Problems with Blue Buffalo?

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=candysgirl;5870707]
My friend/dog’s breeder/vet tech said, very specifically, I am NOT to feed my puppy Blue Buffalo because the protein content is too high and they see a lot of liver issues.[/QUOTE]

That is what I have heard also, but can’t confirm with any dogs that were sick from that, so for now it is hearsay, if from reliable sources.

My dog was on BB also and is now in Science Diet Ultra skin diet and her licking is almost gone, no more itching.

That is not BB’s fault, any other regular brand I think would cause itching, it is the way her body’s homeostasis is changing as she enters late adulthood, soon to be 6 years old.

Many dogs at 6 are started on senior type feeds, but the vet decided to try this skin formula with special proteins first.

Each dog is so different, we have to try until we find what is right for each, rules of thumb for feeding dogs too inexact.

[sdlbredfan]

We’ve had good results with a few brands, used at various times, but the dogs vote for Rachael Ray’s beef formulation as being their favorite. It is easy to obtain (WalMart and some other grocery stores), seems higher quality ingredients than many, and no digestive upsets result. The other brand we have used for an extended period of time is the Exclusive line from PMI (division of Purina?). Sometimes we used Chicken Soup and some of the higher priced ones. We stopped using the pricey ones for the sake of our pocketbooks, but the dogs liked them.

[LauraKY]

I’ve been feeding Tractor Supply 4Health for my itchy, stomach sensitive dogs and have been very happy with it. The more premium foods (higher fat content, IIR) gave them the runs.

My adopted collie was on Pedigree when I got her. Switched to Purina Pro Plan for transition and then on to 4Health. I use the Large Breed formula; all large dogs.

No more itchy, scratching dogs. The collie had chewed the hair off of her leg before the switch.

[Kwill]

Actually, there was a problem with Blue Buffalo in 2010:

Last Friday, researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) alerted pet owners to a link between Blue Buffalo dog food and 16 cases of excessive blood levels of Vitamin D in dogs. The sick dogs had increased thirst and urination; some of them also suffered weight loss, anorexia and signs of kidney damage.

MSU also announced that it was cooperating with FDA and the Michigan Department of Agriculture in an investigation of the dog food. Shortly after this announcement, Blue Buffalo recalled the following products:
•BLUE Wilderness Chicken Flavor: 4.5 lb; Best if used by JUL2611Z, JUL2711Z, JUL2811Z
•BLUE Wilderness Chicken Flavor: 11 lb; Best if used by JUL1211B
•BLUE Wilderness Chicken Flavor: 24 lb; Best if used by JUL1211B, JUL1311B
•BLUE Basics Limited Ingredient Formula Salmon and Potato Recipe: 11 lb; Best if used by AUG2111B, AUG2211B
•BLUE Basics Limited Ingredient Formula Salmon and Potato Recipe: 24 lb; Best if used by AUG2111B, SEP2311P, OCT2611P
•BLUE Life Protection Formula Natural Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe Large Breed Adult: 30 lb.; Best if used by SEP2211P, SEP2311P, OCT2611

By the time the recall was announced, the known number of sick dogs had risen to 36.

In its recall notice, the Company explained that “…a sequencing error had occurred at the supplier of the dry ingredients for these products. Immediately before producing the ingredients for these specific production runs, the supplier had run a product for another customer that contained a more potent form of Vitamin D used in chicken feeds. It is now believed that there was some level of carry over of this Vitamin D product into the ingredients for the specific manufacturing runs of the BLUE products, thereby increasing the Vitamin D activity to unacceptable levels in the Blue ingredients.”

[CarolinaGirl]

I fed my lab pup BB large breed for awhile (because a friend had a bag she wasn’t going to use so we figured ok we’ll just put him on BB)… I think we went through like two bags before I was like ok he’s getting something different. Soft stools and he didn’t even really seem to like it. Now he’s on Wellness large breed puppy and eats fine and stools are firm. He will go to TOTW when he’s old enough.

