If you are here right now then you believe in giving your pet the absolute best and there is nothing that shows love to pets as much as a healthy diet.
We will give you all the most current details you need on pet food nutritional value, quality, safety, history, price, and other factors connected to pet nutrition.
During the course of this article you will pick up vital tips on what to look out for when grocery shopping for pet food.
This analysis is data driven and consists of accurate figures and details to enable you make the most informed choice for your pet.
After you are done with this awesome comparison check out Blue Buffalo and Purina One here to see the different flavors and pricing.
Contents:
- 🤔 Blue Buffalo vs Purina One FAQ
- ⚖️ Blue Buffalo and Purina One Pros and Cons
- 😻 Types Of Pet Food
- 🥕 Nutritional Value Comparison
- 💰 Price Comparison
- 🤤 Ingredients and Flavors
- 🏡 About Blue Buffalo and Purina One
- 🙀 Product Safety and Recalls through History
- 🏆 Blue Buffalo Vs Purina one: And the winner goes to…
🤔 Blue Buffalo vs Purina One FAQ
What is guaranteed analysis?
The concept of guaranteed analysis on pet food products is to assure purchasers of the precise nutrient content of each consumable. Emphasized by AAFCO, guaranteed analysis by food labels must meet certain requirements such as an exact value for the minimum percentage of crude protein and fat, as well as the maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture on the basis of dry matter obtained. All of the percentages that I use in this comparison are averages of dry matter basis. Learn about dry matter basis here.
which one has more protein?
Purina one has 2.1% and 4.9% more protein than Blue Buffalo on dry and wet dog food while on cat meals, Purina one still dominates with 3.1% and 5.5% more protein on dry and wet cat food respectively.
Which one is cheaper?
Purina One is cheaper on all food categories for canines and felines, whereas blue buffalo is still one of the cheapest pet food brands in the market.
Which one has more flavors?
Blue Buffalo largely dominates when it comes to flavors while Purina one still has quite a reasonable number of flavors to offer
Which brand has had more recalls?
Purina One has only had one recall in history whereas Blue Buffalo has had at least 9 recalls in total.
Check out the current prices, recipes and flavors for Blue Buffalo and Purina One
⚖️ Blue Buffalo and Purina One Pros and Cons
Blue Buffalo Pros:
Blue Buffalo Cons:
Purina One Pros:
Purina One Cons:
😻 Types Of Pet Food
| Dog Products | Blue Buffalo | Purina one |
| Dry | 85 recipes | 14 recipes |
| Wet | 101 recipes | 15 recipes |
| Treats | 51 treats | 3 treats |
| Cat Products | ||
| Dry | 40 recipes | 11 recipes |
| Wet | 47 recipes | 12 recipes |
| Treats | 15 treats | ❌ |
| 😻 See all Blue Buffalo recipes | 😻 See all Purina one recipes |
A pet food brand that provides a wide variety of flavors is definitely one to bank on.
This is mainly because it offers a good number of options for even the most meticulously selective pets. In some cases your furry friend may become bored of its old meal and decide that he or she needs a new flavor to drool over.
A good variety ensures less left overs and less waste. Only make sure that your pet actually prefers a change in their regular diet so that you do not make large purchases that may be rejected.
🥕 Nutritional Value Comparison
One essential part of every pet food product is… no, not its color… yes, its nutritional value.
It is necessary for every pet owner to be able to read and understand the guaranteed analysis stated on every pet food can or box.
This Guaranteed analysis shows the percentage value of the nutrients present in the meal.
Most pet food such as can and dog food tend to have very high amounts of protein, gotten from animal products, and this is because pets require protein in large quantity to thrive.
Is there any part of the meat protein that can be problematic for pets?
Yes there are. Byproducts of actual animal protein may include the highly unpalatable part of the animal meat and could cause digestive issues for your pet.
What about colorings, stabilizers and preservatives?
Are they harmful to our pets? What is the essence of these compounds in pet food?
To answer these questions, there are many preservatives used in pet food, such as Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA), fructose corn syrup, ethoxyquin, Benzoyl peroxide and other compounds used for various purposes such as preserving the integrity of the protein as well as stopping fats from becoming rancid.
These preservatives are safe and certified by FDA.
If you have ever wondered why pet food can stay in cans and packs for more than a year without going bad then these preservatives and additives are the reason.
