[Elena B]

Hello,

I have a Goldendoodle named Penny. She is almost 7 months old. We got her from a breeder at 8 weeks and after a few days at home she started having soft poo. Like really soft and sometimes it has mucus sections. She has been checked by the vet multiple times and has had a fecal test which came back negative. She has been on 5 different foods, including i/d food that the vet recommended but nothing helps. She was on a medication for a week which she did great with but one day after the meds ended she was back to the soft poo. The vet thinks it’s an allergy issue which is why he have been trying different food.
She’s been on:
Canidae Pure foundations Puppy formula- chicken
Blue Buffalo Basics Puppy- Turkey and Potato (with chicken)
i/d Vet recommended food
Natural Balance Limited Fish & Sweet Potato
Merrick Limited Turkey & Sweet Potato

She has tried a bland diet of chicken and rice but that gives her diarrhea. We tried probiotics and that gave her diarrhea as well.
The only thing that I found works for her is cooked sweet potato and turkey and I add slippery elm. If she eats this alone then her poo is great. But this becomes expensive a lot of work.
I’ve tried adding sweet potato to her kibble but its hit and miss. Her poo will be formed and normal maybe 1 out of 6 times.

Can anyone suggest anything?

[aimee]

Hi sascha k,

The difference between what veterinarians recommend and food ratings sites such as this one occurs because different criteria are valued. Ratings sites usually focus on the ingredient panel and use that to rate the diet. Veterinary nutritionists and PhD nutritionists overwhelmingly report that you can not tell anything about he quality of the diet by looking at an ingredient list.

The following quotes are from Dr. Remillard a board certified veterinary nutritionist taken from her site petdiets dot com

“Sorry. The ingredients list cannot and should not be used to assess the quality of a dog food. Please disregard the self proclaiming pundits who say you can. It simply cannot be done. In fact AAFCO and FDA guard against it.”

and “I recommend pet food brands that have high quality control procedures and monitoring in place. A review of the ingredient list on a pet food product is not a good way to evaluate or rank a pet food regardless of how hard or detailed some people have tried to be. The pet food bag information lacks the necessary information needed to fully and accurately evaluate pet food quality.”

Veterinary nutritionists ask questions like “Does the company employ a veterinary or PhD nutritionist? Who formulated the diet? Is a nutrient analysis available? What is the digestibility of the diet? What quality control is being used? Can the company answer basic nutritional questions correctly? Does the company invest in nutritional research? Is the marketing material appropriate? …..

You can find information on how nutritionists would recommend you to evaluate diet at wsava dot org/nutrition-toolkit Scroll down to the bottom and you’ll find the link to selecting the best food for your pet.

Sadly what I have found is that foods that are rated 5 star are often made by “marketing companies” by that I mean the company has little to no knowledge of nutrition but know how to make a food that people will buy. The founder of Blue Buffalo reports he got into dog food manufacturing because “ “Slap on a good label, come up with a slogan, and off you go,…..There were already a lot of smoke and mirrors in how pet food was advertised, and that was the sort of stuff we were good at.”

When you look at companies from a perspective of nutritional knowledge/ ingredient testing/ quality control which are the criteria veterinary nutritionists are using to measure a food’s quality a whole different perspective is gained.

So when a veterinary nutritionist was asked, “I have a 20 week old black lab. What is the best food to feed him?” Dr Remillard answered “I would suggest a Large breed growth food from either Purina, Hill’s or Royal Canin given there are no regulatory requirements for such a food but each of these companies have done and continue to do original research on preventing developmental bone disease in large breed dogs.”

General practice veterinarians often take recommendations from the specialists in their respective fields and so likely will recommend the foods that the specialists recommend.

Hope this helps to explain why veterinarians recommend the foods they do.

Dr Remillard’s website is petdiets dot com and there is question and answer forum you might find helpful. Dr Weeth has a blog at weethnutrtition dot wordpress dot com that has several general articles on food evaluation.

[Sarah H]

I am getting an 8 week old Shih Tzu Puppy in a couple weeks. I have been reading a lot of reviews and I am torn between Blue Buffalo and Wellness. Any opinions? They both make Small Breed Puppy food in dry and Puppy food (not size specific) in wet. I realize there are some super premium brands with somewhat higher ratings but if I am going to stick to one brand I prefer to go with something I know I can find at Petsmart. I feed my cat some of these super premium brands which I buy at the smaller stores, in addition to the brands I buy at Petsmart, but I understand that puppies should stick to one brand. The breeders currently feed the puppies Purina Puppy Chow (yuck) and Mighty Dog (double yuck), so I know I will have to introduce the new food gradually. Also, should I stick to a puppy food for the wet food or is a small breed adult wet food OK? Also what size portion of wet/dry food for an 8 week old puppy? I have read that before 3 months old they should free feed the dry food and have wet food at meal times. Thanks in advance!

