Um... Blue Buffalo?

Yeah, so I really wish I would have joined this site before I adopted my cat, because now I'm worried that starting her on BB dry food was a bad idea... I had no idea so many people were having urinary health issues that were feeding Blue.  I am confused though, is it a problem with the cat not drinking enough water, or is it a problem with Blue's food?  Do we just not know as of now?

I live on a budget and have had many family and friends feed dry food to their cats with few to no problems so I figured that it would be fine.  Belle has been on BB for about a month now, switched off of Science Diet that she had at the shelter, and she is in perfect health and eats it up like crazy.  She's also a pretty good water drinker though.

When I was deciding which food to feed Belle, I bounced back and forth between Wellness, Nutro, Royal Canin, and Blue.  Nutro seemed the cheapest of the bunch, but I had heard such good things about Blue and Wellness that I ended up picking Blue.

Anyways, I guess what I'm asking is what should I do?  I feel lost now and I just need to know which dry food in the same price range as BB is good?

Hi, I have read about a lot of cats having urinary tract and bladder issues on Blue Buffalo as well. I don't know if anything in particular has been pinpointed about that brand, I think all the chatter online about it may be related to how BB has been marketed for the past few years. They claim that their food is superior to other foods and throw a guilt trip at consumers for feeding 'inferior' brands to their cats. Needless to say, when a cat who has been switched to BB ends up with struvite crystals or a UTI, the owner is going to be very upset, especially when they thought they were doing the best for their pet. And then they post online. These types of health issues are not uncommon for cats eating any type of dry food, and some cats are naturally more susceptible than others.

The bottom line is that any dry food is inferior when compared to canned food or raw. BB has just been the buzz food lately, and people are finding out it is not that great, regardless of having chicken as the first ingredient. Granted, chicken is better than having corn as the first ingredient, but still not good enough for optimal health. The ingredient list sounds healthy, but cats are meat eaters and do not need a lot of the ingredients in BB. Cats do not eat blueberries and spinach and potatoes in the wild. Right after the chicken products, there are pure carbs listed, then a bunch of fruits and veggies. There are at least 15 ingredients in the list (BB chicken and rice) that cats simply do not need, although they would be healthy in a human's diet. And that is the marketing ploy: 'Feed them like family.'

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Fish Meal (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Dried Cellulose, Natural Chicken Flavor, Whole Potatoes, Peas, Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Cranberries, Blueberries, Apples, Blackberries, Pomegranate, Spinach, Pumpkin, Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Alfalfa Meal, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, L-Carnitine, L-Lysine, Turmeric, Dried Chicory Root, Oil of Rosemary, Beta Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin (Vitamin B3), d-Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Ascorbate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Choline Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Salt, Caramel, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Yeast (source of Saccharomyces cerevisiae), Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, Dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product

The best resource for cat nutrition is catinfo.org. It explains all about why cats are obligate carnivores and how dry food is ultimately unhealthy for them. It also has great tips on what to feed your cat and ingredient information for many different brands. It is an awesome site!

All this being said, as far as dry foods go, there are many less expensive alternatives that are equal to BB, as far as nutrition. Authority, the brand from Petsmart, has chicken as the first ingredient for half the price. I leave some of the dry Authority Chicken flavor out all day as a free feed, but give canned meals when I am there to supervise breakfast and dinner (I have a super piggie who will eat everyone else's canned food if not constantly watched like a hawk, but basically ignores the dry unless he decides he is starving!) There is also a grain free food from Tractor Supply that is supposed to be decent, but I cannot remember the name. It is 4life or 4..something.

I asked about Blue Buffalo last spring in this thread:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/258997/blue-buffalo

When I went to the link given by LDG in the third post, I found there were several stories coming from owners whose pets were eating the food all along. Suddenly there were problems with rejecting the food or sudden health problems.

I don't think there's been anything definitive found about the food--if there were, the company would be reformulating and you'd hear about it in the news.

However, if you want to change your kitty's diet for the better, I would move it off the dry food. Dry food dehydrates your kitty and increases the chances of UTIs, kidney disease, constipation and many other diseases.

Which Blue Buffalo cat food are you feeding? Wilderness, Longevity or Spa? Some have grains in them, some do not. 

I have a crystal kitty, so I know all about urinary and bladder issues.  Its not Blue Buffalo, believe me, if it were, I would be a poundin on Bill Bishops door. 

I feed Blue Wilderness dry and wet, only because I cannot afford to feed wet exclusivly, but my crystal kitty only gets wet, mixed with water, so its like a soup. Thats the key, you have to increase their water intake, and you do this, by adding water to the wet. You cannot feed dry, of any brand, to a kitty that has urinary/bladder issues.  The kitties that get dry, I mix it with a little water, and 1/2 teaspoon baby food, so it increases their water intake, and prevents them, from getting urinary or bladder issues.

