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Blue Buffalo false advertizing


highway61
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Maybe Purina dog food is different than it used to be, but I raised four dogs (from puppyhood on) on Purina Dog Chow and never had a health issue with any of them. All four lived long, healthy lives on Purina Dog Chow and table scraps.

 

Blue Buffalo has had recalls every year from 2011 to 2015. Although some Purina foods have had recalls, (Beneful and some of their wet/pouch foods) I did not find any recalls for Purina Dog Chow. This, despite the huge amount of the brand that is sold. Purina also does their own manufacturing and extensive feeding tests. This cannot be said for a great many of the designer brands.

 

All dogs are not the same. Some dogs have allergies, etc. that make it necessary to feed a special diet. But dogs evolved as scavengers, and can eat a wide variety of foods and maintain good health. (Unless of course, the dog is some inbred genetic train-wreck that has a trashed immune system, digestive problems built into its breed, etc.)

 

It seems to me that the pet owner nowadays is in some kind of race to get the most “exclusive” “premium” brand of dog food one can. There can be a lot of clucking and knowing looks in a discussion circle at the dog park if you are so ill-advised as to mention that you feed a brand of kibble that isn’t in vogue at the time, or costs less than five bucks a pound.

 

I often think that the hype about dog food is pointless and a waste of time – not to mention money. I think the only question a person need ask about a dog food is “Does my dog do well on it?”

 

YMMV

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I often think that the hype about dog food is pointless and a waste of time – not to mention money. I think the only question a person need ask about a dog food is “Does my dog do well on it?”

 

YMMV

 

I prefer err on the side of safety. And to do that, I rely on ingredients lists. But if the manufacturer is hiding ingredients from the list (Blue Buffalo) then its time to move on to a more reliable manufacturer. Now Purina is bent on keeping their competitor's on the straight and I think that can be very helpful for someone like me who relies on that. But it doesn't mean I'm switching to Purina for the sake of saving a few bucks. BTW, have you looked at the Purina Dog Chow ingredient list (below)?. I'm admittedly no nutritionist but I don't see how all the grain, gluten, salt and rainbow coalition of food dyes will promote long life:

 

Whole grain corn, meat and bone meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat preserved with mixed tocopherols, soybean meal, poultry by-product meal, egg and chicken flavor, whole grain wheat, animal digest, salt, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, yellow 6, vitamin E supplement, l-lysine monohydrochloride, ferrous sulfate, yellow 5, red 40, manganese sulfate, niacin, blue 2, vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin D3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite

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As I said in my first post, I don’t know if Purina Dog Chow is the same food (ingredient-wise) as it was when I was feeding it. With the history of the brand changing hands, (below) I very much doubt it. Some changes may have been made because of a better understanding of pet nutrition, but it’s just as likely some have been made to improve the profit margin.

 

I don’t trust big business – especially big agribusiness, because it tends to dictate what I eat. I don’t feed Purina Dog Chow anymore. The main reason is that I tend to avoid corn products because of Monsanto’s stranglehold on that grain, and their scurrilous business practices. They have made it nearly impossible for small farmers in Mexico to maintain their old varieties of corn, and in general have narrowed the number of varieties of corn grown commercially to a small handful. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg with Monsanto…

 

I feed Taste of the Wild, not because of any fantasy that it is produced by people who are particularly knowledgeable or ethical. TOTW sources from Diamond, and Diamond ingredients have been the culprit when there have been recalls of TOTW foods. I feed TOTW because my dog likes and maintains good condition on it, so I keep buying it. It’s a little pricey, but not as bad as many other brands touted as “premium.”

 

As for basing my dog food brand choices on “saving a few bucks”, knock wood, I haven’t had to do that. But I have to cut corners on other things in order to feed my pets as I do and give them other kinds of things. I don’t have a car, a cell-phone, cable, or a lot of the other things many, if not most people I know consider basics – not amenities. But I would be the last person in the world to look down my nose at people who choose a “proletarian” brand of dog food because it’s all they can afford. If I meet a person with a dog or cat that is healthy, with a shiny coat and a good energy level, I don’t bat an eye if they feed it Purina Dog/Cat Chow. My motto is, if it works, don’t fix it.

