Dog Food Warning - Nutro's "Nature's Choice"

Just when we thought the madness was over there appears to be another suspected dog food scare out there. It’s really disheartening to me that pet food companies seem to only care about the bottom line and disregard the love people have for their pets. Animals have become family members and while human children are protected through the FDA (as protected as any government agency can make us) animal food has no such oversight.

The warning about Nutro’s Nature Choice comes via the cat/dog Log and her work with a rescue organization in Florida. Apparently several dogs have died and the believed cause is this food. Sadly Nutro has shut out all inquiries and is not communicating about this scary issue.

Nutro’s “Nature Choice” line of food is highly suspected in the deaths of six dogs in Florida in the past month. Two Rottweilers and a German Shepherd from one household, and three German Shepherds in another household all consumed this product and then died within 48 hours.

Considering the fact that I am bringing a new dog into my house and will need to pick a food for her, this scares me so much. I want to pick a lower cost food than what I feed my dogs (because honestly we can barely afford their food!) but want it to also be healthy. I may have considered Nutro!!! Not anymore of course.

Always use the utmost care when picking your dogs food. The more natural the better, of course. But always read the ingredients and look for things like ‘meal’ or ‘by-product.’ Those are not high quality ingredients. Even treats need to be reviewed carefully.

*chicken by-product meal - an inferior source of protein made from necks, feet, intestines, etc.
*Fish meal - Like with all other animal sources, if a type isn’t specified, you never know what type or quality of fish is used.

The Dog Food Project has a nice list of ingredients to avoid with your pet’s food. I know it can be expensive to feed healthy food to our animals, however I try to look at the long term benefits. Over time, poor nutrition can have a significant negative long term results that can require even more money to treat.

I want what is best for my dogs and the dogs in my care. I wish dog food manufacturers felt the same way.