Blue Buffalo Dog Food Recall

Some dogs can tolerate switching, some can not. If you are switching between quality brands with same levels of proteins and ingredients (i.e. no corn), that makes the transition easier. If you are upping or dropping the level of protein and/or quality of ingredients, your dogs may get the runs. The best is to slowly transition your dog over a ten day period.

I have two labs one is 13 and the other is 8 years old. Both are currently dying from cancer and are both terminal. We have been paying out the wazoo to treat our beloved pets, when one loves them as much as we love our children it’s hard to just say (oh 1/4 humans die of cancer and the odds of our beloved dogs is greater, I was told by our vet.but in my 40 years of owning dogs I’ve never had one die from cancer but now two diagnosed within 2 months of each other. I’ve called the FDA and and talked to one of the endocrinologists that did the research on Blue Buffalo. But like everyone else they say its bad luck or they were bound to get cancer eventually, well if you ask me no they were not especially 2 different dogs from different blood lines but both were fed the same food because the owners were told it was as good if not better than Eukanuba. Which is what they were on previously and never got sick or went to vet. one time other then for regular check ups. Sorry spelling may be off just trying to let other know about this before they loose there loved ones Gabriel Morlaes Corpus Christi Texas 78418 (361-720-3474)

I’m sorry, but I just can’t let this go by without something being said.  Now, first let me say that I don’t feed Blue Buffalo atm, but I have in the past.  I don’t think Blue Buffalo is the most fantastic food in the world, but a lot of people sure do use it, and most with good results.  You say that, “as many as 200 deaths of dog”…..but you won’t give us where you found this information.  In fact, you allude to the fact that it’s hard to find!  Where did you find it?  And if you really wanted to help, you would let us all know.  Yes, it is a fact that Blue does use a co-packer, but a lot of other very good, high quality foods do.  I do believe I read that some company(s) were tested and found to have the incorrect ingredients in them, but I don’t remember Blue being one of those companies (of course, I could be wrong).  And finally, it looks like you’re promoting SD, RC, and Eukanuba….really now lol…I guess I see the real intent here now.  I’m sure you believe you are helping people by posting this, but if you say things like “200 deaths, etc.” then please put references to the reports!  Imho, this isn’t a help because it seems more like scare tactics!  

I’m sorry for the loss of Dakota. 

My Akita Dakota passed away after a bowel perforation, we had the Vet perform a bowel resection etc… we wanted to save our boy soooo much.   We received the biopsy results (from his bowel resection) this morning and I was shocked to hear it was a fungal infection that erroded the small bowel (I had assumed it was caussed by some type of mass).  I had switched Dakota to Blue Wilderness back in August or September believing it was the best nutrition available .  I also plan on having he last bag of food tested I will post the actual biopsy findings.  I realize that I can not definitively state that BB was the source of the fungus but I will persue the labs results as I do not want any other dog to suffer.  I will ask my vet for assistance in having his food tested for the fungus.  If BB is responsible for my dogs death I want to persue all legal remedies, possile class action  (vet bills exceeded $7000.00 , I just wanted my boy to survive)

This recall was from 3 years ago…

What are you freaking out about?  The recall was Oct. 2010.

That’s exactly how I got many of my cats over the years.  I almost missed out on my husband because I thought he was a **cat person** yuck!  All 4 of my current cats are rescues too.  And you are feeding them raw, well, they’re feeding themselves…  I’m only planning on giving mine about an ice cube worth each day.  I thought Hare Today made it too easy with whole ground this and that.

I’m starting my cats on raw in a couple weeks.  I figured if I upgraded the horses’ food and the dogs’ food, now that I’m used to the changes, it’s time to upgrade the cats and the ferret.  I must be a glutton for punishment.

Hey HDM, Have you ever tried Earthborn for your cats? My 3 love the primitive. None of them would touch the fish formula though.  http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/cat_formulas/primitive_feline/ingredients.php

Yeah, that’s certainly understandable.  I actually don’t use Blue Buffalo either, I was just saying ‘your mileage may vary’ to a certain extent.  LOL

We are currently switching over to Orijen 6 fish for both our girls.  (Lab/Shep & Puggle)  One seems to have a slight allergy of some sort which may be causing her frequent ear infections.  Currently on a Chicken and rice formula, said we should switch to Limited diet with salmon and potato.  Thought might as well go to grain free and the 6 fish formula, which seems to have wonderful feedback from almost everyone.  Also, might as well switch both to a better kibble anyway.

Don’t worry, every dog food has people posting things about it negatively.  Many are due to an isolated incident or something probably out of the product’s control like an allergy.

Sometimes it’s good to look at how popular the food is, an then look at the PERCENTAGE of complaints.  If something is widely sold it will have a lot more complaints than other local or regional foods because many more people are using it.  It might have the same incidence of complaints though.  