 

Purina traces its roots back to 1894, when founder William H. Danforth began producing feed for various farm animals under the name Purina Mills. The predominant brand for each animal was generally referred to as “Chow”; hence there was “Purina Horse Chow”, “Purina Dog Chow”, “Purina Cat Chow”, “Purina Rabbit Chow”, “Purina Pig Chow”, and even “Purina Monkey Chow”. Later, in 1902, he merged with university professor Webster Edgerly, founder of Ralstonism, who was at the time producing breakfast cereals, to form the “Ralston-Purina Company”. Ralston Purina sold Purina Mills, the U.S. animal feed business, to British Petroleum in 1986, while retaining the pet food and international animal feed businesses. In 1993, the Sterling Group of Houston led a leveraged buyout of Purina Mills. In 1998, it was purchased by Koch Industries, but a U.S. bankruptcy court cancelled out all equity held by Koch to maintain the company’s viability. Purina Mills was purchased by Land O'Lakes in 2001. (source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purina_Mills)

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For me, the difference is one company is upfront about it's ingredients and what one isn't

 

I don't believe for a minute that foods like Beneful and Moist 'n Meaty fall under the category of decent nutrition (and I can't imagine how they can sell it with a straight face). And honestly, I have no issue feeding by product meal to my dogs (they seem to like that stuff when given a choice...) . But given this extensive and deliberate misleading advertising campaign, I'd never feed Blue Buffalo. And I'd still have no problem feeding Purina if it worked with my budget and my dog because they do have a long track record of safety.

 

I just don't feed it cause I'm consistently able to get better foods for the same cost.

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Really, every one of Purina's pet food brands is crap???

 

 

I have often wondered if most of the ideas about the quality of pet food is based upon biases created by advertising, food opinion websites biased by our own food preferences (squeamish about offal), and increasing inbreeding in dogs increasing the number of dogs with protein intolerances (i.e. food allergies).

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I was referring to the ingredient list posted above.

 

I'm not in the least squeamish about offal. I deliberately seek out offal as part of my dogs' raw diets.

 

I do believe, however, that a diet of primarily vegetable matter and synthetic vitamins to replace the ones destroyed in processing as the one posted above probably isn't optimal nutrition for a carnivore.

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I have often wondered if most of the ideas about the quality of pet food is based upon biases created by advertising, food opinion websites biased by our own food preferences (squeamish about offal), and increasing inbreeding in dogs increasing the number of dogs with protein intolerances (i.e. food allergies).

 

My bias is based on the garbage list of ingredients and the numerous recalls. But for those who have had good results with Purina I can only say I won't argue with success and leave it at that.

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Where is the evidence that synthetic vitamins are not as nutritional as natural vitamins; especially since they are exactly the same molecularly? Are you claiming that the impurities (adulterants) in natural sources of vitamins (which are not present in the pure synthetic versions) are nutritionally important (if so post the studies)?

 

There is significant data to prove that dogs absorb the nutrients from cooked grains; are you claiming that meeting the caloric and micronutrient requirements from these sources are not the same as meeting the same requirements from natural sources? If so, show us the well controlled, peer reviewed studies to support this.

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who, what defines various ingredients as garbage?

 

A more interesting (to me) recall stat would be the number of recalls/the lbs of pet food sold in that brand. A low volume selling brand with several recalls is more concerning to me than a high volume selling brand with the same number of recalls.

 

The more one makes the more likely there will be manufacturing errors.

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You know as well as I do that there are no studies, or at least none that have ever been published, like this because it's not in the interest of kibble manufactures to do it. Until someone figures out how to fund research into meat based raw foods, which are mostly sourced independently of any large manufacturers, no one's going to undertake it.

 

But it's generally accepted that whole, fresh and minimally processed foods are better for human health than highly processed foods. What would lead anyone to think this isn't true for dogs as well?

