Can anyone enlighten me on Natural Balance dry food?

gradys mommy

gradys mommy

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Nov 23, 2014
Messages
16
Purraise
6
Location
Ocala, FL
Hi all. I'm brandy new to this site.

I've recently adopted a 6-month-old male kitty we named Grady from the Humane Society (*see avatar for cutesy photo of him).. Before adoption, he was being fed Purina Kitten Chow, and we have since switched him to Natural Balance's limited diet (grain-free) salmon and green pea formula to start him off well. Our last cat of 11 years (who suffered from BD--bowel disease) did exceptionally well on it so we just continued the same program with Grady, though in the dry form as our vet and the Humane Society suggested..Can anyone enlighten me as to why the Natural Balance products don't seem to be drawing positive feedback on a lot of threads about reasonably priced, quality cat foods? Silly but I would have thought both Natural Balance and Wellness Core would have drawn better responses but if there's something I don't know and can learn I'd truly love to for my cat's sake.

I am not in a position to feed fresh, raw food to little Grady, but any suggestions short of that would be highly appreciated. Also, could anyone throw some light on both the "dry vs. wet" debate or quality on the quality (or lack of) in Natural Balance products in general? If so, I would be greatly appreciate your help. Thank you all ahead of time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
mservant

mservant

The Mouse servant
Veteran
Joined
Jul 8, 2013
Messages
18,064
Purraise
3,451
Location
The Mouse Pad, UK
Welcome to TCS @Gradys Mommy    I'm not familiar with Natural Balance specifically but do feed dry unlike many on TCS as my boy is on a dry prescription diet.  There are a couple of articles here on TCS that might be helpful to you.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-compare-cat-foods-calculate-carbs-dry-matter-basis

https://mail.google.com/mail/?tab=wm

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/transit...-to-a-new-type-of-food-canned-raw-or-homemade

I notice you mention raw as one feeding option you have considered.  If you would like to discuss or investigate this option further then please read the following:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/282314/recommending-a-homemade-diet-hold-your-horses
 
micknsnicks2mom

micknsnicks2mom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 15, 2014
Messages
11,590
Purraise
5,295
Location
...with the cats...
Gradys Mommy said:
Hi all. I'm brandy new to this site.

I've recently adopted a 6-month-old male kitty we named Grady from the Humane Society (*see avatar for cutesy photo of him).. Before adoption, he was being fed Purina Kitten Chow, and we have since switched him to Natural Balance's limited diet (grain-free) salmon and green pea formula to start him off well. Our last cat of 11 years (who suffered from BD--bowel disease) did exceptionally well on it so we just continued the same program with Grady, though in the dry form as our vet and the Humane Society suggested..Can anyone enlighten me as to why the Natural Balance products don't seem to be drawing positive feedback on a lot of threads about reasonably priced, quality cat foods? Silly but I would have thought both Natural Balance and Wellness Core would have drawn better responses but if there's something I don't know and can learn I'd truly love to for my cat's sake.

I am not in a position to feed fresh, raw food to little Grady, but any suggestions short of that would be highly appreciated. Also, could anyone throw some light on both the "dry vs. wet" debate or quality on the quality (or lack of) in Natural Balance products in general? If so, I would be greatly appreciate your help. Thank you all ahead of time.
Click to expand...
i'm not sure why natural balance doesn't seem to be drawing positive feedback in the threads you've been reading. my own experience with my two IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) cats was that it helped them recover from their initial flare up, and they did very well eating the canned and dry natural balance LID cat foods for about a year. after that, my little girl (snick) wanted more variety so we started slowly and carefully trying other brands of grain-free canned and dry cat foods.

i think the "dry vs wet" debate has the potential to become a "heated" discussion, as many people have strong opinions on this subject. my personal opinion is that whether we serve our cats wet or dry food (or a combination of the two), we all make the best decision we are able to (based on our own, and our cats, preferences and circumstances -- and the cats medical needs, if any) and there is no wrong decision.

