Natural Balance Pet Foods Reviews

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.

At first this food seemed to work wonders because my dog has food allergies. But she started to act weird and I would have to mix stuff into her food to get her to eat it, and she became lethargic and would continuously go diarrhea. I came across an article this morning and several brands were tested for **, yes found in EUTHANASIA, and the company that manufactures Natural Balance and 11 other brands was found positive for 60% of the food tested.

My 20 pound lhasa/silky terrier mix has always had a sensitive stomach. For 10 years I have fed him Natural Balance and he's been through a couple of formula changes with no problem. This most recent formula change has been a catastrophe on his poor digestive system. He's been to the vet twice and has had to have an IV because he was so dehydrated from all of the vomiting and diarrhea. They have done away with the Ultra small bites, so I gave him the small bite chicken formula. He only ate it for 2 days until he got sicker than he's ever been. The vet has him on a Royal Canin gastrointestinal diet and that seems to be helping him. I will never buy Natural Balance again (and I've been a loyal customer for 10 years). I fear that with his age, I will now have to continue giving him prescription pet food. If you love your dog, and I am sure you do - DO NOT FEED THEM THIS NEW FORMULA DOG FOOD.

Do not feed your dog this food. Stay away from their products. They obviously do not care about animals! So many negative reviews all year!!! It poison!!!! We have been buying this brand for over 4 year. My Yorkshire terriers have sensitive skin so this used to be god sent formula. Beautiful coats and clear skin. I’m so devastated that my dog were consuming this food this year. My dog got significantly lighter in weight but I say him eat his food, why wouldn’t he? He’s been eating the same food. I should’ve questioned this more after the venison and sweet potato was no longer on shelves. I trusted the brand and got the fish one.

Both of our smaller dogs have been eating the LID Sweet Potato & Venison dry food for years and it was great. I just bought 2 new bags about a week and a half ago and just opened one and fed them from it 1 week ago. By the next morning the smaller dog was vomiting followed by diarrhea. Within 2 days we were at the ER vet with the dog who they thought had probably eaten something. By that afternoon the 2nd dog was having diarrhea as well. By Monday afternoon both dogs were at their regular vet who after taking an extensive history and an exam suspected that the new bag of food was the problem. Both dogs are now being treated for colitis and are slowly recovering.

My dog (2yr) has eaten NB since he was 8 mo old. Starting in August 2019 the formula seemed to have changed. He hated the new taste, and lately the food has a more red/orange tinge, a rancid smell, and gives him diarrhea. This company needs to go back to their original formula and straighten things out.