Natural Balance Ultra Premium Cat Food Turkey & Giblets Formula Review

This product is manufactured by Natural Balance Pet Foods. Natural Balance Pet Foods is a subsidiary of Big Heart Pet Brands. In addition to Natural Balance, Big Heart Pet Brands also owns Nature's Recipe, Milk Bone, Meaty Bone, Meow Mix, PupPeroni, Ally Cat, and several other brands.

According to our data, this Natural Balance recipe provides complete & balanced nutrition for all life stages. In other words, this formula is AAFCO approved.

Natural Balance Ultra Premium Cat Food Turkey & Giblets Formula is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages.

Ingredient Review

We'll begin this review of Natural Balance Ultra Premium Cat Food Turkey & Giblets Formula with a detailed discussion of the ingredients.

The first ingredient is turkey. Although turkey is an excellent protein source, raw turkey contains more than 60% moisture. After cooking, the relative meat contribution of turkey is dramatically reduced. Therefore, it's important to ensure that other meat sources are included within the first few ingredients to ensure the product derives most of its protein from meat.

The second ingredient is turkey broth. Turkey broth provides both flavor and moisture; however, as with other broths, turkey broth does not provide any notable nutritional contribution.

The third ingredient is poultry giblets. Poultry giblets includes the heart, liver, gizzards, and other internal organs of poultry. Organs are nutritiously dense ingredients which provide high quality protein and fat. However, this particular ingredient is considered an anonymous meat ingredient because the type of poultry is not specified. In order words, "named" giblets such as chicken giblets or turkey giblets are preferred over poultry giblets.

The fourth ingredient is dried carrot. Dried carrots are naturally rich in many vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Dried carrots are also an excellent source of dietary fiber.

The fifth ingredient is brown rice. Brown rice is naturally rich in fiber and various minerals including manganese, phosphorus, and magnesium. Relative to other grains, brown rice is easy to digest.

Because ingredients are listed in order of pre-cooked weight, the remaining ingredients in Natural Balance Ultra Premium Cat Food Turkey & Giblets Formula are not as important as the first five ingredients.

However, collectively they still have a significant impact on the overall quality of the product. Therefore, we'll continue discussing the remaining ingredients in this Natural Balance recipe.

Next we have natural flavor, which is likely included to improve palatability.

The next ingredient is dicalcium phosphate. Dicalcium phosphate (misnomer for dibasic calcium phosphate) is commonly used in pet food and treats as a dietary calcium supplement. It can also be found in breakfast cereals, enriched flour, noodle products, pharmaceutical tablets, and toothpastes.

Then we have salmon meal. Salmon meal is produced by cooking salmon using a process called rendering. The rendering process dramatically reduces the natural moisture of salmon and thereby results in a highly condensed protein source.

Moving on, we have vitamin E supplement. Vitamin E is an essential vitamin required by cats.

The remaining ingredients in this Natural Balance Ultra Premium Cat Food recipe are unlikely to affect the overall rating of the product.

Our analysis of the ingredients show that this product derives most of its protein from animal based sources. This is an excellent property because meat based protein contains all of the necessary amino acids required by cats. In our option, this is one of the most important properties to judge when reviewing pet food, therefore we believe this is an exceptional product in this regard.

Final Thoughts

In summary, we recognize that this product contains anonymous meat ingredients. These are not necessarily always negative; however, they are typically low quality and inexpensive additions. If the particular anonymous meat ingredient is controversial or low quality, it should have been discussed earlier in this review. Otherwise, it is safe to assume the anonymous meat ingredient is an acceptable addition.

The official PawDiet rating for Natural Balance Ultra Premium Cat Food Turkey & Giblets Formula is 3.0 out of 5.