Nutro Dog Food Dog Food Reviews

Nutro offers 6 brands of dry and wet dog foods with 53 recipes. Three lines of dry foods are considered high risk and the Dry Limited Ingredients line is considered very high risk. One line of wet foods is considered moderate risk, and the Wet Limited Ingredients line is considered high risk.

Within the wet recipes, most have higher average carbohydrates than competing wet and canned dog food brands. Dry recipes are also high in carbohydrates but that’s to be expected in kibble.

Nutro points out on its labeling and website as part of its “feed clean” philosophy that recipes do not contain corn, wheat or soy. However, they do include peas, rice, sorghum, barley, oatmeal, tapioca, potatoes and legumes which contribute to the high carbohydrate levels. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrate but starch is required for extrusion in dry foods. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of lower food quality as they can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. 

There is a Dry Limited Ingredient recipe and a Wet Limited Ingredient recipe which are the lowest scoring foods in the Dry and Wet categories, respectively. These recipes contain few whole foods followed by a lengthy list of synthetic additives. Whenever possible it’s preferable to see nutrients come from whole foods.

The dry foods are ultra processed leading to a loss in nutrients from several stages of heating. Canned and cooked foods are processed less but still undergo heating causing nutrient loss.

In terms of ingredient safety, in 2014 Nutro began sourcing non-GMO ingredients and introduced GMO testing for Nutro’s dry dog and cat food lines. The website states the company uses a third-party testing facility, and if necessary, Nutro will replace suppliers and may increase the frequency of testing to ensure its non-GMO compliance 

It should be noted that using non-GMO ingredients does not mean they are herbicide-free. Using certified organic ingredients is one way to ensure they are non-GMO and that they have a lower pesticide residue as herbicides and pesticides aren’t permitted in organic certified foods and products.

As part of its “feed clean” approach, Nutro states that they don’t use artificial preservatives, flavors or colors. However their ingredients do include natural flavor which is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies. When reviewed based on our criteria, Nutro foods are found to contain high pesticide and high carbohydrate ingredients, as well as excessive amounts of synthetic vitamins and minerals, and low quality ingredients including cellulose, unnamed animal proteins and plant proteins. 

Nutro does not provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio. It is certainly not the only company that doesn’t provide this but it’s a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.

The average score of each Nutro line is listed below. Click on any line to view the individual foods and scores.

Nutro’s Wet Ultra dog food is considered a moderate risk dog food. There are 13 recipes that average 41% protein and 22% carbohydrate as calculated. These foods have higher carbohydrates than expected in a wet food, excessive added vitamins and minerals, and inflammatory seed oils. On the ingredient safety side, these are cooked recipes so they are moderately processed foods, which causes some nutrient loss, and they have high pesticide foods listed in their top 5 ingredients. They also use carrageenan, which has been linked to inflammation. Nutro doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.