[Dina Kouveliotes]

Blue Buffalo was a disaster for my dog too. Went right through her. I tried Orijen, great food, but soft poop. So I found Petcurean NOW Fresh Large Breed and I’m all set now, dog is perfect on the food. I tried to switch to Fromm, but again soft poop…so I hope Pstcurean stays in business and continues to make the same food or I’m screwed! 😉

[Dina Kouveliotes]

My GSD has done very well on Petcurean NOW Fresh large breed, both puppy and adult. The adult kibble is very big too so no inhaling of food!

I tried Fromm, Orijen, Halo and blue buffalo – she could not tolerate.

I also add flaxseed and coconut daily, pumpkin about 4x a week, scrambled eggs about 3x a week and/or Stella and chewy freeze dried patties…I stay away from chicken, that protein source has had the most recalls. I use the beef, lamb or surf and turf.

Good luck!

[Allison C]

I noticed that some dog food nowadays infuse th kibble content with freeze-dried raw bits (e.g.Merrick Backcountry). Petco employee says that freeze dried bits are more nutrition packed therefore better than dry kibbles (please correct me if I’m wrong). I googled it to find more info, but those were just too broad and ambiguous.

My dogs are notoriously picky and slow eaters that if they sense that something is mixed within their food, they would spit them out or eat around the “foreign”. For instance, Blue Buffalos don’t work for us because my dogs don’t eat lifesource bits. Or sometimes when my dogs refuse to eat, I mix in blue buffalo wilderness biscuits (the ones with 30% protein) in their bowl but again, my dogs would only pick those out and leave the kibbles. So if I decide to buy this, I’m unsure whether my dogs would eat around the bits or eat those exclusively. But if the raw bits are better, I don’t mind feeding my dogs 100% freeze dried raw bits.

So my questions are

1. Are freeze-dried raw bits better than high quality dry kibble? Better how?
2. Are they easily digestible for older dogs?
3. In general, do they taste better? Will the dogs like them? (has anyone tasted it? I know I taste dog food all the time…)

[Susan]

Hi again there’s also Pro Pac Ultimates Large Breed Puppy Chicken & Rice formula made by Earthborn Holistic, Pro Pac may be a bit cheaper & doesn’t have as many ingredients as the Holistic Select kibbles have…. also if he did well on his last kibble then find another kibble with similar ingredients & around the same fat % & fiber % if his stool were firm on the Blue Buffalo Puppy…..
http://intl.propacultimates.com/natural-dog-food/large-breed-puppy-chicken-brown-rice/

[Kaci G]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 10 month old coonhound/Rottweiler mix with a problem. Up until last week we had him on Blue Buffalo’s puppy dry food and he was eating fine. He’s very high energy and it’s hard for him to focus on anything for long so eating can be challenging but after a recent vet visit where the vet advised me that he’s underweight and needs to gain weight, he’s stopped eating his food. Now, he’s only eating his brother’s food and treats, which is an adult salmon/sweet potato dry food. Of course, this food is not what he needs to gain weight. I was thinking about maybe trying a puppy wet/dry food mix? He definitely has a sensitive stomach, he can’t eat too much or he throws up. I was wondering if anyone might have any recommendations for a good wet food, I’ve never had a dog on wet food before, let alone one with a sensitive stomach. Thank you for any suggestions!

[InkedMarie]

Hi Michelle,
No proof just my opinion that breed specific food is just a sales pitch. All dogs are different in a specific breed. Blue Buffalo has had it’s share of problems; I wouldn’t feed it. If you do a google search for Dr. Karen Beckers video on the best food, you’ll see that she feels a high quality wet food (canned, raw, dehydrated) is better than dry. Dry food is dehydrating to dogs (according to her). If you must feed dry, at least add warm water to it and/or canned.
I doubt one grape will cause any kidney problems. Don’t bother talking dog food with your vet unless it’s a holistic vet or nutritionist. They get very little nutrition education in vet school.
Why do you think she has a skin allergy? Pick a food and stick with it. If you keep changing foods because you think she doesn’t like it, you’re going to create a picky eater. Switching foods often is a great thing to do but leave her on one food for a bag, or more, then transition to something else.

[Gracee Sunshine Alexiss]

I want to first apologize for my previous 2 posts as I think I should have posted them in a different part of the forum. Thank you for being patient and and answering my questions anyway. ok are breed specific brands such as royal canin any better than Blue Buffalo? and is a dry kibble better than wet? or should there be a combinatio? anyway I think she may have a skin allergy Im still investigating that. If you read my previous post you read that I gave my 8 week old a grape that she ate a pretty good part of and played with the rest for an hour or so to find out a month later to my absolute horror that they are quite toxic. I mention that as I am worried about kidney damage but have yet to make a move concerning that because of personal issues right now. She was also fed an adult type dog food not sure what kind I havent been able to contact my aunt as she is on vacation. I transitioned her the best I could to Wellness Tru Food she didnt seem to like it too much especially the little yellow pieces avoiding them completely but she is now coming close to the end of the bag and i want to gradually get her on a food that is allergen free and tasty. I feed her grilled chicken with her food every now and then and sometime for reward when training. She gets hiccups fequently but they subside quickly and doesnt seem to cause her any discomfort. Sooo taking all this into consideration….any suggestions and recommendations are greatly appreciated. I am going to ask about food from my vet but i would appreciate experienced suggestions as well. thank you to all who take the time to read my endless and frequent posts. you are greatly appreciated. thank you again,
Michelle and Gracee (my sunshine)

[Rebecca L]

Is Blue Buffalo dry or canned food any good?

