Nutro Ultra Wet DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 6.7/10 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 on a dry matter basis. 

The carbohydrate content in most of these recipes is higher than expected for a line of wet dog food. That said, the protein level is acceptable for wet dog food. 

An excessive amount of vitamins and minerals have been added 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. 

These recipes also contain sunflower oil, which is highly processed and inflammatory oil. It’s an inexpensive alternative to higher quality animal fats and oils.

On the ingredient safety side, these are cooked foods so they are moderately processed and aren’t subjected to as many stages of heating as canned or kibble, so fewer points are lost.

Many of these recipes use ingredients known to contain higher pesticide/herbicide residues like spinach and tomatoes in the top 5 ingredients. Crops that are spray-dried with Roundup, results in 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.  

Some of these recipes include carrageenan, which is a highly processed derivative of seaweed used as a thickener or texturizer. It may be linked to intestinal inflammation and other negative health effects.  

The following concerns don’t cost points but should be noted. 

There is ingredient splitting in some recipes. That’s the practice of splitting ingredients into subcategories to make them appear lower on the list. This can also move more desirable animal protein ingredients higher.

A few recipes also include glam ingredients like tomatoes, pumpkin, spinach, kale, blueberries, apples and carrots that are all listed after salt, which means they’re included in minimal amounts that don’t provide any nutritional benefit. 

The recipes don’t specify whether the whitefish used 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.