Natural Balance Pet Foods Reviews

I just received 2 bags of the crunchy biscuits, chicken flavor with limited ingredients. I love these biscuits but these bags are full of burnt, broken biscuits. Where is the quality control????

My dog started getting several GI upset and diarrhea after we opened a new 12 lb page of the adult lamb recipe. After a week of it getting worse, and blood in his poop, I took him to the vet thinking he had parasites. Nothing came back but I wasn't convinced so I also took him to an emergency vet. Same thing, nothing found. He was continuing to get worse and I was getting very worried about his overall health. Bloodwork even flagged elevated liver levels. I started thinking more about what changed, and I knew we had opened a new bag recently.

My dog has been on NB Vegetarian for 7 years. Started having loose, slimy stools, sometimes with blood, in Jan. 2026. Took her to the vet, labs, xray, etc. all normal. May, she stopped eating all together. At 11 years old, we were going to put her down. Thought she had Kidney, Liver or Colon problems. As a last ditch effort, we switched food. She has several allergies (where her eyes swell) so this was complicated. Two days after switching, stool is now firm & normal colored. She is so much peppier and excited to eat. There has been something wrong with this food since the beginning of the year. It was poisoning my dog.

I have feed my dogs duck and potato for 15 years. We have a 14 month old Aussie who refuses to eat the kibble. He was give the puppy formula and we transitioned him to the adult in Feb. He ate it the first month but then refused to eat it. I soaked it, mixed it with NB soft food. He would eat the mix but then vomit. My black lab will eat it. We think he may have got sick too. We started the Aussie on a different brand and he will eat it. Does not throw up. I think there is something wrong with the new formula that is causing gastrointestinal issues. We notice a difference in size and smell of the food.

VERY disappointed in this brand. This is the second time I find LARVA in the sealed package after opening it. It had webbing, eggs, and even a fly came out of it CLEARLY indicating infestation. Petco did a refund and apparently I’m not the first customer to complain about this as it’s a recurring issue. This brand is disgusting, you should be ashamed, what will happen if a dog becomes ill or dies due to your negligence? Y’all are the worst!!

Unfortunately my seemingly healthy 18 month old aussie died 2 weeks into eating this food. I really cannot see what else would have killed him, that being said I was told by the company they test every batch for contaminants, they were super nice, and even offered to refund my bag of food. They do seem to really care and take this seriously which is a plus.

Both of my dogs became sick the same day after consuming this product, with vomiting and diarrhea. This was the only new food introduced to them. My daughter, Azul, contacted Natural Balance earlier and was told the batch was “approved.” However, that does not guarantee that every unit in that batch was safe. At most, it reflects limited testing and does not rule out contamination, handling issues, or defective units!! I have documented evidence including photos of the product, batch number, barcode, proof of purchase, and the full timeline of events.

Natural Balance and Chewy are pointing at one another, for shipping us canned dog food that expired 2 1/2 years ago and made our Golden extremely sick. Neither is standing up to the responsibility. We will never buy from either again.

We have been feeding both our Boxers NB Limited Ingredients Salmon and Brown rice for 4+ years. Recently opened a new bag and within 4 days, both dogs developed massive gastrointestinal issues…vomiting, bloody liquid stools, loss of appetite, and lethargy. Contacted company and they say it is not their food or their fault. Company employee confirmed they changed the formula recently and do not post it in their packaging. This illness lasted 8 days, required three vet visits including an overnight due to severe dehydration. I will never use this company again. $9k in vet bills for both dogs. We will be going to court over this. Time to take ownership of your garbage, Natural Balance!!

My dog has been on Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Duck and Potato since he was a puppy. Just like two other reviews from Sabrinna and Tihua my dog started vomiting and refused to eat his food. He had to have blood and urine test, a CT Scan and medications which to date has cost 2000$. This all started in Aug/Sept. I am returning the Natural Balance LID Duck and Potato to the store and will be looking into another food. It cannot be coincidence that other people have posted that their dogs have had GI issues too. Very concerned and wondering if/what they changed about this food.