Rebecca L.
Member
[email protected]

[CRYSTAL C]

My 2 year old beagle “Henry” just started doing this. I now call him “Gulpy McCrazy Eyes” when he starts the frantic licking, eating grass and gagging that leads to vomit (at night). I have been feeding him Blue Buffalo Salmon & potato limited ingredient grain free since I got him a few months ago. He eats twice a day. And since we are in training, he gets lots of treats, but only grain free. It all started with a throat irritation that was the result of him sticking his head out the window that was down partially and I slammed on my breaks when a giant duck flew across the road in front of my car. He coughed for a while, but otherwise acted ok. I stopped using the gentle leader because it seemed to make his throat worse. Even though the gentle leader is the best thing to happen to dog-walking EVER, we will use the harness. Laying him down and rubbing belly seems to help the gulping subside. It seems to build upon anxiety. not sure about acid reflux yet. But may try pepto and magnesium before pepcid.
I will try natural remedies before expensive vet and stressful procedures. I take pro-biotics myself for digestion…Another option for those who suffer from allergies is ALLERPLEX. I love it and highly recommend it for both humans and our four-legged friends. Thank you for all your comments. I am glad I read this thread before freaking out and wasting time and money!

[Christie]

My puppy and 6 year old have been on Whole Earth Farms Chicken and Turkey dry and wet for the past few months now (after switching from Ideal Balance puppy and adult dry foods). I’m not exactly thrilled at Merrick’s decision to partner up with Purina, despite the company’s saying that it won’t be changing the formula. For now. And since WEF is owned by Merrick, I really don’t want to support Purina by way of buying a Merrick product.

I’m not running out tomorrow to make a change…any change to the product will most likely take time if it happens. But I’m not fully invested in the brand and neither dog ‘loves’ the food. I’m really just biding my time until the puppy is old enough to eat adult food and I can switch both to an “Adult” quality food.

For now, I’m stuck with All Life Stages food. I saw in the ratings that Berkley & Jensen dry food is 4 stars. It’s the same price per pound as the WEF dry (BJs Chicken formula) and it has some really good reviews. Does anyone have experience with the brand? And I see that they also have a wet food line, but it isn’t rated here.

During a recent trip to the vet, the doc admonished me on choosing a ‘holistic brand’ because they typically lead to stool, hair and digestive issues. She told me that she only buys Royal Canin for her dogs and recommended that. The previous vet told me (when I was feeding my adult dog Blue Buffalo) that the BB was terrible and to feed my dog what he feeds his: Purina Pro Plan.

[Jamie D]

All of the Blue Buffalo foods are Corn and Wheat free. The Blue Buffalo Basics has no egg and no chicken.

[Barbara S]

I was looking for quality affordable dog foods the last time I purchased same and wound up buying a large bag of Buffalo Blue, which happened to be on sale. Sure, the bag cost $44, but I would have put out $20-$22 for a bag each over two months, so it worked out the same. It’s amazing how everything goes up except one’s salary. 🙁

[Jenn H]

I had a dog (GSD) who also got ear infections from grains. He also has difficulty w/ chicken. That’s way back when grain-free was pretty nonexistent. He had to be fed Hill’s z/d. Eventually he was able to eat Royal Canin German Shepherd and Blue Buffalo. (When they were great foods.) I would regularly clean his ears as a way to be proactive.
Things have come a long way since that guy. Today I could probably give him any meet as long as it didn’t come from certain venders/farms and/or a digestive enzyme.
Labs are such high energy dogs I find it baffling how it’s even possible for them to become overweight. Don’t those pudges ever get out? It’s really quite sad.
It would be nice if people realized that dogs aren’t about quantity. 1 tiny piece of meat makes them as happy as if you fed a whole cow.
Imagine how hard their hearts have to work with all that fat. They’re horizontal. An obese dog is probably much more unhappy than their people think. I bet they’d be more happy if their hearts didn’t have all the weight on it and they could actually move about.
I’m getting so mad now thinking about it.

[Rae V]

I feel like I’ve been researching dog food my entire life? Seems when I find one that works, either the dog changes or the company does!
I’m considering switching my 12+ year old very active bearded collie from Taste of the Wild to either Fromm Salmon a la Veg or Earthborn Coastal Catch. He can’t have grains or chicken.
Any opinions on one or the other would be appreciated!

I also may try my 8 year old beardie girl on whatever he ends up with. She began vomiting after several years on TOTW and was on ID food from the vet for about a year. She tolerates it, but I think it’s crap. I transitioned her to Blue Buffalo, then read about that mess! So, if either of the two I’ve mentioned is easier to digest, that may help, too. I’d love to have them both on the same food.

