Hi labmomma - you might want to check some of the bloggs that have been devoted to the pet food recalls. There are also some good discussions about what foods are good or not. Some you might try:

www.thepetfoodlist.com
www.petconnection.com
www.itchmo.com

I've been so much time on these sites these past couple of weeks just keeping up with recalls and rumors about what might be recalled.

Just glancing at the petfoodlist, I'ld pick Verus because they have no link to menu foods. But don't know anything about their food.

Good luck - I think your feed store is making the right decision.

quote: He will no longer carry them as he feels it is only a matter of time before there is a problem with their dry product.unquote.

Something based on "feelings" like I'd take with a grain of salt. I'd want something more substantiative than "feelings". Everyones an expert LOL, Me thinks there's something else behind it.

pkguy- Nutro has had several recalls and there are many pet owners suspicous about their dry foods. I know of other stores that are also pulling their food. There are many pet owners who do not want to feed their pets any food from any manufacturer that has recalled food. Too much information not being revealed by manufacturers, by the FDA - for example, who are the other 4 companies that have received rice from the company that provided the contaminated rice protein to Diamond/Natural Balance?

VIN is currently also testing 5 products that they won't reveal because they think there is possible contamination. So far they have only left hints - and one of those is Purina.

Nutro dry may be OK - but as long as there is no end to recalls and information not being revealed, people (including a store owner) need to make decisions that are right for them and based on information they are hearing.

The VeRUS Advanced OptiCoat Diet is on Whole Dog Journal's approved list in the February issue.

thanks silvergold - the Precise Plus was recommended for my 3 ad 5yr old males. The VeRus was recommended for old gal because of the GI issues. Preicse also has no connection to Menu either. I will tell you tho, Menu does manufacture foods for human consumption. I didn't know this until yesterday. UGH.

pkguy: "Something based on "feelings" like I'd take with a grain of salt. I'd want something more substantiative than "feelings". Everyones an expert LOL, Me thinks there's something else behind it."

Yes, the something behind it is my friend who has been selling feed for over 40 years. He has every client listed, what foods are eaten by which pets. He is very competent and well trusted purveyor of pet/livestock food in our county. He has my back in other words. He does alot of research, attends the trade shows and seminars available to him. I think I'll take his word over Nutro any day. If you are intimating that he is trying to get me to buy something just because he stocks it, well that's plain silly. I have been buying feed from him for 20 years. I'm always going to buy from him and listen to his informed advice. I have further checked with our vet late last night and got the endorsement from them as well. That's really all I need. I was just asking if anyone has used the products, and if so, the experience and/or satisfaction with same.

Why would a small feed store carry something sold in every big box suburban pet supply house?

QQ- I don't understand your question/comment. I never said my feed guy sold the products I have chosen exclusively. I support my local community, and do not shop at large chain stores for a specific reason. We, in our county are trying to keep our small businesses that remain, going. We do not want to be totally swallowed up by large chain businesses. If you want to use large chains, that's your business. It is of no concern to you where I shop.

If you would like the feed store's phone number to call and ask why they carry it, post and I will provide same.

QQ - what is your problem? I was just asking if anyone has used either Precise Plus and VeRus. I wasn't asking for a response like yours. Who cares where I buy it. I am asking about the product itself. I don't care for your attitude. Perhaps, you will wake up on the right side of your bed tomorrow. Or, even better, think before you start being facetious.

Thank you in advance for ignoring any of my future postings. I do not want your imput. Sorry to be blunt, but that's just how I feel about it.

I was buying Nutro from our small feed store supplier also. And he says the company is a pain to deal with and he has almost stopped carrying their products at all, but he has so many customers who like their products ..... he keeps selling their stuff.

I was feeding Nutro lamb and rice and have stopped. Since the Natural Balance has recalled its Venison and Brown Rice Dog food due to malamine now being found in the rice protein... I have stopped feeding commercial foods. I may be over-reacting, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

So, I am now feeding Nature's Menu. Its a small company that makes their own pet food in Wisconsin. (I know the owner and have ordered from her in the past. ) You can order on-line and the food is shipped to you, raw and frozen, in patties. The ingredients are completely from Wisconsin or the midwest and are all organic. You can cook the patty's or thaw them and feed them raw.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nature's Menu

Good golly miss molly.
All I'm saying is if your feed store is anything like the pet boutique business, you don't find nutro sold at any of those pet boutiques. Only brands the box stores do not sell. It makes more business sense to carry a brand that people will go out of their way to get and pay more for than a brand they can get at a box store. It has nothing to do with you and your personal shopping habits labmomma.

