Time To Put Blue Buffalo On The Special Watch List

[KarenKat]

Well, the food went straight from manufacturer to litterbox, and they forgot to have it go through a cat first!

 

[1 bruce 1]

Well, the food went straight from manufacturer to litterbox, and they forgot to have it go through a cat first!

It goes right through them. So fast that if you blink, you'll miss it!! =D

 

[chromium blues]

Blue Buffalo was sketchy, crap-tastic food from go and I'd feed Whiskas before I would ever feed Blue. Its not even raccoon food.

 

[Daisy6]

What gives you that idea Chromium? Have you ever compared the ingredients?

 

[lisahe]

Blue Buffalo was sketchy, crap-tastic food from go and I'd feed Whiskas before I would ever feed Blue. Its not even raccoon food.

I didn't realize until today -- because of another post -- that Whiskas in Canada is such decent food! (Whiskas in the US has wheat gluten.) And since a lot (most? all?) Blue Buffalo has potato and/or carrageenan and/or other carby vegetables, I'd definitely feed Whiskas over BB recipes with those ingredients.

 

[Daisy6]

Exactly how is it possible for Whiskas to be good in Canada if it is awful here?

 

[lisahe]

Exactly how is it possible for Whiskas to be good in Canada if it is awful here?

They're totally different recipes! I find it very peculiar, too, though I'm sure it's all market-driven, based on what's available where.

Another thread had a link to a Whiskas variety pack on the Walmart site. No carrageenan, no vitamin K. There are byproducts but I don't have serious objection to byproducts and they're not the top ingredients.

 

[1 bruce 1]

They're totally different recipes! I find it very peculiar, too, though I'm sure it's all market-driven, based on what's available where.

Another thread had a link to a Whiskas variety pack on the Walmart site. No carrageenan, no vitamin K. There are byproducts but I don't have serious objection to byproducts and they're not the top ingredients.

So I guess the real question is, why do people in the USA buy inferior foods when other countries get the same food with better/different formulas?
Is it cost? Knowledge?
I'm still floored at how many dog owners feed Beneful and think it's just dandy, and super inexpensive to feed.
I'd rather feed my dogs a bowl of horse and cattle crap with grass clippings sprinkled on top. More nutrition, less filler and less colors, dyes and sugars... =/

 

[Daisy6]

Ingredients:
Beef Pate Entrée: Chicken Broth, Beef, Chicken, Chicken Liver, Poultry By-Products, Meat By-Products, Vitamins and Minerals, Guar Gum, Color, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), DL-Methionine, Salt, Taurine

Salmon Pate Entrée: Chicken Broth, Salmon, Chicken, Chicken Liver, Poultry By-Products, Meat By-Products, Guar Gum, Vitamins and Minerals, Color, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), DL-Methionine, Salt, Taurine.

Chicken Cuts in Gravy Entrée: Chicken Broth, Chicken, Chicken Liver, Poultry By-Products, Meat By-Products, Tapioca Starch, Natural Flavor, Vitamins and Minerals, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Color, Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Salt, Xanthan Gum, Taurine, DL-Methionine

Turkey Cuts in Gravy Entrée: Turkey Broth, Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Liver, Meat By-Products, Tapioca Starch, Poultry By-Products, Natural Flavor, Vitamins and Minerals, Color, Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Xanthan Gum, Salt, Taurine, DL-Methionine

Did you notice the vitamins and minerals are not named? Also, "color" is obviously an artificial, unnamed, and completely useless ingredient. As for poultry and meat byproducts, those terms mean even the company does not know where they are sourced from and it could be a mixture of animal proteins unless the company specifies on its website what they are.

 

[KarenKat]

I hate when they add useless colors. I know it’s to market to me, but I don’t think that the added color really does anything to make me think that Pate looks tasty!

But comparatively it looks better than the Wheat Gluten added to the US version. I’ll not reopen the by-products debate, but at least it’s lower in the ingredients list.

I wonder, is Canada’s laws on pet food labels different and that’s why they don’t list the specific vitamins and minerals? Or is that a brand choice?

 

[1 bruce 1]

I hate when they add useless colors. I know it’s to market to me, but I don’t think that the added color really does anything to make me think that Pate looks tasty!

But comparatively it looks better than the Wheat Gluten added to the US version. I’ll not reopen the by-products debate, but at least it’s lower in the ingredients list.

I wonder, is Canada’s laws on pet food labels different and that’s why they don’t list the specific vitamins and minerals? Or is that a brand choice?

