Nutro Ultra Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 3.7/10, Nutro’s Dry Ultra dog food is considered a high risk dog food. These 9 recipes have average protein content of 26% and high carbohydrates that average 38% as calculated. 

The company states it doesn’t use wheat, corn or soy in this line, but it does list various combinations of barley, rice, oats, sorghum, potato and peas at the top of the ingredient list and  many within the first 5 ingredients. This leads to a carbohydrate content that is excessively high. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but they are used for energy, texture and taste. Starch is also required for extrusion in dry foods. 

Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of lower food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. Foods that are rich in carbohydrates can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

This line is low in protein and has plant protein in many recipes which is a less expensive substitute for quality animal protein. You want to see animal sources because they’re more digestible and contain a wider array of amino acids than plant based protein sources.

This line uses an excessive amount of added vitamins and minerals to fulfill the nutrient needs of these recipes. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from added vitamin premixes, so it’s preferable that most or all vitamins and minerals come from real foods. 

It’s also worth noting that the line contains sodium selenite as a source of selenium. Dogs need selenium, and it’s usually added in very small amounts. However some research suggests that sodium selenite may be associated with potential toxicity, so selenium yeast is the preferred form of this mineral. 

Two of these recipes contain fish oil that can be made from any type of fish. Unnamed animal ingredients are often a less expensive ingredient that can be made from rendered waste of many proteins. 

On the ingredient safety side, kibble is ultra processed costing a loss in points across the line. The individual ingredients in dry dog foods are heated several times during processing, which can cause a significant loss of enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species.

These recipes also use ingredients known to contain higher pesticide/herbicide residues in the top 5 ingredients. Crops spray-dried with Roundup, have more glyphosate/herbicide residue than other crops, even genetically modified ones. Glyphosate is an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases. 

On a positive note, Nutro states that it doesn’t use GMO ingredients and undergoes third party testing on an ongoing basis.  

These recipes contain natural flavor, which is added to make processed food more palatable. Natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies. 

The use of rice in these recipes costs food safety points because of potential arsenic contamination. This is a significant concern with rice since it naturally absorbs arsenic which can contaminate the water it’s grown in. Arsenic is linked to chronic health issues. 

These actions don’t cost points but should be noted. There is ingredient splitting in these recipes. That’s the practice of splitting ingredients into subcategories to make them appear lower on the list. This can also move more desirable protein ingredients higher.

Several of these recipes include glam ingredients which are expensive or desirable ingredients like blueberries, kale or apples often added to appeal to consumers. The website states these recipes include a list of superfoods like coconut, chia, kale, and blueberries and yet in 4 of the 9 recipes these ingredients are listed after salt meaning they are in such small amounts that they offer very little nutritional value. And in the other recipes they are added just before salt, not at the top where you’ll find grains listed instead.

These recipes don’t specify whether the fish oil is from farmed or wild caught fish. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

Lastly, Nutro doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.