Nutrience Natural
Rating: 
| Price: $$$ | Website
Nutrience Natural
I’ve grown to like the Nutrience company. Personally I’ve found them more pro-active than most, and they certainly care about their products. In fact, they are so confident in the quality of their foods they give a No Bad Anything promise. That’s a ballsy statement for a pet food manufacturer, so does it hold true?
This review is for Nutrience Natural Turkey, Chicken & Herring, but their Ocean Fish and Duck recipe is very similar.
Deboned turkey and chicken meal are the main ingredients, both great, lean, animal protein sources. Top marks there. We find other meat sources in the food which really backs this up, with turkey meal, herring, and even more chicken further down the ingredients list.
The main grain is steel-cut oats which is one of the best grain choices for a food, and sweet potatoes are a sound inclusion for a further source of carbs. Green peas and lentils are great choices as far as veggies are concerned.
There’s a great range of fruits, vegetables, oils, and other sources of nutrients in the food, making it very well balanced. I love seeing coconut oil in a food as it provides so many health benefits to a cat as well as improving skin and coat health. It really is a wonderful inclusion which I’d like to see more of in pet foods.
All in all I think this is a great food. It’s well thought out, and definitely adhere’s to the No Bad Anything promise.
Where to buy?
What’s good about this food….
So many things, it’s very well thought out. It’s also very reasonably priced.
….and what’s not so good.
Nothing.
Ingredients:
Deboned turkey, chicken meal, steel-cut oats, green peas, turkey meal, sweet potatoes, lentils, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), deboned chicken, deboned herring, tapioca, whole eggs, natural chicken flavor, sun-cured alfalfa meal, chicken liver, salmon oil (source of DHA), coconut oil, pumpkin, butternut squash, carrots, spinach, broccoli, apples, pears, blueberries, cranberries, pomegranate, juniper berry extract, ginger, fennel, green tea extract, peppermint leaf, licorice root, turmeric, vitamins [vitamin E supplement, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), vitamin A supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, inositol, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid], minerals [zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, ferrous sulfate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganese proteinate, manganese oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite], potassium chloride, DL-methionine, salt, lecithin, choline chloride, chicory root extract, L-lysine, dried kelp, yeast extract, taurine, yucca shidigera extract, rosemary extract, L-carnitine, dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation product, dried Bifidobacterium animalis fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus helveticus fermentation product, dried Bifidobacterium longum fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product.
I too notice the difference in the colour and size of the kibble. The kibble is dark brown and really hard, and my cats are not eating it. They LOVED it before. Now I will have to switch them to something else. Any suggestions on something of equal quality? thanks.
Hi there – I visited this site a couple of years ago while researching dry food for our two cats, and settled on Nutrience Natural. We’ve used both the turkey and the ocean fish flavours with no issues at all (and thank you to the site author for all the great info!).
Recently, however, the quality of this food has changed drastically. Bags of Nutrience Natural that specifically have the “Made in Canada” stamp displayed on the front (we live in Canada) have contained kibble that is uniformly a lot smaller, harder, and much darker – similiar to tiny coffee beans in appearance – than before. It almost seems burnt, and looks nothing like the larger, crunchy, golden brown kibble of either flavour we’ve bought to date, and our cats won’t eat it. I noted that food from bags with lot numbers indicating they were produced in the US have a normal appearance.
I contacted the company several times, and even sent them a photo comparing the two kibbles; they replied that they’d look into this, but added that this food is actually no longer produced in the US, which surprised me. Either their manufacturing process has changed dramatically (and for the worse), which seems unlikely — or their Canadian facility has produced a bad batch of major proportions, or possibly more than one, and are having some significant quality control issues.
Has anyone else come across this problem with Nutrience Natural?
Wow! I wonder if you will see my reply. I have spent MONTHS on this issue!
My two cats ate ONLY Nutrience kibble for 10 years. No other food. Then, as you mentioned, out of nowhere, the size changed. My cats wouldn’t eat it.
I contacted Customer Service (Mary Martin is the agent) and we exchanged messages back and forth 5 or 10 times.
I insisted on having contact information for someone on the Nutrience team to talk about their decision.
I work in Marketing and I am fairly sure this change was made to lower production costs (take the same formula, compact it into smaller pieces that weigh the same amount…fits in a smaller space… many other advantages). At the same time, they spent more on marketing the product with the special sticker saying “Regional Ingredients” so consumers think they are getting a better product.
