Natural Balance L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets Grain-Free Chicken & Sweet Potato Small Breed Bites Dry Dog Food
The first five ingredients are Chicken, Chicken Meal, Sweet Potatoes, Cassava Flour, Potatoes. 2 of them are a named animal protein. We put the starch at 51.1%, above the 38.51% average across the foods we hold.
Nothing alarming here, but a few of the figures sit below what we see across the archive.
How we got to 55
Five things, one hundred points, and the reason for every one. We would rather show our working than ask you to trust a number.
26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.
Estimated, 6% ash assumed.
Count of named animal proteins.
Matched against the flag list.
Manufacturer, not recipe.
The numbers, without the water
Percentages on a bag include the water in the food, so a wet food always looks lower than a dry one. Taking the water out puts any two foods on the same footing. This one is 90% dry matter.
That is 12.6 points above average, so proportionally more of the bag is starch.
Everything on the label
Printed exactly as the manufacturer lists it, heaviest ingredient first. A dog food needs very little salt, so the 11 ingredients listed after salt are present in even smaller amounts. That is the salt divider, and it is why we only weigh the top of the list.
Chicken, Chicken Meal, Sweet Potatoes, Cassava Flour, Potatoes, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Brewers Dried Yeast, Flaxseed, Natural Flavor, Potato Protein, Menhaden Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Salt*The Salt Divider. Ingredients are listed heaviest first, and a dog food needs very little salt, so everything after this point is present in an even smaller amount., Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Dl-methionine, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid (Source of Vitamin C), Niacin, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, D-calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement ), Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate), Dicalcium Phosphate, Citric Acid (Used As A Preservative), Rosemary Extract, Green Tea Extract, Spearmint Extract
What those first ingredients actually are
The top of the list is most of the food by weight, so it is worth knowing what each one is. Green marks a named animal protein.
Chicken
The clean flesh of the chicken, with or without skin, used fresh. Roughly 70% of its weight is water, most of which is driven off during…
Chicken Meal
Chicken that has been cooked, dried and ground into a concentrated meal, with most of the water and fat removed.
Sweet Potatoes
The tuber of the sweet potato plant, cooked and used as a grain-free carbohydrate. Botanically unrelated to the ordinary potato.
Cassava Flour
Flour milled from the dried cassava root, used as a grain-free carbohydrate and binder.
Potatoes
The tuber of the potato plant, cooked and used as a grain-free carbohydrate.
How much of this to feed
A starting point, worked out from the resting energy formula vets use and this food's own calorie density. Every dog is different, so watch their weight and adjust. Your vet's advice beats a calculator.
How it compares
Same figures, same method, put next to another recipe from Natural Balance and the archive average.
| Metric | This recipe | Natural Balance L.I.D. Limited Ingredient… | Archive average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Score | 55 | 59 | -- |
| Protein, water out | 26.7% | 26.7% | -- |
| Starch, water out | 51.1% | 48.3% | 38.51% |
| Named in first five | 2 of 5 | 2 of 5 | -- |
Recall history
Recalls are matched to the manufacturer, not this exact recipe. A recall on a different product still tells you something about the plant it came from.
We have not matched any FDA recall to Natural Balance. We check the feed daily and this page updates when that changes.
Other flavors
More from Natural Balance, scored the same way.