Blue Buffalo brings its add-water cat kibble to the Wilderness line

Blue Buffalo's newest cat food turns into broth when an owner adds water. The General Mills brand put Wilderness Bone Broth Boosted, a dry food in three recipes, on shelves at Petco and PetSmart, and the two chains have it through spring 2027 before it expands to retailers nationwide.

The kibble is made with real chicken bone broth. Owners can serve it dry, or add one to two tablespoons of water for every half cup of food, and the coating turns into a soup-like broth while the pieces stay crunchy for up to one hour, the company says.

"Our patented two-in-one, dry-to-wet format has seen strong results, and with Wilderness Bone Broth Boosted, we're building on that success by adding nutrition through real chicken bone broth for even more protein and collagen," said Ashley Soukup, Business Unit Director for Cat Feeding and Dog Treating at General Mills.

Blue Buffalo moves its add-water format into Wilderness

The format is not new to Blue Buffalo. In March, the brand launched BLUE Tastefuls Irresistible Gravy Experience, a dry cat food with gravy baked in that owners can serve dry or mix with water.

Wilderness is the brand's high-protein line.

The three new recipes are Adult Indoor Cat with Chicken, Adult Cat with Chicken and Adult Cat with Salmon. All three are grain-free, made without corn, wheat or soy, and include the brand's LifeSource Bits.

The company says the broth adds naturally occurring collagen, which it ties to mobility and muscle.

On PetSmart.com, a 5 lb bag of the Adult Indoor Cat with Chicken recipe lists at $32.99 and was on sale for $29.98. The listing also offers a 35% discount on a first Autoship order.

Cat food leads a flat General Mills pet segment

The launch lands in the fastest-growing part of General Mills' pet business.

In its fiscal first quarter, which ended in August, the North America Pet segment posted net sales of $613M, essentially flat with a year earlier. Cat food was up double digits, pet treats rose low single digits and dog food fell high single digits. Part of the quarter's gain came from an extra month of results from Whitebridge Pet Brands.

Segment operating profit dropped 12% to $100M.

Blue Buffalo was founded in 2002 and is based in Wilton, Connecticut. General Mills bought it in 2018. Whitebridge is the Tiki Pets and Cloud Star business General Mills bought in December 2024.

Bone broth kibble for cats already has rivals on the shelf. Petcurean extended its Now Fresh Good Gravy kibble, coated in bone broth and served dry or with water, to adult cat recipes in 2025. Jinx entered cat food in February with a line, including bone broth-infused kibble, that launched exclusively at Walmart.

Petco and PetSmart get a head start on the launch

For buyers at Petco and PetSmart, the launch is a premium cat line with a window of several months before other stores carry it. For other Blue Buffalo retailers, the line arrives after spring 2027.

Rival premium cat brands now share the bone broth kibble format with a General Mills brand. Cat owners are a growing base. Oxyfresh, citing the American Pet Products Association, put U.S. cat households at 53 million when it entered PetSmart in October.

PetSmart has also added premium brands this year, including Open Farm in June.

General Mills has not said whether the broth format will come to dog food, where its sales are falling.

For now, the bet is on cats.

Source: Blue Buffalo via Business Wire