Natural Balance

JacksonsMom

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#1
Anyone fed it?

I realize most of the formulas are lower in the meat department. Though most ARE grain-free, the protein and fat is semi-low on a lot of formulas. If I fed it, I mix with wet food anyways, so I'd be upping the protein with 95% meat canned food.

Jackson's been having some little issues (nothing big, at all) with Orijen Regional Red. He loveslovesloves it sooo much but lately, he's been having some runny poop issues (not EVERY time, but sometimes once a day, sometimes less). I know it's not an over-feeding issue, I feed him way less than recommended already. This only started once I bought the new bag of RR a few weeks back. He used to do great on RR.

He's currently eating Go! Endurance kibble (mixed with wet) and does really well on this so I'll be keeping this but I like to rotate kibbles and am looking for another kibble option.

NB is sending me a bunch of samples so we will try them out.

Have they ever had any major recalls? For the most part, I've read positive reviews on the food... I believe they are manufactured at Diamond? But I could be wrong on this. Any thoughts?
 
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#2
I've fed the Natural Balance LID Lamb & Rice to my komondorok because he was starting to get staining in his coat, so I switched him to this food. He's eaten this food for about a year his staining has gone away, but he started to get loose stool and before that he always (sorry) produced alot of poop! lol I now have him on Nature's variety Instinct and he's been on this for about 2 months and I rotate between there flavors and there raw. He is doing alot better on this food. His poop is alot smaller than I have ever seen it before! lol Just my experience with this food with my guy, but I would still recommend it to people if they really were looking for a LID.
 

JacksonsMom

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#3
I've fed the Natural Balance LID Lamb & Rice to my komondorok because he was starting to get staining in his coat, so I switched him to this food. He's eaten this food for about a year his staining has gone away, but he started to get loose stool and before that he always (sorry) produced alot of poop! lol I now have him on Nature's variety Instinct and he's been on this for about 2 months and I rotate between there flavors and there raw. He is doing alot better on this food. His poop is alot smaller than I have ever seen it before! lol Just my experience with this food with my guy, but I would still recommend it to people if they really were looking for a LID.
Thanks for your review!

I keep thinking more and more I want to get him on Instinct again. He ate it for a few months a while back and I think I mainly switched him because the fat content scared me away (I think it's 22%) and it just seemed high for a little guy. But it really is a fabulous food.
 

2pups622

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#4
We feed it because of allergies and love it we just switched to the fish formula and already see a even bigger difference in there coats. Austins is getting Thicker. It works for us which is the most important thing.
 

corgipower

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#5
I used to feed it...until Ares started getting severe UTIs and the vet thought a change of diet would help. I then heard of several other dogs getting UTIs while on NB. I also suspect that NB had something to do with Morgan's pancreatitis.
 

MicksMom

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#6
Caleb's been eating their LID line for about 3 years now (except for the one with the brown rice). It's really helped with his food "allergies". They did make a change to the duck and potato formula sometime last summer. Not sure about the other ones, I was feeding D&P at the time and noticed the change in the bag.
 

JacksonsMom

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#7
Thanks!

They're giving me samples of all their grain-free varieties...I'm gonna see which one Jackson likes best and then go buy a bigger bag and see how it goes, I think. Though I've been thinking maybe I should stick to Petcurean dog food and try out some of the Now! formulas, which are also lower in protein/fat but I'd be feeding with canned food as well as some pre-made raw in the morning.

They do have a new line "Alpha" or something that is a bit higher in protein that I am interested in.

Either way, I'm finishing up the bag of Go! and Orijen first.
 

JacksonsMom

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#8
I'm seriously considering buying a bag of this food... but my conscience keeps telling me it's such a downgrade from Orijen, LOL. But I know it's how Jackson does on it that is the most important and all that.

Anyways, I've been using up our samples and he's been having solid poops. He seems to really enjoy the taste of it. I know it hasn't been long enough to truly judge, things like coat, etc. But, for example, he was eating Orijen a few days ago and on our walks, he would get runny poos. The other day he stopped 2x during one 45 minute walk and it was runny poo (not like explosive, but just runny, ew) and for the past 2 days, I've had him on NB and he has 2 solid poops today (one in the AM, one around 2pm).

Keep in mind, I've been mixing the NV Instinct canned food in with his kibble. And I will be giving him pre-made raw a few times a week too. I am thinking about giving this food a go.... it's just not a food I ever would have looked at before.
 
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#9
Farley & Chloe have been on the NB potato & duck formula for quite a few years. It has helped alot with Farley's allergies which caused itchy skin & mega ear infections. But most importantly, since we switched Chloe's seizures stopped and she is on no meds any more.
 

PWCorgi

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#10
They do have a new line "Alpha" or something that is a bit higher in protein that I am interested in.
I don't believe the alpha line has too much higher protein though. Their marketing on the alpha is still that it doesn't have high protein levels.

I don't like that the first ingredient is potatoes in it. That just puts me off, though we have allergy dogs that do amazing on it at work. I really only suggest it for allergy dogs though, IMO there are way way better brands out there.
 

