[Debbie S]

Where do I start? Some background – back in 2013 our home consisted of two parrots, a cat, Mandy a 13 yr. old female Sheltie, Shadow an 11 yr. old male Sheltie, Roxie a 4 yr. old Pomeranian and two parents. About Sept. 2013 I was stupidly giving the dogs Milo’s Chicken Jerky (small pieces), when Mandy became ill. She was vomiting, had diarrhea and was very lethargic. We admitted her to the Vet hospital and she was put on IV’s for a couple of days but there was no helping her at this point and it was recommended putting her to sleep. We did and I started researching and found about the chicken being from China! I felt horrible and wanted to die right along with Mandy. I had obviously been poisoning my babies and Mandy wasn’t strong enough to fight it.
Fast forward to May 2014. We had been feeding Blue Buffalo Senior Grain Free dry and Blue Buffalo Family Favorite Recipes (various chicken/turkey flavors) mixture twice a day. Every single treat that we gave was made in the U.S.A. Shadow stopped eating any treats that were hard, would eat around the kibble and started acting strange even for him. At that point we started cooking chicken breast and white rice. (Then we find out rice can be toxic also). None of the dogs ever turned down the sweet potato that I give daily to the parrots. We took him to the vet thinking he may be having teeth problems. Nothing. Maybe a slight gum infection so he was put on a mild antibiotic. He still had his slight heart murmur but nothing to worry about. Exactly a week later on May 7th he was really restless, couldn’t find a place to lay down and about 11:30 pm he came out of the bedroom panting extremely heavy and drooling, I knew immediately something was wrong, woke up my husband, and called the vets for the emergency location. We hopped in the car, with me carrying him and he was panting louder than I’ve ever heard anyone breathe. We were almost there when Shadow bucked up into my chest and flopped down. He was gone.. supposedly by heart attack and they pronounced him DOA.

Now we only have Roxie and she has been as depressed as we are. She’s normally a little pig with treats and always cleaning others bowls if they walked away. She basically stopped eating, laid around and was totally depressed. Knowing this, we gave her time because she wasn’t acting ill and since she was a little overweight it wouldn’t hurt her to not eat as much as normal. Then she started turning down hard treats, and not eating the kibble in her food just like Shadow did. We took her to the vets after a couple of weeks of this because I was so anxious after the last couple of years and losing two of our babies. The vet took X-rays and a full panel of blood work. When he laid her on her back, her tongue turned blue so he was concerned. But her blood work was perfect and the only thing showing on the X-rays was the extra fat she was carrying which is effecting her breathing and probably the cause of her blue tongue.

We changed her food because she has to lose 1.5 – 2 pounds so we tried Hill’s Ideal Balance Slim and Healthy Adult mixed with the comparable canned food which was weird for us because we had always steered away from anything of Hill’s. Now after reading about it I want to stop feeding her that even though she loves it and is eating well again.

I need advice on what to feed a large framed five year old Pomeranian currently weighing 11 1/2 lbs. who needs to weigh no more than 10 lbs. She has arthritis starting in her knees and has just recently started constantly licking her lips. In the past we have just let them run the fenced back yard using the doggy door but I’ve started taking Roxie on nightly walks to help the weight loss along.

I’m thinking of Wellness Core Reduced Fat & the canned Weight Maintenance mixed or one of the Merrick choices. Any suggestions are appreciated since this seems like a very intelligent group.

• This topic was modified 11 years, 8 months ago by Debbie S.

[aquariangt]

Shinku won’t eat fancy feast. Or sheba. or simply nourish-pate, stews, or bisques. doesn’t eat wellness pate. no blue buffalo…. i’m going to try those sliced wellness you said, and also the weruva and tiki cat. She’s a peach

[Tina]

Anyone own a Golden Retriever? If so what do you feed yours?
My Golden Retriever Angel is 8 years old and has these problems;
*dry skin
*itchy skin
*red skin
*scabs all over back, chest and tail
*weak hip and joints
*Gains weight really quick
*eats very fast
*Very gassy
She is on Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Senior along with Hill’s Science Diet Large Breed Adult and Wellness Simple Salmon and Potato mixed in. She has only had chicken her entire life. These are the brands that she has tried as a puppy and a adult;
*Eukanuba Puppy
*Purina Pro Plan Puppy
*Purina One Adult
*Hill’s Science Diet Large Breed Adult
*Royal Canine Golden Retriever
*Blue Buffalo Large Breed Senior
*Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Senior
*Wellness Simple Salmon and Potato
None of these I was happy with and none of them did the trick except for Royal Canine (kinda). What can you suggest? I’m open to ANY suggestions, including all life stages dog food. She will eat anything and I mean anything at all. My only stipulation is that I can find the brand in multiple stores. She never gets bored of the same brand or flavor.

