I think some people on this rating site are confusing Nutro Ultra with some of Nutro's other products....Nutro Ultra is Nutro's answer to the Holistic pet food market Take a look at the ingredients in the dry kibble (which has NO gluten, therefore making it safe from all the recalls) As far as the chicken fat and the rice other Holistic companies use it as well ....Solid Gold, Innova, Royal Canin and Canidae are just a few who use it. I feed my Boston Terrier Ultra and her coat is shiny, she has less dandruff, her tear stains cleared up, and her stool is firm and she is less gassy. It is very hard to drive many miles to a natural pet food store, so since pet smart offers a Holistic pet food such as Nutor Ultra, I'm going to buy it. Plus, it's 26% protein, which could be higher, but it's pretty up there, and 4% fiber, which I like for my dog. Fat is 16%.

Chicken Meal, Whole Brown Rice, Rice Bran, Lamb Meal, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Ground Rice, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Flaxseed, Natural Flavors, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Salmon Meal, Oatmeal, Tomato Pomace, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Potassium Chloride, Cranberry Powder, Dried Egg Product, L-Lysine, Vitamin E Supplement, Dried Kelp Meal, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Choline Chloride, Ferrous Sulfate, Taurine, Dried Bacillus licheniformis Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Extract, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Biotin, L-Carnitine, Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Niacin, Garlic, Calcium Iodate, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Copper Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Beta-Carotene, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid.

Better than their regular Nutro natural formula, but still a poor choice.
Minimum acceptable meat content, low quality fillers and controversial ingredients, fat of unidentifiable origin.
The SECOND, THIRD and FIFTH ingredients in the food are rice and this is certainly the primary ingredient in the food.
Sunflower oil is a good quality source of linoleic acid.
But poultry fat is a low quality ingredient rarely found in anything but very low quality foods.
Poultry fat is an ingredient of unidentified origin for which it is impossible to determine source or quality.
Beet pulp is another low quality ingredient and filler.
With the recent recall of Nutro products....
 how bout we support some of the smaller independent manufactures of the many other fine foods out there.

If you have a Corn-or-Soy-Dog they'll love this food. Mine deserve better food. Corn causes weight problems and glutens are just by-products from making other things like flours. Soy causes liver and kidney damage. This food almost killed my dog it gave him pancreititus from the soybean oil they use.

HOW CAN WE EVEN RATE A COMPANY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOSS OF HUNDREDS OF PETS?? CHEAP PRODUCTS PURCHASED IN CHINA = DEAD ANIMALS BUT WE ALL PAID A LOT FOR THE SO CALLED PREMIUM FOOD. SWITCH YOUR ANIMALS TO BUFFALO BLUE! MADE IN THE USA, CONTAINS NO WHEAT CORN OR SOY, NO WHEAT GLUTEN!

This food has menadione in it. Stay away. This leads to cancer and other deadly problems with your pet.

Mix this food 50/50 with Blue Buffalo and have seen great results with this combination.  My 7 year old springer has a healthy coat, no ear infections, and less eye drip since switching over to higher quality foods.  

I just had to put down my Yorkie 3 weeks ago, he was in acute renal failure. I fed him Ultra canned ever since it first came out. Now I'm worried about my other 3 dogs, 2 Yorkies and a Pom, of course they ate the same thing. My one Yorkie is drinking huge amounts of water,,,,, not a good sign,,all 3 are going to the Vet's tomorrow. I will so sue menue foods. There is one lawsuite in Il, going and I am sure this will turn into a class action suite. rating is zero for me, with the loss of 1 and possibaly my others.

great food and my puppy loves it.

my dog loves it.

I switched from Blue to Ultra and my 4mo boston terrier loves it.  No more dandruff, diarrhea, less gas, and he smells better too.  I've tried several other premium dog foods and Ultra seems to agree most with him.

I tried several brands and ended up with Nutro Ultra. The golden retrievers do well on it. I have no other references. The price is rather high.

I switched to Blue my dogs love it

We have three dogs. Two Labs and a Boxer. I used to buy prescription dog food from the vet b/c of my Lab's ear allergies from other foods. When Nutro Ultra came out I noticed it had a lot of the same ingredents, it was a little less expensive, and it was a lot easier to get. I put all my dogs on Nutro Ultra, they love it. My Lab's ear infections haven't been as bad and Nutro Ultra works just as well as the prescription dog food. My Boxer is now two. We started her on the Nutro Puppy Ultra when we brought her home that's all I have had her on. Her coat is shinny, corse but soft. Our Labs are just as soft. Better yet they are very health. The Labs have to be on the weight control diet and it works very well.

