Dog food issues

Just a quick reply, we feed our cocker Fromm's. It is a small company that has never had any recalls as far as I know. After all the constant recalls and the deliberate contamination of pet food ingredients from China with melamine in the past, we are very picky when it comes to what we feed our dog. We top off her dry food with Wellness 95% chicken topper (canned) and she loves it. No problems and no recalls ever!

We were shopping yesterday in one of the big box chain stores. We passed a huge stack of bagged chicken jerky treats marked "made in USA." I saw people examine these and put them back. How do you know if "made in USA" means from USA chickens? I didn't talk to anybody but did not see anyone put them in their shopping cart. With all the chicken crops raised here going to restaurants, fast food and grocery stores, would the mfr really spend that kind of $$ to make dog treats if they have source options? I don't know, but it's good to see that pet owners are aware of the issue.

Two years ago my friend lost her Peggy Sue, a standard Poodle. She swore it was from treats a dog-sitter had given her as nothing else made sense. Now many of the Treat for dogs are on the DO NOT GIVE list as many others are losing their pets. I'm thinking any consumable made in China should be avoided

Not only is the article old, it contains no clinical data, only anecdotal from someone who switched from Purina to Blue Buffalo 5 weeks previously and now her dog was having loose, smelly stools.
Which could mean that the dog is sensitive to something in the food, or that the bag that the owner bought was stored improperly and had gone bad after being opened, or that the dog had been exposed to an actual illness like Parvo (loose smelly stools) or that the dog had ingested something which the owner didn't know about, or any of dozens of other things that cause dogs to have loose stools.

The statements from the Vets are general statements regarding food safety, not specific brands.

It may be nothing or may be something, but I couldn't recall seeing anything about it here, so put it up. Just something to be aware of.

Most definitely. Just trying to pre-empt a panic over it as when it comes to our furry friends some of us have a tendency to move FAST.

I didn't see the date... hazards of posting from my phone. You either read things in miniature, or see a fraction of the screen at one time.

It may be nothing or may be something, but I couldn't recall seeing anything about it here, so put it up. Just something to be aware of.

If BB is concerned about their bottom line, I would think the cost of their pet foods could account for some of the market decline. I haven't priced other premium brands lately, but BB products seem outrageously expensive to me.

Crowe wrote:
I know that almost every variety of BB has chicken in some form or another in it (no matter what the label on the bag says - turn it over and read the ingredients carefully),

There are very few dog products in general that have no chicken in them. We use Blue Basics Salmon and Sweet Potato for Jesse. Jake's on it right now-he stopped eating the lamb-based food we were using. Should be interesting to see if we notice any changes.

Chicken free kibbles are out there, but I've had to become the queen of ingredient reading to find them - lol! My westie mix has a laundry list of allergies, so I've gotten used to it.

I hadn't realized the article was five months old and when I re-read it, there doesn't seem to be much "there" there. As it says, it is a given that when pets are ill, the owners will first suspect the food. Our dogs and cat have exhibited no digestive issues in the couple of years they've been on BB, none. I asked the new vet about BB last year when we first started going to him and he told us he has no qualms about it. I think Darcy's occasional aversion to kibble may be a tooth problem, but I brush her teeth daily and can't find a sensitive one. From what I understand, the vet would have to put her out to do a thorough dental exam. I will check a little further and see if I can find anything wrong with her teeth or in her mouth. Maybe one of her "catches" bit her back? :E

Crowe wrote:
I know that almost every variety of BB has chicken in some form or another in it (no matter what the label on the bag says - turn it over and read the ingredients carefully),

There are very few dog products in general that have no chicken in them. We use Blue Basics Salmon and Sweet Potato for Jesse. Jake's on it right now-he stopped eating the lamb-based food we were using. Should be interesting to see if we notice any changes.

We give our dogs Blue Basics Salmon and Potato as a small handful of "treat" in the evening. There is no "sweet" potato in the West Coast version. It smells strong, natch, and they love it. No digestive problems here.