# Science Diet Vs. Blue Buffalo



## puppylove18

We just decided to switch our dogs from Science Diet to Blue Buffalo dog food. I have been doing a lot of research and talking to a lot of people and they all said that Blue Buffalo is the better of the two. But I have had someone just tell me that blue buffalo can cause lung problems at least that is what their vet told them. So I am starting to wonder if I did the right thing on changing their food. What do you guys think or have heard about the two? And which one do you think is the better of the two? Thanks in advance for the input and help!


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## pomergranate

i made a thread about wellness vs blue buffalo and everyone was telling me that blue buffalo was better. im not quite sure about it yet its just mixed right now so its easier on her tummy but eventaully ill be going to a raw diet which is the best you can do for your dog i guess. still not fully eduacted on it yet.


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## puppylove18

pomergranate said:


> i made a thread about wellness vs blue buffalo and everyone was telling me that blue buffalo was better. im not quite sure about it yet its just mixed right now so its easier on her tummy but eventaully ill be going to a raw diet which is the best you can do for your dog i guess. still not fully eduacted on it yet.


Yeah I am not Fully educated yet either which is not good seeing as one of our dogs is almost 8 years old. But I always just went off of what our vet said but then I started asking questions and none of the vets there seem to know much about any other food besides the one they sale there which is Science Diet. I have heard some stuff about feeding your dog raw but I haven't looked to much into it yet.


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## dmickle1

Whoever told you that Blue Buffalo causes lung problems is misinformed, and I highly doubt that any qualified veterinarian told them as much. 

Science Diet is *NOT* good dog food. The first two ingredients in it are Corn Meal and Chicken By-Product Meal. Corn meal is a filler that provides nearly no nutritional value to your dog. It basically just makes them poo more. Chicken by-products are leftover parts of commercial grade chickens (head, legs, bones) that are ground up and sold at low cost to dog food (and other) manufacturers. These products are not regulated by the FDA and their production is not standardized or monitored closely, leaving a lot of leeway for poor quality. 

Science Diet is "veterinarian recommended" because they provide sponsorships and other monetary benefits to vet schools. They push their products heavily and spend a lot of money on advertising. 

Now, Blue Buffalo is not the best dog food out there, however, for the cost, it is a quality food. They use human grade meat, and meat is the first ingredient in Blue Buffalo, not way down on the list after a bunch of fillers. I definitely think you made the correct choice in switching your dog off of Science Diet 

ETA: After reading your last post, a raw diet is widely acknowledged as the healthiest way to feed your dog. However, it is expensive and time consuming to feed that way. There are lots of owners on this forum who feed raw, so you've definitely come to the right place to ask questions!


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## puppylove18

dmickle1 said:


> Whoever told you that Blue Buffalo causes lung problems is misinformed, and I highly doubt that any qualified veterinarian told them as much.
> 
> Science Diet is *NOT* good dog food. The first two ingredients in it are Corn Meal and Chicken By-Product Meal. Corn meal is a filler that provides nearly no nutritional value to your dog. It basically just makes them poo more. Chicken by-products are leftover parts of commercial grade chickens (head, legs, bones) that are ground up and sold at low cost to dog food (and other) manufacturers. These products are not regulated by the FDA and their production is not standardized or monitored closely, leaving a lot of leeway for poor quality.
> 
> Science Diet is "veterinarian recommended" because they provide sponsorships and other monetary benefits to vet schools. They push their products heavily and spend a lot of money on advertising.
> 
> Now, Blue Buffalo is not the best dog food out there, however, for the cost, it is a quality food. They use human grade meat, and meat is the first ingredient in Blue Buffalo, not way down on the list after a bunch of fillers. I definitely think you made the correct choice in switching your dog off of Science Diet
> 
> ETA: After reading your last post, a raw diet is widely acknowledged as the healthiest way to feed your dog. However, it is expensive and time consuming to feed that way. There are lots of owners on this forum who feed raw, so you've definitely come to the right place to ask questions!