Thanks!

[Angeline H]

I have a chihuahua w similar allergies that started around same age. She was on Blue Buffalo Life Source chkn/brown rice puppy formula and was doing well on it. Since she was gaining weight, Dr. advised transition to adult. BB Life Source ckn/rice:Was fine for a while, then allergies started-thought it was caused by her food. Had her tested for allergies via blood draw sample. Result: allergy to dust mites, fleas, and molds. But not the dog food. Great environmental improvements were made, along w an Rx for sublingual allergy gtt Tx.
Sx subsided. 2+ months to go. Still have to use Benadryl prn. She still has mild allergenic Sx. Which Dr. Thinks may be from Ckn sensitives causing IBS. Being managed w probiotics and Liquid salmon oil also helps both the IBS and any minor itchiness. In short, the allergenic blood test is best. Sublingual drops better than injections.

[John T]

Jordin, sorry but I must disagree with you. My dog is active and gets more protein now that he did with the blue food. Something is going on with blue as there are way too many complaints and all with diarrhea problems. Unfortunately I think all these dog food companies are out for the almighty dollar and they cut corners where they can. Its really funny now that I make my dogs foods at home with the correct ingredients and he has no issues or problems whatsoever. And at nine years old he looks like he’s a 3 year old. Unless you work for Blue Buffalo you really don’t know what they put in it.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/blue_buffalo.html

[TAMMY K]

Ive had my toy poodle on Blue Buffalo basics grain free food. She does well on this food and likes it. My problem is i am a little upset about this whole lawsuit with Purina and I feel like I can’t trust them and wanted to switch. so doing a ton of research and decide to try orijin or acana. Luckily she is not a picky eater. Problem is she is having an allergic reaction to both….”red belly”. I’m wracking my brain to try and find another food but am thinking of keeping her on Blue unless someone has any ideas or a similar experience? Thanks for your help!

[Tom D]

Let me start of by saying i have a hound mix dog, not sure what breed he actually is. He’s about 2 years old. For the first year, he was eating Blue Buffalo/ Wilderness. I was changing between chicken and salmon every few months. But after about a year eating that he lost all interest and would barley eat his food. I then started giving him Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost Grain-Free. He has tried the chicken and duck/turkey so far. But recently i have heard a lot of stuff about EVO.

I have tried doing some research on EVO but the only useful website was this one. What dog food would you prefer.
My dog really liked the salmon BB food and any fish treat i have ever given him, but Nature’s Variety does not have a fish flavor in the raw boost.

Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw Boost Grain-Free VS EVO?

What experiences do you have with either on of these food?

[Peggy]

I joined the forum over a year ago for my 2 dogs Tebow (Jack Russell Terrier) and LadyBug (Shepherd/Lab mix). They were both overweight and experiencing food sensitivities.

Upon advice I upgraded their food (from Pedigree). Blue Buffalo, made them sick, so I switched them to Pure Balance on which they’ve been doing very well. Problem is, PB does not offer a large enough variety of can food, so while staying with PB grain-free dry, I’ve switched them to Wellness and Nature’s Recipe grain-free cans. They love both, especially the stews.

Now comes the problem…….. !
Tebow is again itching and scratching incessantly (NO fleas), and shedding horribly. Also chewing at his paws. I noticed a week or more ago that he’d developed a raw area on his chest.
LadyBug has a series of raw areas on her lower back, backend, and upper tail. REALLY raw.

Now, Tebow’s seems to be healing up, while Lady’s was getting worse, so I took her to the vet this morning. After skin scrapes, flea combing (no fleas or flea dirt), and 2 blood tests, the verdict is…. food allergies! UUGGHH!

The vet said that ‘perhaps’ I should decrease their beef and chicken intake and feed more duck and venison. Also decrease their twice-per-week salmon meal to just once per week because her skin seemed oily (she was dirty, as I had not bathed her in a couple of weeks).

ALL of this was preceded by “perhaps” with no real clear instruction. Soooooooooo….
I am again here asking for feeding suggestions. Additionally, both are still overweight, Tebow is 5 lbs over, and Lady is 8 or 9 lbs over.

OK – hit me with it. And thanks in advance.

[Renee A]

Hi, My lab is allergic to many things, but she can eat lamb. I bought Canidae and they liked it and now buying Blue Buffalo Basics lamb/potato. They like this too. I thought the ingredients on Canidae were not as good as with Blue, but Dogfoodadvisor rates Blue below Canidae. Can I get your opinions? Thank you.

[David C]

Hi fellow dog parents,

I currently have both of my dogs (5 month husky/pyrenees and 15 month lab/border collie) on Horizon Legacy after reading great reviews on here. Before that, I had them both on Blue Buffalo (the youngster only for a month and my older one from 3 months through 14 months). I switched them to Horizon Legacy from BB due to the controversy surrounding Blue’s ingredients and my older one having plenty of lose stools on BB.

