Blue Buffalo and crystals?

bonepicker

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Yes, I bought Wellness grain free in can turkey and 3 weeks later he was sick. I read on some sites that wellness wet caused crystals in some cats. I was feeding Mittens nat. Balance turkey but wanted a lower carb/higher quality canned food and bought some wellness. 1 can a day and 3 weeks later he had crystals. Now I'm feeding him PROPLAN because he's really picky with wet food, and doesn't mind the chicken liver classic. Fancy feast chicken classic has fish but PROPLAN looks identical with no fish in the chicken classic. Purina ur wet is still in his diet, although he hates it, just to make sure the crystals don't come back.
Fancy feast classic liver & chicken or classic chopped grill have no fish
 

ammey

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I am with you here.  I also joined to post that Blue Buffalo is the culprit.  9 year old male cat has a uti and crystals.  Vet advised I should not continue to use this food and he is now on  prescription food  He is on Hills s/d and will be on it for about 4 weeks, plus had an antibiotic shot.  I had been feeding my cats a prescription diet food for the last 8 years and never had any problems.  I am sure that Blue Buffalo is the problem.  It is not a cheap food and actually the Hills food from my vet is most often less than the BB.  I think is so sad that pet owners are duped into thinking something is good for their pets and it is not.  I have another male cat 8 years old and a female 7 years old.  They are now on Hills also.  I feed my kittiesa canned and dried food.  The 9 year old with the UTI loves the canned Hills s/d canned food and also likes the dry food also.  The only problem I am having now is that I cannot leave the food on the floor for them to eat since only the 9 year old male can eat the s/d.  After he gets tested and he is okay them they will all switch to Hills c/d which is fine with me.  Pet owners beware and in my opinion blue buffalo is not good for either cats or dogs.  All my cats drink lots of water and I am home with them every day so I know what they are doing.  They are strictly in door cats so I know they are not eating stuff they should not be eating. 
 
 

maddie5

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I was searching for info on crystals & found this sight. My male cat had/has a UTI & crystals. He's at least 8 yrs old. Never had a problem but switched to Blue after a recall of his food. Now after BB he has problems. Water is not a problem. He loves drinking from the sink. Since vet prescribed UTI food I emailed BB & asked about their magn content of reg food & if they had a Rx food for UTI? Site said they'd get back within 24/48 hrs? A couple weeks later still no reply! Now I don't know what food to feed my cats. The Rx food seems to upset my one cat. I try to keep everything separate but I can't with 4 cats. I wish I knew what to feed that is good for all. Ugh!
 

detmut

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I was searching for info on crystals & found this sight. My male cat had/has a UTI & crystals. He's at least 8 yrs old. Never had a problem but switched to Blue after a recall of his food. Now after BB he has problems. Water is not a problem. He loves drinking from the sink. Since vet prescribed UTI food I emailed BB & asked about their magn content of reg food & if they had a Rx food for UTI? Site said they'd get back within 24/48 hrs? A couple weeks later still no reply! Now I don't know what food to feed my cats. The Rx food seems to upset my one cat. I try to keep everything separate but I can't with 4 cats. I wish I knew what to feed that is good for all. Ugh!
you could try over-the-counter urinary health foods: Friskies Special Diet, Purina Pro Plan Urinary Tract Health, and other wet urinary foods

Purina ONE Dry Cat Food  Urinary Tract Health FormulaPurina Pro Plan Focus Dry Cat Food Urinary Tract Health Formula, 

 
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dmtorba

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I am replying to your post as I had a 3+ yr old male cat. We did wetfood and dry food, the dry was Blue Buffalo for hairballs as his sister has issues. Worked great for her, I had to send him over the rainbow bridge in November. Today I took my 4 yr old female in for blood in her urine, same disease and onterestingly enough I had just switched her back to Blue because of hairballs n vomitting. I will never again serve this brand to my cats. Luckily my male kitten only eats wet food, I suspected it could have been a cause and changed it, but I cant have my girl suffering either. Well now she really is. I hope you found an answer!

