Natural BalanceOriginal Ultra Grain Free Adult Wet Canned Cat Food, Chicken Recipe, 5.5 Ounce (Pack of 24)

Blue Buffalo has long been the staple for my cats and still is because they have done very well with Blue. However, my cats like a great deal of variety in canned foods. Since I free-feed kibble, my two cats share one 5-5.5-oz can of wet food in the morning and, if they finish that, another in the early evening.They are quite picky when it comes to their canned food and, being cats, their likes and dislikes are hard to determine because the food they hate one day, they may like the next, and vice versa. However, there are some foods that they most often like, and others that they almost never like, and I try to keep these in mind.Of primary importance to me are the ingredients, as I won't even let them try something that doesn't have good ingredients. The ingredient list for the Natural Balance Ultra Grain Free Chicken Formula begins with Chicken, Chicken Broth, Chicken Liver, Canola Oil, Natural Flavor, and Salmon Oil, along with a bunch of other stuff that appears to be mostly vitamins and minerals, but nothing that looks scary.I always question "natural flavor" or "natural flavors" when I find that in an ingredient list because it doesn't tell me anything. Wouldn't a recipe that begins with chicken, chicken broth, and chicken liver have the natural flavor of chicken without having to add "natural flavor" to it? Maybe there's something I don't understand there, but that's always a question for me.Still, these are some good ingredients, so it passes that test.I rotate through a bunch of premium canned cat foods because it seems necessary to do that in order to keep them interested in eating it. If I could determine what their favorite canned food was, they would hate it on the fourth or fifth day that I fed it to them. That's understandable since I don't want to eat the same thing every day either.Thus far, every time I have given them Natural Balance Ultra, they have liked it, but I don't feed it to them day after day. I can't say the same for some of the other Natural Balance formulas, but they like the Ultra. I have gone through nearly the whole case and they haven't left any behind. I am happy with it too, and it has earned its place in the rotation.March 15, 2024The Natural Balance Original Ultra Grain Free Chicken label has changed, and the recipe has changed as well, for the better, although it was good to begin with.The first six ingredients in the new recipe are as follows: Chicken, Chicken Broth, Chicken Liver, Chicken Hearts, Ground Dried Peas, and Ground Flaxseed. The confusing "Natural Flavors" ingredient is still there, but it's number seven on the list now.My cats love it and the ingredients are even better than before, so I'm willing to pay the premium price.

So what’s the occasion, my finicky cats asked me, for this amazing gourmet delight we find in our dishes this morning? One bite and they were all floating 6 inches off the ground in utter delight, purring and making happy paws, air happy paws, not to be confused with air quotes. I can spend very little or break the Fort Knox account and she’ll out a myriad of gold bars, and my finicky six cats will turn their noses up and saunter away in silent protest, leaving me with mouth agape asking them, come on guys! What’s wrong with this one?!!!!That is why I’m wondering if Allen Funt is going to pop up in my kitchen. You know, “when you least expect it, you’re elected, youre the star today! Smile! Your on Candid Camera!”My cats love, love, love this cat food!With this marvelous product, they are the feline equivalent of the well known Mikey of commercial fame and fortune. You remember, “ give it to Mikey. Yeah he won’t eat it, he hates everything!” Well my cats hate everything but as the commercial says, “he likes it! Hey Mikey!”I will continue to buy this food and now to the cat food gods who smiled upon this humble feline servant when they led me to it !

My cat was in perfect health condition prior to us feeding him a new batch of Natural Balance canned cat food (Chicken & Liver Pate Formula). He has been eating this brand/flavor of cat food for years with no issues. However, hours after eat this food this time, he became lethargic, looks in pain and unwilling/unable to move around. He also would refuse to eat. Not knowing what went wrong, we took him to vet, who did a blood test which showed elevated kidney and liver statistics. He had to be sent to an animal ER and was given IV fluids among other treatment for 3 days, costing us about $5k in medical bill.A few weeks after his recovery, we fed him again 1/4 of a can of this same brand/flavor of cat food. Although not having as severe of an adverse reaction as the first time, we did observe again a loss of appetite and diarrhea. At that point we are starting to suspect the issue lies in this particular food that he had.Several more weeks have passed and last night we fed him 1/2 cans of this Natural Balance Chicken & Liver pate. In the morning we observed that he vomited multiple times over night, and now is again lethargic, looks in pain, refuse to eat and is just lying in a corner. After three separate occasions of issue, and the only common theme being that he had some of this brand/flavor of food, we are fairly certain something is wrong with this particular batch of food that we purchased. I filed a report with FDA and looking forward for their investigation. I have plenty of unopened cans available and I hope FDA to contact me to address this issue as soon as possible.Again, this is my personal experience - I might have just gotten a bad batch but if your cat is experiencing similar issue - I encourage you to stop using it immediately and report to food safety authorities (and manufactures, distributors, etc, of course).