[Ben L]

Hey everyone,

New to the site. I used this site to choose blue wilderness for my lab/golden mix. Recently I have read A LOT of negative reviews about blue buffalo the last 2 months. Of all the things I read, none were about the wilderness food. My dog likes the food but I may try something else just in case everything I read is true. What are your thoughts? Seems like something changed and quality control went into the tank.

[theBCnut]

All of last year, there were numerous reports from people who have had their dogs on BB ending up with a dog that was vomiting and having diarrhea. Numerous people said they called BB to report the issue and were told that BB had not had any other complaints. I can’t imagine that all those people could have been lying. To me, it is apparent that BB doesn’t know what some of their copackers are doing, and didn’t care enough about the consumers to look into the issue when it was brought to their attention, until Purina sued them.

[Dog_Obsessed]

I agree with everything BCnut said, and I also wanted to add that poultry by-product meal was found in one of their formulas that claimed to be by-product free. There were several other “labeling errors” also.

[Hater and Molly’s Mom]

Here’s the link to Consumer Affairs complaints. There are so many complaints here about BB.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/blue_buffalo.html

[Peggy]

My LadyBug was on BB Basics only 2 days before she began vomiting. I didn’t know anything about the BB issues at the time (maybe 2 months ago). But I did discontinue feeding her BB. I didn’t call BB to complain because she had recently developed food sensitivities.
I’m sure that eating BB didn’t help the matter any. 🙁

[Hater and Molly’s Mom]

Many people have called BB to report problems but they do nothing about it. They act like there isn’t a problem when it clearly is.

[Ben L]

My dog is going on 6 years without any issue but I am switching. I have narrowed it down to Orijen, nature’s valley instinct, Earthborn homistic primitive, or wellness core. Thoughts? I am leaning toward Orijen and core as I am looking for a higher fiber to aid in harder stools.

[aquariangt]

All 4 are nice foods, rotate between them-and switch up protein and binder flavors too!

[aquariangt]

Speaking of blue. I’m watching top chef, and apparently blue is now a sponser (ugh) but the newest commercial, it’s no longer no by products like the old food- it’s corn, Brewers rice, and corn gluten meal

[Bobby dog]

So they are specifically naming other ingredients, but not mentioning “by-products”?

[Akari_32]

Oh my god, this lawsuit between Blue and Purina keeps getting better and better LOL Anyone seen the new Purina Beyond commercials? I love the outright bashing they do to Blue Buffalo– “At Purina, what goes in the bag goes on the label,” and how they own their manufacturing plants. And their new slogan is “Where Honesty is our First Ingredient”. Kills me every time! XD

I haven’t checked Blue’s ingredients in a long time, and certainly not since the lawsuit. I wonder if they are at least admitting to using by-products, and are now going to put them on the label. I’ve not kept up with any recent news, but I’ve seen fun tidbits here and there on how they tried to completely slough off the responsibility of the “bad” ingredients on the suppliers and manufactures alone. Sure does make them look bad lol

[Bobby dog]

On their website they did write the ingredients found in their food was due to the supplier. They only posted they have severed ties with the supplier, no recipe or label changes.

http://bluebuffalo.com/about-us/whats-new-at-blue/wilbur-ellis-texas-plant/

[Peggy]

Dang, I am SO glad I took my babies off BB after only a couple of weeks.
This crap is crazy.

[aquariangt]

Yes, in their little “Rufus old food contained poultry by product mean, etc etc” the newest commercial took that out, and names other ingredients instead

[theBCnut]

As best as I understand it, BB says they never wanted to have by products in their food. They had a dishonest supplier that snuck them in. Of course, if this is so, then why hasn’t BB sued the supplier, after all, they have been paying for the better product and receiving the lesser one, and the supplier is the reason for a huge loss of business, an lawsuit, and a huge smear on their “good” name.

[aquariangt]

that is what they’re saying, I just thought it was funny that the new commercial omitted the by products portion

[theBCnut]

They don’t want to get sued again.

[Dori]

Had Purina not sued them I’m sure they’d continue with that supplier and those by products. They got caught plain and simple. Now they need to throw someone under the bus. Their food has been making dogs sick for a while, shouldn’t someone in the company tried to figure out what was wrong instead of pretending that no one was having issues with their food? I’d like to know how long this was going on. Id bet it’s been quite a while. Of course, this is only my opinion. Now their trying to make it seem to their consumer base that the moment they found out they switched supplier and changed commercial and probably packaging too. Despicable! IMHO

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by Dori.