So, what is the nutritional content of pet food?
What major food groups do we expect to find? The table below shows the comparison between nutritional content of both Blue Buffalo and Purina one.
| Dogs | Purina One | Purina one | Blue Buffalo | Blue Buffalo |
| Dry dog food | Wet/canned Dog food | Dry dog food | Wet/canned Dog food | |
| Crude protein | 31.6% | 45.3% | 28.5% | 40.4% |
| Crude Fat | 17.2% | 25.8% | 15.0% | 25.2% |
| Crude Fiber | 4.3% | 7.1% | 7.1% | 7.5% |
| Cats | ||||
| Dry cat food | Wet cat food | Dry cat food | Wet cat food | |
| Crude protein | 40.5% | 55.9% | 37.0% | 45.4% |
| Crude Fat | 14.5% | 14.7% | 16.3% | 24.7% |
| Crude Fiber | 3.6% | 7.4% | 6.4% | 8.2% |
| 🥕 see more Blue Buffalo info here | 🥕 see more Purina one info here |
Protein Comparison
From the table above it can be deduced that Purina one has more protein content than Blue Buffalo on both wet and dry food categories.
However, this does not mean that the latter has inadequate amounts of protein; it just means that Purina one comes with rich, protein- specific ingredient.
Many health problems in pets today can be traced to a protein deficiency.
This is because many owners are unaware of how much protein their pets need to thrive.
Protein can be broken down into small units of amino acids.
There are two categories of amino acids of which one of them are known as essentials because our pets require a certain amount of these amino acids daily to be able to thrive.
These amino acids build up into proteins and aid muscular repairs, strength and vitality.
Fatty components
Fat is absolutely necessary in pet diets, not only because it adds flavor to the meal but also because it is necessary for bodily maintenance and repair.
Fat makes your pet glow, and it provides better absorption of vitamins in the body for fat soluble vitamins.
Fat also assists with digestion, and mitigates arthritic inflammations, and yeast infections.
Purina One and Blue buffalo have very similar amounts of fat content in them, hence the differences are relatively small.
Fiber composition
Cats and dogs often develop quite a range of health problems such as digestive issues as they grow older.
This is why nutrition plays a vital role in the overall health of your pet. “Fiber every day keeps the Vet away”.
Fiber helps with food digestion and ensures that pets have healthy colons at every stage in life.
Moisture content
Moisture accounts for a pretty large percentage in wet meals compared to dry meals and treats.
The water content aids digestion and aids hydration of the body. However, the moisture affects the nutritional value.
There is a higher percentage of nutrients such as crude protein, crude fat, and crude fiber in the dry weight of every pet food.
💰 Price Comparison
Various pet food brands come in all sizes and flavors hence they are priced differently.
If you are meticulous about budget then you already have a planned budget for your pets feeding.
This means that you would need to compare the prices of various pet food brands in order to find what suits you best in terms of nutritional value and affordability.
So how can one measure how much value-for-money is obtained from their pet food of choice?
Measuring the cost of your pet food can easily be done using two parameters called “cost per pound (lb)” and “cost per calorie (Kcal)”.
These two standards are widely used and are the most accurate for keeping tabs on pet food purchased.
Let us see which brand is most cost effective using these parameters.
| Dog food (Dry) | Purina One | Blue Buffalo |
| Per Pound | $1.41 | $2.61 |
| Per Calorie | $0.0008 | $0.0016 |
| Dog Food (Wet) | ||
| Per Pound | $1.67 | $4.29 |
| Per Calorie | $0.0033 | $0.0088 |
| Cat Food (Dry) | ||
| Per Pound | $1.72 | $3.88 |
| Per Calorie | $0.0010 | $0.0023 |
| Cat Food (Wet) | ||
| Per Pound | $5.00 | $5.54 |
| Per Calorie | $0.0117 | $0.0112 |
| 💰 See the best Blue Buffalo prices | 💰 See the best Purina One prices |
From the table above we can deduce that Purina one is a more cost effective brand than Blue buffalo across all meal types.
So what is the difference between the cost per lb and the cost per kilocalorie (kcal)?
The cost per lb includes the total weight of all nutritional content including water percentage, while cost per kcal is a metric that only represents the value of dried nutrients in the absence of water content.
This makes the “per calorie” metric the most efficient for calculating the cost of pet food.