[Kryswyn]

Interesting info about the recall.

A similar thing happened in Culpeper VA, oh, maybe 8-10 years ago when the mill ran a load of custom horse feed, directly after running a certain type of cow feed. Of the 20 or so horses the farm had, 2 or 3 died shortly after ingesting the food, and some became very sick and had to be euthanized and the rest were rendered valueless because the ingredient in the cow feed affected the horses’ hearts and there was no way to tell which horses hearts were damaged (which could lead to the horse succumbing to a massive heart attack while being ridden) so all became pasture ornaments.

The owner filed a lawsuit, but as I recall the ruling was in favor of the mill because it was determined to be an accident.

[dani0303]

My dog is on the BB Wilderness Salmon kibble. She does GREAT on it. Last time I went to PetCo they were out so I got her the chicken instead (20lb bag dry and 2 cans wet). She got REALLY bad diarrhea from the wet food (which she normally doesn’t). I give it to her once a month or so as a treat. As soon as I switched her back to the dry food (still chicken) she was fine again.

[Bacardi1]

Giving your dog canned/wet food once a month just as a treat probably isn’t a good idea, even if it hasn’t affected her before. Dogs - more than cats, I’ve found - are very sensitive to changes in diet, so unless you plan to add canned food to her daily diet, I’d find a dry treat to give her.

[dani0303]

[QUOTE=Bacardi1;5871689]
Giving your dog canned/wet food once a month just as a treat probably isn’t a good idea, even if it hasn’t affected her before. Dogs - more than cats, I’ve found - are very sensitive to changes in diet, so unless you plan to add canned food to her daily diet, I’d find a dry treat to give her.[/QUOTE]

She’s 3 and I’ve never had a problem with it before…

[HenryisBlaisin]

My cats have been on BB Wilderness and did GREAT (I had to cut, grudgingly, to a lower quality food as I’, semi-unemployed). They get Purina One currently because it’s the best I can afford, but it still has ingredients that make me cringe (corn and soy, corn and soy gluten, soy hulls, among others), but it’s the best I can get right now and when I get a job, they will go back on BB ASAP!

My dog has allergies and Nature’s Recipe lamb and rice works for him. It contains no corn, wheat, chicken, or beef, which my vet advised me are the main causes of food allergies in dogs. He’s been much better on it in both the skin department and the digestion department!

Some premium foods are too rich for some systems, but that doesn’t mean you should switch to a lesser quality food, just one with different ingredients.

I wouldn’t feed any variety of Science Diet. The ingredients are very low quality compared to other premium-priced foods. And it has corn, which at best passes through undigested (might as well feed the dog money and skip a step) and at worst is a major cause of skin allergies in dogs. Soy isn’t much better. 40 years ago it may have been the best on the market, but it sure isn’t now, and I think they mislead consumers by claiming it’s better than it is.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=HenryisBlaisin’;5871807]
My cats have been on BB Wilderness and did GREAT (I had to cut, grudgingly, to a lower quality food as I’, semi-unemployed). They get Purina One currently because it’s the best I can afford, but it still has ingredients that make me cringe (corn and soy, corn and soy gluten, soy hulls, among others), but it’s the best I can get right now and when I get a job, they will go back on BB ASAP!

My dog has allergies and Nature’s Recipe lamb and rice works for him. It contains no corn, wheat, chicken, or beef, which my vet advised me are the main causes of food allergies in dogs. He’s been much better on it in both the skin department and the digestion department!

Some premium foods are too rich for some systems, but that doesn’t mean you should switch to a lesser quality food, just one with different ingredients.

