Natural Balance

[dahonam]

Hi. New person here to the forum. I just adopted a 1 year old Doberman/German Shepard mix from the shelter earlier this week. I am thinking of feeding her Natural Balance LID grain free, is this a good food to feed her? I want to feed her good food, but can't really afford to break the bank. I think I am willing to pay up to $50 for a 28lb bag. Also, recommendations for food that can be bought at PetsMart/Petco would be preferred, but for the right food/price I would be willing to go to a small pet store/feed store for it. Thanks

[rannmiller]

There are much better foods out there than NB LID. Those formulas are mostly just potatoes so a total waste of money. I'd recommend either going with their Ultra performance formula (though the company seems to be going downhill lately) or trying a different brand. At Petco you can find Wellness, Pinnacle, Solid Gold, UtlraMix, and Blue Buffalo. At Petmsart you can find Ultramix (not to be confused with Nutro Ultra, don't go near that one!), Blue Buffalo, and ByNature.

At a feed store/pet food specialty store you could try Innova, Taste of the Wild, Canidae, Horizon Legacy, or Acana.

All of those foods should easily be in your price range and MUCH better than Natural Balance :)

Congrats on your new adoption!

[wags]

My sister feeds her cocker spaniels( now she has two ha )this brand and she swears by it. She likes the ingredients and the way her dogs are doing since they have numerous ear infections and allergy problems. There are certainly plenty of better brands out there as rannmiller has said, but this isnt the worst brand out there. I personally would not use this brand but that is me!
Doesnt petco or petsmart also sell that Blue wilderness?
What about wellness I know petco sells this.

[RCTRIPLEFRESH5]

i say try acana, or canidae grain free,taste of wild,

[CorgiPaws]

You've already been given pretty solid advice, so I'll just echo a little bit of it.
Natural Balance LID formulas are very carb heavy, and in general just lacking meat content, so I would look for something else. The good news is, there are better foods in that price range that don't break the bank.

Blue Buffalo
Canidae
Diamond Naturals
Kirkland (about $22 for 4o lbs at Costco!)
Taste of the Wild
Halo

[Unosmom]

Blue Buffalo is relatively affordable and available at Petsmart. They also carry a brand called By Nature.

Petco has a slightly better selection and carries Solid Gold and Wellness as well as Pinnacle, avoderm, organix among others.

If I had to chose, I'd go with a meatier kibble like wellness core, solid gold barking at the moon or blue buffalo wilderness.

Pinnacle also make a food called peak protein, which seems to have the highest meat content, also their chicken and oats formula isnt bad either.

Another food to look into is taste of the wild, which isnt sold at chain pet stores, but available through many feed stores and is very affordable.

[beagle10]

Blue Buffalo, Pinnacle, Wellness, Solid Gold (maybe too expensive), Castor & Pollux Organix, Diamond Naturals (not great, but ok), or you could try adding your own protein to the Natural Balance, like chicken, turkey, fish, yogurt, etc. We sometimes add canned wild salmon (not farmed) to our dogs food, just make sure it has no salt added. Its cheap and easy to find. Wellness also sells 95% meat canned dog foods at Petco, which is an easy way to add protein too. They have chicken, turkey, salmon, and I believe bison.