Review of Nutro Natural Choice Dog Food

A few weeks ago I received a generous sample of Nutro Natural Choice Chicken Meal Rice & Oatmeal in the mail. I was intrigued by the information Nutro listed about this product, and was curious if our fussy eating Silky Terrier would eat it.

Product Claims

* Free of Animal By-product Meals
* No artificial colors, flavors or preservatives
* Contains beet pulp for intestinal health
* Free of corn and wheat
* Contains a healthy multigrain blend
* Glucosamine and Chondroitin aids joint health
* Contains real chicken, vegetables, and fiber

Taste Test

My Silky Terrier is the fussiest eater I have ever seen! Although my husband has made the situation worse by catering to her pinnicky eating, it’s been a long search to find any dry or canned dog foods that she atcually likes. Oh, she’ll eat most foods if she gets hungry enough, she’ll even go on a two day hunger strike, but we finally found one brand of dry dog food that she enjoys eating. Nutro Natural Choice.

When I got the package in the mail, I opened it up and fed her some. I fully expected her to turn her nose up at it, but she ate it and wanted more. She ended up eating 1/3 of the bag!

Because this sold exclusively at pet food stores, it is harder to find. Luckily we have a store that carries it in our town. The product comes in three sizes: 5, 20 and 40 pounds. I was told by the store manager that the 40 pound bags are so popular they can hardly keep them in stock. It seems the product is so high in protein that the local dog mushers were all buying it for their dog teams. Sled dogs are a dog mushers bread and butter, and I was impressed that so many of them were feeding their dogs Nutro. That told me a LOT.

Ingredients

Chicken Meal, Rice Flour, Ground Rice, Rice Bran, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Oatmeal, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Natural Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp, Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Dried Kelp (source of Iodine), Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Biotin, Niacin, Garlic Flavor, Manganese Oxide, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Vitamin A Supplement, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Chondroitin Sulfate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid.

Guaranteed Analysis

Crude Protein (minimum) 21.00%
Crude Fat (minimum) 12.00%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 5.00%
Moisture (maximum) 10.00%
Linoleic Acid (minimum) 3.50%
Zinc (minimum) 250 mg/kg
Vitamin E (minimum) 150 IU/kg
Ascorbic Acid (minimum)* 35 mg/kg
Glucosamine (minimum)* 450 mg/kg
Chondroitin Sulfate (minimum)* 350 mg/kg

My Thoughts

This is the dog food we will be buying from now on. Our Silky tends to have a sensitive stomach, but she tolerates Nutro Natural Choice so much better than any other brands we have purchased. We have had to take her to the vet because she was so ill with stomach problems. The vet said to put her on a diet of hamburger and rice, that rice was easy to tolerate. This dog food has a lot of rice. Our Silky also has a luxating patella, and occasionally has pain in her knee joint, so I appreciate the fact that Nutro also added glucosamine and chondroitin to their formula.

We give this to our Silky in two ways, dry and with Nutro canned dog food mixed in. She doesn’t turn her nose up at her dinner any longer! I feel so good that I am giving her a meal that I know is healthy, does not contain any gross animal by-products, and equally as important, a meal that she enjoys eating. I highly recommend Nutro Natural Choice.

We pay around $8 for a 5 pound bag, so this is a bit more expensive, but we feel it is worth it.