With the contaminated wheat gluten, rice gluten and now corn gluten, I really need a brand I can get from the store, since I need to be able to pick it up this afternoon on my way home…my cats’ dry food at home has corn gluten, and the canned food has rice gluten! My babies are fine, but I want to avoid any problems. I was reading the ingredients for Natural Balance and neither their wet nor dry foods have any of these ingredients. Any thoughts on this brand? Is it good? How has it worked for you?
What about Natural Balance cat food? Is it decent?
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They found melamine in natural balance, natural balance is made by Diamond Foods and under the guise of ‘holistic’ food. it was found in the rice protein http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aAyK9T1SNiYc&refer=us
please consider a quality food like one of the following (they do list where they’re sold and many stores give samples, take advantage of that so that you can see if your cat likes the food):
Innova Evo
http://www.naturapet.com/search/default.asp?animal=cat
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover’s Soul
http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/products/cats/dry_food/
http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/products/cats/canned_food/
Eagle
http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/SP_Cats.html
Felidae Platinum
http://www.canidae.com/cats/platinum/dry.html
http://www.canidae.com/cats/platinum/canned.html
Go! Natural
http://www.petcurean.com/index.php?page_id=34
Halopets Holistic
http://halopets.com/index.cfm
Merrick
http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/canned_cat_food.php
The Honest Kitchen
http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/index.shtml
Natures Variety** ALSO CARRIES FROZEN RAW MEAT
http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.lasso?page=1352
Natures Logic **ALSO CARRIES FROZEN RAW MEAT
http://www.natureslogic.com/products/cp.html
Wellness
http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/
SoJourner Farms *Natural Cat food mix- you make your own with this.
http://www.sojos.com/food.html
NO, their venison and pea version was recalled a few days after the Menu Foods recall. I’ve resorted to feeding my cats raw food until I can get a shipment of Nature’s Variety in.
nature balance was found to be contaminated. Switch to purina – it’s the only national brand that hasn’t been affected. My cat has been on Purina food since she was a kitten. She now eats Cat Chow Indoor Formula. My puppy is on Puppy Chow.
I’ve used Purina exclusively for many years with no problems and optimal health in all my pets.
I’ve heard the natural balance is good. I’m going to be switching my kitties over to Evo, which is expensive and hard to find. I have to make a 70 mile round trip today to get some. I have been feeding science diet for 15 years and trust it, but with corn being suspect, I am going to switch anyway. Evo has NO GRAIN as well. California naturals is also on this side and some others: http://www.naturapet.com/.
You can view all their products and they can help you find a place that carries it.
There is also Innova, made by the same people that has whole grain rice. They manufacture the food in their own plant, with their own recipe with ingredients from the US. It’s worth looking into. I have three cats and one is a purebred, fourth general Bengal cat, so I have to make sure they are ALL taken care of.
Corn gluten was not affected out in the USA. It was only in Africa where the corn gluten was affected. It is not in the US.
The Rice Protein was affected here. I read the article and they said it was only in Africa and no where else.
www howl 911.com
I have been feeding NB venison & green pea canned food since last October. Although it is apparently higher in carbs than it should be, it has worked well.
Poppy is super picky and it is the only one of the better foods that she’ll eat (probably because of those carbs!) She has even managed to lose weight on it, which was the main reason I went from kibble to moist in the first place.
Even with the NB recall, I’m still feeding it. I was halfway through a case when this happened and they’ve been fine, so I’m not stopping.
I’ll probably buy more as well, although today I’ve placed my first order for raw meat! I’ve got some lovely goat chunks on the way, along with some tasty rabbit and quail. *gag* I plan to transition them off the canned and onto the raw, but I’ll of course need to keep feeding them their regular food in the meantime.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that NB won’t start recalling that stuff too!
Ok, I guess I got a little off track….the bottom line is, before the recall, I would have and did recommend it. Now…..even though I’m still feeding it I wouldn’t feel right doing so.
I would try any of the ones from this list. I would start with the completely grainless varieties and work down from there.
I feed my kitties Nature’s Variety – the raw frozen, raw instinct kibble and canned. So far so good. I also feed them Whole Life Treats (They LOVE them).
This is the ingredients of the Raw Instinct Kibble:
Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat, Tapioca, Pumpkinseeds, Salmon Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Montmorillonite Clay, Chicken Liver Flavor, Chicken Liver, Kelp, DL-Methionine, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Niacin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Beta Carotene, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Folic Acid), Sea Salt, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate , Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Inulin, Flaxseed Oil, Apples, Chicken Eggs, Cottage Cheese, Cranberries, Freeze Dried Chicken, Freeze Dried Turkey, Freeze Dried Turkey Liver, Freeze Dried Turkey Hearts, Carrots, Ground Chicken Bone, Butternut Squash, Ground Flaxseeds, Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Kelp, Salmon Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Parsley, Honey, Blueberries, Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract, Citric Acid, Alfalfa Sprouts, Olive Oil, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Persimmons, Duck Eggs, Pheasant Eggs, Quail Eggs, Sage, Clove
I like how they tell very specifically where the stuff comes from (example – Salmon Meal instead of Fish Meal)
The Raw Frozen has an even better list of ingredients. Go to http://www.naturesvariety.com to see.
Natural Balance does look better then some brands, but I don’t think it’s the best. It has Canola Oil in it. I have been reading bad things about that oil. Some places say it’s fine where others say it is terrible. I would not take the chance. You can look it up on Google if you want.