll cross-post this to the other active Nutro thread we have in the Your Problems With Pet Food Section. http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=2694A9F80D51F0672AC0C334C2B95096Closures and Layoffs July 24, 2008 "The following future closings and permanent mass layoffs were reported in California. " Nutro Products Inc. is closing down and laying off 68 employees at 445 Wilson Way in the City of Industry and 50 employees at 18635 Gale Ave. in the City of Industry this week." http://www.nutroproducts.com/contact.htmlNutro Products, Inc.
445 Wilson Way
City of Industry, CA 91744This is not the Victorville plant--one of these addresses appears to be their corporate office. |
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Carol
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« Reply #109 on: July 27, 2008, 04:28:23 PM » |
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http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/caninevitality/archives/142981.asp?from=blog_last3Illness and Death Connected to Nutro Pet Food |July 9, 2008 (Saundra details what CA has reported about deaths and illnesses attributed to Nutro foods in her blog entry.) "These facts were reported in an article by Lisa Wade McCormick of ConsumerAffairs.com, dated 6/23/08. "Since Lisa wrote this article on June 23, I contacted her yesterday to see if they were getting any more complaints. She told me they are continuing to get reports from pet guardians everyday. She was very happy that I was posting her report to my site and to this blog."I contacted Nutro and I will comment on that conversation tomorrow." Saundra Bailey is an author and a pet nutrition expert. I would expect her conversation with Nutro will appear here on her blog today or Friday. Update is up now... http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/caninevitality/archives/144474.asp |
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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
United we stand Divided we fall....
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kaffe
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« Reply #110 on: July 27, 2008, 09:28:30 PM » |
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As expected, Nutro is still repating their mantra: "All is well" even as pets sicken and die left right and center  |
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JJ
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« Reply #111 on: July 27, 2008, 09:50:08 PM » |
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When will they publish test results on their website from the testing of the start and end run of their product? If you are testing and/or have tested samples of food sent in by people put it on your site and PROVE what you say is so. Anyone can put words on a page or web site and claim that it is the truth but without independent proof why would anyone believe you?
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'Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
But how to dance in the rain.'
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sharky
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« Reply #112 on: July 29, 2008, 05:59:04 PM » |
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;)JUST an FYI .. at any given time at least 3 PFC are suing over things...Many times one files because the other filed against them  Test results would be a nice web addition but since most company's do not even post the % of many micro nutrients I do see it happening while I am breathing:) |
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JJ
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« Reply #113 on: July 30, 2008, 07:50:19 PM » |
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sharky I agree it won't happen while we're still breathing, lol. But that helps all of the pet lovers and care takers on here to not buy that company's products till they prove beyond a reasonable doubt that their food is not loaded with unsafe ingredients/chemicals etc. So we JUST SAY NO and they keep losing sales which kills their bottom line and they have their stockholders screaming at them to make more money to pay a bigger dividend. Well I hope they both lose on each end. Instead of stockholders holding these companies by the scruff of the neck needing more dividends they should be beating down the doors of these places and telling to WAKE UP and quit producing toxic cwap that is killing pets with the cumulative effect of months/years of feeding. Like a slow death for your pet-as long as they are making money & your pets being poisoned to death IMO think they care? Guess again!
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'Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
But how to dance in the rain.'
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Sandi K
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« Reply #114 on: August 04, 2008, 10:45:58 AM » |
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More complaints at Consumer Affairs..... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/nutro.htmlNutro Pet Foods
Gigi of Chicago IL (08/02/08)
have been feeding my dog, iggy, nutro for 5 years. the food we gave him was never part of the recall. just recently, we bought a new bag, adult formula, he has had been throwing up, and has diarrhea. seems to have had some weight loss as well. will be going to vet-
Emily of Riverside CA (08/01/08)
I have fed Nuto dog food to my Greyhounds for several months and have also encouraged my clients (who have purchased puppies from me) to do so. In one year's time, I have had 3 (that I am aware of) clients whose puppies have suffered from diarreah, vomiting, weight loss and dehyration and fatigue due to the Nutro food.
My reputation has been affected due to my recommendation of this food, expensive vet bills paid by my clients, worry and alternate medicines that have also been costly.
