Nutro Pouches...Oxidization Problems???

xocats · Jul 9, 2006

Nutro told me that the spots did not present a problem....
Personally, I am not comfortable with that answer.

Several members have recommended Meow Mix.
I checked out the ingredients and their pouches do not contain meat by products.
The Guaranteed Analysis looks OK....
Although I am a bit hesitant about mercury in fish,
I am going to try a few.
My cats only get one shared pouch per day.

Let us know what you do.
Good luck.

laureen227 · Jul 9, 2006

Originally Posted by sharky

I hate to say it but if I found black stuff I would switch.... the only poches I use are Meow mix and the worst thing I have found was a piece of skin... I do use some nutro cans and no issues

i've been using the meow mix market select plastic 'cans'. they're comparable in ingredients to the pouches, but much easier to use, IMO. i've found occasional bones, but they just crumble to the touch, like the bones in canned salmon for human consumption, so i don't worry about them. my only problem with them is every flavor contains tuna - but i've been feeding it 1/2 & 1/2 with the canned chicken soup. of course, that also contains fish, but not as great of a percentage. i did buy one multi-can container of the meow mix where one of the 'cans' had opened at some point & was spoiled, but nothing else. probably got bumped during shipment or something.

xocats · Jul 10, 2006

Do the plastic cans have juice?
Sadie & Dexter love juice.

They ate their first pouch of Meow Mix and loved it.
Now I wait to see how their tummy's like it.

I am going to leave them on Nutro CC Wt. Mgmt. dry, until I get the pouch dilemma resolved then look for a different company for their dry food.

Unfortunately, at this point, I do not trust the quality control at Nutro.
Of course that is just my opinion.

laureen227 · Jul 10, 2006

Originally Posted by xocats

Do the plastic cans have juice?
Sadie & Dexter love juice.

They ate their first pouch of Meow Mix and loved it.
Now I wait to see how their tummy's like it.

I am going to leave them on Nutro CC Wt. Mgmt. dry, until I get the pouch dilemma resolved then look for a different company for their dry food.

Unfortunately, at this point, I do not trust the quality control at Nutro.
Of course that is just my opinion.

yes, they have juice. it's more watery than that in the pouches, but since i mix it with a pate style food, it works out really well. & it's MUCH easier to get all of the food & juice out of the cans than the pouches!

ckatz · Jul 10, 2006

so far I haven't found any black spots in the Nutro pouches I bought this weekend. Maybe they have different processing plants and it's not in the Northeast?

Cynthia

xocats · Jul 10, 2006

Laureen...thanks for the tip.

I will definitely try some of the plastic cans.

ckatz...it certainly is possible that this problem is just at one plant.
Keep us updated.

white cat lover · Jul 10, 2006

OK, so here is what I have been meaning to post.

I checked all of my pouches, bought from several stores. They are all dated Best By 07(a variety of months). These are ones w/ spots on them(although, admittedly, they have fewer spots).

I feed both Meow Mix pouxhes & Market Selects. I did notice, however, that MS are $.10 more each for me. However, I cannot get 12 packs of the pouches, so I pay the same as buying the pouches individually if I buy the MS in a 12 pack.

Laureen, I don't like all the fish, either. I bought tons of individual packs of Moew Mix pouches in Cluck-a-doodle-doo. I don't think there's as much fish in those(my brain is escaping me right now).

Sophiacat, there is another thread on Eukanuba kitten pouches in health & nutrition. IMO, Eukanuba is an OK food, although I don't like to feed it solely....i like to feed Euk. pouches & high quality dry....in addition to mixing in other high quality wets.

I purchased some Solid Gold cans....there are 4 ingredients. They are 5 oz. cans....I can't think of the ingredients right now, though! They had more gravy, although they were pate style. However, Ms. Twitch, who likes chunks in gravy, ate it. We've only tried 3 cans...it usually takes her until 6 or 7 to dislike them.

jcat · Jul 10, 2006

Originally Posted by white cat lover

I purchased some Solid Gold cans....there are 4 ingredients. They are 5 oz. cans....I can't think of the ingredients right now, though! They had more gravy, although they were pate style. However, Ms. Twitch, who likes chunks in gravy, ate it. We've only tried 3 cans...it usually takes her until 6 or 7 to dislike them.

Solid Gold has two varieties of canned cat food, both with "gravy": http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/produ...wcat.php?cat=1
My picky eater loves them (plus there are 3-ounce cans), so I try to keep a supply on hand.
How about the small Nutro cans? They used to be called "Nutro Minis" here, though the name has been changed. As I remember it, just one variety (veal) was paté, and the others had gravy. (Jamie doesn't like Nutro wet, so it has been a while since I've bought any). I just checked - the small cans are now called "Gourmet Classics": http://www.nutroproducts.com/maxcat.asp

white cat lover · Jul 10, 2006

jcat, I feed the Gourmet Classics & so far haven't seen any problems with them. Twitch loves them, too! Although, there isn't as much gravy as the pouches have, most cans have lots of gravy!

godiva · Jul 10, 2006

Have we heard anything yet?

I noticed this about a month ago when I was feeding my kitties their Nutro pouches. They didn't smell spoiled (as far as I could tell, but some pouches were A LOT runnier than others). At first, I'd pick out just the one or two bits that had the greyish black spots (I thought they were mold, actually), but I got tired of it and I haven't fed them Nutro (pouches at least) a couple weeks.

I just shrugged it off, I figured it was a QA issue that would be solved in a couple months or so (and thus be told it was on backorder), and that pet stores might have notices. I am very concerned that they have not taken a more proactive role in getting this solved.

