Blue Buffalo Dog Food
December 27, 2008
Filed under BLUE Buffalo, Dog Food Reviews
Blue Buffalo Dog Food Review
Blue Buffalo dog food is formulated with natural ingredients and a combination of active nutrients and antioxidants which have been incorporated in a patented secret formula known as LifeSource® Bits. Its manufacturer states that it uses a holistic approach in Blue dog food recipes in order to satisfy the nutritional needs of each age group of dogs. Its main ingredients include meat, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. In an effort to adhere to their claim of being 100% natural, no poultry by-products, artificial flavors, colors or preservatives were added. No wheat, corn, soy was added to avoid any hypersensitivity reactions in some dogs.
The manufacturers of Blue Buffalo dog food have come up with four varieties of dry dog food. Each product is designed to supply the required daily nutrients of specific age groups of dogs. These four dog food formula include the BLUE™ Life Protection, Longevity, Wilderness, and Basics. Blue Buffalo Wilderness dog food brand is often regarded as the best of the bunch.
Blue Buffalo dog food recipes feature deboned chicken, lamb or fish as the major ingredient. Whole grains including brown rice and whole barley, and sweet potato are incorporated as the main sources of energy. Garden vegetables and fruits are also included to provide the essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
Other important components of Blue Buffalo dog food include the inulin-rich chicory root which is a good source of soluble dietary fiber and prebiotic that promotes the growth and multiplication of beneficial bacteria within the dog’s gastro-intestinal tract. Special probiotics have also been added to the kibble to enhance digestive and immune functions. Chelated minerals promote better assimilation and metabolism of protein in the body.
There are certain ingredients which are considered as controversial in that their effects and importance as a feed nutrient has been questioned by some experts. Canola oil is known for its omega-3 content however some consider it as an unhealthy fat. Tomato pomace has been incorporated because of its high fiber and nutrient content however there are those who consider it as just inexpensive filler for pet foods.
To prolong the shelf-life of its products, the manufacturers of Blue Buffalo dog food used Rosemary, an all-natural preservative which is safe and organic.
Many dog owners who are using Blue Buffalo dog food formulas claim that their pets are much more energetic and are not prone to digestive problems. Their pets’ hair coats are glossy while the skin remains healthy and protected against seasonal itching and allergies. Dog owners whose pets suffer from skin allergies also reported favorable results after having made the switch from their old dog food to Blue Buffalo.
While still fairly highly recommended and of good quality, the reputation of the Blue Buffalo line of dog food formulas has been slightly tainted due to a recall of specific products which have been suspected of containing excessive levels of Vitamin D. Although Vitamin D is an important feed nutrient, some dogs show hypersensitivity reactions to the high levels resulting in lethargy, increased water consumption and increased frequency of urination.
Please visit the links listed below for Blue Buffalo dog food reviews by formula.
Have a comment or question about this dog food review? Want to share your experiences with others? We welcome your comments!
Blue Buffalo Dog Food Reviews
BLUE Blue Buffalo Dog Food Formulas:
- BLUE Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe Dog Food for Puppies
- BLUE Lamb and Brown Rice Recipe Dog Food for Puppies
- BLUE Large Breed Formula Dog Food for Puppies
- BLUE Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe Dog Food for Adult Dogs
- BLUE Lamb and Brown Rice Recipe Dog Food for Adult Dogs
- BLUE Fish and Sweet Potato Recipe Dog Food for Adult Dogs
- BLUE Large Breed Formula Dog Food for Adult Dogs
- BLUE Small Breed Formula Dog Food for Adult Dogs
- BLUE Weight Control Formula Dog Food for Adult Dogs
- BLUE Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe Dog Food for Senior Dogs
- BLUE Wilderness Dog Food
- BLUE Organics Dog Food
Blue Dog Food Consumer Ratings
My Saint Benrard loves Blue Buffalo!
When we adopted her from a rescue organization, the foster home was feeding her Blue Buffalo. Me, not knowing anythign about Dog food, saw the price for a bag at Petco and laughed. So i picked the Iams Adult food. Everyday i came home and there was diarhea all over the house, same with every morning. After a trip to the vet, he mentioned that many dogs have Chicken Allergies. He said “chicken by-product” is one of the most common ingredient in dry dog food and by-product doesn’t really have a Standard of Identity -meaning one day its feathers and feet, the next its beaks and droppings. GROSS. The next day i switched to the Blue Buffalo Fish and Sweet Potato formula and VIOLA – never had an accident in the house since! Every morning she has a very large, solid, number 2. Before she was going #2 multiple times a day!
From my experience, the price actually evens out. Sure, it costs more, but they eat less and become satieted faster. 4 cups of BB will keep her full all day as compared to 5-6 cups of other dog food.
