KI Recommends: Blue Buffalo (Dog Food)

With so many dog food brands available, how do you choose?  Mom spent days trying to figure out what to feed me--she wanted the best food with all the meats, fruits, veggies, and vitamins I would need to stay healthy and happy.

What should you look for in a dog food?

1. Meat or a protein source as a first ingredient
2. Plenty of fruits and vegetables
3. Vitamins and minerals (if you're not sure if it's a vitamin or chemical/preservative, double-check!)
4. Grain free (if allergies apply)

Note that the first five or six ingredients in a dog food tend to be the more prevalent and most important.  Make sure to choose a dog food that has plenty of healthy, wholesome ingredients as its first five or six listed.

 What should you avoid in a dog food?

1. Animal by-products (leftover bits of animals -- while leftover organs that humans don't eat are perfectly fine, these can often include hair, horn, and hooves)
2. Animal "digest"
3. Food that does not list meat or a protein source as the first ingredient
4. Few or no fruits and/or vegetables
5. Corn/corn meal as one of the main ingredients (as well, too many grain products)
6. Artificial colours
7. BHA/BHT (preservatives)

This is what I eat! (Mom might switch the flavour)

Blue Buffalo has LifeSource Bits!

I personally eat Blue Buffalo Wilderness: Duck Recipe.  I highly recommend Blue Buffalo because it contains all of what you want in a dog food and none of what you don't want.  It has little dark brown LifeSource Bits sprinkled throughout the bigger kibble pieces, and these contain important vitamins and minerals to keep me happy and healthy.  Blue Buffalo comes in a variety of flavours and types, including puppy formula, cans, and grain-free (to which Mom might switch me because I might have food allergies).  It was one of the three dog foods that my rescue, For Dog's Sake, recommended to its adopters!

Here's an example ingredient list from the dog food that I eat (notice the variety of meats, as well as the many fruits and veggies):

Deboned Duck, Chicken Meal (source of Glucosamine), Tapioca Starch, Peas, Turkey Meal, Pea Protein, Tomato Pomace (source of Lycopene), Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Dried Egg, Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Natural Flavor, Potatoes, Alfalfa Meal, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potato Starch, Dried Chicory Root, DL-Methionine, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Caramel, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Mixed Tocopherols (a natural preservative), Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Vitamin E Supplement, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Sulfate, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Oil of Rosemary, L-Lysine, Parsley, Kelp, Blueberries, Cranberries, Apples, Spinach, Blackberries, Pomegranate, Pumpkin, Barley Grass, Turmeric, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Copper Sulfate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Nicotinic Acid (Vitamin B3), Taurine, Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Manganese Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, L-Carnitine, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Beta Carotene, Dried Yeast, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, Dried Aspergillus niger fermentation extract, Dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, Dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation extract, Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.

 Stay tuned for a review on Taste of the Wild--Mom mixes in canned Taste of the Wild with my dry food!

Cheers,

Kelsie Iris

Check out these posts of mine:
SD team etiquette -- http://kelsieiris.blogspot.com/2015/04/dos-and-donts-of-encountering-service.html
Confused?  Here are some terms and abbreviations -- http://kelsieiris.blogspot.com/2015/04/as-abbreviations.html