I started my Wiem puupy on this food which I had to go thru a lot to find the Large breed puppy. He did not want to eat it first and and I had to feed him in my hands. My puppy have dihrea ever since and finaly per my Vet I change the food to the regular Nutro Choice Lamb & Rice. Although I am starting little by little to change to the food over but his dihrea is gone!! If you have a Wiem, make sure to feed him Lamb & Rice since this breed was on this diet back in Germany.

I started my 4 shihtzus on this because it was supposed to be a premium dog food. Their fur is thinning and it's very dry and dull looking. They have very smelly and profuse gas. And one of them keeps getting diarrhea. He has started refusing to eat it like there is something wrong with it. So, how do I find a good dog food for shihtzus?

Three different sources of protein, less poop to scoop and backed by a good company. Whole DOg Journal likes it too!

I have a 5 month old Bull Terrier. First I tried to use Blue Buffalo, I felt it had the best ingredients, but after 2 full bags his stool was still very loose.

So I asked a trainer what she used and she recommended Nutro Natural Choice because his body may not like the ultra premium dog foods. (She uses Nutro Ultra)

Instead of starting with Nutro Natural Choice I got Nutro Ultra. After 2 days of feeding him Nutro Ultra his stool was back to normal! So... Nutro Ultra worked for me! It's an Ultra Premium dogfood that works for my dog Tank! He loves it too ;-)

Alex

beautfull furr, alot off energy and no skin problems as in scince diet

We decided to switch to Nutro Ultra to avoid the allergies that sometimes arise from long term exposure to foods. We were using Pedigree, which we thought was good, we have a large lab chow mix that is thirteen years old with no problems. however, one of our other labs seemed to have allergies, like yeast infections in her ears, goopy eyes during the summer and warmer months. We switched to this food, and they all have better looking coats, eat less of the food, defecate less and have smaller, firmer stools, and really seem to have no allergies, clean ears and eyes. We are very happy with the food.

Canned Food only- I got six cans of this free for my dog's birthday. But I will tell you right now - I would NEVER spend the $$$ on this nasty stuff regularly. At about $1.59 a can, this is not even worth opening a can of it. It smells WRETCHED!!! So gross...has wheat gluten in it, and the can is made up more of chicken broth than anything. For that price, try Merrick instead.

Relatively good dog food. My Golden Retriever is doing very well on this food, but she hates eating it. Have to force her to eat it each time. So cause of that, I will have to switch. Plus, ingredients could be better.

My Bichon is a fairly fussy eater, but he loves Nutro Ultra. I feed him only this kibble and he's totally THRIVING on this dry dog food. His coat is beautiful, his eyes sparkle, he's full of life and health. His stools are firm and compact. EXCELLENT product!

When we purchased our dog Sasha they asked us to buy some Nutro Max and asked us to keep her on it for a while since she was used to eating it. after we ran out of the small bag we same Nutro Ultra and figured we'd give it a try. Our dog is only 5 months old but she looks a lot healthier her entire coat is shiny and her hair is very soft, and teeth are super white. I looked at a lot of other foods like Blue Buffulo and Nutro Ultra seems to have the same if not better nutritional specs. Sasha loves it but to be honest I think she'd inhale any food you put in front of her. She's on her second 35 pound bag now and looks great.

I have a 3 y/o Golden Retriever who has had a skin problem since we brought her home. She was constantly shedding her skin and it was like she was snowing around our house. Talk about a bad case of dandruff! The vet was stumped; we were stumped. We tried special baths, grooming, and food supplements. Then someone suggested, that just like humans, dogs have allergies and she should be off of all wheat and corn. Nutro Ultra was recommended. After the first month I was going to stop giving it to her because her coat looked awful. It was dry and lifeless. Remarkably though, after 3 months, not only is her coat beautiful, 99% of her flakiness is gone. My husband, who is a physician, can't believe it and neither can I. I believe the lackluster coat we saw at first was her system getting the bad stuff out and the good stuff in. It has been almost 4 months since we switched, and she looks like a different dog. I am a believer.

