Natural Balance Ultra Cat

Hi Guys,

Thank you for your comments thus far. (And boo to me for mixing up the name of the feed - it should be Alpha Cat)

It turned out that Orijen did go stale on us (we have been having a spate of humid and wet weather here in Hong Kong) and towards the end, Hugo wouldn't even touch the dry until I bought a fresh bag today. Having said that, I realized that there isn't a fixed supplier of Orijen here and I had to beg our regular store before they pulled out the final small bag they had in the storage. This incident has gotten me thinking if I should consider having a secondary brand of feed for him and wonder if anyone has tried Natural Balance's Alpha Cat chicken turkey meal dry and have any opinions on it?

I'm not so keen on the ingredients per say but Evo, Innova and Wellness are not really sold at my regular pet shop. The only other grain free alternative is Solid Gold. I'm also checking out online pet supplies here but am a little skeptical and worried about the pricing (Orijen is a bit of a stretch for me since I feed him wet on the side too). I heard there are few murmurs about how NB Ultra Cat is rather high in carbohydrate but little reviews to substantiate anything else.

The ingredients for Natural Balance Alpha Cat chicken and turkey meal are

Chicken, Chicken Meal, Potatoes, Turkey Meal, Garbanzo Beans, Peas, Sweet Potatoes, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Pea Protein, Duck, Potato Starch, Natural Flavor, Dried Egg, Pumpkin, Alfalfa Meal, Salmon Oil, Vegetable Pomace (carrot, celery, beet, parsley, lettuce, watercress, spinach), Salt, Potassium Chloride, Cranberries, Blueberries, Dried Kelp, Vitamins (vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A acetate, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Inulin, Minerals (zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous sulfate, sodium selenite, calcium iodate), Taurine, Ascorbic Acid (source of vitamin C), DL-methionine, L-lysine, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid (preservatives

Thank you!

Q

Unfortunately, 99% of all dry foods are going to be too high in carbs for our obligate carnivores. "Grain-free" is mostly a marketing term. While the NB Alpha does not contain any grains, it replaces those grains with a lot of starchy vegetables like potatoes, garbanzo beans, peas, sweet potatoes. The best dry foods I know of are Wysong Epigen 90, Young Again Zero Carb and Ziwipeak. If you can, I would feed as much wet as possible. Honestly, I would feed Friskies pates over any dry foods.

I use Natural Balance Alpha Turkey  as a topper for my cat, because he won't eat wet food unless it's a freshly opened can.  I only put about 5-6 kibbles on top of his Fancy Feast turkey classic or Purina UR.  It was very hard to transition him  to 90% wet food but I still have to use a little dry every day.  Mittens is very picky but he loves the Alpha Turkey so I use it also as a treat at night.

I bought a 10 lbs bag about a year ago and still have it, but vball is right, it is very high in carbs around 35% and I won't buy again.  I think I'll try Evo when Alpha  is finisned.