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When it comes to healthy dog food choices, it’s not always a cut and dry decision as to which to choose for your pup. Here we compare two high-quality options that focus on natural ingredients, Taste of the Wild vs Blue Buffalo, so you can see which food fits your dog best.
Taste of the Wild vs Blue Buffalo
Made by Diamond Pet Foods, Inc., owned by Schell and Kampeter, Inc., Taste of the Wild is a family owned, privately held business. As a relatively new brand of dog food made only since 2007, Taste of the Wild was created to meet the market’s growing demand for a natural, grain-free dog food. It offers five adult formulas, one wet and one dry of each, and two dry puppy formulas for a total of 12 high-quality food choices for your canine. All of their formulas are created to emulate what dogs would eat in the wild with unique lean meats (like bison, venison, or quail) that are certified hormone and antibiotic free, with highly digestible energy sources, antioxidants, and chelated minerals for better absorption.
Nutritional Notes
In addition to all lean meats being free from hormones and antibiotics, they’re also free from toxic the preservative ethoxyquin. Instead, all natural dog food preservatives are used by Taste of the Wild. Taste of the Wild also uses reverse osmosis water – the same quality found in your over-the-counter bottled water – to steam-dry all of their foods to be sure that they’re free of microorganisms, organic and inorganic chemicals. Every formula is grain free.
Popular Products
- Hi Prairie Canine Formula with Roasted Bison & Venison – View on Amazon
- Pacific Stream Canine Formula with Smoked Salmon – View on Amazon
- Wetlands Canine Formula with Roasted Wild Fowl – View on Amazon
Price
If ease is the name of your price game, Taste of the Wild may be the brand for you. The company keeps their offerings, and subsequently their pricing, simple with two options for dry food and one for wet:
Taste of the Wild High Prairie, Pacific Stream, Sierra Mountain, Southwest Canyon and Wetlands:
- 15-Pound Bag:
$29.99
- 30-Pound Bag:Â
$48.99
- Twelve 13.2 oz cans –
Check on Amazon
Blue Buffalo
It was ultimately Bill and Jackie Bishop’s large-breed Airedale Terrier, Blue, and his wide range of health issues, that inspired the two to make a commercially available dog food that was nutrient-rich for our canine companions. It included additional minerals to maintain oxidative balance. All BLUE foods begin with chicken, lamb, or fish, supplemented by whole grains, fresh vegetables and fruits, along with LifeSource Bits, a patented blend of nutrients and antioxidants. They offer foods in three categories – puppy, adult, and senior – with varying wet and dry options for all and a wide range of options spanning the three categories to total 118 adult food options, 20 senior options, and 19 puppy options. So, if you are looking for variety, it is safe to say that a far more diverse range is offered by Blue vs Taste of the Wild. Further, most Blue Buffalo options uses wholesome whole grains, but they do have a grain free option in their Freedom and Wilderness lines if you prefer.
Nutritional Notes
Blue Buffalo never uses chicken or poultry by-products, artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives, corn, wheat, or soy in any of their formulas. The first ingredient for all of their food is de-boned chicken, lamb or fish. Like Taste of the Wild, they use chelated minerals for easy absorption, and their patented LifeSource Bits – a precise blend of vitamins and antioxidants selected by holistic animal nutritionists and veterinarians – are cold-formed to preserve potency.
Popular Products
- Freedom Grain Free (Chicken Recipe) – View on Amazon
- Life Protection Formula (Lamb and Rice Recipe) – View on Amazon
- Wilderness Grain Free (Salmon Recipe) – View on Amazon
Price
If variety is the name of your game, Blue Buffalo may be the brand for you. But with so many available options spanning three ages (puppy, adult, and senior) and varying categories within (small breed, sensitive systems, etc.), it’s slightly harder to explain the pricing for Blue Buffalo. Blue Buffalo Freedom Grain Free (Chicken Recipe)
Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula (Lamb and Rice Recipe)
- 15-Pound Bag:Â
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Grain-Free (In our opinion, the closest comparison to Taste of the Wild):
- 24-Pound Bag:
$51.99
Natural Dog Foods Overview
While Taste of the Wild and Blue Buffalo’s Wilderness formula have many of the same qualities and are both ultimately options you can feel safe feeding your furry friend, we feel that Taste of the Wild’s clean ingredient list, lower price, use of hormone and antibiotic-free meats, grain-free guarantee, and ethoxyquin-free preservation techniques give it the slight edge over Blue Buffalo’s Wilderness formula.