 

Look, I don't recall ever having told you or anyone else that you shouldn't feed your dogs whatever you see fit. But I'm allowed to have and express my opinions just like you are. And it's my opinion that my dogs will be healthier on a more species appropriate diet. You can feed your dogs whatever you want to.

 

ETA: It would be ludicrous to suggest that because the studies haven't been done that it proves certain beliefs aren't valid.

 

I'm all for scientific evidence, but when it comes to studies and what they prove, how often to the studies contradict each other? Show me a study about just about anything and there's a good chance there's another study that shows the opposite.

 

And how often have we been told that such as such is so only to have it reversed a year or 2 later . . . and often reversed yet again after that?

 

Science is great, but it's not foolproof either, as much as I wish it were.

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who, what defines various ingredients as garbage?

 

A more interesting (to me) recall stat would be the number of recalls/the lbs of pet food sold in that brand. A low volume selling brand with several recalls is more concerning to me than a high volume selling brand with the same number of recalls.

 

The more one makes the more likely there will be manufacturing errors.

 

You make a good point about the high volume production and recalls. But my dogs are family and like my children in regard to what I want them to eat. So I will not skimp on cheap, highly processed, massive produced feed that has a track record of recalls. Call me naive or someone who doesn't think all the "hype about dog food is pointless and a waste of time – not to mention money".

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One more thing to ponder on species specific diet for dogs.

 

Natural selection favors individuals that thrive on the diet available in their environment. Wouldn't those who developed and refined breeds also have selected individuals that thrived on the diets provided (or at least excluded individuals that did not thrive). One could argue the species specific diet for dogs was what the Victorian era developers of breeds provided. I doubt shepherds were feeding raw lamb quarters, more likely scraps (cooked human food) not eaten by the family or cheap gruel.

 

I am not proposing we should not feed the best for our dogs; I'm suggesting the concept of species specific diet frequently proposed is romanticized based upon what modern grey wolves eat in North America not on what the species domesticated dog evolved by artificial selection to eat.

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I am not proposing we should not feed the best for our dogs; I'm suggesting the concept of species specific diet frequently proposed is romanticized based upon what modern grey wolves eat in North America not on what the species domesticated dog evolved by artificial selection to eat.

You hit the head on the nail. :) Of course, I understand that people want to feed their dogs the best food (I do too!). Sometimes I think we get too worked up about the hype, forget the science, and forget that people have to feed what they can afford.

I personally have no respect for BLUE simply because their ads trash other companies. And well, it turns out people have been paying for something equivalent to Special Kitty cat food. If I'd bought that food I'd be looking for a refund because their entire sales pitch turned out to be a lie. :blink:

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And how often have we been told that such as such is so only to have it reversed a year or 2 later . . . and often reversed yet again after that?

Such is the nature of food fads. When I read that the wolf often eats the digestive tract contents and viscera of a large ruminant first, I might imagine that processed (well, partially processed) vegetable matter and offal might make the best food for dogs. But dogs are not wolves, and all dogs are not the same. (Although I have not met many dogs that didn't find road apples, goose crap and cat shit delightful.)

 

Historically, the Inuit fed their dogs fish, fish and more fish, plus what ever else the dogs would eat and they didn't want. I don't know how my dog would do on a diet of raw, frozen fish and whatever else I might detour from the garbage disposal to her bowl. But I have a feeling that a Border Collie might not do as well as a husky on it.

 

When my parents lived for two years in El Salvador, most of the dog owners they knew fed their dogs a combination of cooked "dog rice," a type of rice grown as animal feed, and table scraps with lots of bones. The dogs seemed to thrive on it.

 

I have owned a Australian Shepherd that preferred cantaloupe to steak, and every dog I have ever owned was very enthusiastic about oatmeal with milk, butter and sugar in it. (Not that they got it often) My current dog spends at least part of every off-lead walk we do, (that's almost every day) busily munching down grass. She keeps it down too. She has never thrown it up.