Thank You All

[Taylor D]

I have been an avid follower to this forum and website and decided to finally register to participate, not just because I have a question, although I do 🙂

I own three female Golden Retrievers. Misty is 10, Daisi is 6, and Lena is 7 months.

After much research and reading Hound Dog Mom’s list of Large Breed Dog Foods (I even printed it out) I decided to feed Lena Wellness CORE Puppy for her first year.
She made the switch great (she was eating Blue Buffalo Wilderness at breeders) and is doing great on it. Her coat is sooo soft.
The thing I have noticed is if I give her too much of that kibble, she will get soft poop.
I know this is a high protein/ high fat food and I should be giving her less than what the bag says.
She is a good weight now, nice and lean, no ribs or hips showing, although I can feel her ribs. But she is small for her age!
She weighs 30 pounds and she is 7 months!
She is only gaining about 5-10 pounds a month.
I am feeding her 2 and a half cups of the puppy food a day, divided among three meals, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
She does fine on that amount, poop is fine. When I try to increase the amount, she gets soft poop.
I do pour some fresh raw goat milk in with her food each meal when I am increasing her food, and sometimes it keeps the soft poop away but not all the time.
I know why she gets the soft poop, and I know she is of good weight for her size, no ribs are showing.
But she is small for her age and breed.
Is it possible she is not getting the calcium she needs, because of the decreased amount I am feeding her, because of the protein rich food?
Wouldn’t the calcium levels listed for the food be for an average serving size?
Wouldn’t it be okay to feed her a food slightly lower in protein maybe around 30-32%, instead of the 36% in Wellness Core Puppy, but with slightly higher levels of calcium?

Their is a Slow Growth Method of feeding Goldens or large breeds that some breeders recommend following. Even with the Slow Growth Method, Lena should weigh at least 65 pounds for her age.

I also know high protein is not a problem for large breeds.

I was just wondering if I could switch her to a good 4.5-5 star grain free food with 30-32% protein with higher levels of calcium. Or even a 35%+ protein food with higher levels of calcium, since I would still be feeding her less than the amount listed on bag.

[arwyru24]

My cat that has what seems to be an iron stomach, seems to have environmental allergies/sensitivities. He was overgrooming bald patches on his legs and under his arm pits so among other things I switched from a clay litter to Tidy Cats pure naturals and I mix in Blue Buffalo clumping since its been on sale. I don’t really have a go to at this time.

[raam]

Hi, my 6 month old Belgian Malinois pup has had three bouts of giardia. Every time he was on Panacur, he lost interest in his food and it stayed that way after, preferring to starve himself rather than eat. In his short life I switched him from Blue Buffalo Wilderness LBP to Fromm LBP, and then after his last bout switched to Farmina LBP.

He initially went nuts over the Farmina, so I was surprised he lost taste for that as well (he always found the BB and Fromm a bit ‘meh’ to begin with). Before the giardia he also had beautiful solid, dark poops after switching to Farmina, though it hasn’t solidified since (although he was tested negative at the last fecal checkup).

I was hoping it would change with a strict feeding schedule (it’s there for 15 mins, then I take away), but it has been a month and a half and he still dislikes the kibble, only eating a minimum. I now mix it with a bit of wet food because he was getting too skinny.

Any people with similar situations or advice? I feel stuck between wanting to stick it out or switching yet again (I was considering Acana LBP).

Our trainer suggested he might be allergic to chicken, but he has no symptoms other than mushy poop and a dislike for his kibble.

[Susan]

Hi, Omayra has ur little man been fleaed? as that is probably causing his itch, a nice bath & a good flea product like frontline should keep the fleas away Frontline make a really good spray, I dont know if it can be used on pups u’d have to check..food allergies are rare especially a 3month old pup, only around 5% of dogs will suffer food allergies, some may be intolarant to certain foods, & have food intolarences also look at the Fat% on ur treats alot of treats are high in fat & you can only give a few treats a day as they can cause diarrhea & muchy poo.. its best to use ur dogs daily kibble (Blue Buffalo) as a treat when training…..make sure you keep up with his worming….sounds like u are both sharing ur little boy so make sure that you both arent giving treats at different times & just use some of his kibble as a treat…
Someone else will have to help with the Raw as my boy is on kibble & home cooked chicken & pumkin..sounds like ur little boy has a loving caring home..