I am a show breeder of champion Shetland Sheepdogs. I gave Nutro another try after years prior of dogs having constant vomiting on their other product lines. I thought this food would be better since they refer to it as a holistic type food. After a short while on this food all my dogs began chewing at their legs with constant scratching. No we don't have fleas! I switched them back to Canidae and within less than two weeks their scratching and biting stopped. Awful food!

My dogs can't get enough of it

Not a bad product, just too much grain in their ingredients, and they should not use Poultry Fat but Chicken Fat instead. My dog's coat has improved a lot after switching to Nutro Ultra, but I do believe there are more better choices out there. This is by far much better than a lot of the brand that use CORN and WHEAT and CHICKEN/MEAT By-products!! In my opinion, if you want to prevent future vet bills, feed a better Holistic/All natural Dog food, it only cost us approx $1 ~$1.5 per day.

I show and breed Pomeranians. I have tried, Solid gold 2x types, Back to Basics, Premium edge, Natural Balance Ultra, Royal Canin, RAW and sooo many more. There was always a reason why I switched. Loose stools, had to add a lot of supplements due to lack of things in food,poor coats and color,low engery, dogs hated it, etc etc. I have been on Nutro Ultra for over 6 months now. And my dogs LOVE it. This is the first time they have no problems finishing off their bowels. Also for my underweight dogs, and over weight ones. They are now maintaining their ideal weights. I have yet to have runny stools, even in puppies. Always nice a firm. And my adults are down to 1 stool a day. The coats, eyes, color, and energy are better than ever. I also like how it has many things in it I was supplementing for. Such as Cranberry powder, fish oils, Glucosamine Chondroitin, and Flaxseed.

My boxer is a picky eater and will only eat this when mixed with a wet food. We are looking at other brands because he just won't eat. This food came highly recommended, and other dogs seem to love it. My sister-in-law is feeding her mastiff Nutro and she loves it.

My Miniature Schnauzer did terrible on Ultra. It gave her very soft stools and she had lots of eye boogies. After switching her to a super premium dog food, within two weeks, her stools are small and firm, no more eye boogies, her coat now gleems, and she has stopped snoring too! I think the advertising on the bag is very misleading.

My sheltie has a normal thyroid but puts on weight very easily. She had gotten bad enough that we placed her on prescription Science Diet. She was on it a full year and actually GAINED weight (about 5lbs.). Finally, after reading about this food in the Whole Dog Journal we switched her and the results have been amazing! Within a few weeks she began to lose weight, and is now right where she should be! I love the ingredients in this food, and this is probably the only food the my Petsmart carries that I would ever recommend.

My dog seems to like the laste and she her skin conditions have cleared up. FYI for "Capri"...Dogs are not carnivores. Cats are but dogs are not. They are omnivores.

I felt compelled to rate this food in the hope I'd be helping other dogs avoid problems. I was lured into trying Nutro again (our Nutro Max nightmare is another story) when they came out with the Ultra formula. At first, I used it only when I couldnt get their regular food, and didn't connect the dots to link the problems to the food. In one dog, I noticed his muzzle was greying quite rapidly, and at the time he'd just turned 4. He also began to bunny hop w/ the rear leg upon waking. My older dog had his first seizure in over a year on the Adult formula. A few months later I started to feed Ultra as their regular diet. My vet recommended I get my year old dog on a senior food to help with his Pano. So, I gave the Senior food to him & the epileptic dog, and the Adult to the other three. The epileptic became a VEGETABLE. He had no mental or physical energy whatsoever! And soemthing scary began to occur with the young dog w/ Pano. If the wind so much as blew on him, he shook with fear and hid. He'd jump up from sleep, shake, sniff the couch, jump up again, and hide under the couch. Family & friends could not approach him any longer, he was too terrified. This was a completely new behavior. Meanwhile, one of my dogs was loosing weight, and the mixed breed was beginning to grey up again. All over - the tips of his ears, his chest, his muzzle. I switched to another brand out of desperation to get them of fthat junk food, and lo and behold, ALL the problems just went away. The mix lost the grey hairs (wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself), the year old dog displaying neurotic behaviors did a complete turnaround and his old personality is back. To boot, the food I switched them to after the Nutro Ultra fiasco was PURINA ONE!!!!!! Which leads me to conclude that grocery stoer food is of higher quality than that overpriced sewage. I now rotate between Back To Basics & Evolve and am pleased with both foods.