I wouldn’t feed any variety of Science Diet. The ingredients are very low quality compared to other premium-priced foods. And it has corn, which at best passes through undigested (might as well feed the dog money and skip a step) and at worst is a major cause of skin allergies in dogs. Soy isn’t much better. 40 years ago it may have been the best on the market, but it sure isn’t now, and I think they mislead consumers by claiming it’s better than it is.[/QUOTE]

I disagree on the Science Diet comment.
If a dog is doing well on that, then it is a good food … for that dog.
As for corn going thru the dog, well, the stomach doesn’t know where the food comes from, it digests it and uses what it can, from corn or any other substance.
Dogs are omnivorous, they can use most any kind of food, similar to us.

Millions of dogs over decades that did well on Science Diet are not wrong.

Some of the supposedly top brands, for some dogs, is like feeding them straight steak and ice cream, too rich to be eating only that and so for some dogs, those don’t agree with them.
Then, other dogs do just fine with them.

Growing up, we didn’t have dog food at all, our dog got boiled rice cooked with butcher “dog meat”, that was mostly lungs and scraps, with some table leftovers when any and he lived to be 13 years old, a good old age for a GSD mix.

Whatever agrees with a dog is fine.:yes:

[lewin]

We always had pets that “did well” on Science Diet or Pedigree. Then I moved out and started my own pets on food with higher quality ingredients and realized that they had all looked terrible before by comparison. And that they had fewer issues on better food. Some dogs seem to do ok on it but if your pet does well on Science Diet switch to Purina. The quality and ingredients are the same but the cost is less than half.

I have had a problem with BB when they changed the kibbles to the smaller size. One kitty was scarfing it down and then puking it back up.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=lewin;5871968]
We always had pets that “did well” on Science Diet or Pedigree. Then I moved out and started my own pets on food with higher quality ingredients and realized that they had all looked terrible before by comparison. And that they had fewer issues on better food. Some dogs seem to do ok on it but if your pet does well on Science Diet switch to Purina. The quality and ingredients are the same but the cost is less than half.

I have had a problem with BB when they changed the kibbles to the smaller size. One kitty was scarfing it down and then puking it back up.[/QUOTE]

Are you trying to say our dogs and those that feed any one dog kibble “all looked terrible before by comparison”, before the new, heavily marketed dog food came to be?:eek:
We were working all along with our dog club and competing and showing mostly obedience, but some conformation also.
Hard to miss if your dogs look terrible there, they were not stuck in a backyard.

Seriously, many hunting dogs we know were on very basic feed store dog kibble and were looking very, very nice on that also.

While there is much to good dog nutrition, there is also much hype around dog nutrition.

[lewin]

I am saying that the dogs and cats I had growing up had poor coats, shed like bandits, and had various health issues. And the pets I currently have do much much better on higher quality food. Some of the basic feed store kibbles are higher quality than Science Diet.

Kind of like how when I was growing out corals I had a particular coral that I thought did fine in my setup and most of the other setups I saw; until I saw it in a tank maintained with different protocols and saw what it really looked like when it was thriving. Some corals do well in almost any set-up, but then there are ones that really need optimal conditions to thrive instead of just survive.

[foggybok]

[QUOTE=Bluey;5871997]
Are you trying to say our dogs and those that feed any one dog kibble “all looked terrible before by comparison”, before the new, heavily marketed dog food came to be?:eek:
We were working all along with our dog club and competing and showing mostly obedience, but some conformation also.
Hard to miss if your dogs look terrible there, they were not stuck in a backyard.

Seriously, many hunting dogs we know were on very basic feed store dog kibble and were looking very, very nice on that also.

While there is much to good dog nutrition, there is also much hype around dog nutrition.[/QUOTE]

When I was in vet school, I was struck by the difference in dogs fed Science Diet. I could always tell. They looked much better just walking into the room. Now other companies have jumped on the bandwagon and there are all kinds of premium foods… And Science diet has changed as well.

