Ultimate Pet Nutrition Information

Dr. Gary Richter

Ultimate Pet Nutrition is a pet supplement company associated with the popular veterinarian Dr. Gary Richter.

Dr. Gary Richter has won numerous awards, including “America’s Favorite Veterinarian” and is the author of the popular book, “The Ultimate Pet Health Guide: Breakthrough Nutrition and Integrative Care for Dogs and Cats”.

Gary has also been featured on numerous media outlets, including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS, and others which he proudly displays here on his website.

More recently, Dr. Gary Richter has launched a youtube channel with a variety of pet-related content; however, it’s fair to say it hasn’t gone viral.

Some may remember Dr. Gary Richter from a controversial contest that was canceled after it was flooded with support against de-clawing cats.

However, while Gary has cultivated an impressive public image, there are some online that don’t speak quite as positively.

Nutra Thrive

While Ultimate Pet Nutrition has a moderate range of products, its best-known supplement is “Nutra Thrive” which is a nutritional supplement for dogs and cats.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition claims that its supplements contain powerful probiotics, easy-to-absorb vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

They believe that their Nutra Thrive supplement can improve a dog’s or cat’s overall health, including immune function, joint health, and the quality of their fur and coat.

Many pet supplements have quite a small customer base, and it can be challenging to find reliable information on their effects.

However, Nutra Thrive has a vast customer base in the tens to hundreds of thousands, which correlates to much more widely available information.

Dr Gary Richter

The pet supplement space has become extremely competitive over the last few years, with dozens of brands entering the space.

Other large pet supplement brands offering similar benefits include Dinovite, Balance IT, and Ruff Greens, but none of these brands are anywhere near as popular as Nutra Thrive.

Skepticism, Complaints, and Criticism

However, the benefits of supplements are tough to prove, especially in pets, and there is little research performed by the industry.

This lack of evidence has led many consumers to be skeptical of Ultimate Pet Nutrition’s products. These skeptics of Ultimate Pet Nutrition are reinforced by the fact that a single jar of Nutra Thrive for dogs costs $70 (see below).

Many consider this pricing to be extremely high and more than most pet owners spend on food.

Nutra Thrive Price

There are also a number of complaints, criticism, and poor reviews that can be found online regarding Ultimate Pet Nutrition and its Nutra Thrive product.

Some customers claimed the product had no noticeable effect on their pets; some said it caused illness or side effects, and others complained about cancellation or shipping issues.

However, despite our best efforts while researching the brand, these complaints and criticism were almost certainly in the minority, with most customers satisfied with their purchase or customer service.

We also found that Ultimate Pet Nutrition’s customer service team was active on several third-party websites like BBB.org and even DogFoodAdvisor.com.

Here they regularly attempted to remedy issues, offer refunds, or expedite deliveries to make amends which is impressive given that many pet supplement brands are unreliable.

We will also note that we are not aware that Ultimate Pet Nutrition uses any predatory practices like ‘free trials’ that quickly convert to subscriptions or short refund periods that some other supplement companies have adopted.

Instead, they offer a 90-Day Money Back Guarantee which is very reasonable and gives time for pet owners to see for themselves the effects of the product.

Nutra Thrive 90 Days Money Back Guarantee

Charity

Outside of their retail offerings, Ultimate Pet Nutrition and Dr. Gary Richter sponsor and promote the charity Pets For Vets.

This organization helps to match pets in shelters with veterans, especially those who are struggling to transition back into civilian life.

You can learn more about why Ultimate Pet Nutrition supports Pets For Vets here, or you can visit the Pets For Vets charity on their website, which you can find here.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition Product Range

Dogs

Ultimate Pet Nutrition’s core product is Nutra Thrive, which is a dog supplement. Nutra Thrive is a dog supplement that is in powdered form and can be added to traditional dry dog recipes (also known as kibble) with water.

The dosage recommendations of Nutra Thrive depend on the size of your dog and range between a scoop a day and two scoops a day.