Thank you for that information. Yes in all the research I have done I have notice that they keep bring up the Corn and all that in the Science Diet. And I am glad to hear that the person that told me that about Blue Buffalo was misinformed Because I don't want to feed my dogs anything that would harm them. 
Also you said that Blue Buffalo is not the Best dog food out there and I was wondering which one or ones are the best? In our pet store the highest quality they said they sale is the blue buffalo and the wellness.


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## dmickle1

Dog Food Reviews

That's a really good website that is unbiased. When looking at review sites, a lot of them are sponsored by the foods they're reviewing, so you need to be careful about where you look for good information.

I've heard wonderful things about Orijen. Unfortunately, at $75 for a 30 lb bag, I simply can't afford to feed it, or I would. My dogs go through a 30 lb bag every two weeks and I just recently graduated with my MA, so it's just not in the finances right now.


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## puppylove18

dmickle1 said:


> Dog Food Reviews
> 
> That's a really good website that is unbiased. When looking at review sites, a lot of them are sponsored by the foods they're reviewing, so you need to be careful about where you look for good information.
> 
> I've heard wonderful things about Orijen. Unfortunately, at $75 for a 30 lb bag, I simply can't afford to feed it, or I would. My dogs go through a 30 lb bag every two weeks and I just recently graduated with my MA, so it's just not in the finances right now.


Thank you for the website I will take a look at that!!


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## Labmom4

Science Diet is discussed on here a lot. It is a terrible food and a huge pet peeve of mine that vets push it so hard. We trust our vets, I fed SD in the beginning too, but the truth is, from what I understand, is that they are taught very little about nutrition in their training. No offense meant to any vets on this board; that's what I've discovered over the years. They swear up and down they dont get kick-backs from selling it, but I just cant believe that every single vet in this country agrees that SD is the best available food. Doesnt make sense to me. You're right in taking your dog off of it in my opinion. 
As for Blue Buffalo, I'm not familiar with it and have no idea if it's a good food or not. A reasonably priced good food is Taste of the Wild, if you're interested in switching again. Most people I've talked to have good results with that. I fed Canidae ALS for many years with good results also.


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## puppylove18

Labmom4 said:


> Science Diet is discussed on here a lot. It is a terrible food and a huge pet peeve of mine that vets push it so hard. We trust our vets, I fed SD in the beginning too, but the truth is, from what I understand, is that they are taught very little about nutrition in their training. No offense meant to any vets on this board; that's what I've discovered over the years. They swear up and down they dont get kick-backs from selling it, but I just cant believe that every single vet in this country agrees that SD is the best available food. Doesnt make sense to me. You're right in taking your dog off of it in my opinion.
> As for Blue Buffalo, I'm not familiar with it and have no idea if it's a good food or not. A reasonably priced good food is Taste of the Wild, if you're interested in switching again. Most people I've talked to have good results with that. I fed Canidae ALS for many years with good results also.


I have noticed too that a lot of vets push the SD. When I talked to our vet today about changing to Blue Buffalo he couldn't tell me which one was better or really anything about Blue Buffalo. The Trainer at the pet store was the one that was giving me all the information on both and why Blue Buffalo was better what was in it compared to what was in SD. I also did a lot of looking things up on the web as well and asked some questions to the vet as well and he couldn't say much just that the dogs that he sees that eat it are healthy and the owners like it was all he could say. On the whole food thing I don't know what he knows but I will say that on everything else he is a great vet!


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## dmickle1

puppylove18 said:


> I have noticed too that a lot of vets push the SD. When I talked to our vet today about changing to Blue Buffalo he couldn't tell me which one was better or really anything about Blue Buffalo. The Trainer at the pet store was the one that was giving me all the information on both and why Blue Buffalo was better what was in it compared to what was in SD. I also did a lot of looking things up on the web as well and asked some questions to the vet as well and he couldn't say much just that the dogs that he sees that eat it are healthy and the owners like it was all he could say. On the whole food thing I don't know what he knows but I will say that on everything else he is a great vet!


