Anyone know if Blue Buffalo changed their formula? Digestive problems?

[Woofless]

In the first half of Feb, I went to Tractor Supply to buy a bag of Blue Buffalo (adult chicken & rice formula) and I noticed they'd done a slight "re-design" to the outside of the bag. Didn't think anything of it; I scanned the back of the bag & it just said it was a new "greener" bag design that'd produce less waste.

But, that bag gave Jibini intermittent, sometimes severe diarrhea basically the whole time he was eating it. He also lost weight. (See my thread in the health section for more info). My 50 lb mix breed, Chloe did not have any problems with it. (Tana eats another food). So for a while I doubted the food was the problem.

About a week ago, I bought another bag of Blue Buffalo, from a different Tractor Supply location. The new bag I bought still had the "old" design on it. And immediately after I fed him a meal from the new bag, his diarrhea abruptly STOPPED and he seemed to feel better overall. I'd already made a vet appointment so I took him in anyway…..and after all the tests, we basically found nothing wrong.

The vet feels it was most likely the bag of food. The hunting dog trainer/breeder I work for (40 yrs experience) tends to agree. And considering we're halfway through the new (old design) bag, with no problems, I think they are correct.

I went back to Tractor Supply and compared the ingredients in an "old design" bag, to the ingredients in a "new design" bag. The ingredients ARE the same....BUT they are in a different order. The first few are exactly the same, but after that, it seems many of the ingredients have "swapped places" on the label. I don't know if this merely indicates a natural, slight variation in the amount of "stuff" in each production run….OR if this means they've managed to slightly tweak the formula enough to save a few bucks without many of their customers noticing?

I find it odd, that Jibini's illness coincides with a new packaging design AND several new "formulas" in the Blue Buffalo line, AND the advent of TV commercials for Blue Buffalo. The bags I saw at Petsmart even said "New Enhanced Formula" on them. Didn't see that on the bags at TSC even though the "new design" was the same. Blue Buffalo has so far ignored my questions I sent in emails; I should probably call them but I doubt it'll do much good.

I'm afraid to buy another bag....seriously considering a switch. Don't want to make him sick again. My options are very limited since I'm so rural. Town is a 50 mile haul, tractor supply doesn't have anything else Jibini tolerates well....and the only other place with good dog food also sells puppies. It's either that, or a 120 mile drive to Petco, or mail-order kibble. Or raw, but I need to do my homework on it still. At some point, raw will be the easiest for me since I can raise & hunt the whole diet literally in my backyard- BUT I have to get set up to do it first. Chicks & ducklings coming next week :)

Anywho....if anyone has ANY info on a possible formula change with Blue....OR if your dog has gotten digestive issues from the food, I'd love to have some imput!

[renaultf1]

I don't know about Blue Buffalo, but it could be just a bad bag or it could be an ingredient change. Maybe google it and/or email the company

I have had it where I got a bad bag of food - both Ruby and Brando would throw up after meals - and Brando never throws up. I've also had it where a company changed ingredients unannounced - timberwolf added chicken fat to their fish based food. That was discovered because suddenly Brando refused to eat it. I asked about it where I bought it and they told me to return the bag and that many people's pets had been having issues. In my case, the store stopped carrying timberwolf all together because it wasn't the 1st time they had changed ingredients unannounced. The store let those of us affected vote on what food to bring in to replace it and it was unanimous - Orijen.

[hamez]

I used to feed Tupper Blue Buffalo but he never seemed to get used to it, even after months of trying. I switched to Natural Balance and it was an immediate difference in his poops. We have also experienced the throwing up after meals from a new bag of food. These little B's are just so sensitive. It seems like raw would be a great option for you, I only know what I have read here on the forum, but seems to be a great alternative.

[tanza]

I don't really think that B's are anymore sensitive then other dogs… First as always you need to look at what you are feeding... and always remember that these companies change the ingredients and suppliers of the ingredients many times... and mostly without any users knowledge until there is a problem

I have become a firm believer of changing foods every 3/4 months, while mostly the same (meaning grain free), I think that getting used to different foods is a good thing for most all dogs.

Right now on the pups I am using Fromm's Gold Puppy, they are doing well on it and had no real problems switching from what they had been eating (both on different puppy food) to this. Next I will most likely go to Natural Balance Potato and one of their choices of meats... after that bag onto a different one. I have found with doing this that there are almost no worries about changing the food and can be done in one or two days.

[tanza]

And Woofless… I would have to agree that it was most likely the bag of food.

[Beachybound]

I just thought I would add - you may want to try Canidae - it is grain free. Solid Gold is another great product I have my bas on.