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Hello. I have been feeding my 3 year old Golden Retriever Blue Buffalo Dry food since he was old enough to have it. Personally, I am impressed by the ingredients. However, my Vet has been on me about the fact that the ingredients could cause him kidney stones as he gets older. Plus the food is not a good balance of nutrients. Too high in some and too low in others. I don’t know much about the chemistry of the nutrients! Lastly, he mentioned that the outside sources that Blue uses run several brands through their extruders and can easily contaminate the food.
He is recommending Eukanuba or Science. I am not trying to start a debate of which food is better, but, I am interested in knowing any opinions on the comments about the Blue Buffalo. I would like to keep him on that but am a bit worried why my vet is so concerned.
I also do not want to bash my vet. He is a very good vet and I do trust him totally. I also know that he is not trying to sell me the food his clinic sells. In fact, he gave me a coupon to a store for the Eukanuba. So, I am very concerned!
Thank you for your input!
I can tell you that BB is the only food my vet has ever warned me away from, but I wouldn’t use Eukanuba or Science Diet either.
Many dog food manufacturers make several different brands and different flavors, not just Blue. As far as balance of nutrients are concerned, yes Blue is not perfect. There is no perfect one. So to minimize deficiencies or overages, rotate in another brand or two. This should minimize risk. I think those life source bits aren’t evenly distributed or eaten evenly so I can understand why he says that about blue and they did have a recall in 2010 for too much vitamin D. I’ve bought 2 dog foods already that have had a different kibble in the bag from a different recipe. It happens. Few and far between but it does.
I would agree that food rotation is best. I would find at least two other brands (more is better) of foods you like and start rotating them. From what I heard, vets only take one class is nutrition. The rest of their information on dog food comes from sales reps of the companies that they sell (Hill’s Science, Eukanuba, Purina, etc). My vet plainly admitted to me that he knows nothing about the new natural or holistic dog foods on the market today. He recommends Purina! Ew! The only way they will know is if they do the research themselves.
I wouldn’t feed my dog Hill’s or Eukanuba. I think Blue is a much better food than those two. To minimize the vitamin/mineral deficiencies or abundances found in Blue, I would rotate brands of food used. I don’t think there is any reason for you to panic about using Blue. I’ve used it for one of my dogs with no problems.
I also use Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy for my Miniature Rat-Jack-Chi (maybe, not exactly sure what he is, but he looks like a mix of these 3 breeds (Miniature Rat Terrier, short-legged Jack Russell, possibly Deer Chihuahua) somehow), currently mixed with Vet’s Choice Holistic Health Extension Original. I have already purchased his next food batch – Dr. Tim’s Kinesis Grain Free (15 lbs) and Nutrisca Chicken and Chickpea (also Grain Free) – 4 lbs.
Like everyone said, if you rotate the food brands, and also vary the proteins within a brand, your dog should be fine. Every few months is what I will be doing – basically when my batch is up, my dog gets a new mix of 2 different brands.
Many of the ‘Blue’ brands have been linked to kidney failure. I have several friends in various parts of the country who will not use those brands, b/c of losing pets and/or watching all the recalls. I’ve heard there are class action lawsuits against them, but it’s kept quiet. Meep in mind that even if a dog food is made in the USA, there may be ingredients from China. The problem is those ingredients are processed using the same machinery that processes the dog foods made in China. There are no perfect pet foods, but I’d avoid any of the ‘Blue’ brands.
I like the rotating brands idea!!
Hello
sorry for pulling up an old post!
What i have noticed as far as Blue is it is very popular
as far as ingredients it is a good brand
I feel however with blue you are paying more for there name than anything
I have tried blue when i had three dogs a mastiff, doberman, and pitbull cause it was the highest quality that petsmart sold, however after doing research i found for the same price i could get a higher quality product that was more appropriate for my dogs.
however all dogs are different and i have personally nothing bad to say about the company besides that it always gave my dogs gas and loose stoolsLet me start off by saying that I’m going to school for veterinary technology and am working at a holistic pet store at the same time and I’ve received more training in nutrition at my job then in school haha now I would deffinatly stay faaaaar away from Hills and Eukanuba, Blue isn’t the best food but its leaps and bounds better then the other two. Most of the Hills and Eukanuba formulas fist 4 ingredients are corn, wheat, by-product meal, and meat meal. Meaning their grain based food and have very little fresh meat (which should ALWAYS be the first ingredient). Personally I’m on a big Merrick kick right now, their a smaller family owned brand that is really great about locally sourcing their ingredients, balancing everything, and adding in extra supplements. If you have any question feel free to ask!
I too agree, stay far away from Hills and Eek, Aims and the like. I rotate variety within the main feed of my yard of 15+. They have been on Fromm a long time. I still feed raw a day or more a week as a good change and add fish oil and milk thistle to it.
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