# New Natural Balance formulas



## meggels (May 30, 2010)

Sooo, Natural Balance has come out with a new kibble formula, and two new canned formulas.

I think the new kibble is a step in the right direction, with 22.5% protein lol, instead of 21%. It also has a meat meal as it's first ingredient.

Duck & Legume formula

Duck Meal, Dried Garbanzo Beans, Dried Peas, Pea Starch, Duck, Natural Flavor, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Beet Pulp, Ground Flaxseed, Salt, Salmon Oil, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins (vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A acetate, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid), DL-methionine, Minerals (zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous sulfate, sodium selenite, calcium iodate), Choline Chloride, Taurine, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid (preservatives).


Protein: 22.5% minimum
Fat: 11% minimum
Fiber: 4% maximum


Canned:

Rabbit & Brown Rice

Water for Processing, Rabbit, Brown Rice, Rice Starch, Rice Bran, Calcium Carbonate, Canola Oil, Guar Gum, Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor, Salt, Dicalcium Phosphate, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Carrageenan, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Ascorbic Acid (Source of Vitamin C), Sodium Selenite, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement.


Wild Boar & Brown Rice

Wild Boar, Water for Processing, Brown Rice, Canola Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Guar Gum, Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor, Inulin, Carrageenan, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Ascorbic Acid (Source of Vitamin C), Sodium Selenite, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

Annnnd, because the duck & legume bag is purple, we now have pretty purple shirts to wear  I'm a fan lol.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I would still not feed it, do you know how much protein comes from duck vs beans? if its already as low as 23%, I dont have much confidence that there's much meat to begin with. 
No offense to you in any way since I know you work for the company, but NB always seems like they are cutting corners by bulking up the food with either potatoes or beans and then marketing it like its the greatest new product. I feel like its overpriced for what it contains.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

I agree with you. I tend to try to "upgrade" people that are feeding poorer food choices but if people are feeding Orijen, Acana, Instinct, etc, I tend to leave it alone.

I think NB needs to step up their game and follow NV's LID formulas with higher protein.


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## lovemydogsalways (Mar 4, 2012)

meggels said:


> I agree with you. I tend to try to "upgrade" people that are feeding poorer food choices but if people are feeding Orijen, Acana, Instinct, etc, I tend to leave it alone.
> 
> I think NB needs to step up their game and follow NV's LID formulas with higher protein.


Lol you work there but you tell people to feed better foods? I love that 
Or do you mean you try to upgrade people from say pedigree, ol Roy, purina to NB?


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

Chickpeas seem to be the new carb on the horizon. Nutrisca has it in their two formulas and I can't remember the other brand that I saw recently with chickpeas (garbanzo beans).

While I applaud the slightly bumped up protein amount, I imagine it comes from the chickpeas and not the meat. One cup of chickpeas has 14.5 g. of protein; while 1 cup of sweet potato has about 2.5 g of protein.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

lovemydogsalways said:


> Lol you work there but you tell people to feed better foods? I love that
> Or do you mean you try to upgrade people from say pedigree, ol Roy, purina to NB?



Lol. Well if someone is feeding say, Nutro, SD, Eukanuba, Pedigree, etc, yes, I consider it a win when I can "upgrade" them to Natural Balance. 


But if someone is feeding the Orijen, Acana, Instinct, Earthborn type foods, I tend to just say "okay, great, have a nice day." and walk away lol. Unless they really seek me out and want to try the food.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

When I worked at Petco, I pushed the heck out of Natural Balance. For kibble, I thought it was alright. Their Limited Ingredient diets did help a lot of dogs that shopped there. Well, not the dogs...the people.

Those canned foods look alright...and different. Probably way expensive too. 

Meggels, are you a rep? I thought about doing that but I don't like to travel. At all....And I would only work for one or two companies. We once had a Nature's Recipe rep come in that knew absolutely NOTHING about dog food. It was fun to mess with her. I guess I am easily amused.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

I am a rep, but I do the smaller independently owned stores. 

I don't have to travel a lot. One store is 15 mins, one is 20 or so. I repped for Earthborn before as well. I could only rep for the better foods. So when I found out this was for NB and not like Nutro (those reps never seem to know a whole lot), SC, Bil Jac, etc, I was like phew, okay.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

I don't understand the pea thing. Peas are starch and carbs, they are like mini potatoes.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

Peas have protein too. I just looked this up and the raw peas also contain vitamins and minerals. However, after the heat from cooking, I don't know.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

wolfsnaps88 said:


> Peas have protein too. I just looked this up and the raw peas also contain vitamins and minerals. However, after the heat from cooking, I don't know.


yeah... glad I feed raw meat. Its so much easier. Fat is fat...meat is meat...bone is bone...


rant over


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

this food sucks
natural balance ultra isnt bad though


meggels said:


> Sooo, Natural Balance has come out with a new kibble formula, and two new canned formulas.
> 
> I think the new kibble is a step in the right direction, with 22.5% protein lol, instead of 21%. It also has a meat meal as it's first ingredient.
> 
> ...