Many dog owners prefer supplements in powdered form like this as it is extremely easy to blend them with existing food and minimize disruption or change in a dog’s diet.

Nutra Thrive For Dogs

Ultimate Pet Nutrition also produces a dog treat product known as Nutra Bites, which is of the freeze-dried variety.

While freeze-dried dog treats tend to be expensive, they are very nutritionally dense and extremely enjoyable.

This excellent nutrition is because they are made up entirely of meat ingredients with moisture removed. You can check out these high-quality freeze-dried treats here.

While the original selection of these Nutra Bites was quite small, in a recent update of this article, we noticed there are now six unique flavors available, including Bison Liver, Chicken Heart, and Salmon.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition Nutra Bites Salmon Flavor

Recently, Ultimate Pet Nutrition released its first complete dog food, which marks a significant milestone and transition away from providing treats and supplements solely.

This ‘Nutra Complete‘ dog food recipe is a freeze-dried raw dog food recipe which is a type of dog food that is quickly growing in popularity and in line with others being produced by premium brands. You can read our ingredient section for a breakdown of what this recipe contains.

This new “Nutra Complete” raw freeze-dried recipe is so popular it is repeatedly going out of stock, so check out this page to see if it’s available.

Nutra Complete

While updating this article, we also noticed that Ultimate Pet Nutrition has quietly released another flavor of Nutra Complete – Ranch-Raised Pork.

Given the huge success of the Beef Recipe and the brand as a whole, this is not a shock, and we would not be surprised to see further recipes in the future, perhaps Chicken or Lamb.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition continues to expand its range of supplements that focus on problems like joints and the liver and on providing high levels of the Omega 3 Fatty Acids.

The full range includes Juve Flex, Canine Detox, Canine Comfort, and Canine Radiance.

Some of these new supplements come in tablet form, which can make them easier to provide to some dogs.

Due to their young age and the smaller number of dogs who have used these supplements, their effects, in particular, their benefits, are yet to be proven. You can see some of them listed below.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition Dog Range

Cats

Ultimate Pet Nutrition has an equivalent version of Nutra Thrive, which is designed for cats.

The cat version of Nutra Thrive is also in powdered form and can be added and mixed with dry or wet cat food.

Given that cats tend to be significantly smaller than most dogs, the recommended dosage is also smaller, meaning you won’t need to stock up as much.

Nutra Thrive For Cats

For a long period of time, Ultimate Pet Nutrition did not produce any cat treats or other cat supplements.

However, the success the brand saw with its new dog offerings almost certainly contributed to its creating cat equivalents and further expanding its product range.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition has created a cat version of their popular freeze-dried dog treats known as Nutra Bites.

The cat version of these treats is quite similar to the dog version and uses Chicken or Salmon ingredients instead of the much larger range used in the dog range, like Bison.

You can check out these tasty new Chicken Liver bites here.

Nutra Bites For Cats

The brand has also released a single cat supplement known as Feline Renew. This supplement produces on providing the Omega 3 Fatty Acids and antioxidants.

While Ultimate Pet Nutrition’s cat supplement range is much smaller than the dog range, it is likely to grow in the coming months and years.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition Nutrition

Supplement Nutrition

Given that Ultimate Pet Nutrition’s main products are supplements, it will come as no surprise that they do not provide any appreciable quantities of the core macronutrients of Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates.

We highly recommend that you learn about the importance of these core macro-nutrients in our Dog Food Guide and Cat Food Guide, which go into significant detail about all aspects of pet food, including types, nutrition, ingredients, and more.

However, Nutra Thrive can provide a variety of vitamins and minerals. These vitamins and minerals could improve the health of pets if their diet was previously lacking.

There are so many micronutrients in Nutri Thrive that it would be difficult to list them all and all of their corresponding benefits. However, some examples include Vitamin A, B Vitamins, Vitamin D, Copper, and Chromium.

Vitamin A is essential for cell and immune function and vision. B Vitamins have a huge number of potential benefits and are important to many of the body’s cells and functions.