1 million people using something, 1% complain and that’s 10,000 complaints.  10,000 people use it, and 1% is only 100 complaints.  Still really the same, but many would take a quick look ar product A and think it must have so many issues and product B is ‘much better’.  Not really the case though!

I was feeding my 4 year old minpin Blue brand dog food and he was constantly having bloody diarrhea daily. After many expensive test and vet visits, changing his food was the answer. Now I’m trying to figure out what it was in the food that made him sick. Both of my 2 female minding were ok eating it, but would not eat the dark pieces no matter what. That’s what made me realize it was probably his food making him sick. I will post the lab results here when I receive them.

Jeanne –

I would get your dogs off Blue and on to another food. I had a very bad experience with their products this past summer. I don’t feed their food to my dogs but my cats ate Blue (only because it’s the only food I could find that my female with a sensitive stomach didn’t throw up) and I would occasionally buy their treats for my dogs. I ordered some of their grain-free Wilderness biscuits online and when I got them and opened them there were bugs in the bag (they weren’t expired and I couldn’t find a hole anywhere in the bag). A few weeks later I bought a bag of their cat food at my local feed store and when I opened it it was covered with mold (also not expired). I never returned the treats because they weren’t that expensive and ordered them online and didn’t want to deal with it but when I returned the food to my feed store the worker there told me a few other people had returned moldy products and they had to send back a whole delivery of treats that were moldy. After my incidents a friend of mine got a golden puppy and started her on Blue Life Protection Large Breed Puppy – she got very sick (diarrhea, vomiting, lethargic). After 4 weeks on the Blue and no improvement my friend switched her to Wellness and things cleared up almost overnight. And this was a few months after my incidents and she got the food from an entirely different store (not where I got either of my contaminated products). Check out consumer affairs, many others are complaining as well: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/blue_buffalo.html

If I were you I’d check out some of the 4 and 5 star foods on this site. Blue isn’t that great and it’s overpriced for what it is, you can get much better foods for the same price or cheaper.

Hi Isabella,

I’m so sorry to hear about your pup. It’s very frustrating to think you are feeding your dog good quality food, only to have them become very sick. I did not have that happen, however I was feeding mine prescription diets from Royal Canin that I got from the vet, when I stumbled across this site and realized how bad the ingredients were for the amount of money I was paying. Check out the Brothers Complete review under 5 star dry foods – they are a family owned company that has never had a recall. It is pricey and you have to order online directly from them, but it is totally worth it IMO. I have been feeding my dogs this for the past few months, and I have greatly reduced the amount of food I feed them overall because it is more nutritionally dense. They also love it, and the treats as well! 

Not again?… 2012

I too have discontinued all Blue products. I almost lost my dog to what may have been caused by contamination. We will never know for certain. He started vomiting within an hour after breakfast (August 11, 2010)…Hunter’s Stew. He has been on Blue products…both the canned and the dry food for a good year and loved them. He continued vomiting through the day and when it became constant I rushed him to ER about 5 PM. They merely put on a band-aide giving him a shot to stop the vomiting and a shot to put him to sleep. He awoke at midnight starting all over again. At 7 AM Sunday morning, I called his vet who met me at his clinic to which he was now low pulse and low BP with shallow breathing. He was put on IV’s immediately. Five days later a new set of X-rays showed bacterial pneumonia from asphixiation (vomiting). So, after over $3,000.00 in vet bills and meds and almost loosing him…I returned the unused cans of Blue to PetSmart telling the manager the reason why and then threw out the dry kibble. I will never purchase Blue products again. I don’t know what to feed him anymore…I don’t trust commercial prepared dog food. Currently, he’s on Prescription id which one can only get from a vet…but, I need to find something else and soon. 

my dogs were eating the food also had the same reaction I have 3 and discontinuing this product. I am very upest and concerned now…

Csteenburgen –

Blue Buffalo is having a lot of quality issues and has gone way down hill recently. I don’t feed the food to my dogs, but I ordered a bag of treats online a few months back and there were bugs in the bag. I did feed my cats Blue for awhile, then a couple months back I picked up a bag of food at my local feed store and got it home and it was covered with mold (the expiration date wasn’t for another 10 months). When I brought the food back the worker at the store told me they had many people returning Blue products complaining about mold, bugs, and their dogs getting sick. Around the same time my friend got a new golden puppy she started her on Blue because her last dog at Blue, the puppy had horrible diarrhea and vomiting. She thought it was a combination of being in a new home, switching foods, and going through puppy vaccines so she kept her on the Blue for about a month – the symptoms only got worse. She eventually switched her to Wellness and the diarrhea/vomiting stopped within a day. Check out  http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/blue_buffalo.html – there are a lot of people complaining about Blue. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a recall in the near future. I was a loyal Blue customer for years but I will never buy another product from them again.