Michael of Jamaica NY (07/31/08)
About one week ago (roughly July 23rd)I purchased a bag of Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice adult dog food. Within 2 days my dog started vomiting. I have cleaned up the back yard, drained the wading pool and cleaned all the floors in the house to make sure she is not getting sick from anything else.
This is the first time I have bought anything other than Royal Canin from PETCO. I chose to buy this brand because PETCO can take me 30 minutes to get to, whereas the local store takes 5. After my dog Little Funk kept vomiting I looked into Nutro and have seen similar complaints. I thought it would be important to write this complaint. I have kept the bag of food, and have stopped feeding it to her. Tomorrow August 1st, I take my dog to the vet.
Economic consequence was only a wasted bag of food. But I am merely interested in reporting the bad product to get it off the shelves. My dog is an English Bull Dog and I paid 2500 dollars for her. She has been seen by the same vet since I bought her in June 2007 and has been given a clean bill of health as rescently as June 2008. If something is wrong the Bill may be outrageous, but until I know the outcome of the vet visit tomorrow I will have no information.
Justine of Burlington CT (07/31/08)
I wrote a post in July about my story and what we think happened to our dog Miley from eating nutro food. Well the vet sent out the food and tested for afalatoxin. The test came back negative. So I called Nutro and told them everything. The only reason I didn't call before was because I read people writing online that when they called no one helped them or that they wouldnt' give them the number to the main office. Well I called and they wree MORE than willing to help me and test the food too. They are sending me a pre paid envelope and bag to send them the food. If anyone has a problem and they think it was the Nutro I urge you to call them and discuss it with them first. Thank you
William of Chicago IL (07/31/08)
What I did when I knew something was wrong. We noticed first thing in the morning that our Aussie was acting completely out of it. Disorientated, wobbly etc. Like she was on meds the Vet would give her as she is scared of thunder storms.
If your reading this - you love your pet and you know when something is wrong.
Anyway - as it was 5am and the Vet would not be open until 9am. I googled and found this wonderful site which was full of valuable information. Immediately I cleaned and rinsed her water dish. We boiled a plain chicken breast and 1/2 cup of white rise. Rinsed in cold water so it was not hot and cut it up into small easily digested chunks to get something into her stomach. She is 9 years old. She ate, but was not herself.
Got to the Vet at 11am. Vet told us we did the right thing getting some food and water into her and agreed something was up. I handed the vet the medical info from this website (thank you people) about liver enzymes being elevated and blood work etc.
GUESS WHAT? YEP same thing, same thing!
We got her home and continued the boiled chicken breast and white rice for two days, switched to a different brand of dog food.
Our dog received a shot of an antibiotic which she ended up having an allergic reaction to (her lips swelled up) so back we went to the vet and she got another shot (steroid) to bring that down.
After a couple more days, she is back to her old self.
Our dog was on Nutro for the past 4 years, the active dog mix, and like the others I noticed the different color etc of the food. We went back to Science Diet and now after 10 days, she is back to her normal active self.
To recap: New Bag of Nutro, noticed for about 5-7 days she was lethargic and not her usual self. We wrote this off to it being hot Chicago Midwest heat in the summer. All of a sudden she acted like she was disorientated and out of it.
Actions: Stopped feeding her the Nutro. Got good food and water into her immediately and then got to the Vet.
Remember, do not use or donate the food as it will just start again. This wide of a problem, across this many breeds is not some isolated issue. I am keeping my vet bills and the food so when this breaks wide and large I have recourse. Bottom line, I wonder if the executives at Nutro feed their pets this food after reading these posts.
Vickie of Winston Salem NC (07/31/08)
My aunt is a breeder of maltese & yorkies, and I've placed the puppies for four years. I researched the foods, chose Nutro, and had been using it for about three yrs. without problems, until 3 months ago. My three maltese (2 yrs., 3 yrs. & 4 yrs. old) started throwing up bile and white foam several times weekly. My Male, JJ, at l0 lbs., started refusing his food for the first time EVER, which we knew was alarming. My three lb. teacup refused a lot, which Nutrical, baby food chicken and pedialite was used much of the time. My 7 lb. female, Jazz, also refused her food several times, so we knew something was very wrong.