Vitamin D is particularly important in large-breed dogs as it helps regulate the absorption of Calcium and Phosphorus. Copper is crucial for blood cells, and Chromium is vital for absorbing nutrition.

Freeze-Dried Food & Treats Nutrition

With Ultimate Pet Nutrition’s recent expansion into complete dog food, we can finally review the nutrition of their food.

Nutra Complete contains impressive portions of protein and fat that make its nutrition significantly above average when compared to most other dog food.

You can see the specific ratios of nutrition provided by Nutra Complete below.

Nutra Complete Nutrition

As you can see, the proportion of protein is at 28%, and the proportion of fat is at 58%, which sums to over 85% of the nutritional value.

This kind of nutritional profile would be well suited to the majority of dogs, especially those that are more active.

If you want to see the specific Guaranteed Analysis of Nutra Complete, you can find it here.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition Ingredients

All of Ultimate Pet Nutrition’s meat ingredients are sourced from within the United States, which is a relief for many. Some pet owners will refuse to purchase food that has meat ingredients sourced from abroad.

High-Quality Meat & Fish Ingredients

  • Beef
  • Beef Liver
  • Beef Kidney
  • Chicken Liver
  • Bison Liver

Beef is a popular meat ingredient to feature in dog food alongside other industry favorites like Chicken, Turkey, and Salmon.

The reason that Beef is so popular is that it is easy to source, relatively affordable, and can provide excellent nutrition, high in protein and fat.

Nutra Thrive Treats and Freeze-Dried Raw food make extensive use of organ meat ingredients like Chicken or Beef Liver.

Organ meat ingredients such as these are a great addition to pet food and can provide protein, fat, and less common vitamins and minerals.

In addition, organ meat tends to be more flavorful and can be used to enhance the palatability of food.

You can learn more about the use of Organ Meat ingredients in our article Organ Meat Ingredients In Pet Food.

Other Notable Ingredients

The bulk of the Nutra Thrive product is made from Carrots and Mushrooms. These two ingredients are safe for dogs to consume and can provide carbohydrates, fiber, and a variety of vitamins and minerals.

Examples include Vitamin A, B Vitamins, Vitamin K, Potassium, and Copper.

Carrots

Ultimate Pet Nutrition’s Nutra Complete contains a small portion of Flaxseed. Flaxseed is an extremely popular addition to pet food recipes throughout the industry.

Flaxseed is best known as an excellent plant-based source of the Omega 3 Fatty acids, but it can also provide other benefits.

The Omega 3 Fatty Acids have a long list of benefits to humans and pets, but one of the best known is its ability to improve the condition of a dog or cat’s skin, coat, and fur.

We’d recommend you read our article – Flaxseed In Dog Food, for an in-depth look at this unique ingredient.

Flaxseed Meal

Nutra Thrive’s newest product, their complete freeze-dried dog food, contains a small portion of Kelp.

Kelp is an interesting addition and not widely used in the industry; however, there are a few other brands we’ve noticed that have introduced it, including Ziwi Peak, K9 Natural, and Dinovite.

Kelp can be used for two unique purposes, firstly, as a binding agent to help hold the food together, and also for its beneficial vitamins and minerals, including Iodine and Iron.

While Kelp’s benefits in dog food are far from proven at this stage, it is an interesting evolution, and you can read more about the ingredient in our article Kelp In Pet Food.

Kelp

Nutra Thrive supplements include a number of Probiotics. Probiotics are microorganisms that are alive, and believers in them claim that they can provide health benefits when consumed. These benefits are derived from improving or restoring gut flora.

If our ingredient analysis isn’t in-depth enough for you, Ultimate Pet Nutrition go through all the ingredients in Nutra Thrive on their website, which you can find here.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition Animal Testing

At this time, we have no information on what kind of testing Ultimate Pet Nutrition performed to test Nutra Thrive or any of its other products.

We hope that Ultimate Pet Nutrition has carried out sufficient ethical testing to ensure that its products do not have any adverse long time side effects.

Many pet supplement companies do not carry out any significant testing of their products, which is extremely concerning.