[Omayra R]

Hello all.

My sister adopted a puppy last month and he is the first dog to be our family member. He will be 3 months old tomorrow (June 8th).

We were told to feed him dry mixed with wet 4 times a day, up until July 19th. After that, 3 times a day dry.

His dry is the Blue Buffalo holistic life protection brand, and his wet is Wellness for puppies. For training treats we have Organix peanut butter cookies and Fruitables pumpkin and apple flavor.

Now his poop is finally coming out solid, but at the end it’s a little mushy. From my understanding, poop must be solid and not that smelly. At first he was pooping diarrhea, but that was before he got his deworming shot. After the shot, no more diarrhea but would like it his poop to be more solid and a tad bit smelly. This morning he pooped a lot! He hasn’t pooped since. I asked my sister how often does he poop now and she hasn’t been paying attention, so bare with me. As I don’t live with my family and the dog. I stay over the weekends to watch over him. Since I have a more flexible schedule, I can take him to the vet etc.

I notice after he eats, he gets itchy. I’m wondering if he has any food allergies? I know this mix is prone to skin sensitivity. I want that itching to stop. Also read that tear stains are more proned to his food, not breed. We clean his eyes often but would to see that decrease. It’s not excessive though.

Can anyone here suggest me a new diet, please? I’m looking into the raw brand route but i’m not sure how many times a day with these foods. Sorry, this all so new to me.

I’m also in the process of looking for a well reputable holistic vet. I’m just do terrified of all the horror stories with vets and diets I’ve been reading online.

We want the very best for our little guy.

Thank you 🙂

[Bobby dog]

Hi Leslie R:
Canned food is high in moisture, maybe stews have a little more moisture than pate’? IDK Check out these brands: Wellness Core, Blue Buffalo Wilderness, By Nature 95%, Hound & Gatos, and EVO & EVO 95%. Some of these canned foods may not be supplemented with vitamins, they are only for supplemental feeding. I am not sure if they are what you are looking for, but they could be a place to start. Some canned foods that are low in carbs may be high in fat. You didn’t write what kind of health he is in, other than his diagnosis, so these may or may not be good for him depending on his current health condition.

Also, I read the other suggestions you received about making homemade food for him. You could always look into feeding both homemade and canned as well.

Here’s a DFA link about calculating carbs in dog food that may be helpful:
/choosing-dog-food/dog-food-carbohydrate-content/
I love JRT’s, good luck finding what he needs!

[Akari_32]

I don’t know if I could do canned or not. “Good” canned food isn’t a popular thing around here. It’s pretty much Wellness or Natures Variety, or Mr. Pretend Good Blue Buffalo, as far as that goes. Everything else is like Pro Plan and Science Diet. Though Walmart does have Pure Balance…. And I can look online, and see of I can find anything.

And about the premixes, I think doing no carbs (or as little as possible) is best. This dog smells like a rag used to clean up milk that was left in the sun for a week @.@ So if I did canned, it’s have to be like the 95% ones.

I’ve been looking around at home made and raw sites. Kind of hard on my phone, but I’m getting ideas 🙂 I’ll look into that site, as well.

Does anyone have any links to good prices supplements?

[Tina]

Anyone own a Golden Retriever? If so what do you feed yours? My Golden Retriever Angel is 8 years old and has these problems;
*dry skin
*itchy skin
*red skin
*weak hip and joints (she is on cohesion for this)
*sometimes over weight
*eats very fast
She is on Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Senior along with other small bags of stuff mixed in. She has only had chicken her entire life and as a younger puppy/adult was on;
*Eukanuba Puppy
*Purina Pro Plan Puppy
*Purina One Adult
*Hill’s Science Diet Large Breed Adult
*Royal Canine Golden Retriever
*Blue Buffalo Large Breed Senior
*Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Senior
None of these I was happy with and none of them did the trick except for Royal Canine (kinda). What can you suggest? I’m open to ANY suggestions, including all life stages dog food. My only thing is that I need it to be inexpensive, not cheap but not like $80 for a 24lb bag.

