I think I'm going to stick with Blue Buffalo cat foods

[MissLori]

I've had to weigh a lot of factors, including cost and availability, in finding new dry and wet foods for my cats.  Although nothing is perfect, I think I am going to feed my cats Blue Buffalo.  They seem to like the dry chicken blend fine now that they are used to it, and really love the turkey variety of canned.  I will continue looking at canned foods, but for now it's the Spa Select for dry!

Here is the list of ingredients.  (It won't let me cut and paste the list).  I'm not an expert on feline nutrition, but this seems pretty good to me.  Let me know if you see any red flags. Thanks!
Lori

dry:
http://www.bluebuff.com/products/cats_adult.shtml

canned:
http://www.bluebuff.com/products/cats_can_adult_turkey.shtml

[garypen]

My cats also love Blue Buff canned food. And, other than the inclusion of menadione on the list of ingredients, it appears to be quite healthy. (And, there seems to be some disagreement as to the danger of menadione to cats in those amounts, anyway.)

It is my backup canned food, along with Chicken Soup, for when I can't get a hold of my new number one, Merrick's.

OTOH, they didn't care to much for Blue Buff dry, and left all of the "lifesource bits", which defeat the purpose of including the vitamins in the first place.

[MissLori]

I can't figure out if they actually use MENADIONE in their cat food still or not.  The cans I have list it, but I don't see it on the website.  I have sent them an email asking if this is an ingredient, but haven't heard back yet.  I'm not really sure at this point how concerned I should be about this ingredient to begin with, but if they are purposely not disclosing an ingredient on their website because it got bad press, then I have a real problem with that.

[amy]

Has anyone found out who manufactures their wet foods?  They say that they do not use Menu, but I am suspect as to who else they might use.  I may consider them if they appear ok.  Is it odd that I am leary about buying food at Petsmart now, when I used to feed my cat Nature's Variety and Wellness?

[garypen]

Lori - Menadione was listed on their website only a few days ago. It was listed as an ingredient in many of the individual food pages, as well as on the master list of ingredients as a source of vitamin K.  I checked for it myself when I first read about it.

They obviously removed any mention of it due to the web article that has been making the rounds. However, I'm not so sure they stopped using the ingredient, only that they removed any mention of it from the website.

Some more sleazy marketing nonsense from a pet food company? It never ends, does it? If they stopped using it, they should specifically say so. And, they need to replace it with natural form vitamin K.

Ironically, my neice just got a job with them as one of those in-store reps you always see at PetSmart. Maybe I'll ask her to inquire about that!

[MissLori]

Gary, if this is the case, and Blue Buffalo is purposely omitting an ingredient on their website because of bad press, that is quite upsetting.  I sent them an email asking to explain the discrepancy between the cans and the website, but have not heard back yet.  I may have to call them if I don't get an answer.

[Mary K]

We could be jumping to conclusions, but if this IS the case, what a loss! Imagine if they had decided to remove the Menadione from their pet foods and simultaneously made public (including labeling and web-site) that they were sensitive to the consumer's requests and concern over the Menadione. Supposing they said they had studied it further and found it was not really necessary and they were happy to remove it. Now wouldn't that bring on even more customers to Blue Buffalo? And wouldn't that build trust among the thousands of "recently new" customers who had chosen them after sorting through this mess for a month, as we have? (Not to mention their old-time customers!) I don't understand their philosophy, and it seems pretty wide-spread among the industry. Are you listening, Pet Food CEOs?

[garypen]

Mary - I couldn't agree more.

[JC]

Blue Buff has come out and said that Wilbur-Ellis is their supplier of rice protein and issued a recall.

[garypen]

Yes. Their DRY Kitten food.

It seems that the recent recalls from various brands are of dry foods, unlike the original Menu canned food debacle.

I'm glad my cats didn't like their dry food! I'll probably avoid their wet food for a while as well.

[Lisa M]

Cellulose is an ingredient in Blue Buffalo's the canned and dry cat food.  Does anyone know what this is.  It doesn't sound good.  It sounds like some type of insulation.   

[Cindy Nevarez]

  It's a fiber...it pet food...it's a filler.

[Cindy Nevarez]

I meant to say IN a pet food it's a filler.

[garypen]

In a pet food, it's fiber, as well. That's why it's there. There are cheaper fillers they could use as fillers.

[Cindy Nevarez]

I suppose that's true. I see this stuff a lot in senior formulas.