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Please be aware that Hill’s is voluntarily recalling some canned dog food due to potentially elevated levels of Vitamin D. More information here.
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy Chicken Recipe is a low-priced dry dog food with overall average quality. This product has one controversial ingredient, but luckily no artificial preservatives, colors or flavors. The food has relatively well-balanced amounts of protein, fat and carbs and excellent meat and fat quality. However, Blue Buffalo has an above-average number of dog food recalls. The company was also not completely open when answering our quality and transparency questions.
Read the Full Review BelowLearn what makes a great dog food and get expert advice on how to choose the best food for your dog.
Learn MoreThis dog food review was created by experts who love dogs. Find out more about our team and mission.
About Watchdog LabsThis food has well-balanced amounts of protein, fat, and carbs. Diets that are high in protein and fat, with moderate to low carbs, are ideal for most dogs.
To evaluate dog foods, we first calculate out the moisture. This is called the “dry matter basis” and shows you only the solid ingredients in the food. These estimated “dry matter” numbers are different from the food label, but a better way to understand the real nutritional value of the food. We also calculate the carbs. Find out more
Min. Protein 40.00%
Min. Fat 17.78%
Min. Carbs 34.44%
Max. Fiber 5.56%
Max. Ash 7.78%
Max. Moisture 0.00%
Min. Protein: 36.0%
Min Fat: 16.0%
Min Carbs: N/A
Max Fiber: 5.0%
Max Ash: N/A
Max. Moisture: 10.0%
423 Calories per Cup
This product has a relatively high amount of calories. It’s important to understand how many calories you are feeding to prevent under or overfeeding. If your dog has fair to low activity levels, you may want to feed less than the labels recommend amount, since high-calorie foods like this are often feed to more active dogs who require a higher amount of daily calories. It's helpful to know that weight loss foods often have fewer than 340 calories per cup, weight maintenance foods typically range from 340-380 calories, and high-activity dog foods are usually over 400 calories. Keep in mind, puppy food, like this one, usually have much higher calories per cup than other foods.
Grain-Free Dog Foods
This is a grain-free dog food. The FDA is investigating a potential connection between grain-free diets and canine heart disease. There is not enough evidence yet to affect our ratings but we've created an article for you explaining the topic.
Learn MoreDeboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Pea Protein, Peas, Tapioca Starch, Pea Starch, Menhaden Fish Meal (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Dried Egg Product, Dried Tomato Pomace, Flaxseed (source of Omega 6 Fatty Acids), Natural Flavor, Fish Oil (source of ARA-Arachidonic Acid and DHA- Docosahexaenoic Acid), Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, DL-Methionine, Potassium Chloride, Potatoes, Dried Chicory Root, Choline Chloride, Pea Fiber, Alfalfa Nutrient Concentrate, Calcium Carbonate, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Sulfate, Vegetable Juice for color, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Blueberries, Cranberries, Barley Grass, Parsley, Turmeric, Dried Kelp, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Niacin (Vitamin B3), Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), L-Carnitine, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), L-Lysine, Copper sulfate, Biotin (Vitamin B7), Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Sulfate, Taurine, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Iodate, 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), Sodium Selenite, Oil of Rosemary.
The average dog food we reviewed has 39 total ingredients, with 1 controversial ingredient. This product has 1 controversial ingredient, explained further below.
Top 5 Ingredients
Dog food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. So when looking at dog food label, take a close look at the first 5 ingredients. They make up about 80% of the total weight.
Controversial Ingredients
Meat & Fat Quality
This product uses clearly named meats like Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, and Dried Egg Product. This is excellent because it shows us the exact source these ingredients are coming from. In addition there is Chicken Fat and Flaxseed providing fat content, but there is also Fish Oil listed pretty far down the ingredient list, which is technically an unnamed source of fat because we do not know what type of fish. Having six of the seven sources be named is a good sign of quality overall.
Artificial Preservatives
This product does not have any controversial preservatives. It’s good to know that not all artificial preservatives are bad. That’s because they serve an important purpose, which is to prevent food from spoiling. However, we consider 11 artificial preservatives controversial because of their potential link to cancer and other serious health conditions.
Artificial Colors
No artificial colors are used in this product.
Artificial Flavors
No artificial flavors are used in this product either. Not using artificial preservatives, color or flavors is a great sign of quality.
This brand has had far above the average number of recalls.
We love dog food brands that are committed to transparent business practices. If you make quality dog food you should be willing to openly talk about how it’s sourced and produced. That’s why we reached out to pet food companies, asking questions about all their brands and products. Each company had three weeks to reply to our messages.
How Easy Was it to Reach the Company?
Blue Buffalo who is owned by General Mills did not respond to the first contact form submission or the second contact form submission that was sent a week later. A call was placed in the third week that did receive answers to the following questions below. Since the call was not recorded, the following responses are paraphrased and not exact statements from the company.
Does Blue Buffalo have a veterinary nutritionist on staff? If so, who are they?
We do, but the name cannot be shared.
Who formulates your recipes, and what are their credentials?
A full team of vets, various Phd that work with a research and development team.
Do you test your products using AAFCO feeding trials? Why, or why not?
Do not do the feeding trials, but do palatability and stool testing.
What country are your products manufactured?
United States
Can your manufacturing facilities be visited?
Visits to our manufacturing facilities are not open to the public
What quality measures do you use to assure consistency and quality?
A complete answer was provided including measures that included meeting FDA guidelines, QA teams at the facilities, ingredient and final product testing.
Does Blue Buffalo own its manufacturing facility? If it is another company, what company is it?
We own the facility in MO, and a second one in IN. Beyond that we use the following co-packers: Hampshire Pet, ANI, ProPets, Simmons, and Daysix.
Do any parts of your product come from China?
No primary sources of protein, fruits, veggies but while we don’t source from China, we can’t guarantee that vitamins and minerals don’t come from there.
Often companies as large as Blue are depending on suppliers that may source raw materials from China.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1242073/
https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list
https://petfood.aafco.org/Nutritional-Labeling
https://petfood.aafco.org/Labeling-Labeling-Requirements
https://petfood.aafco.org/Calorie-Content
https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047120.htm
http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/banr/miscellaneous/dog_nutrition_final_fix.pdf
http://www.acvn.org/nutrition-resources/
https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/Products/AnimalFoodFeeds/PetFood/ucm2006475.htm
https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2011-N-0922-0489
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/
https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/safety-loophole-for-chemicals-in-food-report.pdf
https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/pubhealth/roc/index-1.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8493816
Linda P Case, MS; Daniel P Carey, DVM; and Diane A Hirakawa, PhD, Canine and Feline Nutrition A Resource for Companion Animal Professionals, Mosby-Year Book, Inc.