Sorry, I don’t know where you got this info., but Blue Buffalo is not owned by P&G. 

Apparently it’s owned by proctor and gamble who religiously test products on animals

I have 3 German Shepherds and they have been on BB for 3 years now and no problems.  Life Protection Formula, orange bag

Like Labs was saying, all dogs are different, and will react differently. Even if you go from Fromm to Acana (two very good foods), you may find your dog with loose stool due to the change. But you’re right that going from cheaper food to “good” food can cause issues as well.

Wasn’t the recall in 2010? And they fixed the problem. My puppy is on BB and has been since he’s been able to eat hard food and I have had no problems with it.
If you change your dog from a cheaper brand to BB that is why they have runny stool, if you change there diet suddenly it takes them a whole to adjust to it.

Try Black Gold lamb and rice dog food.

Lbrienza99,

Natura (Innova, California Naturals, EVO, Karma) was purchased by Proctor & Gamble, not Blue Buffalo.

stool may be runny if you didn’t do the change gradually combining both the old and the new. give it a few days if you just up and changed it and he/she should be fine. as far as the backround of the brand i don’t really know but it’s a good brand. hope the pup gets better quick! no on likes messy poopies… 

Dihayes1, I don’t know if you realized it but this is not Blue Buffalo’s own site.  One question is what were you feeding her before the BB?  It may be an allergy or an anal gland issue (which is sometimes caused by allergies).  I would speak to someone from Blue’s site or ask your vet about the sores.

Elsiehurt-

Understandable, but I can say I recently put Blue into our rotation and have had good luck so far(perhaps not with the Wilderness)

Has anyone had an issue with Wellness wet foods.  Two times (one several years ago and one just recently) where I have found pieces of heavy plastic wrap (the type you find on a frozen turkey) approximately 1/2″x1/2″ in their food.  I originally contacted the company about this issue and was assured it would not happen again.  My dogs really like this food.  I have stopped feeding it to them after the second incident.  It didn’t make me feel better that after I left the can sku and dates on the co’s voice mail, they called back several days later to inquire about what numbers were on the can ??

 Lynnepaulcmk – From reading your postings it appears your dog does ok on Chicken and Rice based foods.  There are dozens of 4 and 5 star chicken and rice based dog foods you can slowly transition him too.  Since its winter I would cut out the monthly flea and tick preventative along with the Monthly parasite pill unless he is into dead animals and eating wildlife poop.  Forget the rawhide – Its often nasty overprocessed, chemically treated only god knows from where it really comes from.  I like safe elk antlers as chews and take it away if he eats too much at once.  Also perhaps a raw meat beef bone from the butcher with a little fat and beef on it as a treat.    Good luck at the vet, make sure the fecal includes Crypto and Giardia.  1.5 years of puke and poop are too much for me to handle.  There are many food options for you but you need to make sure there are no parasite or other issues going on.  I have seen people spend hundreds of dollars on expensive dog food guessing and searching for the right formula when there are other issues and problems that need to be looked at first.  good luck 

Thank you so much. I am loving this site.

Thanks for your reply. He has been on the same food for a year now. The bouts are off and on usually for a couple days, I resort to the chicken and rice, it resolves itself and then I reintroduce the food. He does get one rawhide a day and two Meaty Bones biscuits. He has been scratching quite a lot with no fleas present. He had his last flea treatment in Nov. HIs activity level is the same,high, and he is walked five miles a day. All lake water by us is now frozen. We have always had difficulty getting any weight on him but he is very active.
I will be taking him to the vet this week for some blood work and fecal testing.

Lynnepaulcmk – How long has this been going on for?  Is he always on the same dog food?  Is it the same bag you are having problems with?  What else is your dog eating?  Treats?  People food? Grass?  Dirt?  Other Animal Feces?  Lake, River or Swamp Water?  Any pesticides, insecticides or Herbicides?  Are you sure?  Do you use a Parasite and Heartworm preventative, Flea and Tick preventative? Mouse poisons?  Its a poison.  Has your dog have a complete fecal and blood test including: testing for Parvo, Giardia, Crypto?  How is the dogs skin, coat, eyes, ears?  Any scratching or biting?    How often do you bathe him?  With What? 

CJ, it really sounds as though this was an existing medical issue with your dog. But I am so sorry you lost him, how terrible. As Melissa noted, this recall was over a year ago and the affected food was pulled, and all affected food would have expired by now.