Sit Stay

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#11
I think I remember saying awhile ago that you've fed Acana, but I know that when Quinn was having a problem with soft stools on Orijen, it cleared up within days on Acana. Both her and Dally are fed Acana Grasslands and I've had zero issues - nice coats, maintaining their weight, good poops, and they never turn their nose up at it. It's a bit pricey though!
 

JacksonsMom

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#12
I think I remember saying awhile ago that you've fed Acana, but I know that when Quinn was having a problem with soft stools on Orijen, it cleared up within days on Acana. Both her and Dally are fed Acana Grasslands and I've had zero issues - nice coats, maintaining their weight, good poops, and they never turn their nose up at it. It's a bit pricey though!
Yeah, this is what I was thinking. Going back to Acana. Maybe I will try that out again first. :) Acana wasn't too much of a steep here the last time I bought it. I think I got Grasslands for $13.99 for a 5.5lb bag. The Orijen RR has upped to like $21.99 for that little of a bag! :yikes:
 

JacksonsMom

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#13
I don't believe the alpha line has too much higher protein though. Their marketing on the alpha is still that it doesn't have high protein levels.

I don't like that the first ingredient is potatoes in it. That just puts me off, though we have allergy dogs that do amazing on it at work. I really only suggest it for allergy dogs though, IMO there are way way better brands out there.

Yeah, I think you're right. I've always been a believer in high protein/high meat diets so I don't know what even got over me. He's never had issues in the past with them, he doesn't really have allergies or anything.
 

PWCorgi

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#14
I can't remember if you've ever mentioned it or not, but is there any reason why you don't try raw? If you haven't already?

I'm just getting back into it and forgot how awesome it is :p
 

Meatos

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#15
Orijen recently changed their formulas by reducing the amount of meat meal and increasing the amount of meat. I feed the Regional Red to Scarlett and she has done fantastic on this food up until the switch. We are on maybe our 5th bag of the "improved" formula and she still hasn't acclimated, so when this bag runs out we're switching to raw. I'm betting that's what's happening to your dog - the food is just way too rich now. The timeline seems right. I tried reducing the amount of food from 6 cups down to 5 cups but her poops are still big and soft and she has started losing weight so she is back up to 6 cups until we switch her over.

Before I decided to switch to raw, I was considering trying Acana Ranchlands, which is their new formula that's coming out in mid-April. The ingredients are similar to the RRed but the food won't be as rich. It'll also be much cheaper!
 

JacksonsMom

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#16
I can't remember if you've ever mentioned it or not, but is there any reason why you don't try raw? If you haven't already?

I'm just getting back into it and forgot how awesome it is :p
I feed pre-made raw a few times a week (Stella & Chewy's right, also used Primal). My main reason for not feeding it full time is cost and convenience. I'm really not up for doing PMR or anything like that, to be honest. I am a lazy person, lol, and I am a 20 year old college student who barely cooks for herself, let alone preparing big meals for my dog. It's just not something I'm quite comfortable with yet, I guess?

I realize it'd probably be cheaper than the pre-made stuff I am buying right now. But I feel like a few times a week is a nice treat. I give him 2 patties for breakfast of S&C's about 3x a week and that way a bag lasts us a while. I am also back and forth alot, as I sleep at my dads house a few times a week, plus I am a dogsitter and bring Jackson with me a lot of times... so kibble is just easier when it comes to that.

But I've definitely considered the pre-made raw and feeding it more often. I definitely notice less poop the more he eats of it which is a plus!


Orijen recently changed their formulas by reducing the amount of meat meal and increasing the amount of meat. I feed the Regional Red to Scarlett and she has done fantastic on this food up until the switch. We are on maybe our 5th bag of the "improved" formula and she still hasn't acclimated, so when this bag runs out we're switching to raw. I'm betting that's what's happening to your dog - the food is just way too rich now. The timeline seems right. I tried reducing the amount of food from 6 cups down to 5 cups but her poops are still big and soft and she has started losing weight so she is back up to 6 cups until we switch her over.

Before I decided to switch to raw, I was considering trying Acana Ranchlands, which is their new formula that's coming out in mid-April. The ingredients are similar to the RRed but the food won't be as rich. It'll also be much cheaper!
This is what I think it is, too... he always did fabulous on Orijen RR and then our local store was sold out of it for a bit. So when I finally saw it again and picked up our new bag, is when the runny mushy poo started happening.

I have not found Ranchlands in our store yet. But I just picked up a bag of Acana today, which I know he did great on in the past so I'm just gonna stick with it :)
 

MandyPug

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#17
I have not found Ranchlands in our store yet. But I just picked up a bag of Acana today, which I know he did great on in the past so I'm just gonna stick with it :)
Ranchlands isn't dropping here until the week of the 17th to coincide with the Calgary PIJAC show, so that's when it's available in Canada... Shortly after it'll hit the states i imagine.
 
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#19
I used to feed Natural Balance to my dogs. We'd switch between the Sweet Potato and Venison and the Sweet Potato and Duck. They liked it a lot. The only reason I switched is that Taste of the Wild became available at a few dollars cheaper. Otherwise we'd still be feeding NB.
 

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