[Peggy]

Ok so this begs the question(s) –

why is this dog food still getting good ratings on this website? Is it only because of the ingredients? Shouldn’t there be a warning somewhere?

[Akari_32]

The reviews are based on just ingredients, not recalls or manufacturers. For that, you need to register for the Editors Choice, which goes more into detail on other food-rating-related topics.

[Peggy]

I’d love to, but can’t afford it at the moment. 🙁

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by Peggy.

[Akari_32]

I’m the same way. I’d rather spend that $15 on three more bags of dog food lol

[Peggy]

Well, I did it. My wallet is screaming already, but I joined. 🙂

[Leslie H]

Maybe I’ve been too busy elsewhere, but I wasn’t even aware of the BB controversy. I’ve been feeding my dog BB Wilderness chicken since he was a puppy. He’s now two and a half. Lately, though, he just doesn’t seem that interested in it. I’m not sure what’s going on. I’ve been “supplementing”…aka bribing him…to eat by adding small bits of meat from our meals from our meals. But if BB is not the best dog food for him anyway, it seems, do you have a recommendation for a mixed breed, usually fairly active dog who is really not seeming too interested in his food right now? I think he may be a little low energy now (which is totally unlike him) because he’s not eating well. Any recommendations on a good dog food that will actually appeal to him? Thank you SO much for any suggestions. Meanwhile, I hope PetCo will take back the new unopened bag of BB. 🙂

[Akari_32]

I really like Wellness. Petco will take the bag back no problems, even if it’s open. If you don’t have a receipt, they’ll just give you a gift card.

[Kimi_forever]

I just got a bag of blue buffalo wilderness trail treats duck flavor wild bits in the mail today from chewy.com on accident instead of my freeze dried sojo’s treats, they obviously are taking great care of replacing the mistake but i dont know what to do with these treats now that i’ve read this thread. i always knew BB was whack but jeeze. They told me to just donate these to the local animal shelter instead of send them back but i dont know if i even want to do give these to a raccoon after this. I’m thinking about just throwing them away.

And on wellness, i know i’ve heard good things about them from people on this forum. But ive read on another forum that someone contacted them and was told that they don’t even use human grade ingredients anymore, that they use pet grade — which depending on how you feel could mean a lot, and it does to me. I emailed wellness to try and confirm this and was met with silence/no reply so i wrote them off my list of foods. Not to mention that when i tried a bag of wellness core for my dog she had terrible diarehha and would wake me up in the middle of the night 3-4 times at all different hours crying in the crate and then would run to door as fast as she could and run outside and have completely liquid poo’s. I asked chewy.com to exchange the bag of core with a bag of the Fromm that she had no problems with and they did…I’ve also heard that nature’s variety uses denatured pet grade ingredients as well, and i was not able to get a straight answer out of their rep in an email as to whether nature’s variety used pet or human grade, they just said “we strive to source the best ingredients for you pet blah blah blah our ingedients meet or exceed the standards of the pet food industry blah blah blah” totally circumventing my question, petcurean did the same thing when i asked them. I personally don’t trust a company who can’t clearly verify that they use USDA inspected (or the equivalent) and passed meat and that their other ingredients are human grade. Sojo’s is made in a pet food facility and has no problem clearly articulating that they use human ingredients, same with merrick, orijen, fromm, and others. but after seeing some stuff on susan thixton’s site about merrick i’m no longer as hot on them either (not new news, old news)….

I dunno if i should give these treats to my aunt who feeds beneful to their dog, give them to a shelter, or just throw them away in hopes of not making anyone sick…jeeze

[Leslie H]

Thanks for the help! I appreciate it. 🙂

[pugmomsandy]

Leslie H,

Try Instinct. Petco or Petsmart carries the product.

[Leslie H]

Thanks, Pugmomsandy! Could you tell me which “flavor choice” of Instinct you feed your dog and if he really seems to enjoy it? By “enjoy it”, I mean that he eats it right away. Do you add water to it, or does he eat it totally dry? Thanks again for the help!

Leslie

[pugmomsandy]

I’ve used Duck & Turkey Raw Boost food and their Raw Boost treats and Boost topper powder supplement in Lamb and Beef. I actually avoid chicken products in general. I have pugs and they basically like 99.9% of all things edible. You might try the chicken flavor first since that’s what your dog is currently eating and then eventually add in other varieties.

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