Blue Buffalo~Not good news!

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by Maximo

I don't think it is many. When a batch of Petcurean's Go! produced at the plant that makes Merrick killed 12-13 dogs, the company pulled the food. Info on that case is hard to find, so I'm not sure over what period of time that took place. It is still a somewhat mysterious case. Maybe Crystal has found better info. Petcurean now produces all of their products in one place. (this took place in 2003, I believe)

I guess I'm hoping to hear BEFORE it kills any dogs, and maybe some are just getting sick. Is that expecting too much?

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

I guess I'm hoping to hear BEFORE it kills any dogs, and maybe some are just getting sick. Is that expecting too much?

That would be the ideal, that the food would be tested before it is packaged and sent out to kill.

[aproctor]

You all know so much about all of these companies that I have never heard of.
Thank you for sharing all this information-it is nice to become more informed. I will be taking more time to research all of this so that I stay informed but it is hard to know about all of them...there are so many!!

My mom was talking about how she is not used to this "special" diet for dogs because when she was growing up they only fed their dogs table scraps and when they didn't have enough table scraps they would cook up some oatmeal and feed that to them and she said their dogs lived long and happy lives. BUT when she was growing up they ate most of their food from the garden and the food wasn't full of antibiotics and steroids like the food is today. It was much simpler back then.

[Nancy1999]

Originally Posted by aproctor

You all know so much about all of these companies that I have never heard of.
Thank you for sharing all this information-it is nice to become more informed. I will be taking more time to research all of this so that I stay informed but it is hard to know about all of them...there are so many!!

My mom was talking about how she is not used to this "special" diet for dogs because when she was growing up they only fed their dogs table scraps and when they didn't have enough table scraps they would cook up some oatmeal and feed that to them and she said their dogs lived long and happy lives. BUT when she was growing up they ate most of their food from the garden and the food wasn't full of antibiotics and steroids like the food is today. It was much simpler back then.

Yeah people did give their dogs table scrapes, but people ate healthier too. It's really hard to give a dog a balanced nutrition using just table scrapes, because dogs need so much more calcium than humans. People did give the dogs bones as it supplies calcium and there were a lot of casualties with this habit. That’s the first vet warning I can remember, as a child “No chicken bones.” Then eventually, “No steak bones” a bone had to be bigger than your fist, and then next,“ No soup bones.” I guess the rule now is, “No cooked bones?” However, since no company is testing, we often find out too late that something is dangerous. Another thing to remember is that yorkies seem to have a very deligate digestive system compared to most breeds.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

I guess I'm hoping to hear BEFORE it kills any dogs, and maybe some are just getting sick. Is that expecting too much?

Originally Posted by Maximo

That would be the ideal, that the food would be tested before it is packaged and sent out to kill.

Expanding on this topic....it is a matter of testing each batch of each product, and knowing what to test for. There are many known problems to test for, salmonella for instance. I would imagine there are some things that are unknown or cannot be anticipated.

I'm still looking for a master list of recalls going back to the 1990s or even earlier. If anyone knows of one, please share.

Here are a few of the biggies:
1995 - Nature's Recipe - About 1-million pounds of dry dog and cat food. Pet owners complained that their pets were vomiting and had lost their appetite. The problem was a fungus that produced vomitoxin contaminating the wheat.
1999 - Doane Pet Care - Over a million bags of corn-based dry dog food that had been contaminated with aflatoxin. Products included the Wal-Mart brand, Ol' Roy and 53 other brands. There were 25 dogs that died.
2000 - Iams - 248,000 pounds of dry dog food that had been distributed in 7 states. There was an excess DL-Methionine Amino Acid, a urinary acidifier.
2003 - Go! Natural - Circumstantial association with some dogs suffering from liver disease; no cause was ever found.
2005 - Diamond Foods - a similar recall as Go! Natural. Moldy corn contained a very bad fungal product called aflatoxin. There were 100 dogs that died.

[Ringo1]

Holy Crap.

Both Lucy and Ringo are on BB. I finally found a food Lucy likes with a medium to low protein level. (She eats the Senior version).

I'm not sure what to do; sit back and see what happens I guess.

What does Iams do that is cruel? I couldn't bring myself to watch the video.

[Ellie May]

BB also had a recall not long ago because of vitamin D toxicity. I think MSU discovered it. Animals were getting sick.

Interesting that BB says there are no serious side effects to an overdose of vitamin D. It's a fat soluble vitamin, and as far as I know there can be very serious issues with it.
Blue Buffalo Recall - Vitamin D



Michigan State University Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health issues statement of concern about vitamin D toxicity associated with diet; Blue Buffalo issues recall

Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health

Looks like it may have even caused kidney damage in some dogs, so to say there are no serious side effects tells me they either wanted to make it sound like a small issue or know nothing about medicine (or both which is likely).

[Justrunningthru]

Please say it isn't so :-( I'm going to hope it is just a rumor because that is why we switched to Blue. My girls were on Evo before. They're doing great on Blue and love it even more than the Evo.

[Justrunningthru]

Just spent a few minutes googling and nothing comes up about it.... soooo.... I'm being an optimist and hoping it's not true...lol.