We returned a bag to Petsmart, and they exchanged it for a new bag. Within a week, I had to take all three to the vet for throwing up bile, diareah, and thought they had eaten cat poo, however, they are never out without me to watch them potty, and are brought back inside. The vet gave them a shot to stop the vomiting and diareah, told me to feed rice and chicken I cooked, and they got better. After putting them back on Nutro, within a week, there was some throwing up of bile again, and white foamy matter, and lots of soft, runny poop.
They are young dogs and usually play, chasing each other at night, and that had stopped. Their coat quality had gone down tremendously. It had become fuzzy, knotted, and so difficult to groom, that I did puppy cuts on all three because the matting and tangling was so bad. They have had beautiful healthy coats until the past few months. Two of our maltese puppies did not gain weight as they should. I pushed them with over 3/8 cup daily and all I could do was clean poop, their weight and filling out was not happening. Their hair got so matted and tangled, I had to cut theirs into short puppy cuts also. The tearing on all of them was terrible. My teacup had black guncky stuff all around her eyes, on her face, and dark staining around her mouth. All the others were staining like we'd never seen before.
I had to do something, so I changed them to Purina Pro Plan, and within three days, they were playing and chasing again. The poops were firm and they only went once a day (with Nutro it was sometimes three times daily and lots of it). They have been on Purina Pro Plan for four weeks now, and the staining and tearing has dramatically improved, no more black guncky stuff, their coat quality is remarkably better, not the tangling and matting, and the small puppies have gained a pound and I'm feeding them a less than the Nutro, which had been just running thru them.
I'm not happy with the corn in Purina, and one has developed an allergy to it, with rubbing her face, licking her paws, and changed her to Purina Turkey & Barley, however, after two wks., she's scratching her skin and it is very pink, and I think the barley is a problem also. Grains can cause lots of allergy problems. I'm researching to get a safe food now, and will change her soon.
I am going to keep journals on the foods, and I will be able to recognize sooner when there is a problem with the foods. Dog Food is a nightmare now, requiring so much research and still hard to determine what is safe. I KNOW Nutro caused these problems with my dogs, as I used it for three years without problems, and then three months ago, many things happened to all of the dogs here in my home, which some are mine, and some we will place in homes soon, but ALL had problems with Nutro food.
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JJ
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« Reply #115 on: August 05, 2008, 12:31:31 AM » |
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Sandi thanks for update on more complaints of Nutro food. Why aren't more people aware of this food doing what it does to the pets? I'm going to post on another forum and ask them to pass the word on also. Maybe we should re-double our efforts to pass on this info to pet lovers to keep their pets from going thru the same things others are experiencing.
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'Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
But how to dance in the rain.'
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Carol
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« Reply #116 on: August 06, 2008, 04:48:31 AM » |
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http://consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/08/pet_food_recalls99.htmlExpert Finds Unexplained Pet Deaths 'Not Consistent'
But S.C. police dogs taken off Nutro food; pet owners still suspicious
By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com
August 6, 2008
There's still no definitive explanation for the health problems that scores of dogs and cats across the country have recently experienced after eating Nutro pet food. One expert says the illnesses are "not consistent" and not likely caused by the food. But others are not so sure.
Dr. Steven Hansen, a veterinary toxicologist who manages the Animal Poison Control Center for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), agreed to review the complaints ConsumerAffairs.com has received about Nutro pet food.
We gave Dr. Hansen unprecedented access to our complaint files in an effort to find out why so many pets have become sick — or even died — after eating Nutro food.
"Unfortunately the cases are not consistent and appear to be anecdotal with no real definitive diagnostic findings," Dr. Hansen told us. "Without any consistent trends in findings we can not do anything any further. This does appear to us to be a situation where bad things happen, but they are not likely food-related."
But another veterinarian, this one in South Carolina, suspects Nutro's food may have played a role in the May 22nd death of a dog that was under her care.
She is trying to find an independent lab to test the food and confirm her suspicions.
As a precaution, this veterinarian has told her local police chief to stop feeding Nutro to the dogs on the city's K-9 Unit.
In other developments:
• ConsumerAffairs.com continues to receive complaints about Nutro food and its possible connection to the illnesses and death dogs and cats nationwide. In the past three months, we have received more than 150 complaints from worried pet owners, many of them longtime Nutro customers;
• ConsumerAffairs.com has asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for all the complaints the agency has received in recent months about Nutro food. Despite a Freedom of Information request, the FDA has not yet produced the complaints, which were gathered by public employees at taxpayers' expense and are a matter of public record ;
• Nutro Products Inc. is closing down and laying off a total of 118 employees in City of Industry, California, according to a story posted on CoStar.com.
