Does it include all the nutrients my cat needs, what other food brands are good?
Is natural balance a good healthy cat food?
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Does it include all the nutrients my cat needs, what other food brands are good?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes it is good. My 8 yr old boy eats Natural Balance Ultra Premium Formula. Has all the nutrients he need. Few grains, LOTS OF real high quality meat.
Some other good brands:Wellness, Evo/Innova Evo, Solid Gold, Halo, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul, Just to name a few.
I haven’t looked at the ingredients list for Natural Balance. But your pet’s food should NOT have meat/chicken byproduct, corn as one of the first ingredients, or any other fillers.
Personally, I avoid all things Purina and foods of that nature.
Remember, if you don’t plan on ever having your cats teeth cleaned, stick with dry and rarely wet food. But you should get in the habit of cleaning your cat’s teeth every now and again. Then you can give them a little more wet food. It has more moisture content and less processing.
I use Halo and have heard great things about Wellness.
Yes its very good – its a high quality food. We feed the canned food and they like the venison and green pea the best.
Yes it is. And the canned Ultra flavor is a big hit here. Other favorites of the same or better quality would be Wellness, EVO, Merrick, and Blue Buffalo.
Yes, it’s great food. They even feed it to zoo cats. No by-products.
Natural Balance cat & dog foods both look very good for pet nutrition. I’ve never heard of it & looked up the information at their website (there’s a link for coupons too) @ http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com I am intrigued & will have to see if it is approved by my gang. While I have found (dry/kibble variety) that Royal Canin cat foods are a big hit with my kitties, some prefer the Science Diet original formula & when it comes to wet/canned food, they LOVE the Merrick brand, especially the Thanksgiving Dinner, Grammy’s Pot Pie & TurDuckEn. I choose mostly poultry based food & keep away from fish based food due to my having several male cats over 5 years old & do not want to risk them developing kidney stones.
When it comes to cat food, you should always seek out foods high in protein, chicken/meat (not by-products) should always be the first ingredient, as cats are carnivores not omnivores like dogs, & I’ve heard that cat foods made with cornmeal vs. rice are not very good. I also steer clear of multicolored kibble, as a lot of my cats had shown themselves to be allergic to the red dyes used. Depending on your financial status, you may find the prices of the quality cat foods to be prohibitive & in my observation, if you must buy “supermarket” brands due to budget reasons, Purina ONE seems to be the best value. But as I have seen the comparison of cats fed with premium/quality brands vs. “store” brands, I’ve noticed that my kitties that have always been fed premium brand foods were more healthy & had less issues with fur & skin problems. Other brands I have used & were liked are MaxCat (made by Nutro), Blue Buffalo, Organix (by Castor & Pollux, go help them feed shelter kitties & doggies by visiting http://www.freekibble.com), Felidae (also a sponsor of freekibble.com), & Innova. There’s a nifty article thingy on about.com that compare brands, you can check it out at:
http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/comparisonatoz.htm
You may wish to contact the different company’s websites & even drop them a line by e-mail or phone call to see if they offer coupons & FREE samples. Quite a few of the food I have mentioned had sent me free samples & some are simply fantastic companies, like Castor & Pollux, due to their philanthropic & caring of homeless pets. If you are able to afford these premium foods & prefer to give your money to companies that help others, I suggest you research them & see which one best matches your feelings or interests. Although I am not too keen on their food products, 9 Lives is a fantastic company that shares their wealth & love of felines by supporting animal shelters & making donations. I could babble on & on more than I have already, but the choice of cat food is up to you & your kitty. I hope I’ve not prattled on in vain & you found this plethora of info useful. Here’s a big ol’ headbutt & chin scratch for being so caring & considerate of your kitty’s nutrition. >^-_-^<-purrr
Not really. I believe they contain corn and wheat and maybe even some gluten. They are cheap fillers, indigestible and often allergy causers to your cat. Check out California Natural, Natures Variety, Weruva, Wellness, Merrick, Innova and Evo to name a few. They contain no by-products, corn or wheat, and some have no grain at all.
Remember, dry food is at the bottom of the food pyramid as it is contains no moisture. Cats for derived from the desert and naturally get their water from the food they eat. Mix in or add canned food to their diet. It is higher in moisture and will help their kidneys. A diet of dry food alone will eventually cause kidney failure no matter how good the brand of dry food is, as their kidneys have to work extra hard to digest the dry food.
Raw and freeze dried raw is at the top of the pyramid. Canned and dry are cooked at high temperatures which remove all the nutrients from the food (this is why there is a long list of ingredients on canned and dry food). Nutrients are sprayed back on to the food after it is cooked. With raw food, it does not need to be added in as it was never cooked out. It is higher priced, but as with any good brand, your cat will eat less as all of it is digested and absorbed into the body, whereas the low-grade food is full of fillers and indigestible foods.