Good golly miss molly - QQ - if you are interested in what my feed store is like, ask me. Please don't assume. You know the saying, to assume "makes an a$$ out of u and me".

Again, I don't want to discuss where people buy their food, just want to know what their experiences have been, if any, with the two foods I posted.

labmomma, while I don't have any experience with the 2 foods you've listed, I adopted a senior dane who had GI issues and, after some trial and error, finally got him on California Natural herring and sweet potato kibble. He did extremely well on this food and I like the 'few ingredient' idea so much that I still use it. Just a thought. You can check it out if you'd like.

Here is a link that might be useful: California Natural

Querky, a small local feed store is not a pet boutique. Its a place, usually in a rural area, primarily where farmers go to buy seed for their fields and supplemental feed for their animals. These feed stores will also carry grass seed, bird seed, dog food, horse feed, pig feed, rabbit food, salt blocks... etc. If your order is large enough you can have it delivered directly to your farm. Some of these local feed stores have been catering to the more suburban customers as suburbia sprawls out into rural areas.

I buy my bird seed (sunflower seed and safflower seed); I buy organic lawn fertilizers like alfalfa pellets, corn gluten meal, and blood meal; and I buy my dog food at the local feed store. One can also buy Frontline and Heartguard products at our local feed store.

Since the pet food scare, I did go to the pet boutique store, which is in an urban area and bought some Wellness raw medallions... to keep me in food until my order from Nature's Menu arrived.

joepyeweed, you just described my feed store, do we live in the same town? The only thing that makes me think we don't is that our feed store doesn't carry the dog meds, unfortuantely, I have to get the Advantage and Interceptor from my vet:)).

I guess the thing is that I feel very strongly in supporting the local business owners (most of whom I know personally) so that we don't lose the "home town/community feel". Try to ask a question in a Petsmart or a Petco, or Jake's Dog House, three places I never buy anything from, but places I hear complaints of employees having no idea or knowledge of what is being sold or why for that matter. They don't even want to know. They are just collecting their mimimum hourly wage and watching the clock untill their shift is over.

In fact, I will tell you that I find the local Petsmart beyond unsanitary. I recently contacted the Board of Health after my DD, while shopping for a toy, slipped in a pile of about 15 piles of dog poop throughout the store on a Friday evening. I tried calling to speak with the manager the following morning about the matter before calling the appropriate authority, but the kid just didn't get that it is unsanitary at best to have defication and urination in place that sells food, albeit pet food. "Petsmart's policy is that pets are a member of the family" is their motto, which he repeated ad nasuem. I asked what his feeling was about the cleanliness issue was, he responded "yes there are a few inconsiderate pet owners".

If the store is willing to clean up after "inconsiderate petowners" then I wouldn't have so much of a problem with his answer. Just another reason I refuse to buy into the big chain stores.

Our 'boutique' pet store does sell 3 brands that we can also find in the big box stores, here. Eagle pack, Nutro, and Nutram. Albeit, everything else in that store I havent seen in our two big box stores. Unfortunately being that we live in a small town, we only have 3 stores to chose from, one being the boutique, one that sells puppies and kittens, and the petsmart, which I find to be entirely lacking in a lot of what Im looking for, so maybe thats why our boutique store, sells some of the same brands.

I haven't tried any of the foods you asked about, but I did just switch mine off of nutro as well. I switched to wellness for little girl, and eagle pack holistic. I had just switched them to nutro, too, but I also don't trust all the recalls right now. We've got the perfect balance of pets right now, and I'd hate to disrupt that by ignorantly feeding my pets something that is so iffy right now.

Hi Labmomma
I only asked originally because in your original post you didn't quantify the reasons why your storeowner/friend was getting out of the Nutro biz as you did in the reply. I'm going to have to check into this because I feed my two border collies Nutro Lamb & Rice and have been very happy with it but if there are "issues" out there with them I don't know about I want to know sooner rather than later.

Don't get me started on PetSmart and PetLand. I had it out with one of their stores last year when I saw that a cockatiel was loose in the store sitting on the I-beams up near the ceiling, directly above those industrial ceiling fans. I pointed it out to a girl working there and she says "oh ya, he'll fly down to the other birds eventually" I said to her well aren't you going to turn off the fans, got a blank look and said "that'll be a nice sight if your customers get splattered with blood and feathers" Still didn't turn them off.

joepyeweed, you described the feed store where I work. QQ, we sell Diamond Eagle pack, Chicken soup, Natures Logic. Science Diet and Farmers pet foods. The nearest pet store is 132 miles away so the feed stroe has gone in to pet foods and toys, and treats.