Blue Buffalo Wilderness Cat Food Review
In our Blue Buffalo Wilderness cat food review we’ll assess this grain-free offering from the Blue company. We previously reviewed Healthy Living and found it potentially grain-heavy, but thankfully this more premium more meat focused cat food is much better.
Let’s take a good look!
Blue Buffalo Wilderness cat food review
What the marketing says
Wilderness bares reference to a cat as a wild animal, and hints at this formula being representative of what a cat would eat in the wild. Cat’s are obligate carnivores with a strong dependency on animal ingredients in their diet, yet many dry cat foods favour grains (or stuff like potato) to keep costs down and profits up.
Blue Buffalo offer a “True Blue Promise” which states NO Chicken (or Poultry) By-Product Meals, NO Corn, Wheat or Soy, and NO Artificial Flavors or Preservatives. When it comes to cat foods these are positive statements, so lets hope the ingredients also show positives.
What the ingredients really say
From looking at the ingredients it’s likely the top six are significant, and possibly in equal proportions. It’s therefore great to see deboned chicken, chicken meal, and menhaden fish meal as three protein-rich animal ingredients. It also assures us the main ingredients are at least 50% from animal sources, and it’s nice to see protein in the food at the 40% mark (as well as 18% fat).
We find two pea inclusions (peas and pea protein). Most normal people consider peas as peas, so we’ll do the same. That could make peas a third of the main ingredients, and tapioca as the only starch ingredient used to bind the kibble – otherwise it would fall apart.
This is actually a really good composition. Although peas will contribute to the protein in the food, they are also considered relatively palatable. I’d consider it an issue if peas were more significant than meat, but in the Wilderness formula they’re not.
All good.
When we get down to the more minor inclusions after chicken fat we find some decent inclusions. As stated in the Blue Buffalo Healthy Living review there are a few ingredients like potato and sweet potato which possibly aren’t necessary, but it’s also nice to see some worthy inclusions.
Of note Blue Buffalo Wilderness touts dried egg product as a rich source of amino acids/protein, flaxseed to boost heart health and wellbeing as a rich source of omega fatty acids, and superfood alfalfa. There’s some other decent inclusions which will take a fair amount of text to go into, so I’ll round it off and say it’s nice to see this food preserved naturally with rosemary extract rather than chemical alternatives.
Should I feed Blue Buffalo Wilderness to my cat?
As far as the ingredients and composition go Blue Buffalo Wilderness is definitely up there with other premium cat foods. It’s meat-based rather than grain or potato, preserved naturally, with no ominous ingredients. I estimate low carbohydrates (approx 25%) which is also really good given cats have little requirement for carbs. It’s rated highly accordingly.
Note – I am aware of a number of recalls of Blue Buffalo products, and they weren’t exempt from the terrible melamine recalls of 2007 which affected many brands. These issues are worth being aware of for due diligence, but also note many American pet foods fall foul of viral social media negativity.
Where to buy Blue Buffalo Wilderness cat food
Ingredients
Ingredients of Blue Buffalo Wilderness dry cat food are as follows:
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Pea Protein, Tapioca Starch, Peas, Menhaden Fish Meal (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Dried Egg Product, Pea Fiber, Natural Flavor, Flaxseed (source of Omega 6 Fatty Acids), Calcium Chloride, Potassium Sulfate, DL-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Potatoes, Dried Chicory Root, Alfalfa Nutrient Concentrate, Calcium Carbonate, Taurine, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Vegetable Juice for color, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin (Vitamin B3), Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Blueberries, Cranberries, Barley Grass, Parsley, Turmeric, Dried Kelp, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Copper Amino Acid Chelate, L-Carnitine, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), L-Lysine, Biotin (Vitamin B7), Vitamin A Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), 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, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite, Oil of Rosemary.
Guaranteed Analysis
Guaranteed analysis of Blue Buffalo Wilderness dry cat food:
| Protein | (min) 40% |
| Fat | (min) 18% |
| Crude Fibre | (max) 4% |
| Carbohydrates * | Estimated 25% |
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