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Blue Buffalo BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet Wet Cat Food NP Novel Protein Alligator
A formulated-to-meet wet food from Blue Buffalo, denser per can than 99% of the wet cat foods we've verified. Price-matched at $19.48 per 1,000 kcal, verified 2026-07-12.
THE FACTS, ONE SENTENCE — data as JSON · reference cat 10 lb · updated 2026-07-12
The evidence
The Verified Label
Every food on this site gets this exact panel — same fields, same order, sourced from the official label — so brands finally become comparable. Dots show where this food sits among all 732 wet cat foods we've verified.
verified 2026-07-12
Composition — dry-matter basis
why dry matter
why 0.12% DM
Calories & cost — for your 10-lb adult cat
Cost per 1,000 kcal: $19.48 — price-matched to a current retail listing, verified 2026-07-12. Serving math uses standard veterinary energy formulas — see the formula.
Standards & ingredients
what this means
why unknown
Safety
Source: official label source (official) · anchors: 732 verified wet cat foods · how to read this label
The fit
For your cat, specifically
Checked for a 10-lb adult cat with urinary health + a low-carb goal — the same published criteria our finder uses. Change your cat above and these update.
The source material
The full ingredient list
Every flag above is computed from this list. Why order is by pre-cooking weight, and how splitting bends it →
Alligator, Water, Potatoes, Pea Protein, Natural Flavor, Peas, Potato Protein, Carrageenan, Tricalcium Phosphate, Guar Gum, Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Choline Chloride, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, L-Tryptophan, Methionine, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, L-Threonine, Calcium Carbonate, Magnesium Sulfate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate {Vitamin B5), Menadione Sodium Bisulfate Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Potassium Iodide, Vitamin D3 Supplement
7 ingredients in this list are ones we hold sourced evidence on , and 4 of them are genuinely contested rather than merely unpopular online.
- Potato · ingredient 3ContestedA starchy tuber used as the carbohydrate base in many grain-free foods (it is a vegetable, not a cereal grain). The FDA's open 2018 investigation into diet-associated canine DCM listed potatoes 'in various forms' as main ingredients of interest alongside pulses such as peas and lentils.
- Pea protein · ingredient 4ContestedA concentrated protein fraction extracted from peas, used to raise a food's protein content without added meat. As a pea-derived pulse ingredient it falls within the group of legume ingredients examined in the FDA's open 2018 investigation into diet-associated canine DCM; metabolomic work has flagged pea-related compounds, but causation has not been shown.
- Peas · ingredient 6ContestedA pulse (legume) used in many grain-free foods as a plant protein and carbohydrate source. Peas are central to an open FDA investigation, begun in July 2018, into a possible link between diets high in peas, other pulses, and potatoes and canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM); 93% of reported products contained peas and/or lentils.
- Carrageenan · ingredient 8Worth knowingA seaweed-derived (Chondrus crispus) thickener and gelling agent used mainly in some wet and canned dog foods. Low-molecular-weight 'degraded' carrageenan (poligeenan) is inflammatory in lab-animal studies and is not permitted as a food additive, but food-grade undegraded carrageenan (E 407) is authorized by regulators; EFSA's 2018 re-evaluation kept only a temporary group ADI of 75 mg/kg body weight per day pending better data, and its specific effect in dogs is unresolved.
- Guar Gum · ingredient 10NeutralA soluble, viscous fiber from the guar bean used in small amounts to thicken and stabilize foods, mostly wet formulas. At higher dietary inclusion it can lower the digestibility of dry matter and protein in dogs, but it also produces metabolic effects such as reduced post-meal insulin and cholesterol; at the low levels used as a thickener these effects are minor.
- Flaxseed (ALA omega-3) · ingredient 11NeutralA plant source of the short-chain omega-3 ALA. Dogs convert ALA to the long-chain omega-3s inefficiently: a controlled feeding study (Dunbar 2010) found flaxseed raised serum EPA but produced no measurable DHA.
The maker
Who makes this — and how they back it up
The four questions the WSAVA nutrition guidelines tell you to ask a pet-food company. Every answer is sourced or marked as an undisclosed gap — never guessed. This is the "is it made competently?" axis that star-rating sites skip.
Same source also states: 'Blue Buffalo sources and produces everything from its own facilities or from partners across the United States.' Indicates a mix of own facilities plus third-party co-manufacturers.
source →Blue Buffalo's professional site states doctorate-level animal nutritionists on staff. dvm360 (via search, not fetched) reports Laura B. Gaylord, DVM, DACVIM (Nutrition) — a board-certified veterinary nutritionist — and Matt Panasevich, PhD, work at Blue Buffalo; the true value rests on the fetched bluevetconnect quote.
source →15 of 443 verified labels in our corpus carry an AAFCO feeding-trial substantiation statement.
source →14 PubMed-indexed papers carry this brand's name in an author affiliation — but without a recognized pet-nutrition research arm we can't confirm these are the company's own studies rather than unrelated name matches (surnames, the taxonomic family "Canidae", institutions). We don't count it as confirmed research.
source →Full company scorecard, sources, and every SKU we've verified for this brand: Blue Buffalo brand page →