Is Nutro Natural Choice good food?

I'm an English bulldog mom and a dog rescuer.

If a food has wheat, corn, excessive meals (ashy versions especially), soy, preservatives, etc, its a bad food, plain and simple.

With bulldogs, Innova is a great choice. They seem to do best on this food, over Wellness or Merrick's (two other highly favored brands by discerning health conscious pet owners), although my Saint Bernard does well on all three of the brands I just mentioned. With bulldogs, keeping those folds clean starts with food. We feed Innova, twice a day (you can feed 3 times a day if you are home for it, but typically twice a day is a good option--once a day is too rough on tummies!), along with Nupro supplement (we use the silver label Nupro for the extra joint health support, as most joint health support pills give bullies the runs!), a tablespoon of yogurt (with active cultures) a day to help digestive and intestinal issues as well as keeping yeast balanced to keep folds clean, and 400 IU of Vitamin E daily.

Typically, Innova runs about $40-45 for a 33 pound bag. It can be found in many specialty pet stores and can also be bought online on Amazon.com for a bit extra.

If it gives you an idea as to how good Innova really is, I'll share this story.

Our bulldog is a little stinker. He's a big chewer, a hard chewer, and he has been known to destroy most toys. We only supply him with Durable Nylabones and the black (super strong) Kong toys. We tried a new version of a kong type bone by Nylabone that was originally packaged stating that it was "for really strong chewers, indestructible" (they no longer make these claims). We gave the bone to our bully, and sat on the couch to keep an eye on him. Within seconds, he pulled a piece of the bone off and swallowed it down. When we examined the bone, it looked as though he has swallowed very little (it was hard to tell because of the bones unusual bumps and shapes).

He ended up with severe bowel obstruction, that was first missed by our old vet (we've switched since then--nothing personal, but they were too busy with the reproductive side of the business to deal with more vet care based issues), and he was truly near death by the time we took him (for the second time) to the emergency vet. They put him into surgery immediately.

The surgeon came out and asked us (almost pleadingly) what we fed him on a regular basis. We told him: Innova, Nupro, yogurt, and Vitamin E. He said that he would be changing his own dogs from Wellness to our routine, and most of his staff changed as well. He told us that had our bulldog not been as healthy as possible, as a result of his excellent food regimen, he wouldn't have made it through the first cut. He recovered from the surgery in record time and was back home in perfect health before anyone thought he'd be able to get off the IV. The surgeon we had (as well as all of the other vets we use) is world-renowned, and in the top of his field. I figure, if he says we owe it all to the food, then who are we to argue? We've sent our thanks to Innova and Nupro, and even to the company that makes the yogurt we use. (We use only full-fat, plain, organic yogurt from Horizon--low fat or non-fat give a lot of dogs the runs, including ours.)

All this being said, I'm sure you'll make the right decision for your bully babies. Good luck, and I hope I've give you some good information to work with. It literally makes me teary to think of our baby boy, clinging to me pitifully like a koala bear while I sat in the patient room for the emergency vet to come in, and the only thing that makes me feel better is remembering that he is okay now and it is all thanks to the good people who make his food.

**Added note:

I'm happy to help! You (or anyone) are welcome to email me directly if you have specific questions or would like some advice. There aren't many bully issues I haven't dealt with or heard of, and if there are, I have a great support network of other experienced bully owners I can ask.

Just in case you haven't done a food switch before, here's the rule of thumb. If you have, and you already know this, feel free to ignore! :)

First day: 1/4 new food, 3/4 old food. Second day: 1/2 new food, 1/2 old food. Third day: 3/4 new food, 1/4 old food. Fourth day: all new food.

If your bully has major tummy upset issues, however, I recommend a 1/8 change process. (First day: 1/8 new food, 7/8 old food, Second day: 2/8 (1/4) new food, 6/8 (3/4) old food, etc etc).

After the food change is complete, give it about 2 weeks to see real changes. It won't be immediate and will take almost a month to really show the drastic change, but within 2 weeks the poops should firm up again if they were soft during the change, and an improvement in skin and folds should show themselves.

Good luck!

Nutro Sensitive Stomach Dog Food

Nutro Sensitive Skin And Stomach

If it was recommended by your breeder, and your dogs are doing well on it, by all means continue. It is not a low quality kibble, and it is not high quality either. It doesn't contain any HARMFUL by-products. I was giving my Mastiff the natural choice Herring and Brown Rice for a while when we believed he had a sensitive stomach issue. I found it to be very good. If your dogs have sensitive skin and stomachs, I would stick with it. Seriously, don't go fooling around with dogs foods. Stick to what works. There is a lot worse you could be feeding. Do not feed ANY Purina (this includes Beneful) or Science Diet or Eukanuba...those foods are GARBAGE.

Its a great choice. We fed Nutro to our puppy as it was the only natural puppy chow we could find at the store we went to first after adopting her. Another VERY similar, slighty cheaper choice is Avoderm. Both our "kids" are on Avoderm (we go between the Chicken and the Lamb) and not only do they love it, it helps reduce their waste, making our walks with them that much more pleasant, too!

You may want to look into Benefil (or Beneful?). A close friend has an English Sheepdog that gets the runs if you look at him wrong and Benefil has really helped his tummy out.

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://biturl.im/aUB48

A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Check out all the COMPLAINTS about Nutro at http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets - The fact that so many dogs are ill on this food is quite concerning... Would definitely check http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ and upgrade to 5 or 6-star rated premium foods with no grains, no corn, no soy - all unnecessary fillers that are the usual causes of skin problems.

Best wishes to your dogs.

TM

According to dogfoodanalysis.com it is not a very good choice. It claims it has little meat quality, fillers, by-products, preservatives and synthetic vitamin K. Please go to this website for more information.

dogfoodanalysis.com, click on reviews, type in Nutro Natural Choice and scroll down until you find the type you use.

The breeder I'm talking to about getting a Sloughi says that's what she feeds her dogs. She is a very reputable breeder and would not give anything to her dogs that was bad for them, so it has to be good.

It's definitely a higher quality kibble. My aunt fed her dog that brand for the first few years of her life, and her dog did exceptionally well on it.