i currently serve my snick (and our foster, jasper) a mainly wet food diet, with a very limited amount of dry cat food each day. my snick is a senior cat (14 years old) with medical issues, so she gets no more than 8-12 pieces of kibble each day and i serve her freeze dried protein cat treats to replace the rest of what she eats of "dry" food -- our jasper gets between 1/6 and 1/8 cup of grain free dry cat food each day. my snick is a very picky eater. i'd prefer to transition snick to a home cooked diet, but with her medical issues and being that she's a very picky eater i've decided not to do that because of the stress that could cause my girl (and how that could effect her medical issues). we lost our mickey, snick's litter mate, from diabetes. both mickey and snick had/have IBD, and snick has chronic kidney disease and has had pancreatitis and idiopathic hypercalcemia. i have decided to transition all my future cats over to a home cooked diet. i feel this is the least i can do to try to avoid these same medical issues in future cats, and i feel i owe it to mickey (and snick's, when her time comes to cross the rainbow bridge) memory. and, having done a pretty decent amount of research on home cooked diets at this point, i found that serving a home cooked diet can actually cost less than serving a diet of store bought wet or dry (or combo of both).
 
Last edited:
lucentstreak

lucentstreak

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Messages
98
Purraise
11
As mentioned above
mickNsnicks2mom said:
 
i'm not sure why natural balance doesn't seem to be drawing positive feedback in the threads you've been reading. my own experience with my two IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) cats was that it helped them recover from their initial flare up, and they did very well eating the canned and dry natural balance LID cat foods for about a year. after that, my little girl (snick) wanted more variety so we started slowly and carefully trying other brands of grain-free canned and dry cat foods.

i think the "dry vs wet" debate has the potential to become a "heated" discussion, as many people have strong opinions on this subject. my personal opinion is that whether we serve our cats wet or dry food (or a combination of the two), we all make the best decision we are able to (based on our own, and our cats, preferences and circumstances -- and the cats medical needs, if any) and there is no wrong decision.

i currently serve my snick (and our foster, jasper) a mainly wet food diet, with a very limited amount of dry cat food each day. my snick is a senior cat (14 years old) with medical issues, so she gets no more than 8-12 pieces of kibble each day and i serve her freeze dried protein cat treats to replace the rest of what she eats of "dry" food -- our jasper gets between 1/6 and 1/8 cup of grain free dry cat food each day. my snick is a very picky eater. i'd prefer to transition snick to a home cooked diet, but with her medical issues and being that she's a very picky eater i've decided not to do that because of the stress that could cause my girl (and how that could effect her medical issues). we lost our mickey, snick's litter mate, from diabetes. both mickey and snick had/have IBD, and snick has chronic kidney disease and has had pancreatitis and idiopathic hypercalcemia. i have decided to transition all my future cats over to a home cooked diet. i feel this is the least i can do to try to avoid these same medical issues in future cats, and i feel i owe it to mickey (and snick's, when her time comes to cross the rainbow bridge) memory. and, having done a pretty decent amount of research on home cooked diets at this point, i found that serving a home cooked diet can actually cost less than serving a diet of store bought wet or dry (or combo of both).
Click to expand...
As mentioned above the dry vs wet is quite a heated discussion. I'm with @mickNsnicks2mom about serving the best we can with what we have.

I currently serve a mix of wet and dry for Hugo (1 year old neutered ). It's generally a 5.5oz can of wet grain free (A variety of Merrick's sliced selection generally with occasional treats of wellness or whatever else for the mix)  with 40-60 g of Orijen cat & kitten dry. It is usually 1/2 can wet in the morning, and the other 1/2 when I get home. The dry is just to tide him through when I am not around. I don't think I can do raw either but this is for now, the best I can do.

Regarding your question about Natural Balance dry food:

I had, for a moment, switched the dry to NB Alpha Cat and then immediately switched back upon finding out that despite it being grain free, the potatoes, peas and whatever else amounted to a hefty 35% carbohydrate. While feeding NB to Hugo,  it was as though I was slowly watching Hugo turn into a sausage before my eyes.  Hence, from then on, NB became a big no - no in my books for the carb content.
 
