# Switching to Blue Buffalo



## DazzleKitty (Aug 23, 2011)

Hey everyone!

I'm brand new here, so greetings! I joined because I wanted some opinions and input on some questions.

I have a little Chihuahua named Dixie. She is the dog I am referring to in this thread. She's 10.5 years old and a little on the chubby and pampered side.

I was originally feeding my dog Nutro Holistic Health Senior dry food and Cesar wet food mixed in to get her to eat the dry food which at least has more health benefits than the Cesars food.

Well, I found some articles on the internet about Purina, Iams, and some other popular brand name dog food companies that talk about some of the real ingredients. I as alarmed that some of them allow euthanized cats and dogs into their pet food, along with dead zoo animals, roadkill, garbage, slaughter house throwouts, among other disgusting things. I even saw that video that was sneakily taken at an Iams factory. I am sure some of you have seen this video. 

Freaked out, I decided to change her diet cold turkey. I was NOT going to feed her Cesars again. It has meat by-products in it so it could have any of the ingredients listed above.

I kept her on the some dry food but am gradually mixing it with Blue Buffalo small dog senior formula.
I am switching her wet food over to Blue Buffalo. I get her a variety of flavors in their original line as well as the Blue's Stew line of flavors. 

I am sad to say that she doesn't seem very fond of this food. It's not making her sick and I even noticed her stools are hard now that she's off of Cesars. She would hog the Cesars down but procastintes on the Blue Buffalo ones until sometimes it's been out too long and I have to throw it out. 
Maybe it doesn't taste nearly as good as the Cesars, which was full of fatty things. I wonder if it's like switching over from giving her a dog version of a McDonalds Happy Meal to salad everyday? Probably since it's better for her, it's not as flavorful? Like I said, she's SPOILED.

She's been on the diet for about a month now.

Do you think I should keep at it? I want her to have the best nutrition and live a full, long life that is healthful. I store what's left of the can in a tupperware bowl and ration it out each meal. I am wondering if maybe putting the food in a microwave for a bit would make it most tasty or at least get her to salivate a bit more for it?  

I want my dog to be healthy but I don't want to make her eat something everyday she is not enjoying, either.

Any comments, ideas, or opinions?

Thanks in advance!


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

I would keep at it, do you have regular feeding schedules with her? 

I would use a little tough love, and remove it after 20 minutes or so if she refuses to eat. we'll say it's an AM meal, try again in the evening, still refusing? give it in the am again, im sure after one cycle of this she will eat.

I hope the best and she doesn't have to do this, but usualy it's the best way to get a picky/stubborn dog to eat


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## Porphyria (Jul 13, 2011)

I agree with Tobi, just be patient, she'll start eating eventually. As hard as it can be to practice the "tough love" method, a healthy dog won't starve herself.


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## DazzleKitty (Aug 23, 2011)

Thank you both for the help and input! She is on a schedule. She gets one meal in the evening around 9:30PM (this is my morning as I work nights) and when I get home around 8:30AM she gets her second meal. 

I guess I am gonna have to practice the tough love idea. I think I love her too much and that's why it's been hard, but I'm gonna stick with it. I'd rather her be eating human grade meat than rendered cats and dogs and who knows what else in that nasty Cesar food.

Thanks again, both of you. I'll post an update later on how Dixie is faring with her new diet.


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## DazzleKitty (Aug 23, 2011)

Just an update as promised. She seems to be eating more of it now, but that's because I discovered the Blue Buffalo formula she really likes. I wanted to feed her the Blue's Stew ones because I've heard they are excellent quality and they just look appetizing. But I tried some of their original stuff that has the more "creamy" or pasty food. You know what I mean? She isn't as keen on the stuff with actual meat chunks and veggies in it. She likes that soft pasty stuff more. So I've been feeding her varoius flavors of that with her dry food and she seems to be liking it much more, thanks goodness.


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## Jack Monzon (Jul 25, 2010)

There are a billion good foods. I'd find one she's excited about. 

My dog hated -- HATED -- Nature's Variety products. He'd leave it in his bowl and was never excited about mealtime. I switched to what many would consider an inferior food, California Natural, and now he acts like I'm giving him crack-cocaine every time I feed him. NV is a complicated food with many ingredients; maybe my dog just doesn't care for montmorillonite clay. Who knows.


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## DazzleKitty (Aug 23, 2011)

Guys, I am starting to get concerned again. It seems she is starting to lot like the mushy formula either. I've been thinking about just buying a can of Wellness, one can of Innova, and some other good-looking formulas from Petsmart when I go there this Friday. I could let her sample them and see if she goes bananas over a certain flavor.

I heard that constantly changing your dogs diet or feeding it a plethora of different foods can really mess up their digestive system. Yet, dogs can pretty much stomach anything. She's used to getting some table scraps (yes, naughty me). 

When I fed her Cesars, she really looked forward to mealtime. I want her to be happy in her old age and I've been feeding Cesars and dry food for years. My mom is starting to tempt me to just start to feed Cesars again. I really don't want to do that, but I hate feeding her food she doesn't like.

I'm way too softhearted.

