# Adding another food to natural balance to increase the protein level



## Jennet (Jan 4, 2011)

Both my dogs- min. poodle 14 lbs and schnoodle 16 lbs do well on natural balance. My older 9 yr old poodle is allergic to chicken that I know of and has IBS so he is the main problem. I think my 2 yr old schnoodle needs more protein but the poodle will not eat unless they have the same food. Crazy I know but he will smell the other's food and if it is different he will not eat his own. The schnoodle will eat anything. Neither is very active. I now am switching them to the fish and sweet pototoe NB which has a little more protein than the others- they like the duck best but that is the lowest in protein. Mostly I have had them on the lamb and rice. Sorry to be so long winded but I am veery confused. So I bought a bag of canidae but not much more protein in that. I have a bag of wellness the fish 5 ingredient which I am going to try but still not too much protein. I am sort of afraid of TOTW because of the salt and garlic in some of the choices. So what should I do. I was thinking of trying 4 healthy from tractor supply. Budget is a consideration since I am retired- but I don't want to waste money trying different foods- just want a good one for both. Thanks to everyone for reading this. All opinions will be very helpful.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

You can just give them some table scraps or canned meat to raise the protein levels. I'm pretty sure 4health and diamond naturals have the same ingredients. Diamond natural is a better value. 4health does make canned meat that cost $.99 a can. They sell that and DN at tractor supply. Unfortunately you have to try different foods until you find one that works. I suggest buying the smallest bag first, so your not stuck with food you can't use. I do not like bringing food back to the retailer. They usually lose out on that end. So if you do have to bring back some food, it's much more cost efficient. I feed TOTW with great results;0) 

You can give your dog a half of raw garlic clove chopped up 3x a week for IBS.


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## sassymaxmom (Dec 7, 2008)

I like that idea too. It is cheaper than canned food and you can substitute 25% of the calories of the NB for fresh meat calories without worry you are unbalancing the diet.

I suspect a really lean meat would be best, too bad chicken is out! Well trimmed round steak or the super lean ground beef might be the leanest to start out with. Well trimmed pork loin is lean as well. Note the weight on the package and figure out the calories in the whole pack so you can substitute calories properly before you go on. I like to sizzle the meat in the pan then add water to finish cooking. My food processor is great at chopping cooked meat but cannot handle raw so I cut meat into sizes my machine can handle and process after cooking. Use the cooking water too, it actually has a lot of protein in it.

Artie was eating NB. I made recipes for him. 2 ounces of braised beef brisket with 75 grams of NB was 30% protein, with 2 ounces of stewed chicken thigh it came to 25% protein. My assumption is that NB duck and potato has 420 calories per cup and 465 per 100 grams, whether that is correct or not I am not sure. I really like the company but wish the labeling was better!

What ever you decide add in new stuff slowly!


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

Artie is eating good! We smoked a beef brisket a couple of weeks ago. I'm hooked:hungry:


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## Jennet (Jan 4, 2011)

No I do not want to feed real meat- I want to add another dog food with higher protein to supplement or is the NB enough protein for smaller dogs? I am very confused with so much on the market.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Jennet said:


> No I do not want to feed real meat- I want to add another dog food with higher protein to supplement or is the NB enough protein for smaller dogs? I am very confused with so much on the market.


Why don't you want to feed real meat? Just curious. I don't feed kibble, but when I did I always stayed away from NB, because of meat not being the first ingrediant. Grains are.


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

If your not wanting to add real meat I would add some canned dog food with a high meat content to up the protein.

My BRT pup is _extremely_ limited with the meat protein I can give due to a health condition. I regularly add fresh raw eggs to his diet for added protein. I also will give him some cottage cheese on occasion as well.


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## Jennet (Jan 4, 2011)

I just don't want to start adding real meat because then I am afraid they won't want just kibble and I don't eat a lot of meat myself and don't always cook. I do want to get away from NB though once I use up the 15 lb bag of sweet pot. and fish that I just bought. I think I will try TOTW- they have 2 formulas I could use- the fish and the lamb ones. It is also cheaper at my pet food supermarket than NB.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

It's really up to you. If your dogs look ok than NB is fine. If you want to add extra protein, add canned meat. Adding canned meat is much better than kibble alone.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

Jennet said:


> I just don't want to start adding real meat because then I am afraid they won't want just kibble and I don't eat a lot of meat myself and don't always cook. I do want to get away from NB though once I use up the 15 lb bag of sweet pot. and fish that I just bought. I think I will try TOTW- they have 2 formulas I could use- the fish and the lamb ones. It is also cheaper at my pet food supermarket than NB.


TOTW is a better choice.


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## StellaLucyDesi (Oct 29, 2008)

I feed Natural Balance..the Duck & Pot. and the SP & Fish. I do add canned meat to it. My dogs are all doing great! I use can foods like Wellness 95%, BG, Evanger's Hunk of Beef and Whole Chicken Thighs (I know you can't use chicken), Canine Caviar Duck, Solid Gold Tripe, By Nature, Merrick grain-frees like Grammies Pot Pie, etc. I change with every empty can. They eat it up! I have 4...3 are seniors and one middle age with a heart murmur. One is very picky, but eats this just fine. My male has skin allergies and this is working great for him!


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