Anyway, I got nowhere. I was told sales are UP. I know that’s a lie.
My cats’ eating is now completely messed up. I had some cans of Nutrience canned food from a free can promotion… So I tried mixing some wet food in with the smaller pieces to see if they would eat it but they took the wet food off the dry food and spit the pieces out.
I have tried so many other kinds of dry and canned food. One of my cats if so fussy she will only eat Nutrience wet food. What a pain!
Hi Nataly… yep, I saw your reply! 😉
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. For whatever it’s worth, I had a very similar experience to yours dealing with Nutrience – I think I even had the same agent. The email conversation was courteous but it ultimately went nowhere. When I said I was temporarily switching to the US-made Nutrience Grain Free kibble, they responded by expressing happiness that the situation was resolved (!) and basically said goodbye. And that was that.
So we’re using the Grain Free for now, which our cats happily shovel into their mouths with both paws, but I’m thinking we’ll switch to another brand as soon as I can find one of comparable quality and price that our cats will eat. I’d rather switch now at my own discretion than trust Nutrience to not change over completely to the new el-cheapo, burnt-looking, pellet-like kibble without warning. I’m thinking maybe Nature’s Variety Instinct.
Best wishes, and please post here if you find out anything you feel is worth sharing.
Hi Jamie,
Thank you for telling me your cats like the Nutrience Grain Free kibble. I was thinking about trying it since that’s the canned food they eat. But get this… I asked PetSmart to order 5 cases of canned food for me. A few days later, the manager said the distribution center doesn’t have any and it will be several WEEKS before they get it. Now what?! This is the ONLY food my male cat will consistently eat. Out of about 20 different canned foods, he ate a few mouthfuls of ONE other type, the rest he smelled and would not touch. Unbelievable!
I’ve had mixed success with kibble. I started shopping at Global Pet Foods because of their great return policy. You may already know this but it was all new to me. I love that you can buy a bag of cat food, open it and, if your cats don’t like it, you can return it. They will also give you samples of most foods (although this varies by store…they are franchises). Also, the staff are quite knowledgable.
The brand my cats LOVED is called Pro Series. It is only available at a few locations but the price and quality are great. Unfortunately, I ran out of the food and wasn’t near the location that sells it so I ended up buying the Royal Canin the vet recommended for crystals in the urine. That food was NOT grain free and, of course, my cats loved it even more. But it was crazy expensive. So I went back to Global and bought two bags of the Pro Series. Very excited to give it to my cats…they won’t touch it.
If you live in the Toronto area, I’m happy to give you some for your cats to try.
Recently I got a free sample of Wellness and Oscar really liked it. I was shocked because it was small pieces…similar in size to new Nutrience. I have not gone out to buy a bag but I may try it…if I don’t give up on dry food completely.
The last food I tried…and bought….is Primal. It is freeze-dried raw food. My cats love it. It comes in a bag in rectangular blocks that break apart very easily. The cats can eat the food either just broken apart…or….you can crust the blocks and add water, thereby rehydrating from freeze-dried into wet food. The only catch is that it seems to be very expensive.
I guess that’s it for now. I don’t know how to get notified if I get a response. I just coincidentally saw this site. I hope that will happen again.
Take care.
Nataly
Hi Nataly… I got an email alert that there was a new post here, and just read your reply above. Happy to keep the conversation going so that others might possibly benefit or at least realize they aren’t the only ones having troubles with the apparent change in Nutrience’s dry food quality.
I’m no cat expert, but it sure sounds to me like you’ve made every effort to find an alternative your cats are agreeable to… I hope things turn out well. And thank you very kindly for the offer to share some of the Pro Series food you purchased, but I’m in Saskatchewan (I suppose you could possibly donate it to the local humane society or a cat rescue group).
Over the weekend I went to our neighbourhood PetSmart to get more of the Nutrience Grain Free, and I discovered that the US-made Nutrience (the previous “normal” kibble) is now down to a single flavour (Pork, Turkey and Venison) and available in small bags only; every other Nutrience dry cat food is currently Canadian-made (the new dark, hard kibble). I guess the old kibble is being phased out completely. I was kind of expecting this would happen sooner or later, so I got busy again with researching an alternative food brand.