Two days ago, Christmas Eve we had to euthanize our beloved
6 year-old German shepherd due to lethal levels of vitamin D in Blue Buffalo’s
Chicken/brown rice large breed dog food. 
Our dog was a powerful healthy dog highly active with a sweet warm
personality.  About four weeks ago he
abruptly stopped eating that product and started drinking large amounts of
water and producing large amounts of dilute urine.  His apatite would improve then disappear
eventually he completely refused to eat. 
Our vet had little answers and eventually ran blood work finding he was
in the initial stages of renal failure.  They
also found elevated blood calcium and urine analysis found calcium phosphate
crystals.   X-rays could not find any bladder or kidney
stones.  Out of desperation he was
eventually hospitalized, IV fluids were forced in an attempt to clear his
kidneys however after 24 hours (Christmas Eve) we had to have our beloved dog
euthanized.

Our dog was an indoor dog never wondered outside our fenced
yard was walked regularly on the leash and was always in close contact with us
and could not have ingested a poison or toxin. 
Our second dog a 16 year-old Malamute was not fed a Blue Buffalo product
and did not suffer any of these symptoms. 
I have little doubt that the Blue Buffalo product contained lethal
levels of vitamin D producing hypercalcemia and eventually inducing renal
failure killing our dog.

We trusted our wonderful dog with this expensive premium dog
food.  It is tremendously unfortunate
that this company continues to irresponsibly produce dog food products with
little quality control.   My wife and I are trying to move ahead after this
difficult loss while having to deal with the frustration and disgust for this
companies lack of responsibility.  We
urge any dog owner to avoid all Blue Buffalo products and strongly recommend
monitoring all FDA recalls had we done this I’m convinced our dog with be with
us today.

CJ

My Dear Westie died September 6 of renal failure. She was in good
health until 3 weeks before her long painful death. My heart is still broken. I am 83 years old, not well, and do not have the funds to
buy another friend and companion. She ate Blue dog food for several
months prior to her death. I am requesting you make it possible for me to replace my invaluable pet, whom I raised from birth. Please make this known to your CEO,Bill Bishop. Sincerely, Lois Bishop

me to replace my dearest friend, or I, too, may die of loneliness. Please
bring this to the attention of Bill Bishop. Note my name, too, is Bishop.

Melissa, the 2007 BB recall was for their dry kitten food, canned dog foods and dog treats, the HealthBars, I believe. At the time of this incident, BB was using American Nutrition to produce their products. Apparently, this manufacturer changes the recipe on these recalled items by adding cheaper ingredients like “rice protein concentrate” without BB permission. BB was furious and ended their contract with them. This was the explanation given on their website at the time this occurred. I remember because BB was the food I switched my pets to after the big recall. I eventually switched to a grain free to avoid the grain issue altogether. What amazes me is that they didn’t just contract with a new manufacturer, they contracted with 5! That has to be close to impossible to control product quality and consistancy. As we can see by the more recent recalls with BB products.

I happen to have the Tuffy’s info due to research I did on them last fall when switching cat foods. I only feed the Natural Planet Organics line of canned cat food. It is very soft, smooth pudding-like wet food. My oldest cat is missing many teeth so this is to his liking. No chewing nescessary.

I am surprised that there are so many manufacturers of Blue and they seem to be of varying quality. I see that CJ Foods and Chenango Valley are known for organic, holistic quality products, but what about Dad’s, Tuffy’s and Triple T? I don’t know how comfortable I would be in quality of ingrediants when the company is producing lower star rated foods as the “norm”…

OK Sue – I found a link to the Feb 2011 WDJ and I see the exact details you listed, including the 5 manufacturers for BB:
http://www.soggypaws.com/Documents/wdj_feb11.pdf

That WDJ ‘preview’ link, that I previously referenced, says 2011 but it obviously isn’t 2011!

ShamelessRawFoodie, My list of BB manufacturers is directly from the Feb. 2011 issue of WDJ and Triple T & Tuffy’s is on the list. My issue states in the Misc. Info. box: “Company launched a “limited ingredient” line (Blue Basics) and discontinued production of its organic food.”

Below, I’ve copied the BB info from the WDJ webpage for their 2011 approved list of dry dog foods –

BLUE BUFFALO COMPANY — Wilton, CT; (800) 919-2833; bluebuff.com
MADE BYChenango Valley Pet Foods, Sherburne, NY; CJ Foods, Bern, KS; Dad’s Pet Care, Meadville, PA; Triple T Foods, Frontenac, KS.

REPRESENTATIVE VARIETY — Blue Organics contain: Organic deboned chicken, organic brown rice, organic oatmeal, chicken meal, organic barley, organic millet, salmon meal, chicken fat…

MISC INFO — 24 varieties made (including puppy, adult, weight control, senior, large and small breeds, limited ingredient, grain-free).

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/landing/approved-dry-dog-food.html/?s=GL_PD_ApprovedDryFood&st=PPC&gclid=CMv38car2KgCFYwH2godwA4gIg

Thanks Mary Lou. Did you order it from her Vet Clinic site? or the Mercola site?