M

mysterylover

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 15, 2014
Messages
168
Purraise
99
I am interested to see how others respond on the NB question.  I am doing a trial with the chicken and pea LID (and was thinking of going to the duck if symptoms persisted), but even though I feed mostly canned with the kibble as something we hand feed here and there, I might have to search for other options, as my female cat may indeed gain weight on it.  I checked, and it is higher in carbs than any other dry food my cats have ever eaten, and that includes some that had potatoes in it.  I guess that is because peas are first on the list of ingredients.

I do know there are mentions of Wellness Core and other Wellness foods possibly being more likely to contribute to cystitis.  It seems Wellness and Blue Buffalo were both brought up with regard to that issue.  You could probably do a search on that.

The wet versus dry thing is heated.  Though I am likely to agree that the moisture in wet food is good for cats, I do still currently use some dry to tide my cats over and to save a bit on cost.  I figure that there are many cats out there in this economy who would not have homes if wet food was the only option, and there are way too many kitties who are without human love out there.  Likewise, I realize there are cats who will not eat wet food at all and those who need special diets with dry.   Like others have said, it is very individual and what is best for pet and owner.

I do know that, since the Natural Balance brand was bought out by Del Monte, the following for the brand seems to have fallen off.  Honestly, it is hard to find a pet food company that is considered trusted by most people anymore.  I am actually almost afraid to get attached to one of the few brands that seem to have been around enough to have built some loyalty for fear they will merge or be bought out and cause people to not trust the quality any longer.
 
bonepicker

bonepicker

Animal Lover Extraordinare
Top Cat
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
3,350
Purraise
439
Location
ON THE LAKE NORTHEAST OHIO
mysterylover said:
I am interested to see how others respond on the NB question.  I am doing a trial with the chicken and pea LID (and was thinking of going to the duck if symptoms persisted), but even though I feed mostly canned with the kibble as something we hand feed here and there, I might have to search for other options, as my female cat may indeed gain weight on it.  I checked, and it is higher in carbs than any other dry food my cats have ever eaten, and that includes some that had potatoes in it.  I guess that is because peas are first on the list of ingredients.

I do know there are mentions of Wellness Core and other Wellness foods possibly being more likely to contribute to cystitis.  It seems Wellness and Blue Buffalo were both brought up with regard to that issue.  You could probably do a search on that.

The wet versus dry thing is heated.  Though I am likely to agree that the moisture in wet food is good for cats, I do still currently use some dry to tide my cats over and to save a bit on cost.  I figure that there are many cats out there in this economy who would not have homes if wet food was the only option, and there are way too many kitties who are without human love out there.  Likewise, I realize there are cats who will not eat wet food at all and those who need special diets with dry.   Like others have said, it is very individual and what is best for pet and owner.

I do know that, since the Natural Balance brand was bought out by Del Monte, the following for the brand seems to have fallen off.  Honestly, it is hard to find a pet food company that is considered trusted by most people anymore.  I am actually almost afraid to get attached to one of the few brands that seem to have been around enough to have built some loyalty for fear they will merge or be bought out and cause people to not trust the quality any longer.
Click to expand...
I almost think the natural balance ultra might have more protein than the lid. I used to feed natural balance wet and dry but my picky girl wants grain free, she used to vomit and does not anymore. I feed merrick, pride, and nutro natural choice canned. Orijen red dry only a few kibbles at a time for a treat.
 
Last edited:
M

mysterylover

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 15, 2014
Messages
168
Purraise
99
The Natural Balance that I am feeding is grain free.  My cats lick and groom nearly all the time with grain.  Orijen is getting really great praise on here.  I may see if my store has samples.  It just has quite a few ingredients, and the NB LID chicken and pea at least has limited ingredients, though I am not keen on peas as the first ingredient and that carb count.  If I tried a sample of Origen, it would have to be slow, slow transition (a few kibbles added to the NB), since they are vastly different.

Of the "better brands of wet" I tried at one point, it seems like Nutro chicken loaf was fairly well received, so I have thought of trying it again.  I think it is one of the only ones in that line without carrageenan.  Two of my cats have daily hairballs with any canned with that in it.  My local store carries Merrick and says many cats like it, but it has the carrageenan.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top