Need a new dog food urgently, Blue Buffalo Warning

[northernmastiff]

I was visiting a friend who breeds English Bulldogs. She is acutally the breeder who we got Rascal from. Anyway, she was asking me what I was feeding and I said that I was still feeding Blue Buffalo. She has been called by many breeders and vets who knew she used to feed blue buffalo as it turns out it has been linked to cases of kidney failure. So I have made the decision to take the dogs off of blue buffalo but was looking for some recommendations on what food brands are best for English Mastiffs. Also, if you know a few brands that are okay for English Bulldogs that would be great. The preference would be the same food brand, doesn't have to be the same food (although that is always the ideal right) but if I need to buy two separate brands, I am fine with that as well.

Looking to switch as quickly as possible so if I can get the research done today, we will start the process of switching them tomorrow and have them off of Blue Buffalo before the month is out.

[Appa'sMom]

Hmmmm..... we feed Blue Buffalo as well but I haven't heard anything or found anything about it causing kidney failure. Do you happen to know their reasoning behind this?

---------- Post added at 12:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 AM ----------

Ok, nevermind.... found out about it... will be switching! TODAY!

[Appa'sMom]

Ok, nevermind.... found out about it... will be switching! TODAY!

[northernmastiff]

Do you have any in mind to switch to? I have a few I am looking at but none that I am happy with as of yet.

[Smart_Family]

We started feeding Earthborn Holistics a couple months ago and we really like it. It's an all life stages so it's appropriate for all our pups and they have a couple different grain free formulas (Great Plains Feast, Primitive something or other and Coastal Catch). We feed the Great Plains Feast and spend about $52 for a 28lb bag. The biggest problem we have is finding it which around here isn't so bad as we have several feed stores that carry it but when we go to Maine next week we have to bring it with us. Also if you're in Canada, Petcurean Now or Go is an awesome food and may be cheaper for you than it is us Americans. The earthborn holistic website has a store locator and I know amazon carries it as well. They also have a program that for every upc you mail back they plant a tree so that's kind of cool too. If you want more suggestions let me know

[northernmastiff]

Thanks Smart_Family. My friend has switched to Go but I wasn't sure about it. I will look at both of them.

[Smart_Family]

I would feed Go or Now if it was just a little bit cheaper down here but since not many places carry it it's a little more money and that adds up with 3 dogs. Hope you can find something you're comfortable with and that works for your pup

[Appa'sMom]

We switched to Innova for the moment. I would have an hour drive to get Earthborn so that was a no.... unless the Innova doesn't work out! I know that a lot of people have a problem with it being a P&G company but if the food works for us than I'm ok. We also have Taste of the Wild here at our feed store but they were going to have to order in the "Sierra Mountain" that's needed for Mastiff puppies. I hope it works out! I was a little shocked at BB, and when I started listening to other BB users, and what they had experienced, I was able to see some things I had chocked up to switching foods, or maybe just an allergy. Good luck!

[dsaw247]

We use Innova and love it. We have had zero problems with it! I know that BB had several products recalled in 2010. Are these the same problems? I have been giving Moose BB treats, but now I'm going to find something else...

Thank you for posting!

[Smart_Family]

Just a caution about the Taste of the Wild. It was brought to my attention by someone on another forum who is a nutritionist that Diamond has had many problems past and present with Aflatoxin in their foods. Aflatoxin, a corn fungus can be fatal to dogs and unfortunately it looks as though that it was the cause of death in a dog on this other forum. Diamond has at least one class action lawsuit against them right now for aflatoxin and recently one of their foods was recalled yet again for it. Being that many of their foods are made in the same factories, I no longer use Taste of the Wild. Might I be jumping to conclusions? Yes but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Earthborn is what we switched to but as you mentioned Appa's Mom it can be hard to find. Innova is an excellent food, our dogs just have problems with grains and they aren't old enough for Evo yet.

[northernmastiff]

Thanks for the advice. We are making the switch to Go and hopefully it will go well. I will keep Innova in mind if Go doesn't fit for us. I did notice a dog food named Performatrin when we were at the stores looking at the various options available to us in our area. Not sure if anyone has heard of that before. We also were looking at Innova but because I hadn't heard as much about it, I decided to go with go. )

[Smart_Family]

Let us know how it goes! Innova is a good food, although some people don't like that it's now owned by P & G as Appa's mom said above. I like to stay grain free but I have used Innova in the past and it worked well. The Performatrin Ultra Chicken and Brown Rice in the adult dog is absolutely okay for a mastiff pup and on the 2011 Whole Dog Journal Food list which is saying a lot, so that's another option if the Go doesn't work out.

[LadyDogLover]

English Bulldogs are prone to skin problems and allergies. Seek out a quality grain free kibble. Corn is a major problem
for dogs with allergies. Check out the dog food project.

[northernmastiff]

Okay, Performatrin has a grain free, which is what we were looking at. I have all the data on choosing a dog food but it is good to hear what other prefer as well.

[Smart_Family]

I didn't realize they had a grain free but looking at it the protein level is pretty high and they don't list the calcium and
Phosphorus so I wonder what levels those are at.

[BlackShadowCaneCorso]

I was visiting a friend who breeds English Bulldogs. She is acutally the breeder who we got Rascal from. Anyway, she was asking me what I was feeding and I said that I was still feeding Blue Buffalo. She has been called by many breeders and vets who knew she used to feed blue buffalo as it turns out it has been linked to cases of kidney failure. So I have made the decision to take the dogs off of blue buffalo but was looking for some recommendations on what food brands are best for English Mastiffs. Also, if you know a few brands that are okay for English Bulldogs that would be great. The preference would be the same food brand, doesn't have to be the same food (although that is always the ideal right) but if I need to buy two separate brands, I am fine with that as well.

Looking to switch as quickly as possible so if I can get the research done today, we will start the process of switching them tomorrow and have them off of Blue Buffalo before the month is out.

Since you are out west have you tried looking into Orijen or Acana. I would imagine it is readily available out there and both have a grain-free foods. I don't know that they have a giant breed puppy but if you were feeding an ALS then either one of those might work for you.

[northernmastiff]

I'm not out west. I'm in Ontario so not sure if they are readily available here. I will have to check. Yes, the reason why we decided against the grain free performatrin was because the protien was 37% I believe. Have to double check that but it was really high. I couldn't find the calcium levels on the food at all.

[Smart_Family]

Yea the performatrin was like 37% protein which is usually a good indicator that the calcium and phosphorus are probably too high. As Mary mentioned Orijen and Acana are really good, although a little more expensive and for some pups Orijen is too rich.

[BlackShadowCaneCorso]

I don't know if you have a global pet foods near you but that is where we were able to find a lot of the good foods. We get our ACANA from a local boarding kennel that stocks it for retail so that worked out well for us. The Orijen I have heard of being a little too rich for puppies so you might want to try the ACANA first if you can find it. It is around 31 to 33% I think for their grain free formulas and is usually a little cheaper then the Orijen.

[Mr. D]

I use Life Adundance, Our puppy has been doing great since day one he is almost 8 months growing perfectly, coat and skin is great...... The only thing is you have to order and have it shipped which once you start its great.... Good luck