Having two rather large dogs (lab mix is 80 lbs, pup could get up to 100 – 130) I wanted to go to a more budget-friendly food. So I got a bad of Horizon Complete. After a day I felt uneasy knowing there was a better food out there so I bought Horizon Legacy and put the Complete away. I am down to my last 2 servings of Horizon Legacy. Their stools are hit or miss, though they are semi-soft or very messy (not full-blown diarrhea) about 50-60% of the time. I’m beginning to wonder if BB and Legacy are too high in protein or the grain free is upsetting their stomachs.

After more research I have decided to try Fromm Gold Dog Food. The local store that carries it is closed on Mondays, so I’m going to buy it tomorrow. My question is, with transitioning them, since I’m just about completely out of Legacy, would it be ok to use some of the Horizon Complete that I have to transition them to Fromm? Or do I have to buy a small bad of Legacy since it’s a different food than Complete? Only pain about that is the closest store that carries Legacy is 40 minutes away.

On a side question – how long would you keep a pup on puppy food? I gave my 5 month old puppy BB, then Legacy all-life stages (they were out of the puppy food and all-life stages met the guidelines on this site for puppy foods), but I will probably buy a bag of Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy for him. I have read that it’s actually not good to keep dogs on puppy food for too long, due to them causing growth at a much faster than normal rate which can lead to hip and other health problems. But opinion seems to be all over the board on this one.

[Betty B]

To Akari_32

Blue Buffalo DOES NOT make Diamond food. Where are you getting your information from?

[Betty B]

I don’t know where you get your information from but you are wrong. Blue Buffalo is a private company and has had the same owner since day 1. They do not make any other dog food brands!! You need to research everything better before you start spreading rumors. Beware of all the other companies out there. For example, Hills Science Diet just sold out to Colgate-Palmolive and Purina is owned by Nestle. Do you think they care what goed in their dog food? Mars owns Nutro, Caesar and Pedigree just to name a few. Dog food is not their top priority. Blue Buffalo cares about the health and wellness of dogs and that is their top priority. It is a family owned company and has been since the beginning.

[Amy P]

Hi, I came to this forum looking for information about other dogs who may have gotten sick on Blue Buffalo food. I have 2-schnauzers and a boston terrier who have been eating Blue Buffalo Salmon recipe for a little over a year. We got a new bag last week and my older schnauzer has been sick the past two days. The boston vomited about 2-hours after eating yesterday. My dogs are indiscriminate eaters, so until my younger schnauzer turned up his noes and refused the food last night, I assumed the other two had gotten into something in the yard. Now I think it is the food. I am going to return it.

Dogs are eating rice and pumpkin today.

[Deborah R]

I have a Chihuahua mix and have been feeding her Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula for about 9 months now but in the last month something has been upsetting her stomach & she is vomiting up the food. Idk if it’s bc we have been unsettled, in our home life or has she just become intolerant to the food? She didn’t have problems with it before. She is 2 years old.

Please advise. Thank you!

[Heaven L]

I have had this problem in the past with my pittie.

She was eating Blue buffalo Salmon and then Duck. Occasionally she would get them and we realized that there was chicken in her food (We were avoiding it because we saw in many cases chicken and pitties do not get along) We then realized that when we would give her a mostly chicken based treat on top of the food with chicken she would break out.

We switched to all things minus chicken and she is doing very well, no breakouts since.

Your pup may have a different problem but I thought I’d offer our experience ;]

[John T]

My little guy has been off Blue Buffalo for 6 months now and he has not had any problem whatsoever with diarrhea or throwing up like he did while he was on it. It’s just amazing that we can’t stop this and I’m sure more dogs are dying because people don’t get on the internet to read this post. I’m not sure what we can do unless we alright the Food and Drug Administration and I’m not sure that will work. Anyway he gets no commercial food as my wife and I make his food and his treats he’s 9 years old and the vet said he’s healthy as an ox. Good luck

[Chantelle E]

I switched my 9 year old Silky Terrier, Asta to Blue Buffalo Chicken after I found bits of metal in his Pedigree dog food. That switch was made around August 20th, 2015. After about a week I began to notice small diarrhea spots in the house and Asta would cough up foam. I thought it was left over side effects from the Pedigree. The symptoms have become worse so I checked out this website and DING!!! Everything the previous posters have cited have been happening to Asta. I am ditching the BB and will put him on a chicken and rice diet for the next few weeks and then switch to Hill’s Science Diet. This is just awful and I’m so mad I could spit! I used Pedigree for two decades and never had an issue until recently and now the BB is killing my dog. These companies should conduct a recall and if they can’t produce a safe/healthy dogfood, CLOSE THEIR DOORS! ST, I am so,so sorry to hear about your beautiful Ben and send sincere condolences and best wishes.