SueW-

Did you see Cathy’s question? Who are the 5 listed places/companies that manufactor BB??

Thanks!

Mary Lou; I too subscribe to WDJ and I save all the issues in a ringbinder so I can go back and reference them when needed.
To anyone who can help; I am having trouble finding where I can buy Dr. Karen Becker’s new 3rd edition book. Is it only available on her vet clinic’s website or can it be purchased elsewhere? Amazon.com has the first edition listed but is noted to be out of print. Thanks.

Hey Mary Lou – OK – you’re definitely not the country mouse! I was born at MacDill. I’m now across the bay and my meat pickup location is a Fitness Gym parking lot in Clearwater. It’s the sign of the times. You’ve got to go ‘underground’ to get clean food (aka avoiding poison food). I coordinate a raw dairy co-op and the dairy farmers deliver raw milk, cream, and butter to my garage. The products get transferred immediately from the refrigerated truck into refrigerators in my garage. Then the co-op members come by and pick up their dairy and pay for their next order.
The marrow bones you get at MacDill – well, MacDill gets their food delivered in a big parking lot!
I only use a vet for the rabies vaccination, which I haven’t yet figured out how to avoid. For that, I use a nearby vet, name not worth mentioning, although he does have a side business of selling wonderful honey from his own bee hives! In all of my interactions with pet parents, it was rare to find anyone pleased with their vet in this large metropolitan area. Who is your vet?
Thankfully, I don’t ‘need’ a vet. Just like I don’t have a doctor because I don’t ‘need’ a doctor. OK, Mike – I do need a dentist because I don’t gnaw on Raw Meaty Bones! And I get regular dental cleanings as I do eat some carbs and sugar – but not much.

Gordon – We are on west coast. Shuttle launch is on east coast. We sure got alot of rain this week, but today is sunny. When skies are clear, shuttle launch is visible.

Mary Lou – I’m in Tampa area, too. Bone day success – what fun! Where do you get your bones? FYI – I have started getting my dog’s beef bones from Rosas Farm in central FL, grass-fed, pasture-raised animals. http://www.alrosas.com/
I get other beef products and also eggs. They make deliveries around the state. They deliver twice per month to Tampa, I-275/Dale Mabry in the Rooms To Go parking lot.

Sue W – An another DFA thread today, you state that on the WDJ list of reccommended foods, you were “surprised by how many manufacturers are listed for Blue Buffalo. . . 5 are listed.”

What are the names of the 5 BB manufacturers?

SueW – There aren’t many jobs without the usual job problems. Much of what I experienced was similar to experiences of other pet food product reps – Nutro, BilJac, Eukanuba, Science Diet, etc.

For instance, a few months ago, the Blue cat food stock was so depleted that shelves were near empty for about one month, in addition to a few dog food products that were out-of-stock for several weeks. Customers asked me where is the food, and many questioned if there is a problem with the food. We, the reps, weren’t provided with any alert about this problem. The store managers said Blue isn’t sending the product that is ordered, and that other stores also have depleted stock. I sent an email to my manager to let him know the problem (as if he shouldn’t have already been aware of this very significant problem!) and ask him what he would like me to say to customers. After much delay, I was told to refer the customers to store management. Store management then told customers that the problem is with Blue and that they don’t know the status of the products. So the customer is dumbfounded, disappointed, angry, etc. Ultimately, the product reps, who don’t get combat pay LOL, are stuck responding to irate customers without having a sensible explanation.

Brothers Complete owner Richard Darlington has more candidly and quickly responded to my questions during the past one month than Blue Buffalo did during my entire five years employed by them.

During Blue Buffalo’s October 2010 dog food recall – - There was a discrepancy that I noticed when comparing the FDA website and the Blue Buffalo website, which I brought to the attention of my regional manager. This discrepancy was never resolved and the discrepancy still exists nine months later, according to documents on the FDA and BB websites:

The FDA Recall website lists 2 additional recalled product dates that the Blue Buffalo News website doesn’t list:
Blue Basics Salmon 24# Best By SEP2311P & Best By OCT2611P

http://bluebuffalo.com/news/vitamin-d-voluntary-recall
BLUE Basics Salmon (Dog) 11 lb., 24 lb. AUG2111B, AUG2211B

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm228986.htm
Blue Basics Limited Ingredient Formula Salmon and Potato Recipe dry dog food 11 lb “Best If Used By AUG2111B” &
“Best If Used By AUG2211B”
Blue Basics Limited Ingredient Formula Salmon and Potato Recipe dry dog food 24 lb “Best If Used By AUG2111B”
“Best If Used By SEP2311P” &
“Best If Used By OCT2611P”

Ditto Jonathan –

I worked for 5 years as a Blue Buffalo product representative. I enjoyed most aspects of the job and achieved the highest status in sales goals. I quit last month, primarily because I disagreed with the most recent in-store sales tactic changes. I almost quit last year after the 2010 recall, and I almost quit after the 2007 recall. I almost quit numerous times when I didn’t receive direct answers to questions. I almost quit when criticized by my manager for following specific guidelines in our employee policy (that he didn’t want me to follow)! And I almost quit when a sobbing customer (wife of a vet) handed me her bag of moldy dog food and hysterically screamed that her puppy is very ill because of the moldy food.