[DogFoodie]

I’d switch the pup immediately. He already has loose stool, so a quick switch wouldn’t hurt. Something he’s eating doesn’t agree with him and the longer he’s exposed to it, the more damage that it can do to his gut. It sounds like he’s been eating the Blue Buffalo for at least a little while, is that right? A good I found that was very easy to make a quick switch to is NutriSource. I used the Adult Chicken & Rice when I needed to make a fast switch with a pup of mine.

I’d pay close attention to the ingredients in what you’re feeding and your pups reaction to the food in an effort to try to determine the offending ingredients. I ended up with a spreadsheet with one of mine before I figured out that he can’t eat fish in any form, chickpeas or garlic (garlic, of all things).

Personally, I wouldn’t feed any Blue Buffalo products.

[Patrice M]

I have a 16 month old Standard Poodle (Jake). He has a ton of energy and very happy. He is the coolest dog in the world. (lol) Anyways, he has never been a big eater but he does eat. Some days he will eat 4 cups some days he wont eat at all. I have tried feeding him twice and three times a day but that didn’t seem to matter, so now I free feed him. He is 24 inches from the floor to the top of his shoulder and only weighs 39 pounds. The vet recommended Eukanuba High Performance food but I see here it is not rated very high. Can any one suggest a food to help put weight on my dog and still be a good healthy food. He also by the way has gas issues with some foods. He is eating blue buffalo puppy now and no gas (unless he eats the cat food) but we have been through several that either gave him runny stools or bad gas. I suppose if I could feed him cat food he would fatten up a bit but I’m sure that’s no good for him.

[Tina]

Anyone own a Golden Retriever? If so what do you feed yours? My Golden Retriever Angel is 8 years old and has these problems;
*dry skin
*itchy skin
*red skin
*weak hip and joints (she is on cohesion for this)
*sometimes over weight
*eats very fast
She is on Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Senior along with other small bags of stuff mixed in. She has only had chicken her entire life and as a younger puppy/adult was on;
*Eukanuba Puppy
*Purina Pro Plan Puppy
*Purina One Adult
*Hill’s Science Diet Large Breed Adult
*Royal Canine Golden Retriever
*Blue Buffalo Large Breed Senior
*Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Senior
None of these I was happy with and none of them did the trick except for Royal Canine (kinda). What can you suggest? I’m open to ANY suggestions, including all life stages dog food. My only thing is that I need it to be inexpensive, not cheap but not like $80 for a 24lb bag.

[Martha T]

I was wondering if you could explain why on
your regular dog food advisor website you show blue Buffalo Steve’s as a five-star wet food. When I ask you about it on editors choice you gave me a thumbs down please explain

[Akari_32]

I’m telling you, it’s those Blue Buffalo treats! He’s crazy for them. If I want him to come and he’s not coming when called, I just shake the bag and he comes running XD

[Akari_32]

Going to be picking up 96 cans of Sheba up up here in the next few days. Should cost me about $20, plus tax >=3 I (conveniently lol) have it narrowed down to 8 flavors (no fish, and feeds at 1 can per 4 pounds), which means 12 of each flavor. That’ll fit right into my 30-ish day set up of food, with some extra, and I also plan on another 15 cans of price matched Wellness, which should cost me about $5. And that odd number will take care of that pesky extra can of tuna Wellness Grain Free I have laying around, since he gets two cans a day of the Wellness. Yay!

Also, I’m teaching him to shake. Because I apparently have nothing better to do with my life LOL He’s doing really good, and this is our first real try tonight. He could eat his weight in those Blue Buffalo cat treats if I let him. We must have went through about 20 tonight! LOL When he gets better at it I’ll share a video :3

[Martha T]

I was just wondering why on your dog food advisor page you have blue Buffalo wet stews listed as a five-star dog food. And then when I ask you on the top choices page about it I kind of got a thumbs down. Will you please explain.

• This topic was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Mike Sagman. Reason: Fix Duplicate Topic Title

[Phil S]

Yes, Blue Buffalo is privately owned, but they currently do not make their own food. They have several co-packers to make their food …
American Nutrition, Hazle Township, PA
CJ Foods, Bern, KS
ProPet, St. Mary’s, OH and Owatonna, MN
Triple T Foods, Frontenac, KS
Tuffy’s Pet Foods, Perham, MN

[aquariangt]

There are a few blue buffalo threads out there, I would go read those and you will see some of the reasons that it potentially isn’t on there. Many (myself included) do not trust them as a whole

[Kritterlady]

What will it take for Blue Buffalo to make the list?

