Product Review: Blue Buffalo Wilderness Treats, duck flavor

We got the email from Chewy.com offering treats for review, and I selected the duck flavored Blue Buffalo Wilderness treats. It's a brand I've been happy with, and after a series of mostly chewy and/or freeze dried treats, I thought something along the lines of a crunchy biscuit would be good to try.

Taste of the Wild: review and giveaway!

I used to feed Elka Taste of the Wild. When the voluntary recall happened back in May, though, I jumped ship for the time being. My most recently purchased bag of food had fallen in the recall, and I was just squidged out, frankly. Well, as it turns out, no Taste of the Wild actually tested positive for the Salmonella. Which is a pretty rad thing.

Interestingly, when I was contacted by a rep to see if I wanted to sample Taste of the Wild's new flavor, Southwest Canyon, and do a (very generous, I feel) giveaway for my readers, it was exceedingly good timing. Elka, though she'd previously been happy with the Blue Buffalo switch, appears to have become disillusioned with it. Overall, Elka is not a picky eater. Back in November, I groused about how she only wanted to eat from puzzle toys, but after I'd put them away for awhile, she returned to the bowl well enough. Poking around in her mouth, she doesn't appear to have developed anything wrong in there which would make eating kibble aversive, either, so I wondered if it was time for a switch. And then I got the email.

Blue Buffalo Wilderness Trail Treats Chicken Jerky

After all of the problems with Chicken Jerky that's made in China, I was ready to say that no chicken jerky in the world could possibly be safe. Then I got an email from a representative at Chewy.com, asking me if I'd like to do a review of Blue Buffalo dog treats. I rushed to say yes before my brain caught up and said "Wait, chicken jerky? Nooooo!"

Blue Buffalo's Wilderness Trail Treats Chicken Jerky has two very, very big things (in my eyes) going for it, however:

1. It's made in the USA
2. It is not treated with irradiation.

Still Buffaloed

Happily, I'm still satisfied with how Elka does on the Blue Buffalo food. All of the flavors, in fact; she's tried the Salmon, the Duck, and the Chicken. I ran out of my initial bag, bought after the initial recall panic, and the Mr. Chewy bag that I got, and so headed off to the Feed and Seed to get some more (seriously, this dog just keeps eating! Granted, they were the smaller bags.)

I was also happy to walk into the store, go to the Blue Buffalo section, and see this sign:

Elka wasn't unhappy, precisely. She was far more interested in eating the food than wearing the bandana.

Tasty Tuesday May 8, 2012: Where the buffalo roam

So, after last week's Diamond Pet Food recalls, including their Friday "as we go out the door" announcement of recall expansion, we aren't doing Taste of the Wild anymore. I'm not saying that we're dropping it forever, necessarily, but definitely for the foreseeable future.

What have we gone with, you ask? Blue Buffalo Wilderness.

I actually had to sing the first verse of "Home on the Range" to remember the line about the buffalo. I hope you appreciate me. Elka did not.