For the most part, it was a ‘fun’ job and the positives outweighed those negatives. But much of what I experienced whittled away my confidence in the entire commercial pet food industry.

Similar to Jonathan, I saw the benefit of getting someone to buy a ‘better’ food. Each PetSmart store where I worked had weekly sales of Blue that exceeded $5,000. Complaints about the food were very rare. Praise about the food was common. That being said, I often wondered about the QA / QC process, especially since Blue contracts with an outside manufacturer that produces many brands of foods. WHO can be trusted?

Most consumers are guided by emotion, rather than truth and substance. Pet food companies with smart marketing strategies will not only survive, they will thrive, even if your dog doesn’t!

I haven’t been on this thread before but can attest to the fact that just adding vitamins, minerals or anything in excess, or even lack of as it relates to its symbiotic mineral twin (calcium must be balanced to phosphorous for example) can cause huge distress in a dogs system. Changing a single ingredient in a food can throw off these balances in man made foods. Raw is safer and more nutritious because nature provides nutrients in balance. For decades dog food manufacturers have simply thrown a bunch of vitamins and minerals in dog food without regard to their relationship to one another. In nature, as in so much of life, balance is usually the healthiest way.

I know from first hand experience because when we directed our Ph.D. animal nutritionist to create the healthiest dry dog food possible he talked to me for hours about the most overlooked facet of dog food manufacturing – balancing all nutrients in the formula to each other – change an ingredient or the amount of it and the rest of the formula needs to be rebalanced. At one point I changed the amount of protein to a higher percentage and didn’t hear from him for a couple of weeks. When I called he told me he’d been readjusting all the nutrients and other ingredients to achieve a healthy balance – and that takes time. He related a story that often when a large company buys up a smaller one the first thing they do is adjust the formula to make it more profitable and despite his telling every Mfg he ever worked for that the nutrients needed to be balanced – not one ever paid to have it done. They just wanted cheaper food – period.

I mention this because in the case of Blue Buffalo it is easier than you might think to cause problems due to the imbalance of one or more vitamins or minerals and there is no guideline for BALANCE only minimums and extremes, and the AMOUNT of a mineral is not nearly as important as its relationship to its symbiotic twin (calcium and magnesium is another).

Steve – your post in Jan was right on. We have all 16 K-9 units on Brothers here in Fort Lauderdale because these guys love their dogs. A few of them initially paid for the extra cost themselves (they were on Iams then TOW). Once they saw such a big improvement in the health of the first few dogs that were on Brothers (Vet visits nearly eliminated, more stamina, thick shiny coats, no paw gnawing, scratching, or ear problems) they put all the dogs on it and now the department pays for it.

We have recommended raw to them but they don’t want to bother with it. However, we have talked some of the individual handlers into getting raw, meaty bones to feed their dogs at home. Between buying and training these dogs they invest on average $47,000 per dog. When a new handler is hired a few of the police officers will bring him to the store and “tell him” that he WILL be buying Brothers for his dog.

I just did a search for blue buffalo recalls. There was not much updated info. It listed the bad batches ad best if used by certain 2011 dates but nothing about 2012. I think it is more widespread than the few given

Beware of other Blue Buffalo dog foods, that were not in recall…Large breed chicken and rice best used by MAY1,2012.
I have 6 dogs…3 shelties and 3 Goldens. the shelties are fine and not on Blue Buffalo Large breed. I changed from Blue limited ingredients to large breed chicken because Cutters Mill where I bought it didn’t have the limited and they told me regular large breed was very similar. The glens have been on large breed Bluee Buffalo for 2 weeks..They all haw significant vomiting and diarrhea. And the shelties don’t. they are going to the vet tomorrow for exam and testing. after searching on line for recalls today I found out about other Blue Buffalo products being recalled. I stopped feeding blue buffalo today. I never got notice of the recall and obviously there are more batches of bad product out there. I would never use any Blue Buffalo products again and I hope these dogs recover. They have never been sick like this.