[Bobby dog]

Hi Ashley:
My dog is six, can eat anything, and has no health issues other than a tendency to gain weight during hot weather months. For canned foods I only take brands, ingredients, calories, proteins, and GA’s into consideration. I feed whatever recipe fits the bill regardless of what is on the label, puppy, small/large breed, Sr., etc. I try to feed foods with a fat to protein ratio of 50% or less; equal calories coming from fat and protein or more from protein than fat. For example, a recipe that is 4% fat and 8% protein would be ideal for him, 7% fat – 8% protein not so much. Some of the f-p ratios I feed can be up to 70% which is okay at this time since I rotate foods.

My budget foods are Tractor Supply Company 4Health – Turkey & Sweet Potato, Beef & Veg stews, or Sr. Chicken & Rice recipes, Triumph Puppy or Turkey recipes, BJ’s Earth’s Pride Chicken & Rice, and Wal-Mart Pure Balance Stews.

Here are some brands to check out that I currently feed or have fed:
Blue Buffalo Home-style, by Nature (no 95% recipes), California Natural, Canidae Pure Sky or Foundations, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Eagle Pack, Halo Spot’s Stew or Spot’s Choice recipes, Holistic Select, Hill’s Ideal Balance stews, Lotus, Nature’s Recipe canned or tubs, Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed recipes, Precise, Purina Pro Plan Natural recipes, Purina Beyond, Red Barn stews, Tiki Dog, Wellness – Core, Simple, Complete Health, or Stew recipes, and Weruva Human Style or Dogs in the Kitchen recipes only (Kobe/Kurobuta recipes are canned by Evanger’s).

Low fat recipes; most are available at my local stores. I order Life’s Abundance from their website. Generally I find stews to be higher in protein and lower in fat, but not always. These are between 12-20% fat and below 25% carbs on a dry matter basis using their label info:
Fromm’s Shredded Beef
I and Love and You Stews
Life’s Abundance Turkey & Shrimp or Chic & Crab stews
Nature’s Recipe Pure Essentials LID GF Chic/Broth or GF Lamb/Broth
Nature’s Recipe Pure Essentials tubs LID Duck or LID Venison
Nature’s Recipe tubs GF Chic & Duck in broth or GF Chic & Venison in broth
Nature’s Recipe tubs Chicken in broth or Chic & Turkey in broth
Nature’s Recipe GF Chic & Turkey stew or Chic & Venison Stew
Purina Beyond GF stews
Red Barn Beef Stew
Tiki Dog – Kauai Luau, Lahaina Luau, Maui Luau, or Tonga Luau recipes
Weruva – Marbella Paella, Bed & Breakfast, or Paw Lickin’ Chicken recipes
Wellness Core Weight Management

These are 22-25% fat and below 25% carbs DMB:
Halo Sr. Beef
Merrick Golden Years Medley
Nutro Natural Choice LID Sr.
Precise Holistic Pork w/veg in gravy
Red Barn Chic, Turkey, or Steak & Egg stews
Wal-Mart Pure Balance stews
Wellness Stews

Here are some freeze dried/frozen commercial raw and dehydrated foods I feed. I use the same guidelines for these foods:
I and Love and You dehydrated Turkey (I also want to try the Beef and Chicken)
Nature’s Variety Raw Frozen Beef, Lamb, and Venison
Primal FD Turkey & Sardine, Frozen Venison, and frozen Turkey & Sardine
Stella & Chewy’s FD Chicken

Here is some info you might find helpful:
/choosing-dog-food/canned-or-dry-dog-food/
/dog-feeding-tips/how-much-dog-food/
/canine-nutrition/low-fat-dog-food/
/choosing-dog-food/dry-matter-basis/
/choosing-dog-food/raw-dog-food-fat/
http://www.dogaware.com/diet/freshfoods.html
Carb calculator:
http://www.scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

[Lilian B]

I think my boxer’s skin condition may be due to food allergy. His stool is sometimes also loose. He is currently getting Blue Buffalo Wilderness red meat and Weruva Jammin Salmon. From my research, a lot of hypoallergenic food contain salmon. Is that the least allergenic meat? What about rice? Even though he’s getting grain-free, as another post said, food still contain carbohydrates like potatoes. Which vegetable(s) are less allergenic?

[Karen E]

I am new to the site. I am looking for a new food for my dog, because I truly believe Blue Buffalo Wilderness made my dog very, very sick. When I researched his food on line, others had had an issue with the most recent bag; we had just started a new bag. My vet wouldn’t say this; however, he did advise changing the food. The food was not recalled; however, a worker at Petco told me there are very few recalls as the companies have a way to get around it. Anyway, my vet said they have good luck with Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Stomach, the Salmon one. We are on our 2nd bag of that, and he is doing okay. But I personally believe Purina is not so good. Since Merrick is quite highly rated on here, am thinking of trying that. Our vet said preferably no beef, corn, soy or wheat. So, I will need to do more research. If you have any suggestions, would love to hear them From everything I’ve found, Blue Buffalo is owned by Blue Buffalo Ltd. Mars owns Purina & many others and was going to buy out Blue before the lawsuit.