*All dogs have different appetites and Allergies. If BB makes your dog have diarrhea or vomit, pay attention to the ingredients, not the Brand
I am very happy with BB dog food. Ours eat the canned formula, and I am happy to say that they no longer have an itching problem. Yes it does cost a little more, but it is worth it.
They have more energy and their coats look healthy.
IMO feeding my dogs Pedigree and Alpo etc is the equivalent of a human living on twinkies and diet coke. Sure it can be done, but it makes you look and feel sick and can effect the quality of life.
My animals mean too much to me to neglect their diets for the cheap stuff.
Ive been feeding my 14week old American bulldog a mix of the BB Large Breed Puppy and the BB Lamb and Brown Rice Puppy. His attitude and coat are great. He generally devours his food but tends to leave the life-bits for the end or spits them onto the floor and eats them later.
After much reading and research, I am confident to say that BB is a very good food. As stated by Lacey, there are multiple allergies and test MUST be performed to determine what issues are present. People have so quickly jumped on the bandwagon of holistic, natural and organic foods that their heads are spinning. It really is a shame because all we are trying to do is give our pets the longest and healthiest lives possible. I see it everyday (I have the pleasure of working with animals) at the first sign of loose stool or perhaps the pet didn’t eat as much as they normally eat, the owners are ready to change the food, afraid that something is wrong. With the best intentions but not the proper amount of knowledge. 3 days is not even close to enough time to determine if your pet is agreeable to a new food. By this time, you should have only added 1/4 of a cup to their meal. How can it possibly be decided that this new food is the culprit. Frankly, and please, don’t take this as an attack or challenge, a lot of people do not know the difference between- holistic, organic and natural. Sometimes I wonder if the dog food companies are playing on these words because they all seem to mean the same thing-if you don’t do a little research. Another bit of information that I found out that I believe has some bearing on the jump to these pure foods is, the initial jump was because of the GO GREEN campaigns. That the companies were processing in a more environmentally savvy way. So it’s all good. You can’t go wrong. But do yourself and your pet a favor- research a bit, change the food accordingly and check out the whole environment. Haven’t most of us had kids, introduced a new jar of baby food that didn’t seem to agree with their tummy but continued to feed it because they needed these vitamins etc. It’s a process to change your pets’ food. Have patience and best of luck to all and their pets.
I am also experiencing a problem with the Adult Small Breed dog food. My little guy has been eating the Small Breed (triangle shape) for about a year and half now with no issue. Then we switched over to a new bag a few weeks ago and I noticed it had the Y shaped kibble in it. Shortly after he’s developed a bad skin infection (yeast) on his paws. Lost hair on his paws and is now on medication, medicated shampoo and has been switched over to Hill’s Prescription Diet food to try to fix the problem. Since this routine his paws/skin are improving, thankfully.
I just called Blue Buffalo today to ask about the shape change and was also told that they triangles and Y’s are just produced at different plants. But surely there has to be something else going on.
Either way, I’m very disappointed as I thought this was a healthy food for the little guy and he seemed to like it. But I’m done with it. Can’t deal with the inconsistencies from bag to bag (or the expensive vet bills and poor health of our little guy).
I’d be interested to hear if anyone has any further info on this matter.
I started feeding my dogs Blue almost two years ago and couldn’t be happier. My two older dogs, a 5yr old husky and 7yr old lab/golden retriever mix are on the fish and sweet potato and seniour formulas and have never been more healthy. Their coats are actually softer than they were when they were puppies and I’ve never been happier with their overall health. My two smaller dogs are great too. Their long coats are shiny and easy to maintain and their tear stains are gone. They eat the small bites too and I’ve never had a problem with it. Every now and then the shape is a little different, but it’s always the Y never been triangles and if you read the bag, at least every bag of it that I’ve ever bought, it says that the kibble is a unique Y shape because it is smaller and easier for small dogs to chew. The shape is also supposed to help clean their teeth better since little dogs tend to have dental problems. As for diarrhea I’m happy to say that I’ve never had that problem. I mixed it correctly when I switched though. However when I adopted one of my little dogs they gave me a bag of Hills Prescription Diet i/d their vet had prescribed for diarrhea. They said she had frequent problems with it and this was the only food she could eat. Anyway the day I brought her home she got a taste of Blue and literally refused to eat the Hills. I threw that junk away and fed her all Blue from that day on and she has never had diarrhea since I’ve had her. NO LIE! I got lucky though, take the time to mix it in right. As for the vomiting up undigested food, my mom’s dog does that. She is on Blue too and she has no problems, it’s environmental allergies. I have noticed that when she does it I’m usually stuffed up from my horrendous environmental allergies and my sinuses are draining down my throat. Trust me it’s pretty much impossible to digest food when your stomach is full of mucous and it becomes quite sour. In those cases it is safe to give dogs Benadryl.