We strongly believe that invasive or laboratory-style testing of animals is a cruel and outdated practice and one which we hope will cease in the future.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition Recalls

Based on our research (FDAAVMADogFoodAdvisor), Ultimate Pet Nutrition products have never been recalled, which makes them a recall-free brand.

However, given that Ultimate Pet Nutrition is a supplement company, this achievement is not quite as comparable to other pet food brands. Pet food supplements, to date, have very rarely been recalled in the United States.

Despite this, we always request that pet owners remain vigilant of any future recalls of Ultimate Pet Nutrition products or products from any other pet food or supplement brand.

By being vigilant, pet owners can ensure their pets do not suffer ill effects of contamination, nutritional misbalances, and more.

Best of Ultimate Pet Nutrition

Nutra Thrive For Dogs Review

Nutra Thrive For Dogs

It will come as no surprise that the best product from Ultimate Pet Nutrition is its core product – Nutra Thrive.

If their claims are to be believed, the supplement can provide a significant number of benefits to dogs that consume it, including supporting muscles, teeth, bones, and digestive health.

The vast array of micronutrients that it contains could span the gaps that traditional dry or wet dog food miss.

Another reason that Ultimate Pet Nutrition’s Nutra Thrive is so popular is that it is straightforward to mix with dry dog food.

It is as simple as pouring a scoop of powder over the dog’s food and mixing. Some owners also choose to add a little water to the mix to aid this process.

This fact and its appealing bacon taste can make it very easy to integrate into a dog’s diet. When you compare Nutra Thrive to many other dog supplements, its palatability is noticeably superior.

In comparison, those same dogs may refuse to eat or avoid other supplements, especially nonpowdered ones.

Nutra Thrive For Cats Review

Nutra Thrive For Cats

While the Nutra Thrive for Dogs product may be the most popular, the cat equivalent should not be discounted.

It contains a similar mix of ingredients that pack a colossal micronutrient punch. But despite its similarity, the ratios of these nutrients are tailored towards cats to ensure they get the maximum benefits.

While it’s likely that most cat food recipes, especially premium cat food, provide most of these micronutrients, products like Nutra Thrive can supplement and enhance this.

Also, many of the micronutrients found in Nutra Thrive are sourced from plants. Providing them in supplement form could allow cat owners to switch to a more meat and fish-focused food.

This transition from their traditional diet could be advantageous as cats are obligate carnivores and do not thrive on diets high in plant matter.

Nutra Complete Review

Nutra Complete

As we mentioned earlier, Ultimate Pet Nutrition recently released the above complete dog food recipe.

This freeze-dried raw recipe, known as Nutra Complete, has a strong focus on Beef ingredients like Beef, Beef Liver, Beef Kidney, and Beef Bone.

These Beef ingredients combine to provide an extremely large portion of protein and fat as well as numerous beneficial vitamins and minerals.

According to their Guaranteed Analysis, the recipe has a minimum of 35% protein and 33% fat which is a colossal sum.

If that wasn’t enough, organ meat ingredients like Beef Liver and Beef Kidney can be great sources of vitamins and minerals and often contain far higher levels than traditional meat cuts.

The recipe also contains smaller portions of select plant-based ingredients like Flaxseed, Kelp, Blueberries, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, and more.

These plant-based ingredients provide a small portion of carbohydrates, fiber, and many beneficial micronutrients.

It is also worth noting that this is quite a different selection of plant-based ingredients than most dog food recipes contain, with them typically utilizing legumes like Peas or grains like Rice.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition Features Articles

To date, Ultimate Pet Nutrition has not been featured in any of our articles. However, if we decide to produce an article discussing the best popular pet supplements, then it is likely to feature.

Ultimate Pet Nutrition Full Product Range

Dog Products

Nutra Thrive For Dogs

Nutra Bites For Dogs

Juve Flex

Canine Detox

Canine Comfort

Canine Radiance

Nutra Complete

Cat Products

Nutra Thrive For Cats

Nutra Bites For Cats

Feline Radiance