I am a show breeder of Papillons, so coat as well as weight and muscle tone are all important. I decided to try this food because of the addition of a little salmon, thinking that it might improve coat shine. I fed it to 12 dogs for 3 months and could not bear to continue it any more. The dogs hated it as a dry kibble, so I had to moisten and add a couple tablespoons to the mix for all 12 dogs. Everyone had very loose stools--especially when I added Nutro Ultra canned . The dogs were eating and losing weight at a rapid rate due to loose stool. The weight loss became significant within 30 days but began to stabilize, so I decided to stick it out a little longer. After 3 months, everyone is still underweight and muscle tone has suffered as well. Coats look great. I expect my dogs to maintain a good body condition and remain healthy when they eat a premium food. This food fell far from the mark. Another Papillon breeder had also started the Nutro Ultra when I did and had the same results. We both switched foods this week.

This is an Ultra dog food! The bottom line with any food is that you can make a label read great like Blue, Wellness, Natural Balence and the like. However most (all) these brands skimp in other key performance areas that the average consumer typcially does not realize. The average consumer can be blinded by the ingredients as well as some very educated consumers. Nutro Ultra provided my 4 dogs with an awesome skin and coat, great digestibility and they love the food. This is all that matters to me and my dogs. Healthy inside and definitely healthy outside.

While I didn't expect much from this food, I had to give it a try because my akita is such a picky eater and didn't really seem to thrive on anything. I have been through Canidae ,which he liked and ate well, but his coat was terrible, stools were huge and he wasn't adding any weight. Van Pattens Natural Balance , didn't like it, ate it begrudgingly and it really didn't do much for him, I had to tart it up with fresh chicken or beef so much it was pointless after a while. Several other "premium" and "ultr-premium" brands also had mixed results with nothing really seeming to be the one. Like I said I didn't expect much based on the ingredients and analysis, but he is doing very well on it after two months his coat looks the best it ever has. He enjoys eating it and his stools are consistently firm and compact. We're going to stick with it for a while and see how it goes.

One of my bouviers has a severe allergy to corn so for the last few years I have been making their food myself. At 10 years of age he has recently developed stressed kidneys and I thought that I would put them on a low protein prepared food for a while until I researched enough to change their homemade to fit his requirements. After checking out all the foods available in our area I chose the Nutro's Ultra Weight Management because the listings of ingredients, percentages, etc. seemed to fit his needs best and had no corn (supposedly). What a mistake!!!!!!!! In one week my poor boy developed massive hives all over his body and big lumps. Some of the patches of hives were so massive that he lost his hair in those areas. What a mess!! He was so uncomfortable. It was such a horrible reaction that being off it for almost 2 weeks now, it is still healing up. My other bouvier who in nine years has never shown an allergic reaction to anything got hives also but to a much lesser extent than the first one. I didn't know about the company having a year to note any changes in their ingredient list so thank you. I have put them back on homemade and am thoroughly disgusted with Nutro. My rating showes one star only because it won't accept none.

My dalmatian has been on Nutro Ultra for about 12 days now. No gas from it unless she eats something else. She really enjoys eating it...and love the bigger kibble so her teeth get a work out. Some of those small kibbles do not get around the teeth for cleaning. I did read a lot of bags of food at Petsmart...found this was a better complete food bag...the other was that natural choice. Science Diet just about killed her...she got dizzy etc...from it. I had heard recipe changed. Her stool is soft though, so we shall give it more time. But I also give vitamin with amino acids in it. She really loves it though. When I add vitamin her stool turns dark. I will give it more time to see for sure. I know a lot of dog foods are really different from another, just read all ingredients. Shame they cannot make dog foods with everything they would get from the wild. Raw is good, too pricey! Would like to know from others if there are dog foods that make really really firm stools? Anybody? Pls. let me know. MyBirdt@aol.com

Mydog has done well on it sorry you got a bad bag Lizardking.. Like love my dog said my dog had alergies and is know fine... However, CSFTDSL is also good... All around good food and those whose dogs have trouble should maybe gradually switch...ie frequent number 2's

I mentioned under Nutro how bad my dog did, It was the Ultra that almost killed him, The food did nothing good for him, I swear I smelled bleach in it, when I took bag to Petsmart an employee said " no that's how Nutro smells" I spent 800 on my dog and a 34 doller bag almost killed him. He lost hair and was pooping so much I had to buy a bottle of Holistic Solutions to help his loose stool. If you are going to feed Nutro, buy a cheap dog and a bottle of Eagle Holistic Solution because your dog will have so many issues with loose stool you may the solutions might save his life.

