Blue Buffalo dry food

[weluvcookie]

I took Holly to the vet today, since I just got her from a shelter. She is sneezing and has a watery eye.

Anyway, I mentioned that Holly prefers eating dry food to the canned good food I bought her. I am feeding her Blue Buffalo Wilderness.

He said BB is one of the worst foods out there because it's not regulated at all. Basically BB just markets their line of food, and just gives a list of ingredients to the cheapest manufacturer to actually make the food. Supposedly there is no recipe or anything, BB just leaves it up the manufacturer to mix up what ever they want to, even substituting cheaper alternatives if they want to.

Is this true??? I tried googling it but can't get any answers. I don't know who to believe anymore, since everyone seems to have an ulterior motive or marketing ploy.

I don't want to go extreme and feed raw or homemade food, and if Holly won't eat anything but dry, I want to find a high-quality food to feed her.

The vet also told me that the grain-free hype is nonsense... corn, wheat, etc... won't hurt most cats. What do you think?
He recommends Science Diet, Iams or Royal Canin. Because they are all regulated by the government and have to have the ingredients and "recipe" down to a science.

I need some help. I need to go back to the pet store because we are about out of cat food, but I don't know what to get.

[anie]

oh gee! I dont want to be mean but your vet is hallucinating.

They all recommend science diet or royal canin b/c they are paid or get some other benefits from manufactures of those foods to sell it in their clinics.
but that food is just a junk.

and grain-free cat food is not a nonsense. cat are carnivores and need meat proteins, not corn.

I dont know about blue buffalo or about dry food (and for example reasonably priced) because my cats are fed 100% wet. But i am sure somebody here will give you names soon.

keep in mind that vets are not educated in nutrition, so they know nothing about it. most of them are trained by brands like SD or RC, so thats why they push it so hard.


if you want to read about cat diet and how cats should be fed read this excellent site:
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health

[scottd]

Any pet food sold in the US is regulated by the FDA. Science Diet and Blue Buffalo are regulated just the same.

The ingredients on the label is what will be in the food. The ingredient panel and such is regulated. If they were to list inaccurate information, they would be breaking the law and the FDA would force a recall.

It is true that the smaller pet food companies often "outsource" manufacturing because it is simply too expensive to operate their own manufacturing plants. It isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as the manufacturer they outsource to is responsible and follows the law and I imagine most do. The dry food that I buy is made by a third party but it does not worry me. The plant is inspected by the FDA, Health Canada, and EU authorities. As far as I know, no food manufactured in that plant has ever been recalled.

Many cats are allergic to grains such as corn, wheat, rice, etc. That aside, do you really think that cats in the wild go to a corn field and binge on some corn? I think not. It's not part of a cats natural diet so why do we feed it to them? Cats can't even digest corn. It's just a filler.

The brands your vet recommends are full of fillers and by-products. I would not feed them.

Your vet is very clueless when it comes to pet food it seems. I honestly don't know if I could trust my vet anymore if they told me this. It's complete and utter non-sense.

I'm personally not a big fan of Blue Buffalo for unrelated reasons but it's so much better than the brands he recommended and I would most definitely feed it before those brands. I feed my adult cat (kibble addict, won't eat wet at all) Petcurean Go! Fit + Free Chicken, Turkey, + Duck. I would also recommend Orijen Cat & Kitten.

[grrawritsjordi]

You can try Taste of the Wild. As most people who have read anything I have posted about food, they will know I SWEAR by this stuff. Taste of the Wild is grain-free and makes the cat's fur so shiney!!

If you just look up reviews, you will see how much people love it.

[scottd]

Originally Posted by grrawritsjordi

You can try Taste of the Wild. As most people who have read anything I have posted about food, they will know I SWEAR by this stuff. Taste of the Wild is grain-free and makes the cat's fur so shiney!!

If you just look up reviews, you will see how much people love it.

It's worth noting that Taste of the Wild is manufactured by Diamond and they do have a fairly large history of recalls.

[grrawritsjordi]

Originally Posted by scottd

It's worth noting that Taste of the Wild is manufactured by Diamond and they do have a fairly large history of recalls.

I know, I check the website all the time, but I read they have starting cracking down. Would you suggest something of equal price and quality? I am not sure if the cats are pickey as that is all they have eaten.

[scottd]

Originally Posted by grrawritsjordi

I know, I check the website all the time, but I read they have starting cracking down. Would you suggest something of equal price and quality? I am not sure if the cats are pickey as that is all they have eaten.

Perhaps Earthborn Holistic Primitive Feline. I think it's about the same price per lb. It might actually be higher quality.

http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood....mitive_feline/

I buy the dog version for our chihuahuas and they love it and I do too.

[3furbabies]

I have fed my cats blue buffalo dry for a long time, and I had heard and read nothing but great things. I am switching them to Orijen dry just because I feel like the ingredients are slightly better.

No wonder your vet suggested Science Diet or Royal Canin... take a look at the shelf of food they sell there. What do you see? Most likely science diet and prescription foods(most which are made by royal canin) so of course they suggest it! They make a ton of money off of it. It is probably even worse than grocery store food and is a total rip off since its much more expensive for the same quality.

[Lady's Secret]

My cats get dry in the morning and wet in the evening. Blue Buffalo Wilderness is part of my dry food rotation and mine do great on it. They also get Wellness Core and Taste of the Wild. If I make all three foods available at one time, both will eat all of the Taste of the Wild first. So I buy it the most often.

My vets an old timer who's really up to date with surgeries and diseases. He's also got great facilities and can do basic blood and urine testing in house which is a big deal where I live in the boonies. I try hard not to talk about diet with him though, because we disagree... a lot! But he always says my cats look great. So there you go.

I would never feed Iams, Science Diet, or RC. If your gonna feed your cat junk, buy Meow Mix and at least save yourself some money! Thats just my 2 cents.

[doodlebug]

Sounds like your vet has drunk the Science Diet kool aid. Yes Blue Buffalo outsources their manufacturing, many food companies do. That doesn't mean it's unregulated. But BB has been less than transparent about their nutritional analysis and it's something that bothers me. It's not a food I would choose to feed exclusively.

Originally Posted by anie

and grain-free cat food is not a nonsense. cat are carnivores and need meat proteins, not corn.

Grain free does not necessarily equate to high meat protein. It just means that the carb source is not a grain. A food can still have an extremely high carb content and corresponding low meat protein content (Natural Balance LID formulas for example). Even a grain free high protein food doesn't mean it's necessarily from meat sources...lots of foods boost protein with pea protein concentrate. If you look at a food like Taste of the Wild:

Chicken meal, peas, sweet potatoes, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), pea protein, potato protein, roasted venison, smoked salmon, natural flavor, ocean fish meal,

Yes it has chicken meal first, but the splitting of the peas (a high protein vegetable), pea protein and potato protein mean that a significant portion of the protein in this food comes from vegetable sources. It's a good food for the price, but not on par with something like EVO.