Natural Balance Cat Food

[vix506]

Do any of you folks use this product? What do you think about it? I'm thinking of transitioning over to it. Seems like a good product and I did not see by-product in any ingredients (I guess thats why it's natural, lol)

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

[KathyW]

I'm interested in this question too. We're currently using Science Diet because that's what my kittens were eating while being fostered, but a check of labels reveals Science Diet Kitten Formula to be almost identical to Purina Kitten Formula, but twice the price. I expect a difference for twice the price! Natural Balance was one of the brands I was looking at.

[Darksong17]

I haven't used this food but I've seen it recommended and looking at the ingredients it looks to be a very high quality food. I'd definitely recommend it just by looking at the ingredients :3

[Darksong17]

I'm interested in this question too. We're currently using Science Diet because that's what my kittens were eating while being fostered, but a check of labels reveals Science Diet Kitten Formula to be almost identical to Purina Kitten Formula, but twice the price. I expect a difference for twice the price! Natural Balance was one of the brands I was looking at.

I'd definitely recommend Natural Balance over Science Diet. Science Diet is not a good food and neither is Purina. Looking at Purina's Kitten Complete Formula and Science Diet's Kitten Original Formula for instance. Both of those foods have by-products, tons of corn, useless fillers and at least one of them has dyes in it as well.

[kyukidojen]

I use natural balance. We pay about $30 for a bag, and it lasts our three cats about 3.5-4 weeks. SO while the bag itself costs more than an equal-size bag of, say, purina or iams, it lasts longer and we end up spending very little more than we used to. Our cats all do really well on it, and they don't seem to need to eat as much as they did of the food we used before (it's been two years now, I honestly don't even remember what kind we used to get). We have one cat, Chloe, that we got in July of '06. She'd been outside fending for herself for less than a week, but her previous owners (our neighbors, unfortunately) had nearly starved her to death. The day she snuck into our house - and then our hearts - she BARELY weighed two pounds. Her face was a mess of puss and dirt and blood, and was all swollen. She was missing every single tooth from the left side of her mouth, except for her top canine. Right side of her face was fine. These neighbor's have kicked their dogs in front of us (and then doggies went bye-bye with the nice man from the humane society when the neighbor's went to work), and have hit their kids, and so I highly doubt her injuries came from being outside. She's now a healthy, happy persian cat, a little on the small side. Weighs 6 pounds. According to the neighbor, she's only 13 or 14 years old. Our vet thinks closer to 15 or 16. **shrug** she's old, wierd, and we love her. Natural balance is what we gave her from the get go. She was up to 3.5 pounds in just over a week. Our other two - Tigger is almost 17. He's decrepit and skinny and old. BUt otherwise healthy. He's never been a "healthy" weight - he was bottle raised, but not using the right stuff. The people who raised him did their best, though, and he IS fairly healthy. He eats it - and about a month after he started eating it was the last time he got bladder crystals. He got them all the time before - even on special food. And then we have our baby, Furbis. He's two now. He's been on it since we got him at 3 months. He's kind of a mutant (I think he's part maine coon), weighing in at, um... 17 or 18 pounds, I think (last time we weighed him, he was 16, and he's filled out with more muscle since then). He's strong as all get out, very little body fat (enough to be healthy, though). All three have beautiful coats, and since being on the Natural balance, their litter boxes don't smell NEARLY as bad.

There. That's what I know about natural balance. :rolleyes: hope you enjoyed my book!

Oh yes, one other thing. The cat rescues in my area (there's three) all feed natural balance as well - they say it saves them money, because the cats are healthier (less money on vets), don't poop as much (therefore less litter), and don't eat as much (free fed, but still don't need as much). We work with them fostering kittens and such.

[Vitalink]

I don't know much about Natural Balance, but I am in full agreement that you should get your pet on a very good holistic food. Our dog got very sick and had to have her spleen removed.................she couldn't keep her food down so I started researching dog foods and realized how bad some of them are for your dogs. We switched over to a good holistic food and our dog is doing so much better......she's an 11 yr old Aussie mix ........she has so much energy now and her coat is so soft.
Oh, by the way,this is my first post so I also want to say hi to everyone! :)

[vix506]

HI Vitalink! Welcome.

I am going to transition him when this jug of Pro Plan gets half empty. (Oh, yeah, hubby's gonna love this, haha) I just bought it today and don't have another chunk of change to go buy more food this week or have enough left over in the old jug to start mixing for the transition.

To the poster that said your animals don't eat as much because of the healthier ingredients, I can actually relate to that myself as a human. (little history of myself here) I am a weight watcher and have lost almost a whole person on the program. They have 2 plans you can follow, counting points or following from choices of healthier/veggies/fruits/whole grains type of plan. I counted points for yrs and lost all my weight but after so long for many reasons I switched to the "healthier" plan. Eating those types of foods keeps me filled longer and I don't eat as much as when I would eat processed foods. So I totally understand what you are saying about this type of food for animals.