Perhaps I will call them myself, I'm interested to see what happens.

Are there any food production/manufacturing engineers out there (or someting similar) that could tell us what this could be due to?

I also noticed a white film on the canned Nutro, but I think it's normal for them, at least. Does anyone else have the white film?

sharky · Jul 10, 2006

Originally Posted by Godiva

Have we heard anything yet?

I noticed this about a month ago when I was feeding my kitties their Nutro pouches. They didn't smell spoiled (as far as I could tell, but some pouches were A LOT runnier than others). At first, I'd pick out just the one or two bits that had the greyish black spots (I thought they were mold, actually), but I got tired of it and I haven't fed them Nutro (pouches at least) a couple weeks.

I just shrugged it off, I figured it was a QA issue that would be solved in a couple months or so (and thus be told it was on backorder), and that pet stores might have notices. I am very concerned that they have not taken a more proactive role in getting this solved.

Perhaps I will call them myself, I'm interested to see what happens.

Are there any food production/manufacturing engineers out there (or someting similar) that could tell us what this could be due to?

I also noticed a white film on the canned Nutro, but I think it's normal for them, at least. Does anyone else have the white film?

No white film isnt normal

xocats · Jul 11, 2006

I have not heard anything more.
I sent 3 pouches to Nutro last Monday, to be examined by labs.
According Nutro...this could take several weeks.

Nutro told me that this pouch problem won't hurt out cats.
My question is...how can they draw that conclusion when they are now telling us, that they don't know what the problem is?

To be safe, after years of being a happy Nutro customer, I have taken my cats off of their pouches.

I don't know about the canned food but I suggest that anyone who finds a possible problem with Nutro's food....call the company.
There is a link at the top of this thread to there site.
You can get the customer service # from that.

If you are not comfortable with their response, change brands.

laureen227 · Jul 11, 2006

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Laureen, I don't like all the fish, either. I bought tons of individual packs of Moew Mix pouches in Cluck-a-doodle-doo. I don't think there's as much fish in those(my brain is escaping me right now).

from what i can tell from the labels, they ALL contain fish. i can't tell how much per flavor, but the top ingredient in the market selects is either fish broth or tuna - regardless of what 'flavor' it is.

xocats · Jul 19, 2006

I received a letter from Nutro dated 7-11-06

They have forwarded my feedback about the black spots in their pouches to Quality Control for their review.

They received the 3 pouches that I sent in for testing and will contact me with the results as soon as they become available.

The letter stated that Nutro follows strict Quality Control guidelines in each step of every processing operation and have taken the appropriate steps to further heighten the awareness of their Quality assurance team to ensure they properly address my concerns.

If I hear more from Nutro, I will update in this thread.

In the meantime...
I have switched both Dexter & Sadie to Meow Mix pouches and am in the process of attempting to combine the pouches food with a higher grade wet food in one bowl.

Here is the link on that.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92999

No one said that being owned by cats would be easy.

Anymore black spots seen in the Nutro Pouches lately?

ckatz · Jul 20, 2006

I've gone thru the entire two cases I brought 2 weeks ago (my girls have healthy appetites

) and haven't seen any black spots at all. The only issue I had with Nutro pouches is one from the last case had spoiled but that could have been for a lot of different reasons.

Cynthia

xocats · Jul 20, 2006

That is good news....
hopefully the problem has been resolved.

sarahp · Jul 20, 2006

I've just started my kitty on Nutro pouches - the regular sort not the weight management sort - and I haven't noticed any black spots.

Of course Stumpy wolfs it down so fast I wouldn't get a chance to notice. She did throw it all back up today, but I think that's because she ate it REALLY fast.

crt · Jul 21, 2006

I opened some pouches I bought in mid to late June and they all had black specks. Liver & Turkey, Chicken and Giblets, and Chicken and Liver. The problem is, I don't know if these specs have always been in the pouches and I just didn't notice it, or it is something new. But, I returned all of the unopened pouches to Petsmart. I had purchased a large amount in preparation for hurricane season. Since my cat developed a mysterious intestinal problem that required antibiotics for 10 days, I don't want to take a chance with them.

The funny thing is, my cat lost her gusto for the pouches beginning about a week or two before she became ill. Which could mean she knew something wasn't right with the pouches or could mean she was losing her appetite because she didn't feel well. All I know is, she would eat some of it, walk away for awhile, then decide to go ahead and eat it (slowly) like she was hungry but didn't like what she was eating. I guess I'll never know. I've decided not to feed the Nutro pouches anymore. Thanks to all of you for your posts. I check this thread daily for any updates.

white cat lover · Jul 21, 2006

You know what?!?! I opened a pouch from a 12 pack I bought at the beginning of this month. No spots. I have been inspecting them closely & feeding those pouches. You should've seen Twitch eat. She doesn't really eat many of the chunks, but this time, she ate an entire pouch all by herself!

She loves those silly pouches so much more than any other food. I have never ever seen her eat an entire pouch & I do so hope they get this straightened out soon. I only have 10 pouches left...

xocats · Jul 21, 2006

A quick review about how I noticed the black spots.
Both of my kitties have been eating Nutro's pouches for well over a year.
Several weeks ago I notice tiny black spots on some of the chunks.
I did not pay that much attention to the spots.

One morning it dawned on me that I should call Nutro and ask what they were.

I was told that the spots were not part of Nutro's pouch formula but I could not get a consistent answer from Nutro about what they were.
That is how this thread began....

It is interesting that some members pouches do not contain the spots.
Why that is...
I do not know.

I hope that this problem is resolved.
My kitties loved their pouches.

Let's keep updating...

Nutro Pouches...Oxidization Problems???

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