[Rhetts_mama]

Originally Posted by 107barney

I long ago rejected using dog food in favor of cooking for my dogs. However, convenience foods are sometimes needed -- both for me and for my doggies. So, I have tried many brands over the years. I remember the brand new BB and the reps in the store talking it up, so I bought it, and it was a matter of a day or two before my dogs had gastric distress and diarrhea. Recently, I put my dog Teddy on RC at the suggestion of my veterinarians, including one who is ACVN and I would trust over any employee of any store or rep of any company or internet armchair nutritionist. I have been so impressed with the food that I have been very lazy about

Now I had the opposite reaction with Rhett. BB is the only one he can consistently tolerate without tummy troubles. I think it all comes down to the feeding the best food that your dog will tolerate.

[aproctor]

Originally Posted by Ringo1

Holy Crap.

Both Lucy and Ringo are on BB. I finally found a food Lucy likes with a medium to low protein level. (She eats the Senior version).

I'm not sure what to do; sit back and see what happens I guess.

What does Iams do that is cruel? I couldn't bring myself to watch the video.

I wouldn't worry about it yet just keep an eye out for it and if I find out anything I will definitely let you know. There is a chance P&G won't buy BB or change the ingredients but the problem is that they if they do you will just have to be careful because when they bought out Iams they changed it and didn't put out any information and then dogs got sick.

I wish I had not watched the video!

Here is a little blurb from the website:
Animal Cruelty Allegations

In 2002 and 2003, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) conducted an undercover investigation at Sinclair Research Center, a laboratory contracted by Iams Pet Food.
The investigation uncovered horrendous, inhumane acts of cruelty to dogs and cats.

The investigator found dogs who had literally gone crazy from intense confinement in barren, steel cages and cement cells. The purpose of the "research" was to observe the effects of solitary confinement on a dog!

Many dogs were debarked, while others were left on a filthy floor after chunks of muscle had been hacked from their thighs. Many extremely sick dogs and cats were simply left lying neglected in cages, dying slowly and painfully, alone. No veterinary care or pain relief was provided.

Iams representatives toured the facility, witnessed the events and ... turned a blind eye!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investigated PETA's complaint and cited the laboratory for about 40 violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Sinclair paid a penalty of $33,000.

P&G denied any involvement in the scandal. However, once again, after intense publicity and extreme pressure from PETA, P&G's public relations machine went into damage control. They agreed to begin conducting in-home tests for food and nutrition experiments and even built a separate website designed to explain P&G's version of the "facts".
On another occasion, Iams/Eukanuba also fought the release of information from a university study in which a painful disease was induced in dogs.

In a 2001 Petfood Industry Electronic Newsletter, Diane Hirakawa (Senior Vice President of Iams’ Research & Development) makes an admission, stating, “The lesson learned here is that kennel studies are not an appropriate way to test feeding guidelines because most kennels represent a high-stress … environment. Naturally, in such an environment, dogs may need to consume more food than they would in a home setting.” - IamsCruelty.com.

However, Iams allegedly still keeps up to 700 dogs in their Dayton, Ohio laboratory for non-invasive nutritional studies. It refuses to give PETA representatives access to the lab and also refuses to end invasive experiments on non dog and cat studies.

[aproctor]

Originally Posted by Justrunningthru

Just spent a few minutes googling and nothing comes up about it.... soooo.... I'm being an optimist and hoping it's not true...lol.

Yes at this point it is only a rumor so hopefully it won't happen but I just wanted to make sure people are aware.

[qraven]

Hi.. I have not been on YT in a long time but was told about this thread and felt to add my babies story to it... please think twice before feeding BB. I lost my precious Sammie Sam due to kidney stones and my precious Berri just had surgery for the same and had way to many crystals in her tract that were not normal plus she is 5yrs and Sammie was 3 to young for this problem. The vet confirmed that BB was the problem !!!!! That is all I had been feeding my dogs do not get table scraps. I have the proof and so does BB and this is not the first instance as they have claim forms and they email them to you. Also after letting many others know what has happened to my babies I have been bombarded with emails on how BB has made others sick and how Vets had advised not to feed it... when you google BB cause Kidney stones you may not like it... but do as you wish I for one will not risk the lives of my other babies ... good luck to all of you that continue with this kibble

FYI Sammie and Berri became ill within months of each other.

[Ellie May]

I'm so sorry to hear this.

Ordinally I'd question if it was the food or what (because pups can get kidney failure, etc. from toxins). But we already know their vitamin D toxicity issue was causing kidney damage.

BB does have nutritionists on staff and they do have veterinarians on staff (however, they are holistic vets and honestly I would not let a holistic vet touch my dogs). They do not have a veterinary nutritionist. I have to wonder how much experience any of them has beyond just telling an owner to feed xyz kibble or working with nutrient profiles. In other words, I don't believe any have the perfect experience to create a diet that most dogs will do well on.

I think they also skip out on feeding trials, so there was no chance for these things to be caught before marketing the food.

There is just something that I do not trust about this company anymore and my dogs will not be eating it.

Saying that vitamin D overdose has no major side effects, lol, good one. Shows me their vets are top notch. Or their marketing dept...

[Maximo]

Are feeding trials considered animal cruelty because the dogs involved are potentially being put at risk? Where do the dogs come from that are used for the trials?