Nutro pet food is again being investigated by the FDA following TWO YEARS of reports of sickness and death in pets being fed the “premium” food.

For many of us, trying to figure out those pet food labels is liking trying to read a foreign language. You recognize a few words, figure those sound good, and give it a go. “Oh, Chicken, that’s good. Whole grains? Sounds great!” I fed my pets Nutro for years after I could no longer afford to feed them Innova and California Natural. I figured feeding them one of the higher priced brands available at a place like PetSmart would more than suffice. After all, before PetSmart and premium pet foods came along, pets did fine on Purina and Friskies.

I even ignored the first round of pet food recalls in 2007. My pets seemed fine, I trusted Nutro. The girl I had gotten my dog from had fed him Nutro, too. I simply read the labels and cross-referenced with “tainted product” lists with dates and continued to buy the food once I knew the shelves had been cleared of anything dangerous.

But late in 2007, my two cats started vomiting more and more often. Once a week became twice a week. Twice a week became every other day. When every other day became daily, I started doing my research. It didn’t take much forum and blog reading to get me to throw out ALL my Nutro food and go back to truly premium pet food.

All my pets have been off Nutro for over a year now. The minute I switched my cats, the vomiting ended for one of them. For the other, it took a switch to raw food to end his vomiting and diarrhea. The dog had only vomited once while on Nutro, thankfully. We were the lucky ones. Many have lost their pets to mysterious symptoms and quickly escalating illness.

If you’re looking for a new food you can rely on, I highly suggest Nature’s Variety–which makes canned, raw, and dry–and Wellness. There are many other safe foods out there, but chances are you won’t currently find them at PetSmart or your local grocery store.