Taste of the Wild vs Blue Buffalo Wilderness Comparison Table
| Taste of the Wild Southwest Canyon with Wild Boar | Blue Buffalo Wilderness Rocky Mountain Recipe with Bison | |
|---|---|---|
| Chelated Minerals | Yes | Yes |
| Other Antioxidants | Yes | Yes - LifeSource Bits |
| First Seven Ingredients | Beef, peas, Garbanzo beans, Lamb meal, Canola oil, egg product, Wild Boar. Fewer total ingredients. | Deboned Bison, Chicken meal, Turkey meal, Menhaden Fish meal, Tapioca starch, peas, potatoes. |
| Crude Protein % | 29% min | 30% min |
| Crude Fat % | 15% min | 15% min |
| Crude Fiber % | 15% max | 4.5% max |
| Moisture % | 10% max | 10% max |
| AAFCO Approved | Yes | Yes |
| Uses Hormone & Antibiotic-free Meats | Yes | No |
| Ethoxyquin-free | Yes | N/A |
I like Canidae. It’s still an individually owned company and the guys are very involved with everything about their foods and where the source them from.
Finding a food that they both like to eat and that meets both of their needs was a challenge, but we’ve settled on the Taste of the Wild Bison and it hits all of the marks.
We get big bags of it at Orscheln on Tuesday because they give Veterans a discount on Tuesdays.
I adopted a 7 yr old spaniel/beagle mix 1 1/2 years ago. He was underweight with bald itchy patches of skin. His coat was dull and lifeless. My daughter told me they had their German Shepherd puppy on TOTW grain and chicken free as recommended by their vet. Within a few months my dog had gained weight which leveled out at 22 lb (healthy weight per my vet). His bare itchy patches cleared up. His coat filled in and is now silky and shiny. This month my vet told me not to change what I was feeding him since he is now a beautiful, healthy, energetic fella again. He loves TOTW Bison!!
My 14 year old started on taste of the wild 4 years ago and adjusted very well. She was about 20 lbs over weight before starting on totw. She dropped 17 of those pounds since and loves her food. At 14 she runs around and plays with my 3 1/2 year olds every day. As well as climb stairs without issues and makes the 2and a half foot jump easily from the floor to bed.
I live out in the country and is a 50 minute drive to get totw, worth every minute. A few times I have tried other foods but they have always refused it. And wanted their totw. I am a loyal fan of Taste of the Wild and will be for the rest of the time that I own dogs.
The I suggest to do a protein level of 25% or higher. The older your dog or cat the more they need access to a good digestible high protein.
I can’t say enough about TOTW, this company stands behind their food 110% and they, although being produced by Diamond, is the best food out there. Don’t let the whole Diamond thing deter you. TOTW monitors the production and quality.
We tried Rachel Ray’s Nutrish, not knowing any better, as we were first time dog owners. She ate it but wasn’t ecstatic about it. Had to mix in wet dog food (we had chosen Caesers) for her to gain some weight as she was about 5-7 lbs under weight. She gained weight, but we didn’t feel comfortable feeding her a food that we couldn’t decipher all the ingredients in the ingredients list. We started researching different dog foods and ingredients.
Long story short… We started her on 4Health Grain-Free Chicken and Rice, but then had a feeling the chicken could be her possible allergy. Did more research and decided to go with Taste of the Wild (TOTW) Pacific Stream (Salmon), hoping it’ll help with her red skin and allergy. She just started eating it two days ago. Going to try this food for a couple months and see what happens…
We will try Acana and/or Orijen next, if TOTW doesn’t seem to be working.
Recommendations, thoughts… Greatly appreciated.
I used TOTW on my late wiener dog (the black one). The vet clinic recommended it when my dog was diagnosed with diabetes -thus skin irritations. He did very good on this for several months before his death, then we had to switch to diabetic dog food.
I have since adopted a red wiener dog. (I thought he was a puppy but the vet said “no way, he’s about 8 years old and has bad arthritis”.) I have been using the bison formula with him. Today I bought a small bag of salmon and one bag of roasted fowl (duck). I want to keep bison as his base food and add a couple morsels of salmon and duck to his main bison food once and awhile. TOTW is so good that I also use the extra flavors as dog treats! He loves them.
Never-the-less, I came here to see if TOTW and its protein levels are okay for smaller breeds that are not extremely active. It seems from the advice here that it is okay. I did however buy glucosamine tablets for his arthritis, I did not see an additive for joints on the back of the TOTW bag. If you think TOTW does indeed have arthritic benefits, please let me know.
So glad to have found a great food at a fair price point!
We switch flavors every 3 months or so, and have never had a problem, but now our 2 year old girl is having diarrhea with the recent switch to the fowl flavor and the 3 year old male is fine. Could it be something else? I put her on a rice cooked in chicken broth (low sodium) diet for 2 days and it started to ease. Just scared to go back. I wonder if I can return and go back to the bison? Any similar issues?
I would like to hear an update on your Pit.
Good luck!