My three dogs are just finishing off their first & last 24# bag of Blue Wilderness Chicken, exp date May 24 12 B 11 1032. My two girls both senior fox terriers eat the BW with no problems. My male, a five year old terrier mix has had issues with the food. I opened the bag on April 30th and all three seemed to like it. Within the first week my male started eating grass during our walks. I chalked it up to it just being spring and there is finally grass to eat. By the second week he vomited a white foam a couple times and is still eating grass. By the third week he seems a little constipated and resists eating his special bowl of it. Once or twice a day I mix ¼ cup of the BW food with hot water & let it sit for a few minutes before adding a half a scoop of GNC Ultra Mega Superfood Complex Plus Joint Health. The girls eagerly eat it, the first couple weeks my boy would too. For the past week my boy will hesitantly eat some of it or go hide when I am serving it. When I have tried taking the food into the room he retreats to he almost cowers as if he is afraid when I put the bowl down. He acts like I am trying to poison him. When I was doing this with Taste of the Wild he always ate it. Although I have had my boy for 2 ½ years, he is a former pound puppy and can be a little flakey sometimes. He had to learn from the girls about toys, treats and chewies. I originally thought his behavior was a pound puppy flashback but now after reading about a recall I have to wonder if there isn’t something wrong with the food.

Currently my 9 year old Malamute is on a home cooked diet that I adapted from a “mush mix” recipe for sled dog breeds. Pretty similar, but leaner(true mush mix call for back fat or suet) since she doesn’t work. Mix is 30% protein from chicken or fish, raw/frozen vegies, brown rice, sprinkle of dry whole rolled oats, and some antioxidant enhancing herbs (rosemary, oregano etc.) She does well on this mix – but this doesn’t travel easily when we hit the road. Is there really a good quality, safe dry food that will still provide her high protein needs as well as carbs and antioxidants?

Hello All,

Just a heads up to anyone feeding their dog(s) Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken recipe. Our 15 mth old yellow lab mix became very sick (vomitting, lethragy, sore neck/back, lack of appetite, physical discomfort so much that he could not stand up by himself, etc.). This happened about 30 days after we switched him from Blue Buffalo Adult food to the Blue Buffalo Wilderness brand. The best by dates were: Jan 29 12 B11 0618.

Since he was a pup, Blue Buffalo food has been great but we are now hesitant due to this issues we’ve had which included two trips to the emergency room for x-rays, blood work, etc. A friends lab is experiencing similar issues, more related to kidney, but was using the Blue Buffalo Longetivity brand.

We are investigating further with Blue Buffalo and are not certain if there is any connection between the food and our dogs illness, but please just be aware.

I just bought Blue wilderness Salmon grain free changed from Natures Recipe salmon grain free Please update on the curent recall of Blue as I have heard people say dogs have died Thank you

Mike,
I have a 6 mo old Morkie who is on Eukanuba. THinking of swithing him to Blue Buffalo Wilderness dry dog food. I assume the recall is done with and do you recommend Blue Buffalo for puppies? great website…….thank you

Puleese, you people who keep commenting on websites that ‘in the wild the dogs would be eating the whole animal so why are by-products considered to be bad’ need to remember that that is also Nature’s way to control the population. Hypothetically, one female canine who had only 2 litters in her life with 6 females in each litter each of which reproduced like their mom, would have over 53 MILLION (53,000,000) decendants by the time she was 10 years old, unless most of them died from eating rotton corpses and “by-products”. Actually, that female would continue to have 2 litters a year for her whole life. Natural ain’t necessarily better, kiddo. Most of you have dogs that would choose to eat from the kitty litter box rather than clean healthy food, its Natures way. They cannot be trusted to choose their own food and we have to be smart in how we choose it for them. Plus, do you really want to spend your hard earned money on processing plant garbage???? Even the by-products that specify that it is just organ meat are not required to be clean or fresh. The regulations are more lax for by-products than for human-grade food products….I understand what you say, I used to be just as confused. For real enlightenment, you can tour a chicken processing plant. I dare you….

I also had a bad experience with Blue Buffalo. I was feeding the Large Breed Puppy recipe to my new puppy last fall. She was drinking lots of water and we were having a terrible time housetraining because the frequency of urination….sometimes twice an hour or more! A few weeks into eating the food, she also developed extremely loose stools. I changed foods and within 2 days, her stools and urination was normal. I know they didn’t mention Lg Breed Puppy in the Blue Buffalo recall, but I do believe this food was also affected based on my recent experience.

We are thinking of putting our 1 year old, 8 pound Morkie on one of the grain free -5 star kibble (Blue-Wilderness perhaps?) foods. Does it matter that there is not a ‘small dog formula’ available for many of the 5 star brands?

I have to say I’ve had the same result as Michael above where emails and Blue Buffalo are concerned. I’ve sent several emails to them in the past few weeks asking a simple question about the lack of availability of one of their formulas (beef) in Canada and also if they’ll be increasing distributors. No response at all. Having just switched to this food, I’m now wondering if they’ll support me if I have a more serious problem. How they respond to customers says a lot about the company in my opinion.