[Tammy H]

I wouldn’t feed Pedigree or anything Blue Buffalo. Fromm GF Surf and Turf or Orijen Six Fish would be great choices as would any of the quality raw diets available but you need to transition slowly. You can also add a small amount of quality canned or freeze dried raw. Adding fish or crill oil are great ideas. Honestly, anything you feed that is not grocery store food is going to make a big difference.

[InkedMarie]

You may want to try something other than chicken. Blue Buffalo isn’t a very good food. Some foods I like are Annamaet, Dr Tim’s, Farmina, NutriSource, Acana, Orijen.

[Patty T]

5 yr old Pug experiencing bloody stool with mucous and gas issues. Took to vet 3 times and is on Flagyl and epcid but not seen much improvement in a week. Severe diarrhea
as well. Fed her caned food from vet for digestive issues and not much use. Any ideas. Dog food previous on was Blue Buffalo.

[Kat]

What company owns Blue Buffalo products, and are they affiliated with any other brands? Or is Blue Buffalo the company name itself…?

Note: I do not feed BB. I’m just curious.

[ST]

Our beautiful dog Ben is no longer with us – he has now died. He was eating Blue Buffalo Wilderness formula and it made him very sick. First he started having diarrhea. Then he started vomiting bright yellow with white foam. We took him off the BB and gave him chicken and rice for a while until it seemed that he was getting better. Then we started feeding him the Blue Buffalo again and instantly he started vomiting the bright yellow again! This time it was too much to bear for his weakened body and system and he could not bounce back to health anymore. Please avoid Blue Buffalo foods and warn everyone you can about the damage their foods can do to your loving animals! Since our dog passed away we have talked to dozens of people who have also had issues with their pets getting very sick while eating – you guessed it – Blue Buffalo!!! I seriously cannot believe that this company has not recalled their foods – or that they are still in business!

[Debbie B]

I got my babies Orijen food today, the kibble isn’t too big & it’s much softer than the other dog food brands that I’ve used. I started her out on Wellness as a puppy, they changed their kibble size & she actually got choked on it. I then put her on Blue Buffalo, she then got crystals in her urine (of course I cannot say it was the food that caused it), for the past 2 years she has been on Hi-Tek which is a 5 star food but the last bag I bought, she ate it twice & got sick & would not touch it again. Thankfully I had purchased two bags & I opened the other bag that had a different lot# & exp. date & she started eating it again. But that’s when I decided to try Orijen. Of course it’s going to take a week to get her completely on the Orijen. But I gave her 4 kibbles & she loved it. I also bought her a bag of their treats, gave her one of those & she loved it too. They aren’t really hard either. I’m surprised at how soft the food & treats are to be a dry food. No way could I break a kibble of the other dry foods but I got a Orijen kibble & put it between two fingers & pushed with my thumb & it broke, which surprised me! I did that because when she ate the kibble I didn’t hear her crunching it & didn’t know if she was just swallowing it whole. We’ll see how it goes………

[Dori]

An interesting read from today’s issue of the Huffington Post not just on Blue Buffalo but the dog food industry as a whole and the problems with the FDA.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pet-food-safety_55b67875e4b0a13f9d1976e7?kvcommref=mostpopular

[Beverly O]

Yes. She has a torn Cruciate (sp) ligament in her left knee, and the right is not very good. I have been feeding my dogs Blue Buffalo for Large Breed Adults (Chicken and Brown Rice Formula). Is it aafco approved?? We can’t afford $3,000.00 for a knee surgery. We’ve been searching for other options.
Thank You so much.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Beverly O.

[samlab]

I found that Blue Buffalo limited ingredient grain free Duck and Potato 22% and I think its 12% fat is just outstanding for dogs with certain protein issues and sensitive stomachs…one of my Champion Labs was on this and had a coat that was outstanding all his issues went away…a vet on this site recommended it and he was dead on.

[Karen L]

I have been feeding my 10 year old Golden Retriever Blue Buffalo for many years and she has done very well on it. She is currently on the BB Wilderness Chicken Receipt Healthy Weight formula (both the dry AND the canned). However, recently I have been hearing so many terrible reviews about the food- poor ingredients, mislabeling- and in particular this summer, mostly July 2015, there have been horror stories about dogs (including other dogs who have been eating BB for years) becoming violently ill immediately upon opening a new bag of BB. It is as if the manufacturing or recipes have suddenly changed. I don’t know if I should immediately switch to a new food and am worried about opening the new bag which I just bought a week ago and is sitting in the closet. Suggestions? Thoughts? Are these stories true??

[Brianna D]

Hi! I’ve got a 1 year and 6 month old husky German Shepard mix. Sadly, he’s only 35 lbs due to health issues with his pancreas where he isn’t absorbing enough nutrients. I was going to switch him to blue buffalo food ($$$$$$$) but then someone mentioned I try a raw food diet to help with his digestive issues (food allergies & lack of nutrients, etc) I’ve been doing research for the past 3 days trying to figure out where to start and I’m still lost.