I narrowed it down to Nature’s Variety Instinct and Acana Regionals (both of which I think are reviewed on this site). Our local Petland outlet carries both, so I dropped by. The staff there seemed, in my opinion, very knowledgeable and helpful, and they strongly recommended the Acana food. It’s made in Alberta, it’s got a stellar reputation, and the price point of the Wild Prairie flavour is reasonably close to the Nutrience Grain Free… I reckon I don’t mind paying a few extra bucks for quality food if it helps keep our cats healthy. Anyway, I picked up a small bag of the Acana Wild Prairie and will be trying it out soon. I mean, the cats will be, not me. 😉
I should add that the Petland staff mentioned they’ve had some negative customer feedback about the Nutrience food.
I’ll stop here for now – I kinda feel like we’re hijacking this blog, but so what? Let’s keep sharing info and maybe we’ll help somebody out who’s searching for info and winds up here! Good luck and I hope you keep posting here about how things go.
J.
I think the blog is only about Nutrience so I wouldn’t worry about it. Anyone can contribute at any time.
I wish I had read your post before today (how to I get notifications to my email?).
You had mentioned the Grain Free was still made in the U.S. so I went to PetSmart today…. I had to return 9 cans of Grain Free that were a problem and purchase another case…. and then I asked the Manager to confirm that the Grain Free kibble is still made in the U.S. He said, “Yes” so I asked him to please grab me a small bag.
I did not even look at it. Of course I got home, pulled out the bag and saw “Made in Canada.” I couldn’t believe it. I should have checked and certainly the Manager should have known with the big stamp on the package.
I decided to cut the bag open anyway to see what my cat thought.
HA! They would not touch it!
I find it hard to believe that sales of this product are UP. That’s what Nutrience Customer Service told me. Maybe because the package makes it sound good so that people buy it once… so sales still reflect that…. but I doubt they are getting repeat sales on this product.
I am very disappointed. I was sure the U.S. made Grain Free would work. Did you confirm this product is not made in the U.S. at all now? I noticed it is sold online in other parts of the world. I wonder where that product is made.
Please let me know if your cats like the Acana Wild Prairie. I have not heard of it so I’m not sure if it is available here. I would order it and have it shipped if it is similar. I really think this stuff about local ingredients is unnecessary.
Maybe if your cats like it, we could send a small ziploc bag sample of Pro Series and Acana to each other.
This should not be so difficult.
I have a 12-year-old male cat with kidney disease who needs a low protein food. The stuff we fed him over the summer after he was diagnosed was great, but then we couldn’t find it at PetSmart anymore. The Medi-Cal makes him lethargic after a while, so last month, I got a bag of Nutrience, since it also has low protein. Like you said, it was that dark brown crap, but I had no basis of comparison since I’d never bought it before. At first all was well, but a couple weeks ago, he started having digestive problems. Gurgling and trying not to gag and stuff. He was almost exclusively living in the bedroom after a while, he felt so bad. I thought it was depression because of the new kitten we got at Christmas, and thought the digestive problems were because he wasn’t eating or drinking as much because he was sulking in the room so much. I didn’t clue in right away that it was just the food. He started vomiting the food over the weekend, so I finally got him something else. And 24 hours later it’s like night and day. He’s back to his usual self, even with the kitten around. I’m so relieved, but also want to know… WTF, Nutrience?!
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Just out of curiosity, what food did you end up switching to?
After the Nutrience dry food changed to the hard, dark brown kibble last year, our cats wouldn’t touch the stuff at all. The company was responsive to my inquiries, but the conversation went nowhere really. As I mentioned in another post, a staff member at a local store mentioned to me that they’ve received at least some negative customer feedback recently about Nutrience food.
I’m wondering at this point if perhaps there should be an update of sorts to this website’s review on this product.
Am I the only one who realizes that grains, vegetables, and fruits are not bio-appropriate for a cat?
I got my 4 month old adopted kitty Nutrience wet canned food in Jewel grocery store Lake Forest IL. My Izzy likes both dry and wet food.
