Blue Buffalo chicken and rice

[Colleen]

We were told by a vet today that Blue Buffalo was much better to feed out shelties than Innova so we are going to try it. Has anyone else used it and can you tell me if it is good food?

[ClantyreSheltie]

Did he give a reason? or is it personal preference? or is there a specific health reason, like needing limited ingredients?

[Trip]

I use Blue Buffalo and Beignet seems to love it and hasn't had any issues.

[mcemily]

I agree, I would ask your vet WHY he/she thinks BB is better. I don't know anything about Innova, except that their parent company (Natura Pet Foods) was bought out by Proctor and Gamble a couple years ago (a red flag for me, but perhaps not for others), so I can't say whether or not Blue Buffalo is "better," but Blue Buffalo is a pretty good brand.

We used to feed our cat, Majo, the Blue Buffalo foods, but she is extremely picky, and though we tried several different BB formulas, she didn't like any of them, so we eventually gave up on BB and found a kibble she did like (Acana Pacifica seems to be her fave so far). We had originally planned to feed Lerwick the Blue Buffalo Wilderness (grain-free) kibble, but then we discovered that he has a poultry sensitivity, and all the Wilderness kibble contains chicken meal, so that knocked BB out of the running. So, we don't feed BB, but it is not because we don't think it's good food... it just doesn't work for our pets' sensitive tummies and/or palates.

As for BB's Chicken and Rice formula... I don't know how it compares to other meat+rice formulas, since we do grain-free, but a good place to look is www.dogfoodadvisor.com. Again, check with your vet to see why he/she is recommending BB over Innova.

[BarbV]

Nothing wrong with either food, so I agree, ask your vet why.

Some vets are really against high protein diets. I thinkin Innova is one of those. Could that be the reason? High protein is great for 98% of dogs, but should be considered reducing if your dog has liver or kidney issues.

[Colleen]

They just need the veggies and meat and fruits in the BB I guess. The SD/RD was a lot of fillers which worked briefly to get some weight off our shelties but not for long term. BB also doesn't contain corn and one of ours was scratching and we thought it may be the corn she was having issues with.
So far so good they cannot wait to eat and are doing fine with BB.
Thanks for all the comments.

[mbfrench]

Originally Posted by Colleen

We were told by a vet today that Blue Buffalo was much better to feed out shelties than Innova so we are going to try it. Has anyone else used it and can you tell me if it is good food?

It's funny we just had this conversation of food with our vet...his thoughts on BB for shelties...No~

And I also must add,it was a food tht we tried after the fiasco of TOTW recall back in the spring,along with a host of other foods. (not Fromm though).. I have to admit,it was one food I did not try,as with 5 dogs at the time,it did not fit our skinny budget. (I was not working)

All of the foods put alot of weight on our dogs. And since June,all have traveled the road of strict diets. So for our group,it did not go well.
After only 2 weeks,our Jasper walked away from his bowl,refusing to eat it. So it was tossed.

I put them on Acana,and they remained in it,but then shipping charges were added. (It was on a free ship for quite some time). At the time,we had 5 dogs,as Earnhardt was alive then. THEY LOVED that food,but I could not afford it.
After much thought,we decided to put our furr kids back on TOTW. We never ever had increase in weight,it digested well,and fit into our budget. Brian convinced me to try it again.
All dogs are well within thier goal weight,Trapp losing 10lbs,Jasper is within 3lbs of goal weight. Mia lost 9 lbs. And they are happy,healthy dogs.

Food is a highly debated issue here,one must do as they must and factor in alot of things. Ultimately it is your decision.

[biowicks]

I can only offer my personal experience. We put Olive on it at around 6 months when it was discovered that corn did not agree with her intestines . It fixed her intestinal problem, and she has a beautiful glossy coat and incredibly big white teeth (or maybe I've just forgotten what a tricolor looks like ) We just switched her to BB adult chicken and brown rice.

As an aside, we have several geriatic cats with various health problems, and now they're eating it, too. (the cat food, not the dog food!)

[melbell]

Originally Posted by Colleen

We were told by a vet today that Blue Buffalo was much better to feed out shelties than Innova so we are going to try it. Has anyone else used it and can you tell me if it is good food?

I know this is a month old, but we switched our whole herd (4 dogs) to Blue Buffalo after my vet recommended it to my mother. The reason she recommended it was because my female who lives with me, Honey, broke her leg extremely bad when she was a pup (now 9). To this day she will still kind of let it hang when jumping in Agility, knocking down a bar rarely. She said Blue Buffalo will help better with the joints. I have yet to test it out to see if it helps my female with Agility or not though due to the move. My one male (who is 12) also broke his leg when he was a pup and so did my parent's puppy (5 months now). We kids, like to say it's the curse of my house. Three Shelties in a row all broke their legs. All while pups and all by different ways. So, needless to say, that is why we made the switch.