[Martha T]

What are your thoughts on the blue Buffalo Stews, on the dog food advisor page you have them listed as a five-star dog food.

[cindy q]

Rosie is only 7 mos almost 8 so we don’t really have favorites yet, but she has eaten Blue Buffalo wilderness her stools were very loose on it so we switched to Merrick grain free dry and topped with Merrick canned. I really wanted her to like The Honest Kitchen, but she didn’t.

[Naturella]

Omg, just 5??? Lol. Well, let’s see… from what I’ve fed… I’d say:

Victor Grain Free (particularly the Ultra Professional)
THK all
Canned Merrick (the minced/pate style ones only – Bruno didn’t do so well on the stew ones for some reason…)
Canned Wellness Core
Annndddd…. I really can’t pick a winner for #5 from the ones I’ve fed so far… I like Earthborn Holistic, Dr. Tim’s Kinesis Grain Free, Holistic Health Extension, Nutrisca, Blue Buffalo Wilderness, Now Fresh, and Nature’s Variety Instinct… I guess, if I have to elicit a winner it will be Dr. Tim’s…

But, I really want to try Orijen, Acana, Go!, Back to Basics, and Wellness Core (in kibbles). Also TOTW both kibbles and canned, and Annamaet. So I have a long way to go… But so far so good. 🙂

[Tina]

My GSD mix has become very finicky over the past few weeks. In both the mornings and afternoons he will either turn his nose up or take a bite and then walk away. I’ve tried adding fresh chicken and chicken broth but he eats the chicken right out of it. Other techniques I’ve tried include, changing flavors of wet food, changing brands of wet food, changing both brands and flavors of wet food, changing textures of wet food and last changing dry food. He’s tried Hill’s Science Diet (Wet and Dry), Blue Buffalo (Wet), Wellness (Wet), Nutro (Wet and Dry) and Hill’s Ideal Balance (Wet and Dry). He’s had chicken as his protein since he was a puppy. What dog food is good for finicky eating dogs both wet and dry? What should I do?

[DogFoodie]

Huh, they actually responded; but they’re still be evasive and didn’t give a straight answer to the question I asked.

Here’s Blue Buffalo’s response:

Hi Betsy,

Thank you for taking your time to contact BLUE. While we do not purchase any of
ingredients from China, we are not provided the list of our suppliers for our
ingredients. I do apologize.

Take care,
Tracy

Blue Buffalo Co.

[Naturella]

Christina – good luck with Holistic Select, really hope it works! But do rotate proteins too! 🙂

And I second Sue – when he is on a good food, you will see him shine – the coconut oil will help too – I was shocked at Bruno’s shine after a small bag of Blue Buffalo Wilderness and a lot of THK Beams – I didn’t even realize he wasn’t shiny before that, lol!

As for the coconut oil – glad you have found the good, unrefined stuff! Make sure you give him small (1tsp-1tbs/day) but regular doses. You can give it daily – for Bruno, I give it every other day. I am sure he would eat the whole jar if I just let him, lol, but it would be much better to do it slower but more regularly, plus, I think he may “OD” on the fats, lol (JK, but I can’t imagine that a whole jar would be good, lol).

And lastly, as for the transition – it is indeed good to add plain yoghurt with lots of probiotic strains (I use Dannon Plain and Stoneyfield Organic), or plain Kefir. Also canned plain pumpkin is good too. You can add a spoonful of each with his canned and kibble and alternate at feeding times. Or add both, whichever.

[DogFoodie]

As expected, I never received a response from Blue Buffalo to my specific question asking from where their vitamin / mineral premix is sourced.

[Naturella]

Christina, I would say probably give it a few days (2-3-ish) before you add a new ingredient just so you know if he would react for sure. As for tomatoes, I guess you could put them in a blender or food processor for a few seconds until they are pretty much mush, then try them. Make sure the whole elimination diet does not last too too long, as it is not a balanced way to feed a dog, so hopefully within 10-14 days you will know if he reacts to a particular ingredient. If he doesn’t react to any of the ones listed above, I would go with a grain-free diet, or a rice-and-maybe-oatmeal-or-millet-or-barley-as-the-only-grains diet. But grain-free is generally safer for an allergy-prone dog.

