Comments on: NUTRO Dog Food Issue Dates Mars’ PR Approach

By: corby

corby — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:25:34 +0000

We started buying Nutro large breed puppy formula when our Newfoundland arrived. She is now 6 months old and has started vomiting bile from time to time. Our 10 year old lab and 2 year old pom have to be chased out of the puppies dish and now all 3 have the same problem. With this much discussion it would seem foolish to continue feeding the Nutro product. Mabey the product is safe but the result if it isnt is to terrible to take the risc. I just purchased a bag today. I hope the store will accept a return.

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:01:19 +0000

I have read alot of these commits, i can see many pet owners
are worried about their pets which are like family members to most. But getting important information from a chat room is not really reliable, because people can say what ever they what with out prove. Sometime is best for one to look into a problem and find the right answer.

Just because a company had a problem with one of their product, does not mean that a company is not concern about their consumers. One thing we know is that when the company notice a problem with their product, all the effected products were recalled. This shows me a business that is concern about their consumer as well as the pets that use their product. Mistakes happen, and how we react is what counts. What a person says on a chat room can make or break a business. So we must be careful of what we say and how we express ourselves. And remember that some people would say negative thing about a company, so that people stop buying one brand and change to another.

I thank everyone for their time

By: lesliek

lesliek — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:30:57 +0000

Complaints are over 900 now on http://www.consumeraffairs . If anyone has checked twitter,all the Nutro reps do is post smileys. Have a rainbow day ! is their common tweet. Sorry but rainbows don’t help poisoned animals. I’d rather see them spend the $ on quality ingredients & processing & testing. A better cs dept wouldn’t hurt either.

By: Louie

Louie — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:36:07 +0000

Here’s what is wrong:

Wall Street has the SEC, and the pet food industry has the FDA.

Sounds right to me.

By: Petlover in NE

Petlover in NE — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:53:16 +0000

Since pet owners want real data I guess it is us petowners who have to chase it down..or test our own recalled food… wonder Monica has to say about that real data now… Glad Nutro let this 2100ppm zinc cat food on the shelves for 6months…real good QC huh Monica???

By: Rocky

Rocky — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:53:07 +0000

PFPSA, recently tested the Nutro recall food and found the zinc level to be 2100 ppm.

PFPSA is the group that found high zinc in Nutro dog food in 2008, but was ignored by Nutro and FDA.

Why pet owners must do the job of both Nutro and the FDA job is beyond me.

http://www.pfpsa.org/news.html

By: LoveAnimals

LoveAnimals — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:37:21 +0000

“Pet owners want real data, but pet food companies treat them like MORONS.”…….ain’t that the truth, Mary!

I guess I’ll never understand why a company who makes food for animals & claims to care about their health & welfare can blow off 800 or so posts on the internet about sick or dead pets.

I’d like to know how many calls have been logged in at Nutro’s customer service (they need another name because it’s certainly not a service to their customers)……on their little written script, they are to say “you are the first complaint we’ve had about Nutro pet food”. GMAFB! This has gone on for years. Just how stupid do you think pet parents are?

Guess you’re finding that out, huh?

By: Petlover in NE

Petlover in NE — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:14:19 +0000

Dear Monica, You stress the one news story that says no FDA investigation …well I guess if there was one…this pre-mix might have been found months earlier…Oh, I mean 2 premixes, not one !

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:32:53 +0000

Monica uses 3 I’s in the first paragraph.

The use of “I’s”, “certainly”, and “however” makes it impossible for the reader to believe “understand” and “sympathize”.

And if the food had been correctly made, “outlets” wouldn’t be an issue.

This is really, really bad, IMO.

By: Rocky

Rocky — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:07:59 +0000

LOL, maybe they should separate marketing from customer service. Customers don’t want marketing BS, they want polite SERVICE. Mostly, they don’t want to worry about every bag of food they use.

Here’s a perfect example of the problem. I ask you, is this BS?

Hi,

I’m the Pet Specialty Communication Manager at Nutro. I think you raise some interesting points, though I’m not quite sure your analysis of our approach is necessarily complete.

We’re certainly not ignorant of the importance of online conversation, or the fact that “sterile” communications within online communities is often unwelcome. On Twitter, for example, we have three employees who represent Nutro, clearly disclosed as such, who addressed the concerns of those who posted the Consumer Affairs piece and/or had questions about the article. We also have employees on other sites who make themselves available to those communities.

A YouTube video is an interesting approach — it certainly worked for the likes of JetBlue, for example — but we wanted to focus our efforts on the places where the dialogue appeared to be taking place.

Also, we do understand and sympathize with owners who have lost their pet, and we ensure that our food meets all FDA, USDA and AAFCO standards. However, we do not sympathize with outlets who are not reporting the facts. Note: The FDA has confirmed that Nutro is not under investigation. More here: http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story/FDA-No-Investigation-into-NUTRO-Pet-Food/hOoE48nKOkORqDNodwN3EQ.cspx.

Monica Barrett