Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Bison Dry Dog Food, 22 Pound

I am THRILLED to find this food for my dog. She is HIGHLY allergic to fowl- chicken, turkey, and duck!- and it is so hard to find limited ingredient, chicken free, healthy protein and veggie food. My picky dog was not thrilled with the rabbit flavor- (picky! Picky!) but she LOVED this one. I am absolutely thrilled at the quality, lack of cheap, bad ingredients, and the affordable price. Absolutely no complaints here!!!!

I purchased the NB Lamb & Rice formula for half of my German Shepherds life until we found out from a gastrointerologist that he became intolerant to lamb. Already facing difficulties with him being allergic to basically EVERYTHING, we switched to the Sweet Potatoe & Salmon formula. Everything seemed great until around October 2022, when my Shepherd suddenly started throwing up immediately after eating. At first, we blamed new meds since he switched medications due to Osteoarthritis and figured his body needed time to adjust. After a month of this, we finally had enough because his medications aren’t cheap and he was not only throwing up his food (money lost) but also his meds (money wasted). Due to such severe allergies along w/ extreme digestive issues, I switched him to strictly Blue Buffalo wet food. So far, he has adjusted well and no more pukey episodes.

Since our Lab has skin allergy issues as well, we switched her to the Salmon/Sweet Potatoe bags left over from our Shepherd as to not waste anymore money and seems to be doing ok so far.

I understand prices have gone up due to ingredient shortages/inflation. However, I’d much more prefer to pay more for the same brand and SAME INGREDIENTS than to try and substitute for similar but not the same ingredients. So many pets have severe food allergies, just like humans, and it angers me when companies try to jip consumers of the truth just to save a buck. I guarantee many pet parents, like myself, would be more than willing to pay more to get a product that works rather than having ingredients switched and then us having to spend an arm and a leg with vet visits, food changes and clean-ups that are entirely unnecessary and stressful to both owner/pet. A caring, good owner doesn’t ever like to see their pet suffer and it breaks our heart to see them not well.

So, unfortunately, I have to now buy wet food in bulk and deal with stinky breath from the bacteria that lingers within the gums and now am paying double in price buying dental chews to mask a problem that wouldn’t be there if companies actually cared about their customers. I will still continue to purchase for our Lab, at least until she starts to have issues too, but buyers beware if your dog has severe allergies, you might want to try a small bag first before committing to larger purchases.

When my large older dog who’s a terrier breed was diagnosed with early signs of possible kidney issues and elevated protein levels showing in his urine, I knew it was the right time for me to consider making changes in the type of dog food I was currently feeding him. The question posed before me was which brand to choose as a substitute. My dog always had allergies to chicken including wheat and soy which is why I always in the past purchased a grain free dog food anyhow. Natural Balance fortunately still met those same requirements and it also doesn’t irritate his stomach which is a common problem occurrence when you feed a senior pet. I especially like the fact that this formula is also lower in protein at 24% compared to his previous brand of dog food which was rated at 35% or even higher. Typically, anything going over 30% could be considered a high protein dog food. A level of 24% is only considered moderate and a considerable reduction even by my vet’s strict standards. I’ve also read somewhere how sometimes giving your dog peas in their diet can also upset their stomach and I was happy to see that peas are not listed in the product ingredients anywhere. Finally, I needed to choose a dog food that has a lower level of phosphorus per serving to possibly help his kidney function and surprisingly many other brands don’t even list the phosphorus level which for me was a bit concerning. That’s why I’m so glad the the Limited Ingredients version sold here by Natural Balance has a phosphorus level of only .60 min. Very few brands if any out there in the marketplace appear to list phosphorus levels on their bags as being any lower. Trust me I cross- checked dozens of other major brands and I couldn’t find any. Last of all, my dog really loves the taste of this Salmon formula and it doesn’t leave him with a fishy breath smell afterwards like other brands sometimes have a tendency to do so. Some reviewers expressed concerns about their dog’s stools being somewhat darker or even firmer. That’s a typical characteristic of most grain free dog foods and my vet assured me that it wasn’t anything I should be overly concerned about. This is the second bag here at Amazon that I’ve bought just recently and I highly recommend it. I couldn’t be any happier and I wish all dogs Happy Tails and Bone Appetit.