In my professional opinion Blue WAS a great company. No more. They started taking short cuts to boost the value of the company. This included using animal byproducts in some formulas while their advertising at the time denounced this this pratice. Purina, another awful company had blue tested by an independent lab and found the byproducts, launch suits and counter suits as Blues was trying to go public.

The owners wanted to cash out.

Until last month Blue built their business by focusing on independent retailers. A month ago they started sell grocery stores and mass merchants.

We do not feel that they are a consumer focused company any longer. It’s all about the stock price.

This pains us as Blue was a big business for us until two years ago when we caught wind that the owners wanted to cash out. We anticipated the problems and grew other food business before things hit the fan.

There are many honorable company’s making excellent food. Unfortunately do not feel Blue is one of them.

The "veterinary community" in general has minimal credibility regarding dog food brands, and that's being nice. Lots of wonderful individual Vets out there, but the industry at large picked the wrong team years ago and has hawked half ass food all along, like the Dr Office version of sale items placed by the register at Walmart, glossy adverts on every counter.

Perhaps in a decade or more their opinion on such things will matter at all, if and only if they clean their own house, from an industry and community standpoint. Pediatricians ought not hawk Happy Meals, either... same damn thing, and it even has "Science" in the name, sounds fancy, right? Especially coming from a doctor. But it's McDs in a nice bag.

Jeff,

I'd guess you deal with a lot of vendors. Any other thoughts? Took a glance at Merrick, priced about the same as BB.

My concern is my Mal has a touchy stomach.

This is worse than buying a mattress.

Started feeding my minuture schnauzer it she had a violent reaction, took her to the vet he asked if we were feeding her blue buffalo, we said yes just started feeding her it. He said he has had several dogs come into his office having the same symptoms, one of them died. This was 4 yrs ago.

Merrick is a great food. Check out Nutrisource. It is a bit more expensive than Blue but it’s a superior food. They also offer a frequent buy program through independents, buy 10 get one free. That offsets the extra expense. They are one on very few that has never had a recall.

The store will have samples you can try before you buy. If they don’t let me know and I’ll send you some.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
The "veterinary community" in general has minimal credibility regarding dog food brands, and that's being nice. Lots of wonderful individual Vets out there, but the industry at large picked the wrong team years ago and has hawked half ass food all along, like the Dr Office version of sale items placed by the register at Walmart, glossy adverts on every counter.

Perhaps in a decade or more their opinion on such things will matter at all, if and only if they clean their own house, from an industry and community standpoint. Pediatricians ought not hawk Happy Meals, either... same damn thing, and it even has "Science" in the name, sounds fancy, right? Especially coming from a doctor. But it's McDs in a nice bag.

Agree 100%. Most sell Science Diet, one of the worst foods on the market. Corn, wheat, soy and animal byproducts.

Vets,do not spend much school time on Nutrition unless they choose to. It’s not a requirement.

SD funds most vet scholarships. Imagine that.

I started my pup with BB puppy dry and was not pleased with the results in terms of gas and stools, I went to Taste of the Wild grain free dry and am much happier, so's the pup.

Check Dog Food Adviser for the content info and what the label "really" says and means. It can be very confusing. Pay no attention to marketing, especially the big name brands.

Dr. Karen Becker always has good advice:

http://healthypets.mercola.com...t-to-disastrous.aspx

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
Does your dog really crave vegetables? How many times have you caught him in the garden eating your corn? Pure crap.

My dog will munch on corn any chance she gets. Also loves carrots and pea pods.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
Dr. Karen Becker always has good advice:

http://healthypets.mercola.com...t-to-disastrous.aspx

Mercola and good advice are generally incompatible.

quote:

Originally posted by elde:
www.dogfoodadvisor.com

My Golden and Lab loved BB for 2 years------then one new bag and they wouldn't touch it........around the same time MANY stories of recalls, horrific medical issues and fatalities to pets eating BB.

They have been on Taste of the Wild since and never hesitate.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:

quote:

Originally posted by fgwilliams1:
We used BB for our JRTs up until a year or so ago. Both dogs got horribly ill. The SIL on staff at the local College of Veterinary medicine read us the riot act about using that brand. It has a terrible reputation in the veterinary community. We switched and haven't gone back.

Hmm... pretty much every veterinarian's office I've been to has a display for Science Diet products which, with even a moderate amount of research, are regarded to be crap by knowledgeable pet owners.

Blue Buffalo used to have a good reputation but it's been more than a few years since I've looked at the market. Pet owners really have to keep up because things seem to change frequently in the pet food world (companies bought/sold; recalls; decreasing quality; etc.)

A lot of people say Science diet is crap. However, my dog was on Iams from year 1-2 and had terribly dry skin. I switched him to Science diet because my girlfriends sister is a veterinarian tech at a large Animal Hospital and recommended it and fed her dogs it. If it's crap why would she do that? Anyways, he's 8 now, likes it, never had an issue with him or it and all of his blood numbers look good for a 100lb 8 year old Doberman/Rottweiler.

Science Diet is an excellent dog food. They are the only firm, I am told, that publishes original research on canine nutrition. As far as dogs not liking vegetables perhaps someone can explain to me why my dogs raid my tomato and cucumber plants.

quote:

Originally posted by sgalczyn:
They have been on Taste of the Wild since and never hesitate.

My Golden gets the buffalo venison version of this and has been doing great on it.

Jeff, sorry I missed you at the store last month. We got some dog treats and a catnip toy. The dogs loved both :/

We have Petsmart and Petco around here and have been using BB for years. I hat do the big stores carry that you'd recommend? We also have a Tractor Supply if they have something better.

I think the shit is too expensive.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by sgalczyn:
They have been on Taste of the Wild since and never hesitate.

My Golden gets the buffalo venison version of this and has been doing great on it.

I alternate so they don get bored:
Bison
Venison-Legume
Prairie fowl or somewhat
They won't finish a bag of the Lamb, Boar or salmon - so i skip those

quote:

Originally posted by TXLe:
I now feed my Lab mix Merrick brand products. He loves them.

Which was recently bought by...Purina.

The product name on the bag means almost nothing anymore. The owner of the company and who actually manufactures the food going into the bag are. Only then can you research the ingredients.

I've had great success with Earthborn Holistic with my hounds which is owned and manufactured by Midwestern Pet Foods. As far as I can tell, they've never had a recall of any of their foods.

Blue Buffalo? Their advertisement says they're very good.

I fed my 100+ pound mutt farm dog Pedigree and he died.

Took 13 years to kill him, though.

I’ve tried it before. Meh

I use Acana/Orijen now.

No recalls. No worries. Great product.