After the Menu Foods pet food scare I started looking for a new canned food that I could feel safe feeding to my cat. I wanted to find an organic food that was not associated with Menu Foods but wasn’t terribly expensive and wasn’t available only at fancy pet shops. After doing research I found out about Natural Balance, an organic but reasonably priced and easy to find canned food.
My cat is very fussy about her food, so I bought a couple 3 oz individual meal sized cans at 80 cents apiece at Petco. I originally bought the Chicken and Liver pate flavor and the Venison and Green Pea flavor. The 3 oz cans have “easy open” pull tabs so no can opener is necessary. The first thing I noticed when I opened the can was that this food doesn’t reek like some canned foods do. All the flavors I’ve given my cat seem to have a uniform “pate” texture which is easy for cats to eat. My cat is a Snowshoe Siamese, and has a very flat face, so the shape and texture of what she eats is important and she has no trouble with the Natural Balance food.
When I gave my cat the Chicken and Liver I expected her to turn up her nose and walk away but she ate the entire can! The next day I gave her the Venison and Green Pea and she ate that entire can as well. Even though you should always switch cat foods slowly to avoid stomach upset I switched her canned food without the recommended mixing of old and new foods because her old food was the tainted Nutro pouch food. Even with the quick food switch she had no stomach upset or vomiting from the new food, it was very gentle on her stomach. Now she begs for her Natural Balance food each morning. The Ultra flavor seems to be her favorite of all the flavors.
There was a variety of flavors to choose from: Chicken and Liver Pate, Ultra Formula, Indoor Cat Formula, Venison and Green Pea, Salmon, Turkey and Giblets, and another seafood formula. Venison and Green Pea is a great food for pets with skin allergies or food sensitivities. There is a line of prescription diets that is prescribed for animals with those problems but is very expensive, so for a cat with those sensitivities Natural Balance makes an affordable alternative. Most Petco’s carry Natural Balance canned and dry food, but I have not found it in any other major pet food store.
After feeding her Natural Balance for a few days I noticed changes in my cat. She looks leaner, and her coat is much shinier and softer. She isn’t shedding as much. Her eyes are bright and shiny and she tons of energy. Her litter box isn’t quite so unpleasant to scoop out each day. Natural Balance is a very high quality, affordable, all organic food and my cat won’t eat anything else from now on. I recommend Natural Balance to any pet owners who would like to give their pets a high quality organic diet but don’t have the time to run around to specialty stores and don’t have the money to pay the higher prices of “boutique” organic brands like Wellness.