• A pet safety organization recently tested the Nutro food that two puppies in North Carolina ate before they died in June. The group, Pet Food Products Safety Alliance, tested the food for salmonella and e-coli. The samples were negative for those specific toxins.
Artful spinning
Nutro has posted a statement on its Web site claiming a recent ConsumerAffairs.com story falsely reported that its food had caused some pets to become sick. "Every NUTRO product that was analyzed in relation to the June 23 posting on ConsumerAffairs.com has been shown to be safe," the company wrote in response to our story.
In fact, the story in question said, "A series of mysterious illness and death dogs Nutro pet food. Scores of pet owners report their animals became ill while eating Nutro products, then recovered when they were switched to another brand." It did not directly attribute the reports to Nutro products.
As we've reported, scores of healthy pets across the country — and even some in Hawaii and Italy — have recently experienced sudden and recurring bouts of diarrhea, vomiting, and other digestive problems.
One common link among these dogs and cats is the brand of food they've eaten: Nutro.
Many pet owners who've written to us report that their pets' conditions immediately improved once they stopped eating Nutro.
An analysis of our complaints also revealed that at least seven healthy dogs have died after eating Nutro food. The owners suspect — but cannot prove — that Nutro's food played a role in their pets' deaths.
Employee reports
Former Nutro employees confirm that they have heard similar complaints about the company's food.
Several pet owners, they said, told them their dogs and cats had experienced the same types of health problems: diarrhea, vomiting, and lethargy.
The former employees reported their concerns to their supervisors, but said they were ignored. That's why they resigned.
Nutro, however, has repeatedly defended its food, saying it's "100 percent safe."
Cause still unknown
But if nothing is wrong with the food, why are so many pets getting sick after eating Nutro's products?
That's the mystery we hoped Dr. Hansen could help us solve.
He reviewed more than 50 complaints about Nutro, focusing on the cases in which pet owners had taken their dogs or cats to a vet. But those complaints, he said, revealed a myriad of illnesses.
"Right now, it looks like a mixture of reported clinical signs that reflect normal illnesses in the dog population," he said. "They don't speak to something consistently wrong with the pet food.
"Honestly, it is entirely possible that what we're seeing here (in these complaints) is a raised awareness of reporting illnesses."
In other words, pet owners are more aware of possible illnesses in their dogs and cats — probably because of the pet food recall.
What's Dr. Hansen's advice to worried pet owners?
"Speak to Nutro and your vet about your pets' illnesses. But based on what we see in these complaints, we don't suspect the food is related to these cases."
He added: "I appreciate you looking into these complaints. If we don't look at them, then we don't know what's going on. It's a good thing to ask questions and keep an eye out. And if there is a consistent pattern, then we need to keep looking. I'd rather have us be a little cautious than miss something serious."
K-9 alert
Meanwhile, a veterinarian in South Carolina is trying to solve her own mystery regarding Nutro.
Dr. Calley Hille suspects that food may have played a role in the recent death of one of her client's dogs — a 13-year-old German Shepherd named Elvis.
That healthy dog, she said, died one week after his owner switched him to Nutro's food with glucosamine. And he showed worrisome symptoms immediately after he ate the food.
"Within 20 minutes after eating the food, he started vomiting," Dr. Hille said.
A couple hours later, Elvis started having violent seizures.
"The next morning, his owners brought him in and we drew blood," she said. "The blood work indicated he had some type of food poisoning. He was vomiting, had diarrhea, and elevated pancreatic enzymes."
Dr. Hille immediately took Elvis off Nutro. A few days later, his owners found him in a puddle of water. They rushed him to Dr. Hille's office.
"I initiated CPR and also did a cardiac massage. I tried to pump his heart with my hands."
Despite her efforts, Elvis died.
"He was a healthy older dog," Dr. Hille said. "He was a beautiful 13-year-old German Shepherd. I wanted to know exactly what happened to Elvis. I wanted to know why he died."