I’ve never had this brand, I just saw it at the grocery store. Go to open it for my cat, and there’s white specks all over inside! A ridiculous amount. I’m thinking this has to be order or grain because why would it look like this inside a can!? I accidentally dropped some on the floor when I was going to serve it and my cat immediately seemed to like it, but I had to check reviewer responses. Now I’m going to be watching my girl like a hawk for any signs of diarrhea or vomiting. She didn’t have much before I took it away, but I can’t trust these spots. Why is like this? This wasn’t in a fridge at the store or anything labeled needing to be…

We switched our dog to Natural Balance Venison and sweet potato because he had allergies. Our dog never had a seizure. About 3 weeks after being on Natural Balance he experienced seizures. We had to take him the emergency vet. The ONLY CHANGE we made was switching to this awful brand of food!!!

I have been feeding my bichon poodle the limited ingredient foods, canned white fish salmon and brown rice and dry salmon and brown rice for a couple of years. She was a bit of a picky eater but loves this food. And she seems to be thriving on it with no skin or stomach issues.

Something is going on with my dog regarding the ingredient change: menhaden meal to salmon meal; oatmeal to oat groats; and I am not sure what else. My dog has been Natural Balance Salmon and Brown Rice for several years without an issue. The last bag of this product, which had menhaden meal in the ingredient listing, before the "ingredient change" caused very runny stools in my dog. We tried another bag for a week, which turned out to be a new formula containing salmon meal to replace the menhaden meal. His stools firmed up a bit but not back to normal. We tried giving the older bag with menhaden meal again after the improvement and he went back to very runny stools again. So we will throw away the remainder of the menhaden formula. Since the new formula also causes thin stools we need to find a new dog food for my dog. I would like to know what other changes they made so I can find a food that my dog will tolerate.

Very upset to be writing this. We’ve been feeding our three year old golden retriever Natural Balance dog food her whole life. She’s specifically been eating the duck and potato recipe since adulthood with no issues. However, the most recent bag of duck and potato we purchased her gave her severe gastrointestinal issues. Vomiting, loss of appetite, and severe watery diarrhea with some blood in her stool as well. Saw another reviewer had the same issue with the same recipe the SAME week we bought ours. Won’t be buying Natural Balance anymore and will be contacting the company.

Severe Illness Caused by Natural Balance L.I.D. Duck & Potato – No Accountability from the Company. We fed our healthy dog Natural Balance L.I.D. Duck & Potato for the first time and within hours, he developed severe gastrointestinal symptoms — vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and dehydration — requiring emergency veterinary care and over $1,000 in medical treatment.

I have four dogs and one, a long haired chihuahua, is allergic to chicken. Another one is allergic to beef. So my vet suggested I try salmon. I bought this even though it’s expensive for a small bag for my dogs to try. They seem to like it a lot but I just noticed some pieces of the dry food have hard plastic or possibly plastic sticking out. So I will be contact Natural Balance to see if it’s bone from the salmon or actually plastic.

I've been feeding NB Small Breed Salmon and Sweet Potato to my dogs for many years. In the last couple of years I've found the quality is not what it used to be. On more than 1 occasion, I've noticed a difference in the food. Last week one of my dogs kept throwing up each time, right after she ate. When I took a closer look at the kibble I found some sharp, hard white pieces that look like splintered pieces of BONE in the bag and inside the kibble. There are quite a bit of these white hard pieces stuck in the kibble and stick out. They are very sharp!!!!

I noticed small little movement in the food, found little maggots squirming its way around in the ocean of kibbles. Has been obliviously feeding my babies extra protein that I did not consent to. With God's grace, my babies are dandy. Will not continue to support this brand d/t their lack of quality control.

I wanted to chime in as I am having a horrendous experience with this brand and food. Quick backstory, I was introduced to this food back in 2017 for my Pittie that was 110 pounds. Goal weight was 87. His vet got him on thyroid meds and suggested he live his days out on this food. Since then, he has. No issues. I now have two other dogs, a Sharpei mix and a Rhodesian Ridgeback. I had them on separate foods but then it became too expensive and I had them all on the diet food until finances got more comfortable.

Natural Balance dog food has changed. Their quality control is suspect. It smells different and looks different. I am finding small pieces of foreign objects in the food. I noticed the last bag has a funny smell. 11/16/24 DaveG

We purchased this bag of dog food from our local Petsmart. Got home, opened the bag to what seemed to be spiderwebs, but after looking closer, it seemed to be rotten food which grew some sort of fungus. This was our first time trying this brand of dog food. We will be returning this to the store, and will not be purchasing from Natural Balance again.