I’m with you Bluey…Feed what works for your dog. There are so many options these days and not one of them is right for every dog. I fed my new pup Royal Canin and he looks fab. My neighbor fed her new pups BB and they look fab. My dog does not do well on BB…

I would say avoid the real cheap stuff, there are some bad dog foods out there… But then again, I’ve known dogs to live to a ripe old age eating some real crap food…

[PRS]

I’ve not heard of any problems with Blue Buffalo feeds. I used to feed Purina One Senior to my little elderly yorkies…both of them had that stinky, greasy old dog smell. I switched to Blue Buffalo Small Breed Senior and not only do they no longer stink but the littlest, oldest yorkie who had never had a good hair coat and would never gain weight is now sleek looking and at an all time high of 8 pounds! He used to get itchy spots on his skin and would literally chew holes in his own hide. Haven’t any skin issues since we switched. We switched the cats over to Blue Buffalo also and they don’t shed as much and the stinky poop bombs in the litter box don’t happen any more. I noticed that the dog’s poop doesn’t seem to smell as bad either and they make less of it. The larger dogs are all on Taste of the Wild high prairie, they seem to get a little more gassy on it but their skin and fur looks great and although they still smell like dogs ever since I switched to grain free they don’t have that stinky dog smell. After seeing these results in my own pack of 6 dogs I’ll never feed another dog the cheap grocery store feeds again.

[Mara]

[QUOTE=foggybok;5872223]
When I was in vet school, I was struck by the difference in dogs fed Science Diet. I could always tell. They looked much better just walking into the room. Now other companies have jumped on the bandwagon and there are all kinds of premium foods… And Science diet has changed as well.

I’m with you Bluey…Feed what works for your dog. There are so many options these days and not one of them is right for every dog. I fed my new pup Royal Canin and he looks fab. My neighbor fed her new pups BB and they look fab. My dog does not do well on BB…

I would say avoid the real cheap stuff, there are some bad dog foods out there… But then again, I’ve known dogs to live to a ripe old age eating some real crap food…[/QUOTE]

Add me to the “feed what works” group, within reason, of course.
I admit that I lately have been avoiding the food threads - they make me feel guilty for “only” feeding my 2 Kirkland (Costco brand, has good ratings) dog food. I just do not have the financial resources to feed something that costs $60/bag. I’d never feed something like Old Roy, but the premium food is out of my reach, and I don’t think that makes me unfit to have dogs.

[Kryswyn]

Regarding corn in Science Diet. It’s GROUND corn and as such is easily digestible. Kernel corn is very hard for both humans and dogs to digest. But grind it, and voila, easily digestible, very nutritious for both humans and dogs. Dogs are omnivores so eating vegetables, like soy and corn, is not bad for them (and both are very nutritious). Would I like my dog to eat just meat? NO because they need other elements that any quality kibble can provide.

As I always tell my puppy buyers, there are better foods than Science Diet out there, feed what works best for your dog and your pocketbook.

[Bacardi1]

Just out of curiousity Kryswyn, exactly what dog foods contain corn that isn’t ground? I’ve yet to come across a dry dog food that contains whole or even partial kernels of corn. My dogs don’t do well with any dog food that has corn - period. I don’t care if it’s whole, ground, on the cob, or served up in a corn pudding.

ONCE AGAIN - I FULLY agree that what works well for your dog is the best food for your dog. No one should feel guilty because they’re not feeding the “food of the month”. And no one should feel bullied into feeding something else simply because a dog fancier or breeder tells them “this is the best”.

[CrazyGuineaPigLady]

[QUOTE=Kryswyn;5872658]
Regarding corn in Science Diet. It’s GROUND corn and as such is easily digestible. Kernel corn is very hard for both humans and dogs to digest. But grind it, and voila, easily digestible, very nutritious for both humans and dogs. [/QUOTE]

What are the benefits of corn as the main ingredient in SD?

Even if you don’t believe in the latest fads or that grains should be eliminated for meat eaters, it’s hard to justify feeding less nutritious corn over meat or other other grains and vegetables. Well… it is cheaper and it won’t kill them.