Is this a good food?

Is Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium Dog Food a good food ? The ingredients are:

Ingredients
Chicken, brown rice, duck, lamb meal, oatmeal, pearled barley, potatoes, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols--a source of vitamin E, citric acid, and rosemary extract), natural flavor, tomato pomace, canola oil, brewers yeast, lecithin, choline chloride, carrots, potassium chloride, flaxseed oil, dried kelp, salt, parsley flakes, calcium carbonate, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, glucosamine hydrochloride, zinc sulfate, vitamin E supplement, vitamin B12 supplements, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), taurine, yucca schidigera extract, l-lysine, manganese sulfate, niacin, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), copper proteinate, grape seed oil, copper sulfate, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A acetate, inositol, folic acid (vitamin B), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), d-activated animal sterol (source of vitamin D3), biotin, ethylene diamine dihydriodide (source of iodine), cobalt sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfate complex (source of vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude protein (min.) 23%, crude fat (min.) 13%, crude fiber (max.) 3%, moisture (max.) 10%.


If not, why isn't it a good dog food?

I don't know much about good ingredients in dog food.. but I think it looks pretty good to me. Not sure about all those chemicals and stuff though.

yeah I'm not sure either, I bet Mordy could help. I've heard a few good things about it (mostly from workers at the petstores...probably just trying to make a sale though).

it's a good food.

But is it like Innova?

Sounds like a good food, plus it has taurine. I would feed this to my dogs, I love variety in my dogs diet.

IMO Natural Balance isn't as great as brands like Innova are, but it's a good food.

Thanks you guys but i still dont know which food to buy. I could buy Innova but it only sells very far from here, nearly an hour. And this food sells very close, about 3 miles. Which food should I buy?

What I would do is to rotate the foods. Order in some Innova, then switch to the Natural Balance. Find a couple of good foods and switch every few months, I switch my dogs every 3-4 months and rotate between Wellness, Innova, Karma, California Naturals, EVO, Natures variety etc.

But I thought switching foods constantly was bad for the dogs dogestive system or something?

It's only bad if you switch them really quick. If you do a gradual change than they should have enough time to adjust. I buy Innova for my husky and I have to drive about an hour each way to buy it as well. I figure that it is worth it because it is very good for her, and that is the only food she will eat besides canned (and she will only eat canned Pedigree food). I stock up on it when I go out there, I will buy like 20 lbs at a time, because that will last me like 1 1/2 to 2 months. I buy Eagle Pack for my other dogs and that is also good food. I don't drive nearly as far to get that food though, only like 15 minutes each way. Did you check the Innova website they have a product locator and maybe their is a store closer than you thought that would supply the Innova.

This is the best way to switch....

First Day
90% old, 10% new

Second Day
80% old, 20% new

Every day you just go down by 10%.

Okay, I'll try Innova first, if she doesn't like that I'll try Natural Balance. If Innova is a really good food, th edrive shouldbe worth it. Thanks for the help guys and any more would be appreciated.

a note on switching foods - you don't have to make a long production out of it if the dog doesn't show any problems, especially not when you are switching from one high end food to another.

it's different if someone switches from a low quality food that contains lots of fillers and relatively little digestible material, say for example from purina dog chow to innova. the digestive tract has to adjust to the higher concentration of available nutrients.

many dogs don't have issues switching between good quality kibble even "cold turkey" without a transitioning period, if it doesn't bother them that's ok too.

case in point - when i was still feeding kibble to my own dog and rotating between brands, he would always fish out all the new kibbles and leave the old ones behind. that doesn't exactly make for a slow transition, so i gave up on it.

on average, a time frame of 2-3 days is enough to transition to a new kibble, unless a dog is really sensitive. if that's the case, i'd suggest giving an enzyme supplement for a few days and adding some canned pumpkin or slippery elm.