Natural Balance Ultra Premium
Rating: 
| Price: $$ | Website
Natural Balance is one of the few good choices a pet owner can make when they walk into a store like Petsmart or Petco. It’s pretty widely carried, so if somebody doesn’t want to take the time to go to their local pet store, this is a good option. It’s also fairly cheap for what you’re getting, so that’s an additional bonus.
The food is of good quality, no question. There are 4 meal products here, plus some good grains, fruits and vegetables to balance it out. What’s more, they do use flaxseed for the Omega fatty acids as well.
I do have to quibble with the brewers yeast, though. They have almost all good ingredients, yet they use an alcohol production by-product? I just don’t understand the inclusion of that. It’s like going through college with a 4.0, and then tanking your last couple classes because you figure it’s “good enough”. Hmm, well it’s not as bad as brewers rice so that’s a positive.
If you’re either on a budget or don’t want to venture outside major pet stores though, this is a great choice.
Where to buy?
What’s good about this food….
Solid meat content (4 named meat meals), high quality grains, potatoes.
….and what’s not so good.
Not really that much. Arguably brewers yeast.
Ingredients:
Chicken Meal, Chicken, Brown Rice, Duck Meal, Barley, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (Preserved With Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Potatoes, Carrots, Lamb Meal, Salmon Meal, Canola Oil, Natural Flavor, Dried Egg, Brewers Yeast, Whole Ground Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Spinach, Parsley Flakes, Cranberries, L-Lysine, L-Carnitine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Kelp, Zinc Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid.
The ingredients have been recently changed (and not for the better). They say that only the bag changed, but if you look at the order of ingredients it’s more than just design. Now: Chicken Meal, Chicken, Brown Rice, Barley, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat, Duck Meal, Potatoes, Carrots, Lamb Meal, Canola Oil Natural Flavor, Salmon Meal, Dried Egg, Brewers Yeast, Duck, ….
My problem with this is that Brown Rice and Barley and Oatmeal are now 3rd, 4th, and 5th ingredients. As far as I’m concerned they should be after the chicken fat and duck meal.
Brewer’s Yeast is actually an amazing vitamin supplement. You can buy it in pill and powdered forms. Not only does it help with coat and skin it helps boost the immune system. It also helps keep fleas, ticks, biting flies away from your pet. So brewers yeast is a very very good thing and not just “some alright eh by product”
What is good for humans is not necessarily good for pets. Brewer’s yeast has been shown to be not optimal for animals. Triggers reactions and or allergies in some pets.
I happened on this brand when we took in a kitten that had vomiting/loose stool diet on other brands we tried. All our cats (3 plus visiting strays) like it. Cleared up the kitten’s digestive problems right away, except for a hiccup with a recent purchase of the chicken flavor. May have been something wrong with that batch. Price/performance ratio is very good, They enjoy this food much more than they do the same brand’s wet foods.