 

All of which is to say that "dog" is a big kettle of soup with a lot of different things in it. Some seem to do better on one food than another- even when both foods are of high quality. Most of the recalls I have read about were because of Salmonella, which suggests that the cleanliness level of the plant where the food is made, or ingredients are sourced from, has as much, if not more than to do with its harmfulness than the ingredients of the food.

 

A lot of food which is described as garbage food, is actually good, fair or poor food handled badly. That is, food which has been allowed to spoil or food which has been contaminated with bacteria or some toxic substance.

 

Certainly, there is garbage food. I wouldn't feed generic grocery store kibble to my dog, or any of that soft-moist stuff (remember Gaines-Burgers?) or anything so brightly colored that it looked like an Andy Warhol painting of dog food. But I think it is safe to say that for some people, their pet food choice is dictated by snob appeal and food fads. And that there are enough people like that to support a growing demand for "boutique" pet food. Whether the food is really any better (or worse) for their dogs is open to debate - which is, I guess, what we're doing. =)

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What did the sheepdogs in Scotland get fed? Didn't they eat a lot of oatmeal and maybe potatoes and whatever they could catch and kill and probably scraps from slaughtered sheep? And I think the Scots also cooked seaweed and it's pretty healthy. Not that I am advocating that diet for our dogs but if that's what they ate for several hundred years they probably were pretty well adapted to that diet.

 

I just don't like the idea of feeding my dogs corn. I don't buy the really expensive food but I do feed a good grade kibble that is corn free made by a company that has never had a recall. The dogs seem to do really well on it.

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What did the sheepdogs in Scotland get fed? Didn't they eat a lot of oatmeal and maybe potatoes and whatever they could catch and kill and probably scraps from slaughtered sheep? And I think the Scots also cooked seaweed and it's pretty healthy. Not that I am advocating that diet for our dogs but if that's what they ate for several hundred years they probably were pretty well adapted to that diet.

I have read similar descriptions of what Collies of old were fed. Quinn struggled with IBD as a young dog and I couldn't finds a kibble that agreed with him. A holistic vet recommended home cooked meals and I chose to use Sojo's premix that is oats and barley and I think maybe a touch of seaweed, LOL. I add cooked meat but the grains aren't cooked, just soaked. I am not thrilled about foraging for the "right" meat and preparing meals for Quinn, but he has done very well on this diet for the past 7 1/2 years.

 

And in the end that is what I go by. How the dog in front of me does on the food. I find it really seems to vary from dog to dog.

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Tess eats what's suposed to be a good kible, not grain free, but with meat as a first ingredient. As she's always been picky about food, I mix a bit of something in her kible, raw or cooked meat or fish, egs, table scraps, etc. I also give her often a meal wholy composed of raw meat on the bone or whole fish. Her favorite is raw fish, by the way. She has a wonderfull digestive sistem, has had diaohrea twice in her life, both caused by excessive cooked chicken skin. So I don't give her that.

Bottom line is, she is healthy, atletic and energetic, has no digestion problems, is fit and muscled. So I'm happy with what she eats.

 

My previous dog had soft poo like for ever and frequent diaohrea. She setled into almost normal with a raw diet, so that's what she ate. But it didn't make me conclude all dogs had to eat raw, just that she had to.

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who, what defines various ingredients as garbage?

 

A more interesting (to me) recall stat would be the number of recalls/the lbs of pet food sold in that brand. A low volume selling brand with several recalls is more concerning to me than a high volume selling brand with the same number of recalls.

 

The more one makes the more likely there will be manufacturing errors.

 

I have noticed some recalls are due to the food being tested for and having bacteria that my dogs lick off their butt every day, and grain based molds that are going to happen anytime you put the grain in a bag and close it up. The manufacturer must recall the product, but I am not sure that reflects accurately on the quality of the product.

 

I would of course avoid any food that came up as having, say, melamine instead of protein, but I wouldn't use frequency of recalls to judge the food.

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