So, I gave her one table spoon in the evening. She ate it, but I could see she wasn’t too crazy about it. I give her spoon in the morning, spoon in the evening within two days my Izzy got putrid smelly green slimey pile of poop >=( It smelled so bad and it was coming out so much of 4lb 8oz kitten. I will NEVER EVER buy her ANY of Nutrience food again!!! This company has lost my trust forever! Reading about pet food and that FDA allows dead carcasses in pet food I honestly think it was one of the worst canned foods under high end label and high quality claims. I don’t care as much what pet food makers claim. It”s my Izzy”s tummy told me what I needed to know. Here is the link from website to the wet food I got her
http://www.nutrience.ca/cat-food/nutrience-natural/wet-food/
Fast forward one week later – since I don’t give her no more Nutrience, my Izzy is eating Orijen Cat and Kitten dry food. She doesn’t have any problems with small kibbles like other pet owners mention here. Also – I give her other very fancy high end wet food twice – for breakfast and dinner, rest of the day she has plenty of dry food and water fountain. Her poop is back to normal semi solid dark brown and doesn’t stink as bad. I emailed to Nutrience but never heard back. No more Nutrince for my kitty
i tried with a 5.5 pound bag of Nutrience with my 2 female cats of 7.5 pounds, i was with TOTW, in my experience they both were eating a lot more than with TOTW, this bag lasted only 16 days ! with a 5 pound bag of TOTW they eated a lot less like 50gr/day maybe less (bag lasted 25 days), but with nutrience natural they eated 80gr per day and still asking for more u_u (plus it’s more expensive than Totw). So i believe its the tapioca they use as a filler that is not very nutritive and is one of the first ingredients, i will back to Taste its better for me from this point of view
This food is so hard to find, even reviews on it. Glad I found your site. I’ve been looking for a food to switch my 3 cats to. They were on Royal Canin Urinary SO food, and it’s making all 3 vomit now. My vet had okay’d switching their dry food, and I came across Nutrience Natural through a friend. The one pet store that does carry it seems to think Nutrience Natural isn’t a very good food and suggested I feel Natural Balance instead. What I liked about Nutrience is they make their food with Urinary tract health in mind. I chose Natural because it’s lower in protein than the Grain-free (My vet said find a food lower in protein).
Do you think Nutrience Natural is the way to go, or would you suggest I look at another food?
Nutrience make good foods and as a company have been pleasant to deal with. They’re a small company which is why there’s a lack of information on their products.
I am having a hard time finding this food for sale. I want to purchase the Indoor Adult version of Nutrience Natural. I can only find the “Healthy Adult” on Amazon. Are they similar enough that it doesn’t matter? I also tried calling the local stores, no luck because I’m in the USA.
Hi Ilana, here you go – http://www.amazon.com/Nutrience-Natural-Healthy-18-Pounds-Chicken/dp/B00IDZTGIG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1427160717&sr=8-2&keywords=nutrience+cat
Thanks for checking that on their website, I wish they would tell me that information about the Nutriance Natural formula, because as a pet owner, asking what amount of protein, carbs and fat are in the food that I am feeding to my cat is a simple and important question that I have to right to know the answer to, but them not providing it has created confusion and doubt in my mind about them.
It’s very unwise of them to turn customers off like that by not providing basic information when asked. Plus, its not like I was going to post this so much “confidential” information to the web lol, it was only for me to know. Anyways, thanks for responding to my post.
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
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I emailed Nutrience asking about percentage of ingredients in order because I wanted to find out how much of good ingredients i.e. turkey, chicken etc. are actually in the food (Nutrience original and Nutrience grain free).
I was surprised that they refused to provide that information saying they cannot disclose it. Well, that’s a very disappointing and discouraging response! Why would they not share that simple piece of basic information is beyond my understanding. I consider Nutrience to be a good food, and wanted to buy it. Not so sure any more 🙁
Hi Mamoon, I’ve checked the Nutrience website and they state 78% premium animal ingredients, 22% fruits and vegetables for the Grain Free food. It doesn’t seem to have similar information for Nutrience Natural.
Pet food manufacturers aren’t required to state the percentages, so not many do.
I read cranberries are not good for cats.Any fruit free options?
Does the same hold true for their canned food?
Hi Nadine, we only review dry foods, but I’m sure their canned food is of decent quality. I’ll look into it and ask my contact at Nutrience, as currently they don’t list the ingredients and nutrition analysis of the wet food online. Thanks.
Once again I truly appreciate your assistance in making quality choices for my cat- their Nutrience grain free wet food seems to have many of the same ingredients and I contacted them and they advised the cans don’t contain BPA! Just wanted to check with you folks 🙂