Natural Choice versus Natural Balance versus Sensible Choice?

[Jessika]

Wow all very similar names..

Hehe I currently feed Nutro Natural Choice to my dogs. I was comparing ingredients and for the price Natural Balance seems like the better option. The cat food prices are pretty reasonable but the dog food prices are a little more expensive for a smaller bag, which is a little odd. =/

Another alternative I saw was Sensible Choice, it was sold cheaper ($7.99 @ PetCo for a 3.5lb bag) but in a smaller bag whereas Natural Balance was sold for $10.99 in a 6.5lb bag.

Anyway, thoughts and opinions??

[BC_MoM]

At the pound, Molly was fed Nutro Natural Choice and they gave us a bag of it for her here.. but to say the least, it was WAY too rich for her. :eek:

We switched her over to Purina One Puppy Chow and she's doing great.

I've never fed Sensible Choice.. but I don't think it would hurt for you to try it out! :D

[king2005]

I'm all for Nutro Natural Choice

[Jessika]

Thanks guys. I already feed my two pups Natural Choice, but just wanted to know what others' opinions on the two other brands were :D

[The Cat Factory]

Out of the three, I like Natural Balance the best. I fed it to my cats for years, and that is what I used to feed my RB dog. They did great on it, but it was soo expensive. I think I was paying around $20 for a 6.6 lb bag every two weeks...

[king2005]

When I fed my old dog Natral Balance he seemed to barf the yellow stuff once a month. When we switched him to Nutro Natral Choice he stopped barfing the yellow stuff & he seemed more willing to eat it aswell. We had to teach him to eat slower cause he would cough up kibble from eatting too fast...

[Jessika]

king2005 -- yellow stuff is just stomach acid, and to get them to eat it slower just feed smaller meals throughout the day. I have to do that with Jamie because she's a "gulper" and "gulpers" can suffer from something called "torsion" if they eat too fast, which is basically the stomach ripping from the lining and getting twisted inside. Its VERY painful and a VERY expensive surgery to fix the problem. So to fix that I feed her smaller meals twice a day instead of a big meal once a day :)

Thanks for the feedback so far, guys.

[king2005]

king2005 -- yellow stuff is just stomach acid, and to get them to eat it slower just feed smaller meals throughout the day. I have to do that with Jamie because she's a "gulper" and "gulpers" can suffer from something called "torsion" if they eat too fast, which is basically the stomach ripping from the lining and getting twisted inside. Its VERY painful and a VERY expensive surgery to fix the problem. So to fix that I feed her smaller meals twice a day instead of a big meal once a day :)

Thanks for the feedback so far, guys.


I know what the yellow stuff was, but remember everytime it comes up, its damaging the lining of the throat (I don't know how to spell the proper term) & it stains carpet & smells horrible!

It was easy to get my old dog to slow down & feeding through out the day wasn't going to happen, he ate once a day & no more. All I did was let him take a few bites, gave the command OFF & sit. Then tell him to eat & so on, until he started taking breaks on his own. He would take a few mouthfulls & walk out of the kitchen to look at us & then go take a few more & repeat (it took him about an hour to eat a bowl of Kibble). He never had issues after that. He also has a sensitive gut, so we had to slow his eating regardless & to once a day.

Twice a day made him poop in the house, have horrid gas, wanting outside 100X's a day & the gurgling his belly made was just EWW. So once a day stopped all that along with Nutro's Natural Choice. Oh & feeding once a day should be eaten slowly, otherwise they get that horrid twisted gut.

[Jessika]

**bump** any more opinions??

[wolf_Q]

I feed Nebo Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice. He's done very well on it, he has a sensitive stomach and seems to get diarrhea very easily...this has been considerably better since switching to the venison and brown rice (as apposed to the normal Nat Balance formula and every other kind of dog food I've tried Nutro, Royal Canin, etc.). Plus he's a picky eater and he eats this better than any other as well.

[.sarah]

I heard something bad about Natural Choice a while ago, but I can't remember what now. But I know that I was verrry relieved that I didn't switch Luka to that food.

The only dog I've seen on Sensible Choice had incredibly greasy hair. That was the only thing I saw. I would rather have dry skin, because you can supplement, but I'm not sure what to do about grease other than bathe frequently. :confused:

Natural Balance gets my vote! My dogs aren't on it anymore, we're trying out a home-cooked diet and then will switch to raw once I can get a pen up in the backyard or something where they can eat. This will be a while though, so it's home cooked for now. And ... Mandy and Nova's allergies have been okay so far (it's been since Christmas Eve) so I'd say they're allergic to some sort of grain rather than meat.

But if we did ever go back to kibble ... or if they ever board somewhere .. they'll go on Natural Balance again. Mandy and Nova did so well on it, and as picky eaters they never turned it down.

My favorite brands are Natural Balance, Innova EVO, and Solid Gold.

[Jessika]

Thanks guys! :) I really appreciate it!

Currently he's eating Iams... not my choice, that's what my mom buys for my sisters' cats even after attempting to get her to switch to at LEAST Nutro (since its actually $1 cheaper for the same size as when compared to Iams, cat food anyway). But when I do start buying him his own food I was leaning towards Natural Balance since of the three choices for cat food seems the cheapest and the ingredients really are impressive. But Natural Balance dog food.. is so expensive :(

[Jessika]

Sorry for bumping guys but I'd like a few more opinions before making my choice! Thank you all so much so far :)

[LoudLou]

LOUD Louie was on Canidae ( A realy good food) However, poor Louie has had the Itchies and so we are switching his food. He has been eating Natural Balance® Ultra Premium Allergy Formulas For Dogs, so far so good, still Itchy, but not as bad.

[Jessika]

Thanks! I would love to feed Canidae but its not available in my immediate area :(