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Blue Buffalo Spa Select

I should perhaps apologize in advance for the repetition, which may be apparent to anyone who has been reading these pages in order, but since this is an Internet page, and not a book, my assumption is that not everyone will read all of these pages, or in consecutive order.

A couple of months ago, I lost my Baby Girl to cancer. She had been with me for twenty-three years, since she was born, her grandmother having come to me as a kitten, of no particular breed, and I still have Baby Girl's twin daughters, Cutie and Lydia, with me; they'll be seventeen in December.

Baby Girl was seemingly healthy, and active, for a cat of her age; or any cat, for that matter. Then one day, a few months ago, I noticed that she seemed to be having some trouble eating.

She had a cancer under her tongue, a rapidly growing, inoperable, form of cancer that led to her death less than two months later.

Yes, I know. Twenty-three years is a long time for a cat. Yet, until the cancer, she had been healthy and active; and since cats have been known to live thirty years or more, I would have loved to have had her with me for another few years.

Looking back, there was a time, more than ten years ago, when she had gotten into something that burned her tongue. Although she had been in the house at the time, I was never able to figure out what it was; but cancers often form at injury sites, and this may have been where it began so many years earlier.

For most of the time that she had been with me, I wasn't particularly poor, so I didn't feed her the cheaper foods on a regular basis, but neither did I fully understand, or appreciate feline nutrition. Like many of you, I grew up thinking that cats ate table scraps, or anything in a box or bag that said "cat food" on the label.

Would she have lived longer if I had fed her better for her entire life? I suppose there's no point in kicking myself over something that can't be undone. In our own lives, or in that of our cats, we're not guaranteed a do-over.

My concern now, is for my other four kitties, three of which are nearing the age of seventeen. Following Baby Girl's diagnosis, I learned that cancer is the number one medical killer of cats in the United States.

Further, I learned that this isn't entirely explained away by the fact that cats are living longer now, finally succumbing to cancer in their later years. We have also introduced a lot of toxins into their environment, in the interest of keeping a tidy home, free of dirt, odors, and insects. Ironically, in our quest to do the right thing for our pets, it has recently been established that over-vaccination can weaken the cat's immune system, setting the stage for cancer.

Certainly, we should strive to create and maintain an environment for our cats that is free of toxins, carcinogens, and other hazardous things. We should also recognize that we won't be entirely successful in this, taking steps to help our cats to help themselves.

That's where Blue Spa Select comes in.

When you open a bag of Blue dog or cat food, you’ll notice that there are two different types of nuggets. Blue’s formula is a two-part product that features crunchy, nutritious nuggets made from fresh meat, fish, whole grains, vegetables, and fruit.

Each bag of Blue’s pet food also includes little dark nuggets called LifeSource Bits, exclusive to the Blue brand, which is a blend of nutrients and antioxidants that serve to bolster the cat's immune system, helping her to ward off disease, including cancer.

While other brands include many of the same ingredients, the LifeSource Bits are cold-formed, which doesn't expose them to the heat used in the cooking process, ensuring greater potency of its vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants.

That's not all.

Blue uses only human grade ingredients, and the first ingredient is real chicken or fish, not a by-product or grain. The grains that are used in Spa Select are whole grains, such as brown rice or barley, not processed grains like white rice, brewers rice, or rice bran, as these products don't retain their nutrients when processed.

The protein in Blue Spa Select is obtained from human meat suppliers, using meat sources, such as chicken or fish, that don’t have any by-products. The grains that are used in Blue Spa Select are whole, unprocessed, and natural; and the fats and oils are chosen for the proper amounts of essential omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Blue enhances its formula with fresh vegetables and fruit, rather than corn, wheat, or soy, which are not easily digested, and are common causes of allergies in cats. The ingredients used in Blue Spa Select provide cats with phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, cofactors, and enzymes that have been shown to promote good health in the animal.

Blue Spa Select compares well with every other brand of cat food that I've reviewed. I won't say that it's the only food that I'd ever feed my cats, since there are other good brands, but it's the one that I've chosen.

It’s not the only good choice, but my cats enjoy it, and are doing well on it.

Blue Buffalo Foundation for Cancer Research

The Blue Buffalo Foundation for Cancer Research (BBFCR) was established in 2003 to provide a source of funds for programs dedicated to gaining a better understanding of the causes, treatments, and prevention of cancer in dogs and cats.

The initial activities supported by the BBFCR will be to provide grants to a select group of universities and clinics, supporting all areas of cancer research, but with a focus on the use of superior nutrition and natural supplementation as a means of preventing the incidence of cancer.

Over time, the goal is to increase both the number of grants and the amounts of each grant, as the Blue Buffalo brand grows and sales increase.

Floyd’s Friends

Floyd’s Friends is an interesting, and cute, little program that Blue Buffalo Spa Select has implemented. Blue customers can upload photographs of their cats, giving the cat’s full name, nickname, breed, hometown, birthdate, favorite toy, favorite activity, least favorite thing, the rule that they most like to break, the craziest thing they have ever done, and a description of their interpretation of their cat’s “purrfect day,” and Blue includes one trading card in each package of its Blue Spa Select cat food, so Blue customers can collect them, and have fun waiting fto get their own cat’s card in a bag of Spa Select.