From http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/06/pet_food_recalls98.html

By Lisa Wade McCormick ConsumerAffairs.com June 23, 2008 A series of mysterious illness and death dogs Nutro pet food. Scores of pet owners report their animals became ill while eating Nutro products, then recovered when they were switched to another brand. At least six dogs have died in the past two months, according to an analysis of complaints to ConsumerAffairs.com. The company discounts the reports, saying they are isolated and unconfirmed; at least one Nutro employee, sickened by the company's response, told us she resigned. In related developments, ConsumerAffairs.com has learned: • The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently investigated the April deaths of two dogs in Indiana. The FDA tested samples of the Nutro food those dogs ate, but did not find any toxins. No one, however, has tested the Nutro food the other dogs ate before they died; • A pet nutrition specialist for Nutro confirmed she's heard complaints about the company's food making dogs and cats sick. She reported those concerns to her supervisor, but said they were ignored. She recently resigned; • There is a shortage of some varieties of Nutro dog food. The company says this is a supply problem – not a safety or quality issue; • Some consumers have sent their pets' food to Nutro for testing. They have not received any results. Other pet owners plan to hire private labs to test their food and report their concerns to the FDA and the Animal Poison Control Center run by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). The six dogs that recently died include two Italian Greyhounds in Indiana, a Beagle/Whippet mix in Pennsylvania, two German Shepherd puppies in North Carolina, and a Doberman Pinscher in Texas. The dogs' owners all say their pets were in good health and they're convinced that Nutro's food is somehow connected to their animals' deaths. Those concerns are echoed by pet owners whose dogs and cats have recently become sick after eating the company's food. Nutro, however, defends its products and says the food is 100 percent safe. But scores of pet owners across the country -- including longtime Nutro customers -- no longer feel safe feeding this brand of food to their dogs and cats. Max and Sophia They're consumers like Theresa C. of Indianapolis. Her two healthy Greyhounds -- Max and Sophia -- died within days after eating Nutro's Natural Choice Small Bites Lamb and Rice food.

I am a full supporter of Canidae and would never leave this brand. During all the scares and everything else they have always been safe.

Nutro went downhill quickly after being bought out by Mars, Inc.  Mars makes a lot of other bad pet food like Pedigree! http://www.marspetcare.com/about.htm

What food did your vet recommend?  Most vets recommend the bad foods like Science Diet or Purina (they get money from them!)

Seriously Vets are the worst people to talk food with. Mine always asks me a million questions about food to be more educated on the subject. When they told me I should be buying a brand I get at my local supermarket that isnt' all that great, I started telling them about all the GOOD foods out there.

I don't feed Nutro food, but for a while I did use Nutro biscuts as treats.  However, I began to notice that Marley would throw up after eating them so I threw them out. 

I got Sam one of those Nutro pouches once because it didn't have any of the real bad ingredients that Nutro food usually has, and I thought it would be nice to add a little something to his dinner. Won't do that again.

  There are quite a few complaints from people whose pets got sick on dry kibble from Nutro. I'm wondering if it's one of their ingredients? They have Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex in it (vitamin K3)

 I looked at the Menadione (Vitamin K3) article on dogfoodproject.com and looked at a list of negative effects caused by K3, and looked up some of the vocab on Wiki....

albuminuria is "....a pathological condition where albumin is present in the urine. It is a type of proteinuria." Albuminuria can be an indicator of damage to the kidneys. Sophie and Max, the two italian greyhounds in the article, was diagnosed with Kidney failure after eating the food. All of the dogs that died from eating this food that I have read about were vomiting after eating Nutro.

 Susie, Blue's owner, said that when she picked up a bag of Nutro, "'...it looked like it had little white bugs all over it," said Susi, a longtime Nutro customer. "When I picked up the food, it was like a granular substance. But I didn't think much about it because the food wasn't part of the recall.'"

All the dogs that were affected by Nutro suffered from vomiting, lethargy, and were drinking a lot of water. I looked up some complaints on consumeraffairs.com on other foods that contains menadione, and came out with this...

  Two champion bloodline Bichon Frise died. Both were eating Purina.

“She [one of the dogs] was a healthy 12-month-old Bichon Frise,” says Julie, who breeds and shows Bichon Frise. “But then she suddenly started drinking excessive amounts of water, was vomiting, and became very lethargic.”

 There are other possible causes, such as aflatoxin. You can read the article here....

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/09/pet_food_recalls70.html

Another negative effect of Menadione is

 Here is an article about newfoundland breeders who are having breeding problems, including 'mutant puppies'. All of them feed Purina.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/07/pet_food_recalls62b.html

I know K3 was harmful, but I didn't think the side effects would take place so quickly.

Well, that's my take on it, anyway. Hope I got the medical stuff right. I tried looking up 'cytotoxicity in liver cells', but I couldn't understand all the fancy terms on wiki. I haven't heard of these things happening and being directly linked food that doesn't have Menadione as of yet. There could be something else wrong, like moldy food or what not. What do you think?

 Excuse any spelling mistakes...

I wouldn't give them total loyalty.  I would definately watch out for any changes (like refusing to eat) and keep an eye on the food (looks, smells). I believe that Pied Piper makes Canidae but Canidae has contracted with Diamond also to produce food for them to meet the increased demand.  I wouldn't think this is a problem as long as Canidae purchases all their ingredients and has their people do any testing/quality assurance.  If they rely on Diamond for any of that then I don't think I'd trust them again.  Diamond has had more than their share of recalls,  the most recent (dry food) being because they apparently were lax in testing grains for mold and a few hundred dogs paid with their lives and many more suffered permanent liver damage.  

Yea, I'm sure the vet gets a kick back for the food - they gave us a bag of purina pro chicken and rice.  Chicken was the first ingredient and  it seems to agree with Tink so we have been finishing the bag.  What do you all recommend? We don't give her table food, except for occasional green beans (which she loves).  I'm wondering what to feed her.......  Thanks for your imput!

Canidae has been a reputable company so if you're satisfied with it then by all means keep doing so.  I would keep an eye out for digestive upset or any other type of reaction though.  I would imagine the vast majority of dogs fed it wouldn't notice a difference, but I guess you won't know until you feed it.

http://www.proplan.com/products/ChickenRice_DryPuppy.html

Check out the ingredients...yes, chicken is the first ingredient BUT there is a lot of corn in it, including corn gluten.  Even worse the third ingredient is poultry by-product meal - ground up beaks, feathers, feet, etc.  Check out www.dogfoodproject.com for a list of ingredients to avoid and you'll see why this is a rather nasty food.  Basically, it's filling your pup up with a lot of junk. JMO

Try a food without the "ingredients to avoid"...read labels thoroughly.  Natural Balance, Innova, Merrick, Wellness, Solid Gold - there are a lot of them out there.  Even the more "grainy" foods that contain more barley and oats (no corn) are better than Purina/Pedigree/Beneful/Iams/Eukanuba.  Some of the mid-grade foods would be Newman's Own, AvoDerm, Nature's Recipe, etc.