I gave the Natural Balance wet food to my dog thinking based on the price being more than most regular wet food brands that I was giving my dog something good for him.. I was wrong! My dog started throwing up, he had diarrhea bad with blood in it, and he was having shakes. Whenever he pooped he was projectile pooping. Some instances he couldn’t even finishing peeing when he’d go outside without immediately going into pooping too or he’d come outside rushing and he’d poop first. Which he NEVER does. He always pees and then runs off to poop. I wouldn’t recommend anyone giving this brand to their dog unless you want to run the risk of putting your dog through this same thing. Something isn’t right with it and I will not be giving it to my dog again.

For the price per bag, their quality control is quite poor. We've only ever bought one bag of the Bison and Sweet Potato kibble and have found endless amounts of cobweb-like substances and even cat food like kibble. Definitely won't be buying again.

My dog has a lot of allergies so I tried this food the salmon flavor, and she normally eats Acana fish flavor. She stopped eating Acana unless I mix it with soft food or chicken broth. So I tried Natural Balance and she ate it for treats and for food. So far it’s been about a week and we have had no issues with hives or extra itchiness or diarrhea or vomiting.

I’ve mixed my puppies, Pedigree kibble with Natural Balance, wet food. It made my puppy very sick. She is three months old and could not walk, or stand or eat after I gave her this food and this was the first time she ate this brand. Please be careful with what you feed your dogs, because the natural bred food made my dog ill. She threw it up and it was vegetables and meat from the food so I know that’s what made her sick. I purchased the food at Petsmart and I threw the others away. I will never buy any more food from this brand company. If I could give them a zero stars I would.

My dog started eating Natural Balance this year. I definitely believe that something changed in the ingredients because out of nowhere my Yorkie developed severe allergies. She was eating the salmon and sweet potato flavor. We use to not have issues with this brand, so this is why I think there must’ve been something changed with the ingredients. I wanted to keep her on the same brand, so I got her the duck and potato flavor. BIG MISTAKE. My dog started throwing up for days. There would be a day when she would be okay, but then the next day, she would throw up the food.

A co-worker brought dog treats into work that her dog didn’t like and threw up. So my dog is sometimes picky about what he eats so I took only 4 treats to try. My dog ate the 4 treats and then the next day had bad diarrhea and threw up a bit. After reading some reviews I was not happy to hear that I’m not the only one!!! Why is this still being sold? Our animals are family, they depend on us to feed them right! I now have told everyone I know to not give this to their dogs. I hope and pray my dog gets better and not worst. This company should be ashamed that they produce food that makes animals sick.

We used Natural Balance for years, and it was the only food that worked well for our Blue Pit's skin and our Malamute's sensitive digestion. The company was sold and the new company changed the recipe. The Pit developed a severe skin outbreak, mast cell tumors, and vomiting and diarrhea while the Malamute has developed renal failure all within a year of eating the new formula. In addition, the new company added sodium nitrite which is a carcinogenic and outsourced numerous ingredients not naturally sourced. This is not the same product made by the previous company in any way other than using a quality product name to distribute a non-quality, unhealthy product.

My dog loves the food, never have problem getting him to eat. He seems excited every time he sees me go to the dog food bin. He also jumps on top of me when it's time to eat letting me know he wants his food.

I used to feed my cats this cat food and usually my cats loved it. The last time I used it my cats had loose stool and vomiting. It was really disturbing when I found blood in their stool. I discontinued use of it and threw nearly an entire bag in the trash. It took a week for the barfing to stop and their stool to look normal. I also bought some probiotics for them. I give Chewy a great deal of credit as I was credited back my purchase. I will never buy this type of cat food again! There is no excuse for food this expensive to make pets sick! Your company should be ashamed! Too many pet guardians think of their pets as family. This is how I feel about mine!

I was recommended this brand and to opt for a grain-free formula by my prior vet. My bull terrier was recently diagnosed with DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy) and my vet said it was due to the grain-free diet he had been on for several years. I am completely shocked how these grain-free products are being sold when so many dogs are being diagnosed with heart failure. Unfortunately, my pet will have to be on medications for the remaining time he has left. I was told he only had a few months to live and it's devastating to hear the news. Specifically because all this time I thought I was feeding a nutritional food to my dog. I just spent five thousand dollars in the ER to try and save my dog. These companies need to be held liable for their actions.