One of my classmates and friends told me that her dog was extremely itchy eating Pedigree and Beneful, so I told her what I know, and she got him on a grain-free diet – said the itch has been considerably reduced to just an occasional “normal” scratch here and there. She didn’t do an elimination diet, just straight up eliminated the grains, and she was lucky her dog did not react to anything else. So that is also another way you can approach it – just try a good quality fish-based kibble and add the THK Beams as treats and coconut oil, and see how that goes. I would probably still do an elimination though, just to be sure for myself. But, it may work out that he just needs good-quality grain-free kibble.

In case you want to just try the kibble round, some good grain-free kibbles (I will just list them for your ease, in no particular order) are:
Wellness Core – I want to feed in the future
Holistic Select
Orijen – I want to feed in the future
Acana Grain Free – I want to feed in the future
Victor Grain Free – I feed now
Earthborn Holistic Grain Free – I feed now
Dr. Tim’s Kinesis Grain Free – I have fed, no issues
Holistic Health Extension Grain Free – I have fed with no issues and I feed one of their grain-inclusive formulas now
Now! Fresh – I have fed a small bag (less than 1lb) with no issues
Nutrisca – I have fed, no issues
Nature’s Variety Instinct – I will feed (have a bag lined up under the sink, lol), and I have fed samples with no issues
Back to Basics Grain Free – I will feed the grain-inclusive one (have a bag lined up under the sink also)
NutriSource Grain Free – I have fed samples with no issue but it is severely overpriced in my area so I’m not sure I would buy a bag to feed it
Taste of the Wild – some don’t like it as it is produced by Diamond and that company had a huge recall issue in 2012 that they handled poorly, but 3 friends feed/have fed it with no issues
Blue Buffalo Wilderness – I have fed with no issues but some owners report tummy and stool issues with their dogs when on Blue food. However, 2 other friends have fed/still feed Blue with no issues.

I am sure others can pitch in with more recommendations, plus, if you can afford it/want to, it really is better to feed canned/dehydrated/homemade/raw. Or you can mix them up – I feed kibble and canned/THK food/fridge add-ins (like eggs, yoghurt, raw bones, etc.). But yeah, just start off with determining what works for Chance, you can always add new things once he is at least on better food. 🙂

[Dru N]

My 9 year old American Bulldog has a inoperable tumor and has been on prednisone for the past year. His appetite is extreme. We have been feeding him FreshPet Select for about a year now. He also gets a lot of snacks. He is still losing weight and rather than increase the FreshPet which is expensive, we would like to give him a high calorie dry food in addition to the FreshPet to keep his weight up.

He should be about 120 lbs. He’s lower than that now, probably closed to 105 to 110. The last time we tried to give him Blue Buffalo he got really bad gas. He also has a lot of skin allergies. Do you have any suggestions on a dry food that would be good?

[Jose S]

What confuses me about Blue Buffalo is that, in 2007 they had a major dust up with American Nutrition (ANI) ANI was putting ingredients in Blue Buffalo’s food without their consent. Blue Buffalo called it “tampering.” The FDA chimed in as well. Blue Buffalo said they would never use ANI again. Why then, according to the Whole Dog Journal, does ANI make Blue Buffalo dry?

[Carolyn H]

Hi – I have an adolescent Rescue Cattle Collie in the city who tends to get extremely hyperactive, bordering aggressive when he’s had high protein food. I had him on Blue Buffalo Wilderness and switched to the chicken (beef upsets his stomach) Blue Buffalo Freedom. He’s starting to not like the food much and I need to make a switch. Since I’m changing, I thought I’d try to upgrade him to Solid Gold which my last dogs ate & seems to have a good review on here. My concern is the % protein in the food. I don’t want to starve him but he just can’t handle that much protein without becoming a madman!!

I am very careful to ensure he gets adequate exercise for his age/breed despite not living in the country.

[pugmomsandy]

It’s located here:

/?s=blue+buffalo

[Suburban Gal]

That said, I’ve also dealt with both puppies and picky eaters.

(I have a very long history with dogs. I just turned 37 and have never been without a dog in my life.)

In my experience, it’s best to just pick a food and stick with it. I’ve limited treat intake and have even withheld treats in an effort to get my dogs to eat their food.

Just put the food in the bowl, put the bowl down and leave it. Eventually, the dog will get hungry and eat. Don’t let the dog get the best of you either. You’re the master or pack leader. If you want the dog to eat XYZ, then this is what they’re going to eat.

The only time I’ve ever switched foods is if there was a problem and it didn’t sit well with my dogs after awhile.

I don’t know a lot about food rotation though I know some people do it.

