We had our Brussels on Nutro Natural Choice for a number of years, and he always seemed to do well on it (or so I thought). However, Bella came home and during the transition phase, her doodee had little blood spots in it. I took her to the vet immediately of course, and he said her food's composition was far too grainy, which was causing her tummy to react with inflammation and minor bleeding. She had parvo testing (antibody testing too) because of the blood, which of course she didn't have (she's up to date on all her vaccinations).` As well as a slew of other tests, and this is what was concluded.
He then went on to tell me that by nature, dogs are carnivores and that grains do not have a high digestibility in canines, sometimes very difficult for certain dogs to digest. Bella is one of these dogs. He said really all grains such as rice, corn, etc will do is create more feces, lol! He said mixing 1/8th Teaspoon of pure honey with one tablespoon of organic oatmeal prepared with water once a week is a nice treat for small breed dogs, and shouldn't cause any stomach discomfort, but not to have grains as a regular dietary intake in their kibble. Go figure. =/ I'm sure vets are varied on this too...I'm just giving the viewpoint from our vet.
Sure enough, we tried another brand (at the urging of some friends on another board). It's called
Orijen puppy and she barely had any transition problems whatsoever. Both diarrhea and bleeding stopped. There's zero grain in it, and we get it automatically delivered. They have it in puppy, adult, senior, and some others I don't remember. Additionally, it is animal-based protein content, which is easily processed by the liver and kidneys, whereas low quality proteins (horns, hooves, etc) are the ones that could cause liver/kidney issues.
Our Brussels (who will be 12 years old next June) also eats puppy food, and I'm amazed at his coat shine, and clear eyes and lack of tear stains since switching to Orijen - and we never have to shop for it, it comes to us.
To those curious/worried, he's on puppy food at the vet's urging. As long as his liver enzymes stay within his age normalities, the puppy food is better for his particular system.
So all in all, I wouldn't 'recommend' Nutro because of the high grain content but at the same time it's better than a lot of others out there, and every dog is different. Yours may do exceedingly well on Nutro!!
I just wanted to give our experience with it, and explain why our dogs no longer eat it.