Hi all,


This is a little bit health and little bit nutrition, so I hope I'm posting in the right place. Seamus was diagnosed with his first UTI in early July. Things seemed to clear up after a couple rounds of antibiotics, but yesterday I received the results of his follow-up urinanalysis (he's been off the antibiotics now for about 3 weeks) and his ph was high at 7.5 and they detected struvite crystals. He wasn't having symptoms yet, but the doctor put him on Royal Canin Urinary SO temporarily to head off a possible blockage. He will be on this food for at least the next 3 to 4 weeks and then they will retest his urine. The thing is, when he had his first urinanalysis when he was diagnosed with the UTI, his ph was within the normal range at 6.5 and they did not detect any crystals, but he had signs of infection such as white blood cells in the urine (they also did a culture, but it came back negative). Anyway, at the time of the first test, he was eating Wellness dry, but a week before the follow up test I had bought a bag of Blue Buffalo dry (I tend to rotate between these two brands) and mixed it in with the Wellness. That was the only change. I also feed wet food and that rotation has been constant, so I'm suspecting that adding Blue to his diet may have caused the altered ph and crystals. I was also told to replace his wet food with the RC urinary wet food but I honestly think this issue is related to the dry and the introduction of the Blue Buffalo. Do you think my suspicions are valid or is simply a coincidence? Anyway, I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on this.


In any event, I don't want to keep him on the prescription food if I can help it and would like to get him back on the Wellness once he's stabilized. Since both my cats graze on the dry during the day my other cat has to also eat the prescription food even though she doesn't need it. The vet said that's okay, but I know it's not ideal, and I still would rather have them both on a good quality maintenance food.


Thanks in advance!
 

dmtorba

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I read your post and it echos my experiences in 2015, 2016. I had to put my male down due to recurrent crystal blockages. I removed it from my females diet after putting him down and got a new kitten in Jan. She was vomittong a lot and having hairballs on other brands so I gave into buying Blue Buff againnot even a month in.....cystitis. at least with her it should have a better outcome, luckily my baby kitty eats only wet food. My heart cannot take another loss. We have always had a water fountain and wet food offered 2x a day, I will never purchase BB ever again.
Hi All,


I've joined the site simply to reaffirm that Blue Buffalo dry formula caused crystals in both our cats. One cat (the male) had a full blockage and required emergency treatment from our local vet. At the time, the vet told us that she had seen at least 3 other cats in the past few months with blockages that were on Blue Buffalo.

Our cats are 5 years old and have had no health problems prior to switching to this brand.


I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons why your cat might develop crystals, but I would recommend avoiding Blue Buffalo. Sure, some cats may have no issue with it, but it's seems that this problem is common enough that it's not worth the risk.
 

denisem

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My daughter has a two year old cat that shes had since he was a kitten. She has been giving him blue buffalo since that day two years ago. Believing that she had the best food out there for him. She read ingredients and compared and nothing was to good for her boy. This week things changed and he began acting strange and licking himself and growling in pain. It was in the evening and she had no choice but to take him to the local emergency hospital. As you know you have to pay up front before they will treat them so she paid the first 160.00 herself  and then needed 60.00 more to do a test on him. Next it was 700.00 then 1200.00 and she is a college student who doesn't have the money. She had to borrow from her sisters and me in order for them to care for him. Long story short. He had a blocked bladder unable to void in both areas. They had to insert a catheter into him and they found he had a mucus plug and some crystals. The vet told us that 80 percent of cats that they treat have been on Blue Buffalo! My daughters cat is still in the hospital for another two days and when they remove the catheter they hope he will pee on his own. He is on a high dose of pain medication as well as antibiotic and iv to flush him out. We have spent a lot of money and have had sleepless nights and trying to comfort my daughter who just wants her best friend to come home. She said she has cried 22 years of tears. Hopefully he pulls through and she can bring him back home as a healthy cat. The vet did say he will have to be on a certain food now for the rest of his life and once they get it they can get it again. I'm not sure who will read this or if I will ever be able to be compensated. Right now we are still praying Zuko makes a full recovery. 

Blue Buffalo should be pulled from the shelves and people should be compensated for the vet costs as well as the stress this has put us through.

Update: My daughter brought him home Saturday and by Saturday night she was bk at the vet hospital and he was blocked again. Another 420.00 on top of everything else. We have now brought him home again and she is watching him closely. The stress is unbelievable not to mention the costs!!!! 
 

dmtorba

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Your story breaks my heart as it is so similar to mine.  I took my female off of BB after the death of my male, but ended up putting her back on it, so I was super surprised she got the bladder issues too.  I have been pushing more wet food, and replaced BB with Core brand, going to give that a try.  Her bloody urinations are at least over.  I spent thousands on my male to the worst outcome.  I at least can nip it with my female.  My new male doesn't eat dry food so that is helpful.  Good luck with your daughter's kitty, I only got 6 days with my baby between his last 2 blockages.  I had made the decision to let him go.  A $4000 surgery plus $2000 in tests, was just too much for me.  Denise
 
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