IMHO, it’s really best to stick with one food. It’s something I’ve always been doing from the very beginning of dog ownership and it seems to work just fine. If anything, I’ll usually switch up the different kinds of hard and canned food I’m giving. In other words, I just don’t stick with Blue Buffalo Wilderness chicken. I also buy and feed turkey, duck, beef, venison, etc… . Once I’m done with the bag of duck, I buy a bag of the chicken. When I go get cans, I make sure I have a variety, at least 2 of each protein.

[Suburban Gal]

Blue Buffalo is actually a really good food.

If you’re going to go with Blue Buffalo, then I highly recommend their Wilderness line. I’ve fed that for many years to my last dog, a white German Shepherd named Lexi, and never had any problems with their Wilderness line. We’ve tried several foods with her (Wellness, Natural Balance, Holistic Select to name a few) and found Blue Buffalo’s Wilderness to be a very top notch food. I wouldn’t suggest anything else in their line (Life Protection, Freedom, Basics, etc…) other than their Wilderness line. It’s the absolute best of what they carry.

[ChristieRS]

I had used BB here for my little ones, but one of my Yorkies ended up with colitis. She was hospitalized for IV therapy (fluids, antibiotic) for 2 days. Horribly bloody diarrhea, severe dehydration, listless and dull personality. She is my “healthy” dog, the only one who doesn’t get liver support therapies. I attribute the illness to BB. I found complaints at http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/blue_buffalo.html that caused me to cease the use of BB immediately just over a year ago. So many there had furbabies that had the same symptoms as my little Yorkie. Now, looking at the complaints, they haven’t slowed down. I have a total of five furbabies (4 canine, 1 feline), 3 of the 4 doggies have liver impaired and receive lactulose (helps rid body of toxins) and Denamarin daily. I attribute their not ending up with colitis to their daily regimens. Two of them did have diarrhea while the one was so sick.

[DogFoodie]

I asked Blue Buffalo to tell me exactly from where do they source their vitamin / mineral premix; this was their response:

Hi Betsy,

Thank you for taking the time to contact BLUE. Our foods all are manufactured
here in the USA. Many of our ingredients, such as our grains and meats, come
from the USA except for our lamb and venison which can be free range from New
Zealand. Where possible our suppliers are instructed to source their ingredients
from the US. Where the ingredients are not readily available in the US, such as
many vitamins, minerals and nutriceuticals, our suppliers will only work with
reputable foreign companies, and subject all ingredients to rigorous quality
testing. We do not source any ingredients from China. All of our ingredients
are USDA approved and inspected.

I hope this helps!

Take care,

Tracy
Blue Buffalo Co.

I responded that no, that the response didn’t help and asked my question again.

Talk about spin. She tells me that when ingredients aren’t available in the U.S., their suppliers work with reputable foreign companies. But, she tells me that “we” don’t supply anything from China. She fails to tell me whether or not their suppliers procure vitamins / minerals from China. I’m sure they do, but it’s fun watching them try to make it looks as if they don’t.

[Hound Dog Mom]

To me there’s a big difference between saying “Our food contains X” (when it doesn’t) or “Our food is free of Y” (when it contains Y) as opposed to using undefined terms such as wholesome/healthy/etc. as descriptors for a product that may or may not be those things depending on opinion. To me outright lying about ingredients and putting a marketing “spin” on a product are two different things entirely. I don’t think what Blue Buffalo is allegedly doing is in any way similar to how Purina presents their products.

[Tina]

Purina vs Blue Buffalo Update

http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2014/05/07/pet-wars-blue-buffalo-fires-back-at-purina-over-food-quality-claim/

I found this statement very interesting

Blue Buffalo uses third-party co-manufacturers to produce its foods, but Bishop said the company provides all of its own ingredients. Bishop said, however, that he trusts his manufacturers and that his firm has “people watching the manufacturers” closely for quality-control purposes.

[Tina]

I know that Nutro Ultra isn’t on any of the lists but is this a good food? I can’t really afford Wellness and I’m not using Blue Buffalo at all. Has anyone ever used Nutro Ultra before?

[Mom2Cavs]

Jess, you may be right but where did you read about a lawsuit against Diamond? I don’t feed Diamond products anymore, but was just wondering. I do know that Blue Buffalo is being sued by Purina recently, but that’s it.