He probably can't even tell you what's in SD, honestly. Like others have pointed out, vets are really under-informed about canine nutrition. I've gotten a lot more helpful information from trainers and employees at pet stores.


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## Labmom4

puppylove18 said:


> I have noticed too that a lot of vets push the SD. When I talked to our vet today about changing to Blue Buffalo he couldn't tell me which one was better or really anything about Blue Buffalo. The Trainer at the pet store was the one that was giving me all the information on both and why Blue Buffalo was better what was in it compared to what was in SD. I also did a lot of looking things up on the web as well and asked some questions to the vet as well and he couldn't say much just that the dogs that he sees that eat it are healthy and the owners like it was all he could say. On the whole food thing I don't know what he knows but I will say that on everything else he is a great vet!


I love my vet, but I finally told him, I am NOT switching my dog's to SD, so please stop trying to convince me to. The guide dog school I volunteer for would not allow me to feed SD even if I wanted to. There's a list of foods that us puppy raisers are allowed to feed and SD is not on it.


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## dmickle1

Labmom4 said:


> I love my vet, but I finally told him, I am NOT switching my dog's to SD, so please stop trying to convince me to. The guide dog school I volunteer for would not allow me to feed SD even if I wanted to. There's a list of foods that us puppy raisers are allowed to feed and SD is not on it.


Hey, can you either post or message me that list, if you have time? I'm just curious to read what foods are on it, as I've been considering making a change


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## Fuzzy Pants

When I worked as a vet tech 10 years ago the vets pushed SD because they made money selling it, plain and simple. And not one of the vets ever even read the ingredients label or knew what's in it. They just listened to what was told to them by SD reps which of course said that SD was wonderful. They all knew that Walmart brand Ol Roy was bad but still I don't think they knew what's in it. TBH, I don't find there is much difference between SD and Ol Roy. BB is a much better food.


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## Labmom4

dmickle1 said:


> Hey, can you either post or message me that list, if you have time? I'm just curious to read what foods are on it, as I've been considering making a change


I'll see if I can find it  Bug me if I forget


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## pomergranate

id like that list too please! im in the same boat only worse becuase alot of dog food brands dont ship to alaska or they do and i have to pay a good $20 more than down in the states. i found that pom loves blue buffalo (she got into the bag today oops but only ate a few bites before i caught her) and its only $35 for 15 pounds. ive looked into some dog food websites. very good priced if you live in lower 48 and can get teh flat rate 5 buck shipping.


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## puppylove18

I would like that list too please  

Also thank you everyone for your information it has been very helpful and has made me feel so much better about changing their food!!


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## Active Dog

dmickle1 said:


> ETA: After reading your last post, a raw diet is widely acknowledged as the healthiest way to feed your dog. However, it is expensive and time consuming to feed that way. There are lots of owners on this forum who feed raw, so you've definitely come to the right place to ask questions!


I disagree that feeding raw is expensive, I used to feed RAW and it was the same price or cheaper than kibble. I feed Blue Wilderness and have only had good results, I used to feed TOTW which is another high quality food and didn't have as good a results, but then that has more to do with my dogs. I LOVE BBW, I would still be doing raw if I could but without the freezer space its kinda a pain. Prepping the food isn't that hard, its the research that is the hardest part.


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## katielou

I also disagree with raw being expensive and time consuming.

I feed 3 dogs raw and it costs me about $20 a month. The first month it took me time to learn how to portion and get all my sources sorted but after that it was just as easy as driving to the store and picking up food.


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## puppylove18

katielou said:


> I also disagree with raw being expensive and time consuming.
> 
> I feed 3 dogs raw and it costs me about $20 a month. The first month it took me time to learn how to portion and get all my sources sorted but after that it was just as easy as driving to the store and picking up food.


