Nutra Nuggets Dog Food: Worth The Hype?

Trying to find the right dog food for our canines can be so complicated! It seems as if the options are endless and the market is overfilled with all kind of dog foods. However, it’s incredibly important to find the one that doesn’t only have good nutritional value for your furry friend, but one that he will actually enjoy eating. This can be especially tricky if your dog is a picky eater. One of the most popular dog foods out there is Nutra Nuggets Dog Food. But is it really worth the hype?

What does the manufacturer say?

Nutra Nuggets has a short description on their official website saying:

“Nutra-Nuggets pet foods provide premium nutrition for the overall health of your dog or cat. Each formula contains high-quality, highly digestible proteins and precise levels of vitamins and minerals for ideal nutrition at all stages of life.

We offer two different Nutra-Nuggets product lines. Nutra-Nuggets Global is offered to our customers outside of the United States, and Nutra-Nuggets US is offered to our customers in the United States.

Whether you have a new puppy or kitten, lap dog or working dog, active cat or older cat, Nutra-Nuggets has a formula designed to meet your pet’s needs.”

Nutra Nuggets Dog Food — What is it?

The Nutra Nuggets product line includes 5 dry dog foods.

1. Puppy
2. Lamb Meal and Rice
3. Professional Formula
4. Performance Formula
5. Grain Free Beef Meal and Pea

Their representative formula is the Nutra Nuggets Performance Formula. In this article we will go over the ingredients.

Ingredients of Nutra Nuggets Performance Formula

First of all let’s see how much protein, fat and carbs this food has:

1. Protein: 29 grams per 100 gram.
2. Fat: 20 grams per 100 gram.
3. Carbs: 43 grams per 100 gram.

The ingredients of Nutra Nuggets are: Chicken by-product meal, whole grain ground corn, wheat flour, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), dried beet pulp, egg product, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, fish meal, salmon oil (a source of DHA), potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Bifidobacterium animalis fermentation product, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 3.3%

Is the ingredient list good?

Let’s go over the ingredient list together.

The first ingredient in this dog food is chicken by-product meal, a dry rendered product of slaughterhouse waste. It can contain almost anything like feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs. Chicken by-products is an inexpensive, lower quality ingredient.

However, by-product chicken has up to 300% more protein than fresh chicken.

The second ingredient on the list is corn. Corn is an inexpensive cereal. It doesn’t add any nutritional value to the meal.

The third ingredient is wheat flour, a highly-refined product of wheat milling. Again, not to many nutritional benefits here.

Next is chicken fat. Chicken fat is high in linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid essential for life. It a good ingredient.

The fifth ingredient is beet pulp. This is basically an inexpensive filler food.

The sixth item is egg product, a form of shell-free eggs. If of better quality, this can be a great ingredient.

The seventh ingredient is flaxseed, one of the best plant sources of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. This is a good ingredient.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But ingredients that are located this far come only in low concentration.

Conclusion: Is it worth the hype?

To be quite honest, not really. The infringing aren’t anything ground breaking and the quality of the ingredients is questionable. However if your dog eats dry dog food only on some occasions and not as a full diet plan, it should be completely fine.

Some of our other food related articles are:

• What fruits can dogs eat and which are toxic?
• Can Dogs Eat Spicy Food?
• What Vegetables Can Dogs Eat?
• Which Food Is Good Or Bad For Dogs?