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

curious as to why you think ultra is better?


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> this food sucks
> natural balance ultra isnt bad though


idk i just looked at the ultra and it's not as good as iremembered.

did you know nartural balance has an ultra formula with 26 percent protein?

i wouldn't feed it either though...has the chikpeas.


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## PDXdogmom (Jun 30, 2010)

I think peas, just like chickpeas, are being used more often now because they do provide quite a bit of protein and that enables a dog food company to maintain the same protein percentage while using less meat. It's about profit.

To a lesser extent, I think some people are finding that their dogs can have issues from too much potato; so companies are looking for alternatives for their grain-free formulas.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

RCTRIPLEFRESH5 said:


> idk i just looked at the ultra and it's not as good as iremembered.
> 
> did you know nartural balance has an ultra formula with 26 percent protein?
> 
> i wouldn't feed it either though...has the chikpeas.



Errr, do you mean the Alpha formulas with the garbanzo beans? 


But yes, I'm pretty familiar with the NB formulas...ya know...repping for them and all lol.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

PDXdogmom said:


> I think peas, just like chickpeas, are being used more often now because they do provide quite a bit of protein and that enables a dog food company to maintain the same protein percentage while using less meat. It's about profit.
> 
> To a lesser extent, I think some people are finding that their dogs can have issues from too much potato; so companies are looking for alternatives for their grain-free formulas.


on one hand peas have less carbs...but on the other tey have more protein so it's a catch 22...but iprefer more carbs (potatoes) bc I atleast can feel confident that the protein percentage at least somewhat accurately reflects the meat.

how about tapaoca?


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

ya alpha..I was surprised u were raving about these when alpha is similar but with more protein.
which formulas are these in your op?


meggels said:


> Errr, do you mean the Alpha formulas with the garbanzo beans?
> 
> 
> But yes, I'm pretty familiar with the NB formulas...ya know...repping for them and all lol.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

I wasn't raving lol. I merely said it's a small step in a little better direction  And was posting it just for sh*ts and giggles  Thought it'd be interesting. 



The original post very clearly states what the new formulas are....


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

Unosmom said:


> I would still not feed it, do you know how much protein comes from duck vs beans? if its already as low as 23%, I dont have much confidence that there's much meat to begin with.
> No offense to you in any way since I know you work for the company, but NB always seems like they are cutting corners by bulking up the food with either potatoes or beans and then marketing it like its the greatest new product. I feel like its overpriced for what it contains.


I noticed this too. Back when I was still feeding kibble I was trying to find the best type for Bridget. NB was one of the ones I considered for awhile. I decided against it in the end due to the price of the food when compared to Orjin or Acana. If it had been priced a little cheaper I would have tried that out too. It all sounded much better than any of my RX options.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

I must say, I do think NB has helped a lot of dogs. I've met a lot of customers that come up to me and rave about how much the food helped their dog. Usually for skin conditions, though I have met sensitive stomach customers too. 


I know that it's not the best out there, but I do think it serves it's purpose and has helped people. A lot of us here, knowing what we know, would suggest a different LID formula, or of course, raw, but working in the stores each weekend, I can tell you, a lot of people still aren't open to raw :-/. So it does make me happy when people see relief and improved health in their dogs.

I don't feed it to Abbie. It didn't work for her. Too low in fat is my guess, her coat got dull and dandruffy. But I do think it has it's "niche" in the kibble world. 


And like I said, I like to transfer people to it when they are feeding the corn, by product, wheat filled foods. My coworker at my new paralegal job is obsessed with dogs, though not very knowledgeable in nutrition. She loves her dogs, it's apparent, but doesn't know much about foods. She feeds Purina One, and I gave her some NB samples to try. I would consider that a "success" if she switches.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

meggels said:


> And like I said, I like to transfer people to it when they are feeding the corn, by product, wheat filled foods. My coworker at my new paralegal job is obsessed with dogs, though not very knowledgeable in nutrition. She loves her dogs, it's apparent, but doesn't know much about foods. She feeds Purina One, and I gave her some NB samples to try. I would consider that a "success" if she switches.



I couldn't agree more. That would be a success. I'm not against your company's dog food. Just thought I would give my impression on why I didn't personally choose it.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

It's fine, I don't feed it to either of my dogs LOL.


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