Really what websites would you suggest as a good site to learn how to do RAW? Also do I need a lot of Freezer space to feed my dogs RAW? Because we lack Freezer space.


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## abi88

katielou said:


> I also disagree with raw being expensive and time consuming.
> 
> I feed 3 dogs raw and it costs me about $20 a month. The first month it took me time to learn how to portion and get all my sources sorted but after that it was just as easy as driving to the store and picking up food.



I also VERY much so disagree with raw being hard, expensive or time consuming. I feed all 3 of my dogs and 1 cat raw for FAR less then what we were spending on HIGH quality kibble for the 4 of them!

Puppylove18, Im PMing you!


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## Active Dog

Well in my experience yes you need a lot of freezer space.


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## TStafford

I'd like to see where everyone is findingout about cheap RAW too. From the tons of sites I have read, and the price list I have got from the store (I wrote down the prices for a month worth of food) it cost more than what i'm feeding Porter now. If I can fed RAW for atleast the same price as Blue I would start doing it. We're coming up on a food swap in a few weeks to get off the 4health anyway.


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## dmickle1

TStafford said:


> I'd like to see where everyone is findingout about cheap RAW too. From the tons of sites I have read, and the price list I have got from the store (I wrote down the prices for a month worth of food) it cost more than what i'm feeding Porter now. If I can fed RAW for atleast the same price as Blue I would start doing it. We're coming up on a food swap in a few weeks to get off the 4health anyway.


Every time I've done research and gotten quotes for RAW feeding for my beasts, it has come out more expensive than feeding kibble. I, too, would switch if I could feed RAW for the same price I'm feeding Blue... Any sources or sites any RAW feeders can post?


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## abi88

TStafford said:


> I'd like to see where everyone is findingout about cheap RAW too. From the tons of sites I have read, and the price list I have got from the store (I wrote down the prices for a month worth of food) it cost more than what i'm feeding Porter now. If I can fed RAW for atleast the same price as Blue I would start doing it. We're coming up on a food swap in a few weeks to get off the 4health anyway.


I buy when meat is on sale, I have been feeding my 4 pets for $70-$90 per month, which is right around what I would be paying for high quality kibble! It will be less now that I have my freezer(THEIR freezer) stocked and dont have to buy anything for quite a while! IME it is more expensive to start up, but once you get in the hang of it it becomes pretty cheap! I also have an add on craigslist and kijiji for free freezer burnt, unwanted meat(GREAT way to get free meat and freezer burnt stuff is still GREAT to feed!!) I watch sales, buy meat when its cheap and STOCK UP!


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## katielou

I buy pass stores unless they have a good sale on.
I'm part of a co-op that gets free meat from stores $20 A year.
I go straight to the slaughter house and get there bits and bone. 2 trash bags full last month for $5 I would say about 90% of tje stuff was whole cuts of meat.

I do this 1 or 2 times a month. Collect it all on a saturday morning, spend an hour or 2 chopping and bagging and I am good for the month


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## TStafford

katielou said:


> I buy pass stores unless they have a good sale on.
> I'm part of a co-op that gets free meat from stores $20 A year.
> I go straight to the slaughter house and get there bits and bone. 2 trash bags full last month for $5 I would say about 90% of tje stuff was whole cuts of meat.
> 
> I do this 1 or 2 times a month. Collect it all on a saturday morning, spend an hour or 2 chopping and bagging and I am good for the month


I was looking into co-ops because a guy I know that breeds wanted to do one with us so we could feed our pet RAW. The sites I was looking at said you pay like $300 a month and 80% of was trash you had to toss out and it wasnt worth it. I would love if you could tell me a little more about what you do.


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## abi88

TStafford said:


> I was looking into co-ops because a guy I know that breeds wanted to do one with us so we could feed our pet RAW. The sites I was looking at said you pay like $300 a month and 80% of was trash you had to toss out and it wasnt worth it. I would love if you could tell me a little more about what you do.


Where are you at?


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## TStafford

Macon, GA.


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