I have a German Shepherd that used to have bad skin alergies and hot spots from playing in the grass outside. I would brush her 3-4 times a week and I swear I could knit a sweater she shed so much! Lots of vet visits, medications, $$$. A friend recommended Nutro Ultra - within a month of feeding this product, my gorgeous dog does not shed - ever - and no more hot spots. I can't believe it. I'm sticking with this product.

I've scoured the isles, reading cans and labels of all foods at Petsmart, attempting to find the most nutritious food for our one year old female Airedale. The label and ingredients of Nutro Ultra appeared to be one of the best, but after a month at the recommended feeding, she's gained three pounds and I now worry about obesity. Missing from the Ultra label is the statement insuring the best: that the ingredients are "human grade". I've recently learned that heat used in processing pet foods destroys any added nuturents. When this bag is completed, I'll further my search and again change brands.

My puppy would constantly cry (we tried science diet and Puppy chow) and we (the vet and I) couldn't figure it out. She is (lab/akita) mix. I read about Nutro Ultra and figured I would try it.....she is doing great now and she loves it. I just wish the price wasn't so high.

My wife and I used the Blue Buffalo, but it was giving our four month old Lab the runs.

maggie1 has obviously not read the ingredient list or she would not be saying it's an awesome food with rice listed 3x. If you are feeding a pig, this food is good, but not for dogs that are carnivores. I really think people should read the ingredient list before they offer a poor opinion to someone thinking that they researched the product before saying anything. Another comment, they list salmon, lamb and chicken meal on their main page for the Ultra food, but if you click on the ingredients, you can't even find the salmon meal it's so far down on the list which means there is hardly any in it, yet they list it in bold print on the Ultra page for what animal proteins are in the food. The lamb is way down the list too. I think they are fooling people by their advertising those 3 proteins and they will if no one clicks on the ingredients link which is very small on the page. Natural Balance is a much better brand and I believe they are close in price and isn't your dog worth it?

Awesome Food

Ingredients look good for a feed grade dog food, :::Chicken Meal, Whole Brown Rice, Ground Rice, Lamb Meal, Rice Bran, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols; a source of Vitamin E), Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols; a source of Vitamin E), Salmon Meal, Flaxseed, Natural Flavors, Oatmeal, Sun Cured Alfalfa Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Tomato Pomace, Cranberry Powder, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols; a source of Vitamin E), Potassium Chloride, Dried Egg Product, L-Lysine, Dried Kelp Meal, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Dried Bacillus licheniformis Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Extract, Zinc Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Biotin, L-Carnitine, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Niacin, Garlic, Calcium Iodate, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Copper Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Beta-Carotene, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid. :::::::::::: but did not make the Whole Dog Journal's top 10. ( non-human grade ingredients?) They do have a frequent buyer program worth checking into if you are a Nutro feeder.

give me a break... copying iams... eukanuba... more expensive than the original nutro with nothing better than the package it comes in!

My dogs love it!

Actually, Nutro Ultra is not the best that Petsmart has to offer. Look at the ingredients of Blue Buffalo, Royal Canin, and some formulas of Nature's Recipe. Blue Buffalo is absolutely the best food at Petsmart and one of the best out there. Blue Buffalo offers HUMAN GRADE ingredients, meaning that all ingredients have to be approved for human consumption first. It was also formulated to help prevent cancer bu offering COLD-FORMED (not cooked, fully potent) vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Blue also uses only whole, unprocessed grains (not fragmented and definitely don't contain the dust and germs that processed grains do). It was also formulated partially by an animal nutritionist and veterinarian named Dr. Bob Goldstein. He's a holistic vet who's written plenty of articles and books on natural pet care. Nutro isn't a bad food at all. But if you're looking for top notch nutrition for your pets, there are MUCH better foods out there.