About Blue Buffalo
Blue Buffalo was founded in 2003 by Bill Bishop and his sons, who set out to make natural, healthy pet food after their family dog, Blue, was diagnosed with cancer and they couldn't find a food they trusted enough to feed a sick dog. What began as a father-and-sons project selling through a 240-store PetSmart test grew into one of the largest natural pet food brands in the country. General Mills acquired Blue Buffalo in 2018 for roughly $8 billion, making it the anchor of General Mills' pet food division. The company is headquartered in Wilton, Connecticut, and its formulas are developed with input from staff veterinarians and PhD-level animal nutritionists.
Every dry Blue Buffalo formula we feature carries the brand's trademarked LifeSource Bits, a separate blend of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals layered on top of the base kibble -- a differentiator that helped the brand build share quickly against long-established competitors. Blue Buffalo formulates to AAFCO nutrient standards and the WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee guidelines, and its U.S. manufacturing facilities run in-process quality checks plus third-party lab testing on finished product before it ships. Independent reviewers including Cats.com and Catster cover the line regularly, and in our own testing the grain-free Wilderness and sensitive-stomach Tastefuls lines stood out enough to earn places among our top picks across our cat-care coverage.
Brand website: bluebuffalo.com
What Blue Buffalo makes
Blue Buffalo's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Wilderness
grain-free, high-protein formulas modeled on a cat's ancestral diet — featured on House of Mittens
Tastefuls
everyday dry and wet recipes, including a sensitive-stomach formula — featured on House of Mittens
Baby Blue
natural kitten-specific growth formulas — featured on House of Mittens
True Solutions
targeted formulas for digestive care, urinary health, and weight management — featured on House of Mittens
Basics
limited-ingredient diet formulas for cats with food sensitivities
Natural Veterinary Diet
therapeutic formulas available through veterinarians
Why we recognized Blue Buffalo
The House of Mittens Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our vet-reviewed category guides. Blue Buffalo earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: assessed against feline-health criteria, used with real cats, and judged on merit.
Blue Buffalo products we rated highly
Blue Buffalo Wilderness with Salmon High-Protein Grain-Free Dry Cat Food
One of the products we rated highest in our cat food reviews. Real deboned salmon leads a high-protein, grain-free recipe with no poultry by-product meal and no corn, wheat, or soy, the cleanest label of any food we tested it against. The salmon base delivers omega-3s, and LifeSource Bits add a further blend of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals for immune and overall condition support.
Read the 8 Best Cat Foods of 2026 guide →
Blue Buffalo Tastefuls Sensitive Stomach Adult Dry Cat Food, Chicken & Brown Rice
The formula we suggest in our cat food reviews for a cat with a temperamental gut. Deboned chicken leads a sensitive-stomach recipe built around gentle whole grains, with no chicken by-product meal, corn, wheat, or soy, and it carries an Amazon's Choice badge reflecting broad acceptance among cats with finicky digestion.
Read the 8 Best Cat Foods of 2026 guide →
Blue Buffalo Wilderness High-Protein Grain-Free Chicken Dry Cat Food
The natural, grain-free standout in our dry cat food testing. Deboned chicken leads a high-protein recipe with no corn, wheat, soy, chicken by-product meal, or artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, and the trademarked LifeSource Bits add a further blend of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
Read the 9 Best Dry Cat Foods of 2026 guide →
Blue Buffalo Wilderness High-Protein Grain-Free Chicken Kitten Dry Cat Food
The grain-free growth standout in our kitten food testing. Deboned chicken leads the recipe, fortified with the DHA and ARA a growing kitten needs for brain and eye development, and it holds a 4.8-star average across nearly nine thousand reviews.
Read the 10 Best Kitten Foods of 2026 guide →
Blue Buffalo Baby Blue Natural Kitten Chicken & Brown Rice Dry Cat Food
In our kitten food reviews, the natural-label option we suggest for owners not committed to going fully grain-free. Real chicken leads the recipe with the DHA a kitten needs for healthy development, skips chicken by-product meal, corn, wheat, soy, and artificial colors and flavors, and adds the same LifeSource Bits found across the Blue Buffalo line.
Read the 10 Best Kitten Foods of 2026 guide →
Blue Buffalo True Solutions Digestive Care Natural Wet Cat Food, Chicken (24 cans)
In our wet cat food reviews, the one we suggest for a cat with a temperamental gut. Built around real chicken with added prebiotic fiber and a digestive-support formulation, it's complete and balanced for adult maintenance and free of chicken by-product meal, corn, wheat, soy, and artificial colors and flavors.
Read the 8 Best Wet Cat Foods of 2026 guide →What earned Blue Buffalo the recognition
- Blue Buffalo Wilderness with Salmon is one of the products we rated highest in our cat food reviews, with the cleanest ingredient label of any food we tested it against.
- Six separate Blue Buffalo formulas earned places among our top picks across our cat food, dry food, wet food, and kitten coverage, a broader footprint than any other brand on our site.
- Every featured dry formula carries the trademarked LifeSource Bits blend of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals layered onto the base kibble.
- Formulated to AAFCO nutrient standards and WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee guidelines, with in-process quality checks and third-party lab testing at U.S. manufacturing facilities before a product ships.
- Covers cats across every life stage and need we reviewed -- kitten growth, adult maintenance, sensitive stomach, and grain-free -- without a single featured product falling below a 4.4-star average.