The Great Nordic Hunter

This post is brought to you by Natural Balance® Wild Pursuit™. All opinions presented are my own.

When we first met Vasco at our local animal shelter, we immediately fell in love with the ginger ball of fluff. He was a wild and unruly little kitty, smart and always eager to get into mischief. At age six, that hasn’t changed much.

He grew up to be a large and very handsome feline and it wasn’t until a couple years ago, while watching a documentary on cat breeds, that we realized he was actually a Norwegian Forest Cat.

After doing some research we were able to fully appreciate Vasco’s fascinating ancestry. The Norwegian Forest Cat’s fierce nature and thirst for adventure goes back to the days of sailing with the Vikings and being charged with keeping the Viking ships pest free.

According to the breed standard “The Norwegian Forest cat has a lot of energy and can be very demanding of attention. They are swift and effective hunters and the breed is very good at climbing, since they have strong claws.”

Spot on description of our bold kitty!

His favorite sports are climbing the kitty condo and hunting the laser pointer.

I realized even though he spends a lot of time playing and chasing after the laser pointer, he still needs something to encourage his natural drive, give him an outlet for his instinctual behavior and bring out the hunter we know is inside him. We want that but in a safe and controlled way.

So we thought why not give him something to hunt – like Natural Balance® Wild Pursuit™ – after all the food has freeze dried pieces that seal in nutrition and taste. That is perfect to encourage the inner hunter to come out. We began hiding the kibble throughout his kitty gym and it turned out to be the perfect game!

The food encouraged Vasco to use his senses to track down his “treat”, in many ways mimicking a cat’s natural hunting behavior. The game helps keep him stimulated both physically and mentally.

When looking for appropriate kibble to use for the “hunting game”, I wanted to make sure the food complimented my goal of encouraging natural behavior.

The food needs to be high in protein and not contain any filler, preferably like something Vasco’s ancestors would have eaten. Natural Balance Wild Pursuit is a perfect fit since it’s a grain free diet with elevated levels of protein including those freeze dried raw pieces to resemble what a cat’s diet would have been in the wild.

Turns out – it’s a healthy food that Vasco absolutely loves!