My Cavalier puppy did not do well on this food, she had explosive diarrhea for awhile before we figured out that it was the food. My Mixed breed dog has done well on the food, so I have mixed feelings on it.
Love the product for my toy poodle it is gentle on her stomach.
Blue Buffalo has made a world of difference in my dog’s skin, coat and tummy. I have a 5year old rott/shep mix that had been on several different foods. When I began having problems getting her previous food due to the manufacture not making it anymore. I switched her to BB. She has had no issues with her digestion, skin or coat. She loves the food. So naturally when I got my Boston Terrier puppy I put her on BB cold turkey. I know your supposed to go gradually but her breeder made note that she was barely touching her kibble when she was there. We had no problems at all. She is not gassy at all, which Boston’s can be very stinky with that problem. And she loves the food. Over all I am very happy with BB, and can honestly say every dog is different and to find what is best for your dog.
Mercy on those poor dogs getting this, might as will give Ol’Roy. LOL
You will never get any one on the phone at Blue and when you do after alot effort over a month its an idiot gate keeper.
If you have a half a brain and any real dog food and health questions Fromm will TALK to you.
Fromm Never Made My Dogs PUKE either.
Believe it
Sandy – The only shape kibble I’ve seen in the Small Breed (pink) is the Y-shaped.
I’ve been feeding Blue for two years (my dog eats the Blue Chicken & Brown rice, loves it, and is doing great).
Also, I know of 2# dogs on the regular size food (the regular size food is triangular in shape). Unless your dogs are extremely tiny and need the smaller bites that are in the Small Breed dog food, you might want to try the regular size Blue Buffalo Adult Food in Chicken, Fish, or Lamb.
Additional Information for Anyone – - One must remember also when changing to any different brand of dog food is to transition or it might cause loose bowels for a few days. The transition information is shown on the Blue dog food bag – to start feeding 25% Blue compared to 75% of the old food, then slowly increase Blue over a two week period. This is done so your pet can adjust to the new food.
I couldn’t transition my dog though because she wouldn’t eat any of her old dog food once I put Blue down for her and she had no side-effects from not it. She had, however, been nibbling at her front feet (allergy) before I changed her to Blue. Within 3 weeks of being on Blue, the allergy was gone, no more nibbling at her feet!
Lacey – your post is very informative.
I switched my 4 year old Yorkie from Royal Canin small toy forumla to Blue Life Source small breed Chicken & brown rice Adult formula. The triangle shaped ones. He had a very easy transition, i did it slowly , with not problems whatsoever. He did well on the Royal Canin, but i felt he needed a change. They get tired of the same old thing. I was told that Nutro Ultra is a good food also but don’t know anything about that one. I think it all depends on the individual dog & you must do it gradually. I don’t thin there is one perfect food out there other than home cooked food for them . My little one does very well with hard boiled eggs, cheese & definitely chicken.
Hello,
My Goldendoodle has really bad allergies to the point where he is chewing himself raw. I recently purchased Blue Buffalo to help with this and he seems to like it. I am just worried about him getting sick on this food like all of the other posters. I am curious to know which type of BB they were giving their dogs?
Blue Buffalo is saving my hardwood floors! I have 2 boxers, one who is almost 2 and was still pooping and peeing in the house. His poops were always very soft and there didn’t seem to be much rhyme or rhythm to his pooping while we were away…some days were better than others but 4 out of the 5 days during the week, I’d come home to a pile. I had them on Chicken Soup, and my older dog did very well on that. However, we ran out of food one day and the place that usually carries their food didn’t have it any more so I thought I’d switch them out to something else, in hopes to firm up Bailey’s poop and keep him from going on the floor. My thought was maybe he just couldn’t hold it and that the food was giving him an upset stomach or something. Two weeks later and Blue Buffalo is the only explanation as to why I haven’t come home to poop two days in a row now and why my dogs gas has gone WAY WAY down. I honestly think that this food may be saving my floors! I LOVE Blue and my dogs eat it like crazy! They lick their bowls clean, which never happened on Chicken Soup. I agree with other posters saying that not all dog foods are good for all dogs. Very high protein foods should not be used for puppies or for dogs that don’t do a lot of working. I think Blue is perfect for active but not working dogs.
I purchased BB over the weekend, and since then my male Golden Ret has had diarrhea every time he goes to the bathroom. He also has allergies and tends to lick his feet – he had been doing fine since we moved to our new house, but now he is licking his feet more than ever. My female Golden hasn’t shown any signs of diarrhea, but her poop has been very soft, not firm like it usually is. Not to mention, both dogs seem really sluggish and have not been their usual selves for about the past 4-5 days. I am switching food immediately and will report back if I see a difference after switching them back to Natures Recipe (which NEVER gave them any problems and actually HELPED with my male’s allergies)!