That's why — with the owner's permission — she had the state vet do an autopsy on Elvis.
"I expected the necropsy to maybe show that he had a brain tumor, but he didn't have any neurological signs associated with that," Dr. Hille said.
Autopsy raises questions
The autopsy revealed that Elvis died of internal bleeding — apparently from a hematoma on his spleen. The findings surprised Dr. Hille — and raised more questions.
"The state vet couldn't give me any reason for Elvis to have a hematoma on his spleen," she said. "He also said there was no biological reason for Elvis to have had the seizures."
Dr. Hille, however, has a theory.
"In my opinion, the seizures caused the hematoma. It takes a blunt force for those to happen and Elvis had violent seizures. At one point, he was throwing himself against a wall. The seizures are what made the spleen start to bleed."
But what caused Elvis' sudden seizures? Could his pet food be a factor?
"It's most certainly possible that food poisoning could cause seizures," Dr. Hille said. "I'm not laying my credentials on the line and saying that Nutro caused them, but it makes sense."
She added: "Could it be a coincidence that Elvis died a week after he started eating the food? Yes. But no one can show me what that coincidence is. I asked the state vet why Elvis had the hematoma. He said he didn't know. I asked him why he had the seizures. He said he didn't know."
The state vet did not test for any toxins in Elvis' system. "I don't know why," Dr. Hille said.
But it makes her even more determined to test the food — and hopefully solve this mystery.
"We highly suspect there's a connection between the Nutro food and Elvis' seizures, which ultimately caused his death," she said. "His blood work showed signs of reaction to food. I think we can prove that if we test the food.
"But the state of South Carolina will not test it. They don't do that anymore. My problem is I don't know what to test for. I need to look into what toxins cause seizures."
There may be another culprit involved in this mystery — one that should also be tested.
"It's certainly possible that there is something in the (pet food) bags, especially if they're sitting in storage," Dr. Hille said. "If something is in the bag, the food is going to absorb it."
If those tests come back negative, is it possible that Elvis' age played a role in his death? That's not likely, Dr. Hille said.
"If it was an age thing, the state vet should have found it. And he didn't."
Baffled by Elvis' death, Dr. Hille has taken precautionary measures with other dogs she knows are eating Nutro food — specifically, members of K-9 Unit for the city of North Charleston, South Carolina.
Her husband is a handler for the dogs on that unit.
"I ran blood tests on all seven dogs in the K-9 unit," Dr. Hille said. "Three of the seven showed signs that they needed to get on better food. We have taken all the dogs off Nutro and put them on another food. "I ran those tests because of Elvis' case."
Elvis' owner applauds Dr. Hille's efforts to save her family's beloved German Shepherd. And she's just as committed to finding out what caused his sudden death.
"I don't want this to happen to someone else again," says Tracy H. of. North Charleston. "I am so distraught after having to watch my three kids see our wonderful dog die… my 13-year-old son gave him CPR to try and keep him alive…"
Tracy has searched for a lab — or state or federal agency — to test Elvis' food. But she's hit several roadblocks.
"I can't find anyone to test it. The Department of Agriculture (in S.C.) no longer does testing for toxicology. I called the FDA, but I got a recording. I did leave a message three times, but I never got a return call."
She's not giving up, though.
"It may cost me a great deal of money to pay for testing, but I will make sure that no one ever has to go through what my family has gone through. My sweet, sweet German Shepherd is gone forever and nothing will ever bring him back. But I will make sure that Nutro never does this to a dog again."
Nutro's response
ConsumerAffairs.com contacted Nutro about these concerns – and Dr. Hansen's findings.
A company spokeswoman said all Nutro products undergo rigorous testing — beginning with the raw ingredients and ending with the finished products. And she said consumers should not worry about feeding their pets Nutro's foods.
"Nutro products are safe and conform to the standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)," Debra Fair, public relations manager for Mars Petcare, USA, said in a written statement. Mars acquired Nutro in May, 2007. "We are committed to working with these agencies and all stakeholders who share our goal of ensuring the safety of pet food products."
What about the concerns raised by Dr. Hille regarding Elvis' death?
Fair said it would be "irresponsible for us to speculate about the cause of the pet's illness" based on the limited information the company received from ConsumerAffairs.com.
