Home / Dog food / Blue Buffalo / BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet Dry Dog Food NP Novel Protein Alligator

Blue Buffalo BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet Dry Dog Food NP Novel Protein Alligator package official product image via Amazon

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BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet Dry Dog Food NP Novel Protein Alligator

Dry food · all dogs

A formulated-to-meet dry food that's cheaper per calorie than 4% of the dry foods we've priced and denser than 38% (you feed fewer cups) — $4.86 a day for your 40-lb adult dog.

THE FACTS, ONE SENTENCE — data as JSON · reference dog 40 lb · updated 2026-07-11

Your dogupdates every number on this page
40 lb

Joint, kidney, dental or heart concerns? Labels can't honestly answer those — that's vet territory. Why we don't checkmark them →

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 494 dry foods we've verified.

Verified LabelThe standardized pet-food panel
VPFD № BLUE-B
verified 2026-07-11

Composition — dry-matter basis

why dry matter
Moisture hides the real recipe: kibble is ~10% water, canned food ~78%. Removing water puts every food on one scale, so these are the only nutrition numbers that can be compared across foods. As-fed label values shown small.
Protein 24.4%label: 22% min lower than 90% of dry foods
Fat 15.6%label: 14% min typical — the median dry food is 16.7%
Fiber 6.7%label: 6% max higher than 83% of dry foods
Est. carbohydrates ash not disclosed → 8% assumed, so this is an estimate ≈44.4%computed anchor available once more brands disclose ash
Calcium / Phosphorus extended guarantees: Ca 1.2% · P 1% · DHA 0.15% · Ω-3 1.25% 1.20 : 1ratio, as fed within the AAFCO adult range (1:1 – 2:1)

Calories & cost — for your 40-lb adult dog

Calorie density 372 kcal/cup3568 kcal/kg typical — the median dry food is 388 (median 388) — you feed more cups
Daily serving2¾ cups
Cost per day$4.86
6-lb bag lasts9 days

Cost per 1,000 kcal: $4.94 — cheaper than 4% of the 360 dry foods we've priced (median $1.93). Serving math uses standard veterinary energy formulas — see the formula.

Standards & ingredients

AAFCO statement
what this means
Two kinds of AAFCO claims exist. Most foods are only "formulated to meet" nutrient profiles — a paper calculation. A smaller set carry the stronger claim: fed to real dogs in AAFCO-procedure trials ("Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate…").
 Formulated to meet · all_life_stages
First five ingredients (by pre-cooking weight)Deboned Alligator · Peas · Pea Starch · Alligator Meal · Pea Protein
Named animal protein first; named meals onlyNo
Legumes in first 10 (FDA DCM inquiry)3 (peas, pea starch, pea protein)
BHA / BHT preservativesNone on label
Carrageenan (thickener)None
Ethoxyquin
why unknown
When a fish-meal supplier adds ethoxyquin, U.S. rules don't require it on the finished label — so no label can prove its absence for recipes containing fish meal. We report this as a gap rather than guessing.
 None — no fish meal in this recipe

Safety

FDA recalls — Blue Buffalo, since 20235 on record — see recall history
ManufacturerNot confirmed from label
Label transparency 12 of 15 standard fields
Green = verified favorable · amber = gap in the record · red = verified unfavorable · gray = not disclosed / neutral fact.
Source: official label source (official)· price: Amazon, 2026-07-11 · anchors: 494 verified dry dog foods (360 priced) · how to read this label

The fit

For your dog, specifically

Checked for a 40-lb adult with a sensitive stomach — the same published criteria our finder uses. Change your dog above and these update.

✓
Validated for adult dogsAAFCO statement covers adult maintenance.
✕
Does not pass our sensitive-stomach checksDoes not lead with a named animal protein. See sensitive-stomach qualifiers →
·
Chicken-free recipeNot selected for your dog — but relevant if chicken sensitivity ever comes up.

The source material

The full ingredient list

Every flag on the Verified Label is computed from this list. Ingredients are ordered by pre-cooking weight — the first five carry the most information.

Deboned Alligator, Peas, Pea Starch, Alligator Meal, Pea Protein, Tapioca Starch, Potato Starch, Canola Oil (source of Omega 6 Fatty Acids), Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Natural Flavor, Pea Fiber, Dicalcium Phosphate, Fish Oil (source of DHA-Docosahexaenoic Acid), Potassium Chloride, Salt, Pumpkin, Dried Kelp, Dried Chicory Root, L-Threonine, Choline Chloride, Direct Dehydrated Alfalfa Pellets, DL-Methionine, Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin E Supplement, L-Tryptophan, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Niacin (Vitamin B3), Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Iodate, Dried Yeast, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, Dried Aspergillus niger fermentation extract, Dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, Dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation extract, Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Sodium Selenite, Oil of Rosemary. This product was made using alligator that was sourced in the United States in full compliance with the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)