[Hound Dog Mom]

The information can all be found here: http://truthaboutpetfood.com/purina-sues-blue-buffalo

According to Purina:

Two samples of Blue Buffalo Life Protection Chicken & Brown Rice Formula (which claimed to be free of chicken by-products) were tested at an independent laboratory and sample 1 was found to contain 25% chicken by-product (by mass) and sample 2 was found to contain 24% chicken by-product (by mass).

The life source bits were tested as well for the nutrients they claimed to contain and were found to contain none or less than the amount in the kibble itself.

I’m very interested in seeing how this all plays out.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 9 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 9 months ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[Tina]

Who do you think will win?

Purina – http://petfoodhonesty.com/thecomplaint.php#.U2kpofldVnA/?utm_campaign=adhoc&utm_medium=email&utm_source=exacttarget_PPUA_052014_01&utm_content=corporate-PU-NL_petfoodhonesty_cival_case

http://www.petfoodhonesty.com

Purina Sues Blue Buffalo

Purina started off in 1894 as a livestock and animal food products. Eventually they worked their way to other pet care products and they’ve bloosomed ever since.

Blue Buffalo – http://www.bluebuffalo.com/news/nestle-purina-response

Blue Buffalo was founded in 2002, (not that long ago) and thats all the information I could find about it.

Here’s another link that you might want to check out on Science Diet Sues Blue Buffalo http://truthaboutpetfood.com/science-diet-vs-blue-buffalo-again

Personally I believe that these top name company’s wouldn’t sue Blue Buffalo if they didn’t know that they were talking about.

[InkedMarie]

Purina Sues Blue Buffalo

[Kritterlady]

I’m new, I was wondering why Blue Buffalo Wilderness was not on recommended list since it gets very high ratings?

[Sarah Y]

I give blue buffalo freedom (also grain free) to my beagle. He has anal gland issues and I found he does better on the freedom food. He also eats this food each and every time. I have given him Merrick, Innova, and Wellness. Innova made his anal glands worse and he was a little picky over the Merrick and Wellness. I love both of those brands though!

P.S. edited to add: Sharyorkie, the freedom isn’t high in protein and is a grain free food

• This reply was modified 11 years, 9 months ago by Sarah Y.

[Tina]

Have you had a personal experience with Blue Buffalo dog food? Was the experience bad or good? Please tell me your personal experience with Blue Buffalo dog food. Are the ingredients all from the United States like they say or are some from China?

[sharyorkie]

I tried the Blue Buffalo(original) my Yorkies just did not eat it . I was going to try the Wilderness but the protein is so high.

[Naturella]

I agree that a lot of people seem to have issues with Blue Buffalo, and this is not good. However, there are the few (apparently) whose dogs have done well on it. If I were to be asked to make a recommendation to someone about dog food, I would base it off of personal experience and research, and regarding Blue Buffalo, I can say that Bruno did wonderfully on the Wilderness Puppy for about 4 months, until I decided to rotate him out of it, just because rotating foods is good, not because of issues. I would say that I will keep Wilderness in our rotation because he’s done well on it, and because I know of 3 other dogs (in 2 separate households) who also have been feeding Blue (one constantly, which is not that great, the other in rotation) and their dogs have been ok too. Nonetheless, I can say that I have read about many who experience issues with it, but I really believe that it comes down to individual dogs and their guts for the most part. It is important that everyone closely monitors their dog and watch for reactions, then act accordingly. I have never had to contact the company, so I don’t know how their customer service is.

And I think the above goes for just about any food I have fed, or read a lot about. Still, no matter how much I read about foods, I will have to feed it to my dog personally in order to form my own opinion based on experience. There are many many foods I want to feed based on profile alone (and some forumers’ or friends’ opinions of them) – Wellness Core, Nature’s Variety Instinct, Wysong Epigen or Wysong 90, Victor (feeding a bit of it now, but want a full bag to really test it out), AvoDerm Trout (just that one, lol), Taste of the Wild and Canidae Pure (yes, yes, I know about Diamond and the recalls), Merrick Grain Free, Orijen (drool) and maybe Acana, Back to Basics (got a bag in the cabinet waiting its turn to be opened), Fromm, Darwin’s, The Honest Kitchen (when I’m rich, lol), etc. I don’t even know if Bruno’s lifetime will allow me to rotate through them once, let alone twice, lol.

So yeah, that’s my 2 cents.

[aquariangt]

Blue Buffalo looks good on paper, but unfortunately many people have issues with them, and they’re cryptic with their processing