My dog went on this food because of her skin sensitivities 2 years ago. Recently I bought her a new bag. There are two dogs that live here, one living downstairs the other one up. They don’t share the same space at all. My dog was extremely sick. Throwing up and diarrhea (with blood). The vet got her mended, now she’s on prescription food. Since I changed her food I gave the food to the dog upstairs. He got terribly ill, same symptoms but waaaay worse. He was in emergency for 3 day and hook up to intravenous. The food is the only common denominator. No one should buy this food. The vet bills were close $5000. My dog will be on meds for the rest of her life. If I hadn’t gotten the dog upstairs to emergency he would have died.

Trying to find a limited ingredient dog food after recently getting an allergy test for our dog. 10 minutes after eating this she threw up the entire thing, followed by her losing her balance and falling, shaking uncontrollably, pooped and peed on the floor (which she never does), small fever, and panting uncontrollably. It almost looked like she had a mini stroke or seizure. She got better over the next 30 minutes and eventually went back to normal. Needless to say, the dog food immediately got thrown out.

In 2018 I adopted my sister's nine year old Shih Tzu-Yorkie cross dog (Miss Sara). She joined my 13+ year old miniature Schnauzer (Angus) that I had since he was 8 weeks old. Miss Sara had a lot of allergies that gave her skin problems. I put them both on Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato grain-free food. Although Miss Sara's skin problems cleared up, the next time each of the dogs had blood work done, it showed problems with liver enzymes. A lot of tests were done. The normal problem that shows up is HEART but don't be fooled. LIVER problems can show up too. A lot of costly tests were done, they were put on RX medication and veterinary diet food.

Several years ago, my cat had severe issues with eating and was throwing up her food every day. I was told I needed to cook organic cat food for her. The Vet could not diagnose the issue. The organic recipe I made worked to fix the problem, but many hundreds of $$ later and after spending an hour or more weekly cooking for her, I was looking for another option. I found Natural Balance grain free pouches. Not only was my cat able to eat it without throwing up, she loved it! Also the health benefits have been amazing. She is older than 15 years and climbs the posts on our raised deck like a kitten! Great product!

Just went through months of trying to figure out why CKD cat wouldn't eat some of the Natural Balance pouches. Found some had tiny leaks. If turn to back can see the seal defective usually at top corner and air justs in. My beloved Doo was doing so well as vet said CKD cats never put weight on she had. Till the stupid leaky foods. After 2 months of total worrisome frustration, noticed bit of leaking on one pack. Then could see how many were. I REPORTED to NB.. They sent me a check for 1.26. For a one of few cans of food tried..one dry and yucky..other smelled like nitrates so bad..couple others Doo ate some. So after all the food lost to their packaging..1.26. Please don't trust these folks. Likely to kill your furry friend.

I am so happy to see that others have had the same experience as I have. Not happy about your pets being sick, but that I'm not imagining things. I have been feeding the small breed bites for years to my dogs, mixed with the wet food of the same brand. Last summer, one of my dogs, who has a voracious appetite wouldn't eat his food. I was worried something was wrong with him, he is 14, but he would eat anything else I gave him, so he wasn't sick. Then my husband and I noticed the smell. Disgusting. I've since been making their food, and they love it. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

I am so mad right now I am trying to not type in all caps!! About a month ago, our 10 year old dog Fudge began getting sick. He would randomly vomit foam in the mornings every couple days. Then, every couple days he would wake up and not want to eat. Only every three or four days, then he would be fine. After about two weeks, on the days he wouldn't eat, he would get horrific diarrhea. He would come back in the house and sprawl out on the floor and shake uncontrollably. After about 6-8 hours of this it would stop. He would then be fine for about two days, and it would repeat again. We took him to the vet, and they did every test they could and found nothing wrong with him! Nothing!

My miniature dachshund Roxie had allergies, also at a young age, so we found NB salmon and sweet potato. We switched her to this food for 11 years now and was doing fine until we ordered a new bag and suddenly last Saturday started throwing up several times. On Sunday she was unresponsive so we took her to animal hospital. Vet said it looked like a bone or metal in her stomach after taking x-rays and ultrasound. Dr. said after tests and it was clear that she was very ill and in pain so we had to put her down.