Any ideas, guys?


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## DazzleKitty (Aug 23, 2011)

Hey again guys.

I am in serious need of help. My dog is still not so enthusiastic about her food. She pretty much starves herself for days and won't eat her dinner. It must be that she doesn't like her Blue Buffalo at all.

She has also had GI issues and is scratching like crazy. We are sure it's not fleas as we gave her flea medicine and we all would have had fleas by now. I have an appointment at the vet tomorrow to see what's up with her, and I know it's nothing bad. She's feeling so bad she's hiding under my bed and it's hard to convince her to come out. It's very out of character for her and I am so worried about her. 

Just as an experiment to see if something altogether is wrong with her appetite, I bought one packet of Cesars and put it out for her. She practically inhaled the stuff. So she obviously just hates the Blue Buffalo.

I am thinking the GI issues must be from switching cold turkey because I didn't want her consuming Cesars anymore. I know some foods put euthanized animals in it like Iams, and I am not sure if Cesars does. It uses lots of meat and chicken by-products. I don't like "meat" because it means it can be anything. I am not sure of Cesars uses cats and dogs or other animals. I still feel bad feeding it to her. She has been eating it for years without issues and seems fairly healthy. But the guilt is there. I want her to enjoy the last few years of her life as she is 10.5 years old and I like to see her happy. Yet I feel I'm a bad doggy mom for giving her this junk. Her dry food is a mix of Blue Buffolo small dog senior mix and Nutro holistic health senior. At least her dry food is good and I usually mix it with wet to make it a bit more palatable.

I thought about letting her sample some random cans of other food like Innova or Wellness, but I don't want to screw her up even more.

I am at a loss for what to do. Any ideas, guys? What would you suggest?

Thank you in advance.


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

DazzleKitty said:


> Hey again guys.
> 
> I am in serious need of help. My dog is still not so enthusiastic about her food. She pretty much starves herself for days and won't eat her dinner. It must be that she doesn't like her Blue Buffalo at all.
> 
> ...


 go to your local feed store and ask them to order you some free samples of innoca eco red meat..if your pup doesnt eat it then i can safely say she has an appetite problem  joking of course.
my guy wasnt feeling totw or earthborn and he loves evo red.


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## DazzleKitty (Aug 23, 2011)

If I knew Cesars didn't have euthanized pets, I'd be more okay with feeding it to her along with her healthy food to get her to eat it. But I may try that feed store idea. It's a good suggestion.

If I were to email Cesars and ask if they do contain certain ingredients, would they likely be honest or lie?

I took her to the vet today. I told them about the abrupt diet change and one of her nurses said that's probably the reason of her GI issues. She asked me instead of going for BB why not just go with 'good ol' Purina. I told her she'd think I'm crazy if I gave the real reason, but she say to go ahead and tell her about what some of the food contains, including that brand.

Am I overreacting to the whole euthanized pets in dog food? Does the FDA for dogs truly allow this? I thought it did. The idea of it just disgusted me, especially when I saw the Iams video. I don't want to seem obssessive. Am I being this way?

The nurse at the vet didn't believe me at all and was even skeptical when I told her to look up the video. Quite frankly, she acted like I was some kind of moron and it ticked me off. Sometimes I wonder if people get defensive because they feed their pets those foods and don't like to hear about it. But meat and bone meal and be anything, as well as meat by-products, correct?

As for Dixie's itching, my actual vet said it's likely allergies and gave me some Benedryl to give her.


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

DazzleKitty said:


> If I knew Cesars didn't have euthanized pets, I'd be more okay with feeding it to her along with her healthy food to get her to eat it. But I may try that feed store idea. It's a good suggestion.
> 
> If I were to email Cesars and ask if they do contain certain ingredients, would they likely be honest or lie?
> 
> ...


Ok, you've taken the dog to the vet & have been given antihistamines, which is standard for allergies.

In the meantime, PICK A GOOD FOOD AND STICK WITH IT! You are perpetuating the "picky eater syndrome" by constantly switching timing, food, etc. Tobi (et al.) have given you some good advice. Listen!

'nuff said,


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

small dogs are notoriously picky, with that said, I've known of some little dogs that can become hypoglycemic when they refuse foods, so you want to make sure shes eating at least something. Did the itching start when you switched to BB? I would try a fish based grain free food, its relatively low on the allergen list, BB has their own wilderness line and a salmon formula. 
Theres some other hypoallergenic foods out there, even though I'm not always keen of the ingredients since its very carb heavy. Natures variety recently came out with a LID formula thats grain free and moderate protein levels, its worth a shot.


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## Craiga (Sep 22, 2011)

My 3.5 lb Yorkie picked out the "blueberries" in Blue Buffalo and leave the rest. I tried the tough love method but she didn't like it. I tried Orijen and Wellness; she liked neither. I have switched her over to Stella and Chewys and she likes it very much. All three of these have "transition-sized" packages so that you don't have to spend a lot of money to try it out. I also tried Nature's Variety Instinct but it takes too much space in the freezer and if you forget to thaw it out, your baby is out of luck. All of these are highly rated foods.
Good luck!


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