So where is the best place to purchase these brands? Good question! Overall, chewy.com has the cheapest prices.
They also offer 30% on your first autoship order which saves you a good chunk of change and makes your pet food ordering process automatic. Overall, this has saved me a ton of time.
🤤 Ingredients and Flavors
Blue Buffalo
For the love of pets, Blue Buffalo provides scrumptious pet cuisines using all-natural flavors packed with minerals and vitamins to ensure health and vitality.
Each product is formulated to function as sustenance with exclusive ingredients and dietary supplements such as the LifeSource bits specially included for oxidation support in canines and felines.
Popular Flavors include
- Filet Mignon flavor in hearty gravy
- Life protection formula
- Chicken dinner with garden vegetables
- Beef and chicken grill
- Health bars with bacon, eggs and cheese
Purina One
The brand is a product of Nestle, popularly recognized as one of the largest manufacturers of pet food globally.
It contains but not limited to a large variety of ingredients inclusive of fish meals, mixed tocopherols, brewer rice, corn gluten meal, chicken, poultry- by-prduct meal, soybean meal, pea fiber, multivitamins, oat meal, and more.
Popular flavors include
- Chicken and rice
- Small bites beef and rice
- White meat chicken and whole oat meal recipe
- Lamb and rice
- Healthy puppy formula
- Sensitive systems
Check out the current Blue Buffalo and Purina one recipes here
🏡 About Blue Buffalo and Purina One
Blue Buffalo Information
The brand started as a family business, inspired by the health issues of the family pet, Blue, hence the founder, Bill and his boys set out to design the sorts of pet diets that could promote longevity and good health.
Till today, Blue Buffalo is still one of the leading brands in the market due to its variety of specifically formulated pet food for all age and sizes of both canine and feline.
Purina One Information
Since its inception in 1986 Purina One has been known as a leading brand in the manufacturing and distribution of high quality pet food.
In the 1990s the brand merged with another global brand, Nestle, and increased the production of formulated meals for both dogs and cats
🙀 Product Safety and Recalls through History
Companies make scheduled recalls on products that may have a foreseen defect or safety issues. The importance of a recall is to conduct further safety tests in order to effect changes to
Blue Buffalo Recalls
Blue Buffalo has 9 recalls in history so far
- April 19th 2007 – Melanine
- April 26th 2007 – Melanine
- Oct 8th 2010 – toxic levels of Vitamin D
- Nov 6th 2015 – presence of propylene Glycol
- Nov 25th 2015 – Salmonella
- May 31st 2016 – mold
- Feb 14 2017 – Presence of Aluminum
- March 3rd 2017 – Foil seal packaging issue
- March 18th 2017 – Elevated beef Thyroid hormone
Purina One Recalls
Purina One has had only one recall.
- Aug 30th 2013 – Salmonella
🏆 Blue Buffalo Vs Purina One: And the winner goes to…
After a heated battle and careful consideration, with both brands proving their worth though their impeccable features and varieties we have decided that our winner for the day is Purina One.
This is because the Purina one brand packs higher levels of essential food groups for pet development and is also the most reputable for safety.
| If you want | Then you should choose |
| Higher levels of protein | Purina one |
| A cost effective option | Purina One |
| A wider variety of flavors and ingredients | Blue Buffalo |
| Safety, based on number of recalls | Purina one |
| A balanced diet for all age levels | Both brands |
References:
https://www.purina.com/purina-one
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/purina-one-dog-food-dry/
Well done! You really helped me. Thanks.
my dog itches incessantly. i’ve tried benadryl. i’ve tried oatmeal baths and conditioners. now i’m being told its likely the corn and wheat in my purina one lamb and rice. She was on Purina One puppy and now she’s on Purina One Lamb and Rice and Milk Bones as daily snack.
She’s a swallower. She chews Milk Bones but swallows everything else. Ive found that deviating to much from this regimen of Purina One and Daily MilkBones leads to diarrhea.
So her bowel movements are healthy and regular but her itching is horrible. And her hives are visible. And it’s not fleas.
A pet store clerk suggested grain free dog food and a “higher quality of doggy treats”
I bought Blue Wilderness Natural Baked Biscuits Salmon Recipe
and Purina Smart Blend True Instinct Grain Fee kibble.
i’m hesitant to transition over to the new ‘grain free’ kibble