"We encourage the attending veterinarian to contact us so that we can carefully review the details of the case," she said.
Fair also encouraged all consumers with concerns about Nutro to contact the company.
"While consumer concerns about Nutro product quality are rare, we take every complaint seriously. When we learn of an issue, we work with consumers to obtain information and request that samples of any product in question be submitted for testing at an independent facility."
She added: "An in-depth review is performed to determine if an issue does exist. All tested samples of product to date have been shown to be safe and conform to FDA, USDA and AAFCO standards."
She did not, however, state what toxins the company tested for or provide copies of any lab results.
Fair said that many consumers who have contacted ConsumerAffairs.com about Nutro have not shared their concerns with the company.
"A comprehensive review of our call center database shows that the vast majority of individuals posting on your site have not contacted Nutro or provided samples for testing."
Fair also said her company has made repeated efforts to contact all the consumers mentioned in a June 23 ConsumerAffairs.com story about the mysterious deaths of six dogs that had eaten Nutro. The story also focused on the sudden illnesses that pets nationwide and in Italy had experienced after eating the company's food.
"We've either spoken with or left multiple messages for all of the consumers cited in the June 23 posting," Fair said. "There is nothing that indicates that these pet health issues were caused by Nutro pet foods."
But pet owner Sharon A. of Cheektowaga, New York — who was included in our June 23 story — said no one from Nutro has contacted her.
"I've not heard from anyone at Nutro," she told us. Some of the other consumers in our June 23 story had already contacted Nutro.
But others would be hard for Nutro to find because we only identify consumers by their first names and last initials when their complaints are published. Nutro has never contacted ConsumerAffairs.com about those pet owners or asked how they could reach them, although a company spokesman said the information would be "immediately" provided.
"Whenever health and safety are involved, we are happy to immediately share consumer contact information with responsible company researchers, provided the companies agree that they will not take legal action against consumers making comments they object to," said ConsumerAffairs.com President James R. Hood. "No one from Nutro has ever bothered to contact us."
Meanwhile, Fair said her company concurred with Dr. Hansen's findings — and his suggestions to worried pet owners.
"We agree with his recommendation that it is important that consumers with concerns contact Nutro and their veterinarian."
Product shortages
Fair also addressed another issue we've raised before — the shortage of some Nutro products.
"The temporary availability issues that Nutro has experienced with certain products are operational in nature, not quality-related. Shortages of Nutro(tm) Natural Choice Lamb Meal and Rice products at some retail locations are due to the high demand for our products at a time of global shortages in lamb meal… We have already secured additional, high-quality supply sources of most raw materials, and are currently working with suppliers in New Zealand and in the U.S. to establish an additional supply of lamb meal."
Some online bloggers have claimed that Nutro may recall some of its food. Fair denied that.
"We have no plans to recall Nutro products," she said.
What about the recent story about lay-offs by the company?
Fair declined to elaborate, stating: "As for the news item you shared regarding our locations in the City of Industry, we have no additional detail to add."
Fair said consumers or veterinarians with concerns or questions about Nutro can contact the company's Consumer Services Department at 1-800-833-5330.
Pet owners' experience
But grieving pet owners like Tracy say that doesn't do any good.
"I called Nutro and they said they have not had complaints of this nature and nor do they have any recalls on the dry food."
Worried pet owners can also contact their local FDA office to report their concerns about Nutro.
They can also call the ASPCA's Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435.
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« Last Edit: August 06, 2008, 04:50:54 AM by Carol »
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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
United we stand Divided we fall....
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YesBiscuit!
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« Reply #117 on: August 06, 2008, 05:09:31 AM » |
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Nutro just digs their hole deeper every time they open their mouth IMO. Outrageous!
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Carol
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« Reply #118 on: August 06, 2008, 05:18:17 AM » |
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I wonder how Nutro was able to try to get in contact with the posters by their first name and last initial?? It seems the pres of CA is standing behind the claim that Nutro never contacted them to find their contact info and if Nutro is saying these people did not notify them...darn it I am confused |
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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
United we stand Divided we fall....
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MarySmith
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« Reply #119 on: August 06, 2008, 05:25:46 AM » |
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Re Nutro's comments - Spin, Spin, Spin - Ugh - nothing but spin doctors. Why do they refuse to admit problems?
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MarySmith
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