When they cut our hours, I went back to feeding dry only, mixed with the water. The crystal kitty was in and out of the box, in he went. She asked me, what did you change. I told her. She said you "have" to feed him wet, mixed with water, or his urine is too concentrated, and it burns his bladder walls, hence, he feels like he has to go, even tho he doesn't.

Blue Wilderness is grain free, soy free, gluten free, by product free. 

The ingredients that happybird gave, are from Blue Spa. Spa and Longevity have grains in them. 

So, it depends, on which, Blue Buffalo cat food you feed, and/or have questions or concerns about. 

When his cardiologist out of UC Davis, said grain free, and he refused every other grain free food out there, he ate Blue Wilderness, and his cardiologist approved it.   

http://bluebuffalo.com/cat-food/wilderness-chicken?pf=1&type=dry&animal=cat

  

I mix the Blue Buffalo Wilderness with Evo kibbles and then alternate BB canned with Evo canned.

The vet likes it, Jack likes it and everything is working.

Anecdotal linkages of any food to urinary infection is pretty lame.

Cats get urinary infections all the time for a lot of reasons, one of which is usually not food.

Okay, this is making me feel better.  Thank you all for the info you have given me; it's made things clearer.  My plan in the long-term has always been to supplement the dry food with wet so that it wasn't just one or the other (wet-only is just outside my budget right now, dry I know can cause urinary problems).  I just had this sort of panic thinking that I was feeding my cat something something unsafe.

I do know that a raw/high-protein diet is the best for cats, and I want to get as close to that as I can with a kind of dry/wet food combo.

The BB food I have right now is the Spa one, it's not grain-free but after reading so much on cat nutrition lately I do want to get a grain-free food, so I think I will switch to Blue Wilderness.

So happy that I have resources like you guys to talk with and get feedback from!  I just want to do the best with the money/resources that I have, I don't want to be like my best friend, whose cat's are fed Friskies dry food, occasional wet food, and tablescraps and they're the size of blimps...

There are many causes of urinary/bladder issues. Feeding a dry food, feeding a grain food, and stress, are the biggies. Grains are a big cause of urinary/bladder issues. Feeding a dry food, is a big cause of urinary/bladder issues, as the kitty is not getting enough water intake, to keep them flushed out, to flush out possible crystals, to keep the urine from getting too concentrated and burning the bladder walls. Kitties, as a general rule, do not drink enough, to do this on their own, just as some humans, do not drink enough water. Stress is probably the biggest cause. 

When my crystal kitty was diagnosed, and he was put on Hills Science Diet, SD, the CD, dry, by his vet at that time, and the crystals came back, I did extensive research on it.

Other causes are tap water, it has too many minerals in it, crystal kitties need to be given purified drinking water. Kitty boxes being too small, not enough boxes for the household, you should have as many boxes, as you have kitties, and some, like me, lol, have one more.  Kitty boxes being in a high traffic area, as in, would you like to use the bathroom, in public, with the door open. Kitty boxes being too close/near to a furnace, washer, dryer, that may come on suddenly, and scare kitty, they associate the box, as causing the noise.

Here is a good site to read.

catinfo.org

Thank you for the helpful information. Those relying on dry diet should take heed. I have found that the addition of a little water to the wet cat food is a good idea, not just to supplement the water intake for a cat who is on a mixed diet of dry and wet, but just because the cat likes it. Lapping up the diluted wet canned "gravy" seems to please my cat.



I wonder if dry kibble can be mixed with water for those who are not feeding wet foods?

I had one, that would not, at all, eat any wet food, period, lol. Because of his issues at that time, it was imperative, that he get the extra water into him. My vet said, yes, you can mix a little water, with the dry, as long, as they are eating it right up, like within 15 min, you cannot let it sit out. I mixed 1/2 teaspoon baby food, with the water, so it was like a broth.  

I guess that he thought the bacteria in the dry food would grow if it sat around for a while.

I also worry about what I have read about Blue. I have been feeding my cats Blue Buffalo Basics dry for about 5 months and have not had any urinary problems with it. I am currently feeding the grain-free Basics (turkey and potato), as opposed to the others, which have rice. One of my cats has lost a pound since I began feeding it, (probably due to eliminating grains-other foods were corn heavy), but the vet said on her latest checkup that she looks good and is at a healthy weight. I'll let you know if anything changes.

My cats are "nibblers" and will only eat a few bites of food at a time (several times a day), so leaving out canned food really isn't an option for me. I can't really tell you about the canned Blue. I have had many cats over the years, and the only one of them to ever have a urinary tract infection was the one that was on a wet food only diet (all he would eat).