I was surprised to learn when I went to the store today that foods I thought were better for them, are also loaded with a bunch of garbage (for lack of a better term). I don't believe Pro Plan is the worst choice out there, but I'm glad to know I can do better. I don't know what I'm going to do though about the moist food. I may have to use both. At $1.09 a 3oz can, I really don't have that in my budget right now :( I'd like to eventually make the switch to all natural balance but for now, I think this is the way I'm going to have to do it.

[KathyW]

I appreciate everyone's experience and advice. I figured Science Diet must not be as great as it claimed when its ingredient list was almost identical to Purina's. Granted our 15 year-old cat ate Purina all her life and was healthy until literally the last 2 weeks of her life, but we may have just been lucky. I'll definitely check out Natural Balance.

[NewfieGrl]

I think you are making a wise decision. You are definately stepping up to a MUCH better quality food, especially when you are seeing corn in the list of ingredients. It's not only a known allergin, but has been the root of many recalls in the past due to the fact that it is very suceptible to mold. Aside from that corn is used as a cheap protein and has a very low biological value.
And, as others have stated, your food will last you longer.
Good luck.
Michele
owned by 2 Newfies, a cocker spaniel and 3 cats
RIP Bootsie-March ? 1988-April 22, 2007

[KathyW]

All three have beautiful coats, and since being on the Natural balance, their litter boxes don't smell NEARLY as bad.

This is interesting because several reviews I've been reading of NB say that their cats' poop smells worse, not better. Must be individual cats' digestive systems.

[Massimo]

After the food scare, my wife started researching the heck out of cat food. At that point we learned that we should give Mo food with better ingredients. We switched to Natural Balance. He loves it and we fill better that he eats a higher quality meal.

[kyukidojen]

This is interesting because several reviews I've been reading of NB say that their cats' poop smells worse, not better. Must be individual cats' digestive systems.

Hmm... interesting. It must be. Although, when you think about it (this is gross), what smells worse - old corn or old meat? Both are pretty rotten in my book, but to me, corn is worse. **shrug** Oh well. I think you're right about the individuality thing.

But when I think back, the poop DID initially smell worse... while we were still transitioning... maybe a by-product of the transition process making less than ideal digestive alterations?

Regardless, whether it smells worse or better, there's less of it, and THAT is ALWAYS an improvement!

[KathyW]

^ I was laughing when I read those reviews because, honestly, what poop smells good? :p I guess I'm not a connoisseur of poop. It all smells bad to me!

[NewfieGrl]

But when I think back, the poop DID initially smell worse... while we were still transitioning... maybe a by-product of the transition process making less than ideal digestive alterations?

That doesn't suprise me. Each animals digestive system is different and changing, especially from a lower quality food to a better quality food can cause upset and loose and smelly stools. I've seen people who's pet can make a change with no problems in a matter of days, and others that take a month or even more to adjust to a change to a better food. If you know your pet has more difficulty with changes then go VERY SLOW when making a change.
Michele
owned by 2 Newfies, a cocker spaniel and 3 cats
RIP Bootsie-March ? 1988-April 22, 2007

[KathyW]

I've started mixing Natural Balance in with my kittens' Science Diet, and so far they're doing fine with it. I was flabbergasted when I bought the bag of NB--a 6 lb. bag was about $11, the same price I pay for a 4 lb. bag of SD. And when I look at the ingredient list, there's just no comparison. Our previous cat ate Purina Cat Chow all her life and was healthy until the last 2 weeks of her 15 years, so I have no quarrel with Purina, but I do object to paying those prices for SD when it's so very similar to Purina (this is the standard kitten chow, not Pro Plan or Purina One). Someone on another board felt that SD was very different from Purina because SD's fat content was twice as high as Purina's, but honestly, that's the only major difference I can see. *Shrugs*

[vix506]

^ I was laughing when I read those reviews because, honestly, what poop smells good? :p I guess I'm not a connoisseur of poop. It all smells bad to me!


AGREE! 100% LOL :D

[scollins]

I just checked NB website. And their point is? I feed Lucky Purina One and he just loves it. I free feed him and he lets me know when his bowl is empty. I do not believe in "cheap" pet food, but I can't see why everyone is so high on this natural food. I have used Purina products for over 20 yrs and have never had a dog or cat that suffered from it. And they stayed healthy.

[KathyW]

^ I'm glad you and your cat are happy. The choice of food is a personal one; every cat is different, and so are the people who feed them. I was paying a premium price for a food which I don't consider premium (Science Diet Kitten forumla), and I found what I consider to be a better food for the same price. As for Natural Balance, I like the varied sources of protein it contains, the absence of corn and other fillers, and the absence of artificial colors/flavors/etc.

[kyukidojen]

That doesn't suprise me. Each animals digestive system is different and changing, especially from a lower quality food to a better quality food can cause upset and loose and smelly stools. I've seen people who's pet can make a change with no problems in a matter of days, and others that take a month or even more to adjust to a change to a better food. If you know your pet has more difficulty with changes then go VERY SLOW when making a change.
Michele
owned by 2 Newfies, a cocker spaniel and 3 cats
RIP Bootsie-March ? 1988-April 22, 2007

We did the transition very slowly - 6 weeks, starting with 7 parts old and 1 part new, changing the ratio every 4 or 5 days.

[rickywh]

I have use this brand in the past and didn't ever have any issues.