Someone told me they just feed their husky raw chicken & steak and steamed veggies. Everything else I’m reading online is saying organs and stuff like that. I want to make sure I’m doing this right and I’d love to see some weight gain within the next 30 days. Also, I see raw food lists and all of them have multiple different things like chicken backs and grass fed beef 1 whole egg. Is that how much you feed in one day?

Any information would help! I’ve read the measuring chart but unfortunately can’t find my food scale to measure. I’ll probably buy a new one but right now, I’m feeling very overwhelmed and could use some help! Thanks 🙂

[Sarah N]

My boyfriend and I have a one year old french bulldog boston terrier mix. We bought blue buffalo puppy food (lamb and oatmeal, and chicken and brown rice) for her because we thought it would provide her with the best health benefits. We fed her this from September (when we got her) up until a few days ago. About a month ago she started throwing up almost everyday. We thought it was the Nylabone, but once that was taken away the vomit continued. It got to the point where none of the food was even digesting and coming up in the vomit with clear mucus. Then things got really bad. She had constipation, then diarrhea, followed by excessive drooling (like a waterfall), started shaking, and kept trying to vomit. We took her to the vet immediately the vet insisted it was the food we were giving her. The vet said her entire body was affected- especially her major organs. We put her on a beef, quinoa, and veggie diet. Her vomiting completely stopped and her bowels are regulated again. Feeding her this diet is extremely expensive and we want to get her on a dry dog food diet again (or at least partly for one meal a day). What do we buy? We already thought we bought the best and have no idea where to turn now. Any advice would be great. We just want our little girl to be healthy and active.

• This topic was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Sarah N.

[Ezequiel B]

Thanks for the replies.

She does eat wet food. She LOVES it. The reason why I want her to eat more kibbles is purely economical. She’s only 4 months and can eat two cans per meal if i dont mix it with kibbles. Three meals per day…..it can get pretty pricey (since im buying 4-5 star rated foods).

I do agree that her stomach might be sensitive (specially to the blue buffalo brand) but my vet and other forums said that unchewed kibbles do lead to the digestive problems that she was experiencing.

[Ezequiel B]

Hi,

We have a 4 month old German Shepard and we have two issues with trying to feed her kibbles:

(1) she doesnt like them
(2) when she does eat them she doesnt chew which leads to bloating, diarrhea, etc

For (1) we have tried three different brands (Blue Buffalo, Eukanuba, and Wellness Core) with little success. We also tried mixing in some wet food but it only made (2) worse.

Since we were left with three bags of expensive kibbles we decided to throw them in the food processor (seperately. we did not mix brands) and we have been feeding her about a 50/50 mix of Wellness Core Grain Free Puppy Formula (wet) and Eukanuba (pulverized kibbles).

My question is…..is this a bad thing we’re doing? should she be able/willing/trained to eat kibbles?

Thank you!

[Heidi H]

Alex- we also have an itchy lab. We got her allergy tested with a blood test with a local lab that tests specifically for things in our area (desert southwest). Before we had her tested, I went through a bunch of different specialty dog foods (zignature salmon, blue buffalo, origins, etc) that were suggested by people in the store because “most dogs who are allergic will be able to eat these foods, yada yada yada”
Most off-the-shelf grain free dogs foods contain either rice or sweet potato. Many people say to feed a fish-based food. After the blood test we found out she is allergic to everything in the grain free foods, too – as well as all fish mixes!
I found a grain free, potato free food at our feed store called Pulsar by Horizon. It is grain, rice, and potato free, and I get the chicken version because she can eat that. It’s less expensive than most of the others but still more expensive than regular dog food.
I will say that while it has helped, she still suffers with environmental allergies. A cortizone shot from the vet helps when it’s itchy outside.
The blood test was around 300 dollars. we put it off due to the expense, but it’s so nice to be able to refer to that list and see oh yeah, that plant is blooming right now, that’s why she’s itchy, and you can have a better idea of how to help her.
For instance, with the suggestion above to do the lamb and rice diet, or even cooking your own, most recipes suggest rice. That wouldn’t have helped with us because our dog is allergic to rice.
Anyway, just letting you know our experience so that maybe you can avoid some pitfalls.
Good luck and hug your lab for me. 🙂

[olive1015]

thank you…thank you for the great feedback. I know the Purina One isn’t so great but my neighbor gave me some when I 1st got Olive and I tried to get her to just go for the Nutrisca but she wouldn’t. Then I couldn’t find the Nutrisca at Petsmart or grocery. There’s been a recall this summer..just discovered. Have so much of both I just decided to supplement with chicken, beef and veggies on the side 🙂
Blue Buffalo was too rich and heard little doggies have sensitive tummies …so..
She loves raw carrots…so I give her as treats vs biscuits all the time. Will try the recommended shampoo…and give her bananas & blue berries. She’s a wonderful doggie. She’s now spayed and chipped and warming upto my cat. I love her so! Terriers are so entertaining I can forgive the wild temperament. I had a big lab ..chow mix that was magnificent and silky years ago but lost her to old age and Olive has filled the void. I’m childless …so she’ll be spoiled rotten like the cat when I get educated on her breed.