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Blue Buffalo vs. Canidae
Both Canidae and Blue Buffalo use excellent ingredients to make their pet foods which explains why they are among the most reputable brands in the market. But there must, however, be factors that make one better than the other. So, who wins in the showdown?
Blue Buffalo vs. Canidae Companies
Since its founding in 1996, San Luis Obispo, CA, the U.S. by John Gordon and Scott Whipple, Canidae has made a name for itself for the production of high-quality and reliable pet foods. In fact, the brand has very many positive reviews which would explain their fame in the pet food industry. They even have Canidae Farms where they grow their ingredients for making pet foods.

On the other hand, Blue Buffalo was founded more than a decade after Merrick in 2003 by Bill Bishop and in 2018, it was sold to General Mills. It is headquartered in Connecticut, USA but has operations in more than 5 countries.
Blue Buffalo vs. Canidae Ingredients
The two brands seem to tie with minimal difference in the dry matter basis of both cat and dog foods. Canidae has 0.7%, 1.7%, 0.8%, and 3.9% higher protein content in dry dog food, wet dog food, dry cat food, and wet cat foods. This gives it more nutritional value than Blue Buffalo. They use good ingredients but both have 4 common controversial ones. However, Canidae has 3 unique against Blue Buffalo’s 4 controversial ingredients in their diets. On the one hand, Canidae has been recalled once for salmonella contamination against Blue Buffalo’s 9 times.
Blue Buffalo vs. Canidae Pricing
And while their pricing is almost similar, Canidae’s wet dog food is very expensive compared to Blue’s.
Blue Buffalo vs. Canidae Comparison Table
Factor | Blue Buffalo | Canidae |
Taste | Uses meats for great taste enriched with veggies | Focuses on real meats plus some veggies for a great taste |
Nutritional Value | High-quality ingredients with zero fillers but has some ingredients that are very controversial | Receives loads of positive reviews due to quality ingredients. Has higher fat and protein content. |
Product Line | Six product lines: Freedom, Basics, Veterinary Diet, Wilderness, Carnivora & TrueSolutions | 57 dog food products & 17 cat food products |
Price | Fairly costly | Expensive |
Safety | Very many recalls, 9 to be exact (2007 – 2017 ) | One recall in 2016 |
Blue Buffalo Freedom vs Canidae Pure Elements (video)
Verdict:
Overall, both brands are good choices but we lean more on Canidae despite the high price tags due to the nutritional value and safety.
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Hi there! My name is Alex Landy, one of the co-founders here at Our Pets HQ and a parent to a small-breed Yorkie. I am a published author of two books on dog breeding and currently write on various pet-related blogs about caring for dogs. I am a parent of two daughters and live outside Boston where I spend a lot of time with family and serve in different breeding clubs. You can reach me at alex@ourpetshq.com