I can seriously say I have no idea.
I've seen labels from other countries that are LESS specific than here in the USA/North America and it seems better...but kind of worse. Their labels are shorter but less specific. I don't want "random ingredient of plant origin", I want specifics.
Pet food companies freak me out because they're usually so transparent. Yeah, scientific studies prove this food is good, yeah, great, whatever, but who funds those studies? And if the company selling that food funds those studies, would they really release a report that their food really does kind of suck?
No good answer =/

 

[lisahe]

No, I hadn't noticed about the vitamins, Daisy6 ... that's a very good point, thank you for noticing that. But even if there's vitamin K, the Whiskas pates are pretty similar to lots of foods, like, say, Fancy Feast. And even though I, too, don't especially like the ingredients you bolded -- other than the byproducts, which I just don't object to, particularly when, as KarenKat notes, they're relatively low on the list -- I'd still rather feed either of those pates than Blue Buffalo, which seems to put the carrageenan, potato, rice, peas, and/or other carby stuff in their foods and charges a lot more money for!

I wish there were more canned foods like Feline Natural and Rawz that have none of these things that we humans object to and our cats can't or shouldn't eat but I'm not sure that's in the cards, given the costs and the markets. I feel like the best thing I can do is avoid the things I know one of the cats can't eat -- like potato -- and the things that have relatively high likelihood of causing problems because of the cats' delicate little GI tracts -- like peas and carrageenan -- and then not feed too many of the ludicrous ingredients like gums and colors and other chemical stuff that we all know cats don't need but that companies insist in putting into food. My discomfort with all these undesirable ingredients is the big reason we feed so much raw and homecooked food, with only one daily small can of food split between two cats!

 

[KarenKat]

I wish there were more canned foods like Feline Natural and Rawz

Agreed! I keep wanting to try Feline Natural but every time I see it it’s, like, $5 per 6 oz can or something crazy.

 

[Daisy6]

There is no rice in Blue Freedom and Blue Wilderness recipes. They are grain-free or I would not have bought them for Daisy.

I think we all agree many cat food ingredients need to be removed from factories.

 

[KarenKat]

I just posted a review on chewy for the Purina Indoor Cat Chow in a fit of rage ... it’s literally the worst dry food I’ve seen and it’s rated highly.

“Corn Meal, Poultry By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Soy Flour, Animal Fat Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Powdered Cellulose, Animal Liver Flavor, Soybean Hulls ...”

Animal liver flavor!? What the actual F!?

I think it should be criminal to market this stuff for cats.

 

[lisahe]

Agreed! I keep wanting to try Feline Natural but every time I see it it’s, like, $5 per 6 oz can or something crazy.

Yes, Feline Natural is crazy expensive!

There is no rice in Blue Freedom and Blue Wilderness recipes. They are grain-free or I would not have bought them for Daisy.

I think we all agree many cat food ingredients need to be removed from factories.

They don't all have rice but when I clicked through to a few of their canned foods I found that some do, like this chicken/turkey food. My "and/or" probably wasn't clear enough.

And yes, even with small disagreements about what's good and what's bad for our individual cats, whose systems can work so differently, there's a lot of consensus.

 

[10009891]

The Blue Buffalo cat food packaging is very enticing. Makes it look like quality food. It's marketed a lot as well. I was at another Petco store the other day and a Blue Buffalo representative came up to me and gave me a whole discourse of how wonderful Blue Buffalo is. She made it seem like it was the best cat food in the world. I was even temping to grab a bag.

 

[2BSH]

I just posted a review on chewy for the Purina Indoor Cat Chow in a fit of rage ... it’s literally the worst dry food I’ve seen and it’s rated highly.

“Corn Meal, Poultry By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Soy Flour, Animal Fat Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Powdered Cellulose, Animal Liver Flavor, Soybean Hulls ...”

Animal liver flavor!? What the actual F!?

I think it should be criminal to market this stuff for cats.

Wow that’s is horrible. It’s pretty much vegan except for the poultry by products meal. Everything about that food list is terrible.. I feel really bad for the poor cats that eat that. You’re right I kind of want to go write a negative review of that so called food. It’s really not food. It’s like a pile of garbage

 

[1 bruce 1]

Agreed! I keep wanting to try Feline Natural but every time I see it it’s, like, $5 per 6 oz can or something crazy.

We would have to take out a second mortgage...

 

[1 bruce 1]

I just posted a review on chewy for the Purina Indoor Cat Chow in a fit of rage ... it’s literally the worst dry food I’ve seen and it’s rated highly.

“Corn Meal, Poultry By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Soy Flour, Animal Fat Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Powdered Cellulose, Animal Liver Flavor, Soybean Hulls ...”

Animal liver flavor!? What the actual F!?

I think it should be criminal to market this stuff for cats.

And...
what makes this "special" for "indoor" cats? =/
If you're feeding ferals or outdoor cats that supplement their own diet with God knows what, fine, feed this as a failed hunting attempt day and be glad their bellies are full...