Personally, I think the life protection line is a bit better. But it’s like splitting hairs, really. Rotation is always a good idea, though.

Madonna, it is unfortunate that your dog had these troubles. But working in a pet retailer, I sell tons of Blue every week and have over 400 customers on frequent buyer cards for Blue. I have had ONE (1) person’s dog experience a problem with Blue and need to change foods.

Some dogs will react badly to a product for what ever reason… or you may have gotten a bad bag that could have had a problem from storage, transport, or mishandling.

In any case, most dogs (like 99%) do GREAT on Blue, so there is no reason to bash a good company because your dog reacted badly to it.

I think they should be down graded from a recommended food. I was a very loyal user until this most recent recall and my dog ended up at the Vet with a $100+ bill for too much Vit D in his food. I contacted Blue and never got a reply or even and email. Companies that are going to charge a lot, yet not protect our pet’s health, should be down graded. I also had a pet impacted by the recent New Balance recall. When are these companies going to learn and when are we as consumers going to start hurting them where it counts by not purchasing their products any more.

Hello:
I have feed my dogs Blue Buffalo because I found it to be closely related to Solid Gold in terms of the quality of the Food. However the last 2 bags I’ve bought have made my dogs sick, more specifically my Golden Retriever. He began to bleed from his anus and it was not a couple of drops, it was a stream and he had no energy. I stop feeding him the food (chicken and brown rice) and began to cook him chicken, potato, rice and the chicken stock. He began to recuperate his energy and started to defecate properly. I changed the recipe with the last food that I bought (healthy weight) and he started to bleed again. I began to do some research and found that other people have complained about the same symptoms (similar to parvo) and that there is a recall. I am now researching new foods and am thinking of trying Organix or By Nature. I will stop using this food and request a refund from the pet store I bought it. Folks, be careful! Blue buffalo cs claims that the issue they have is with their wilderness recipe, but this is a lie because I do not use that specific recipe and I am going through some tough times!!!! I have also noticed that they changed their recipe at the beginning of this year. I don’t know what that means but I find it ironic that the ingredients seem to not be of the same quality as before, they have become more commercial this year (I never saw a TV commercial from them until this year) and that they started to have this issues. There has to be a connection

My Maltese eats Blue Basics Turkey and Potato. I don’t see where this was recalled, but he was just at the vet last week with symptoms of increased urination and he has been drinking more than usual. He is 1-1/2 years old. He was treated for a UTI, although first urine showed higher pH, but second vet at same location same day with second catch urine thought it was normal. Now I’m wondering if this could be the problem.

Have two Bernese mt dogs. Started feeding them blue buffalo after our 6 yr old male stopped eating nutria. We mix the wild chicken or duck with the large breed weight control. Our 7 yr old female developed diarrhea sev day’s ago about the same time as the recall. We mix the food together and put it in a sealed container. Not sure about the dates, question is we feed them both a bland diet of hamburger and rice. Problem resolved. Now two day’s back on the dry food and now both are having diarrhea, is this also related to possible high vit. D.

OOPS!!! Wrote before I checked into it more…. I was disappointed thinking you weren’t aware of the Blue RECALL.. Sorry bout that!! If I may make a suggestion — you may want to make the recall notice more visible on your website? As I said in my previous email on the Blue page — I respect your ratings, but saw the Blue was still showing a 3 1/2 rating? Not that this page is for recommending anything – but my dogs LOVE Earthborn Holistic Primitive grain free dry. Wonderful food!! Thanks for all the great work you do!

Dear Mike,
I just wanted to express my sincere thanks for your email alert on the Blue Wilderness Chicken, etc. It just so happens that is the exact dry kibble (4.5 lb bag) I feed my Pomeranian, Daisy, topped with another Blue Wilderness canned product. Naturally, I became immediately concerned and “rushed” to check the “best if used by” date on the bag. Thankfully, it was not among the recalled items. This issue was of great concern to me because I am putting so much energy into making sure that I am protecting my pet by feeding her a healthy, highly rated dog food. For now, I intend to keep things status quo since she eats every drop of food at every meal and is extremely healthy and energetic. I don’t think that Blue Buffalo did anything wrong as it takes awhile to isolate problems, do testing and the like. It seems they started to investigate immediately upon the initial contact about the problem. No company can make every ingredient from scratch and, therefore, there is always a significant number of variables that could be out of their control. The exact same thing happens with people food relating to recalls. At least Blue Buffalo didn’t have to be forced into submission by the FDA as is the case when some product consumed by humans is found to be dangerous. They were up front and fair and I think (hope) this may make them even more diligent in the future. Blue Buffalo seems to be a reputable and well run company. Life’s lessons learned through experience are usually the ones that stick! Thanks for all you do for those of us who love our pets and also for the enormous amount of time that you put into this effort with NO MONETARY COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER!