Natural Balance

[Shadow]

please list your experiences with this brand here

[Lola]

I don't feed Natural Balance.  Thank GOODNESS.  If I did, I would reconsider, after reading the issues with the dog food: http://parenting-furkids.com/index.php?topic=923.msg5440#msg5440

[Middle Child]

For pete's sake.  NB was one of the foods I thought to try for my youngest, who has nutrient absorption issues.  Mostly controlled by taking a probiotic every day, but I am constantly trying to find a variety of foods she can (and will) eat, being a finicky one.

Okay, first of all, after buying a couple grain free pouches to try (already tried the pate cans, all a no-go) I discovered the pouches contain SPINACH.  Much lower on the list than the food she is currently eating that I am trying to get her off of, but still.

However, I went ahead and opened the pouch of Chicken and Chicken liver  in Gravy. For goodness sake, the food is more potato and carrot than meat chunks!  No wonder the protein is only 8 %. And they are getting $1.15 for a 3 ounce pouch for this junk. And people think they are doing so great for their cats, feeding this Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance.  What a cat box full of crap.

I am about to just lose my mind over what to feed this cat.  If ONLY she would eat the BG pate.  But she does not like pate for more than one little bit every now and then, no matter what I do to it to make it appealing.

So you want my opinion on Natural Balance?  A big fat rip off.

[Amber]

Back when I had say over the care of the dog, I fed her Natural Balance A.M.P. because she did not do well on the raw food I was able to provide for her. I never had any problems with it, but I had to make a deal with my grandfather - you don't tell me how to feed my cat and I won't tell you how to feed your dog - and she is back to eating the worst possible garbage food in existence.

Middle Child: Have you tried Weruva and Ziwi Peak canned foods?

[CarnivorousCritter]

NB was the first food we scrambled for when the mass recalls hit and when it, too, was recalled, all faith was lost.

FWIW I believe pouch foods in general have more issues than canned. Don't know why, must be something they put in them to keep them moist and give a long shelf life, or the plastic they are packaged in (?).  Either way, I'd avoid pouch foods altogether like the plague.

[Middle Child]

Back when I had say over the care of the dog, I fed her Natural Balance A.M.P. because she did not do well on the raw food I was able to provide for her. I never had any problems with it, but I had to make a deal with my grandfather - you don't tell me how to feed my cat and I won't tell you how to feed your dog - and she is back to eating the worst possible garbage food in existence.

Middle Child: Have you tried Weruva and Ziwi Peak canned foods?

Thanks for the suggestions Amber!  Weruva makes her sick. Any foods manufactured in Thailand (Weruva, Soulistic, Petite Cuisine to name three) make her sick.  I don't know why. She LOVES them, so it was hard while my Sweet Boy was still alive, because those are what he ate and it was difficult keeping her away from them.

  Ziwi Peak is out of my budget range. The other cats have to eat too, after all.

CC I am not a fan of pouches either.  But I'm beginning to feel a little desperate on what to feed her, since the food she loves and eats most consistently and has done so well on contains spinach.  A lot of spinach, it's the 11th ingredient.

[Amber]

I believe TOTW canned is chunks in gravy, if you have the opportunity to try that one.

[Middle Child]

Thank you Amber.  TOTW is fishy though, isn't it?  She probably would like it, so I guess I could add it to a rotation.  My concern would be, she would get addicted to the fishy flavor and not want anything else.

<edit> okay just looked it up.  Nope, won't pay for food that adds menadione sodium bisulfite complex.

[Mo]

Some of the Merrick foods, while not chunky, do have more of a texture than typical pate style foods.

[Amber]

I didn't know that that was in the ingredients, I apologize for missing that 

[Middle Child]

Some of the Merrick foods, while not chunky, do have more of a texture than typical pate style foods.

Thanks, I've tried the other (non grain free) merrick foods, the ones with the weird names?  She likes them fine, but unfortunately they make her sick. <sigh>

I didn't know that that was in the ingredients, I apologize for missing that 

Easy to miss, no apology needed Amber.  My eyes are just trained to pick those particular words out. There are a few, in any ingredient list,  that jump out at me.  menadione sodium bisulfite complex. sodium nitrite. sodium nitrate. artificial. dye (or color). wheat or wheat gluten. by-product. and now, spinach, too.

Of course there are plenty of others that I wish I didn't see in an ingredient list, but those above are the 'deal breakers'.

[Amber]

I believe the menadione is a recently added ingredient, as it is listed on their website but not on the ingredients list for the food for petfooddirect.com. Or maybe they had it in the food and took it out? I am going to contact the company and let you know what I find out.

[Middle Child]

I believe the menadione is a recently added ingredient, as it is listed on their website but not on the ingredients list for the food for petfooddirect.com. Or maybe they had it in the food and took it out? I am going to contact the company and let you know what I find out.

Okay, let us know what you find out, thanks!

[Amber]

Here is the response I got:

Dear S******,
 
Thank you for your inquiry. The Taste of the Wild canned cat foods do contain menadione sodium bisulfite complex as a source of vitamin K. This ingredient is approved for use in pet foods and supplies vitamin K to cats eating a fish based diet.
 
Sincerely,
 
Dr. Brookshire

I guess that is coming off my list of emergency commercial foods.