It’s A Food Revolution! What’s A Girl PET To Do??
MERRICK PET CARE
When Z calls and tell me what her mini-bull terrier CLEM is eating, I always start with the dog food advice. Yes, I am the dog food police!
I have been a passionate and informed dog food nutritionist for over 20 years.
When I have my own dog boutique in Barrington, RI, I made up containers of Dr. Pitcairns’ homemade raw food diet for customers because I was WAY ahead of the times. This was 15 years ago. My bouvier des flandres, Savannah, was not thriving on kibble and so I set forth on the BEST DOG FOOD odyssey that anyone could! I have a Ph.D. in dog nutrition! I had worked for Central Garden and Pet as a team manager selling dog food – Pedigree – and I quit when I started researching holistic foods and nutrition and realized the ingredients in Pedigree were well – YUCK. I tried Wellness, which back then was a small Massachusetts family business. When it sold out to a corporation, I tried – well, everything. When I moved to Utah, Savannah passed away at 5, and somehow I KNEW it had to do with nutrition. Remember, 15 years ago, there was no indicator on dog foods, everyone fed Kibble and Bits or Pedigree.
I started working at the best dog nutrition store in Utah and a little long haired dachshund wandered into my life. He was so sick the vet didn’t think he would make it. So I started feeding him something different every month: Origin, Arcana, Honest Kitchen, commercial raw food, Innova – you name it I bought it. Unfortunately, while these are top of the line foods, CLEM (yes, I stole Broad Z’s name for her dog) WOULD NOT EAT THEM. He was a picky little snot, my Clem.
Now, dog food ingredients are a BIGGEE in the nutritionist’s array of weapons against ignorance.
My dog is my LIFE! And our customers were just as interested in organic, locally bought, NO CHINA ingredients, and REAL meat ingredients as I was. Also, manufacturing facilities were another biggee, as manufacturing facilities are where the recalls of dog foods come from. When you have a large facility churning out 5 -10 different brands of dog foods, there is no quality control, and with no quality control, you get RECALLS and dog deaths.
I saw that Merrick poured out of the store by the case.
Merrick is unique. They are still family owned (very important, as I don’t want a Proctor and Gamble company producing my food along with other grocery store brands). They have their OWN facility in Texas with fantastic quality control. Their ingredients are LOCALLY bought, fresh ingredients, they have an Organic certification, their first four ingredients are meat and meat protein and they have a grainless line (I feed grainless). I went online to dog food research lines, and 3 out of three named Merrick one of the best foods out there. My Bible is The Whole Dog Journal, and Merrick has always come up high on the list. AND THERE HAVE BEEN NO RECALLS of any Merrick canned or bagged DOG FOODS.
The best thing though?
Clem inhales their foods. For the first time, he could eat real bones that had been pressure cooked and were safe to eat (NEVER FEED YOUR DOGS CHICKEN BONES – Merrick processed them to be edible but we cannot!). Wing a Lings became a favorite, along with Turducken, Grammy’s Pot Pie, Cowboy Cookout, Wilderness Blend, a Venison Stew – and now Merrick has come up with 11 NEW recipes, including Classic and Grain Free: the CLASSIC with a balance of 60% meat/poultry/fish, 20 percent meats and vegetable and 20 percent whole grains (in the Classic only). The Grain Free recipes contain 70% meat/poultry/fish and 30% fruits and vegetables.
Brown rice, pea protein and sweet potato are in many of the new recipes. NO SOY< CORN or wheat, NO ARTIFICIAL PRESERVATIVES, no filler.
The canned recipes have deboned meat added as the first ingredient. The dry recipes (kibble) have all changed and are grain free.
And since I change up Clem’s flavors every time I buy food, Merrick offers many different protein sources: PORK, CHICKEN, SALMON, BUFFALO, DUCK, BEEF.
This review could go on for 30 pages, as you all know how I am when I discover a product that delights me both intellectually and nutritionally. I am one of those who ONLY does organic, and holistic, for myself and my darling dog. All I can tell you is that Clem is BONKERS over Merrick, and Merrick fulfills all of my very picky needs for a premium, top of the line, nutritious, ingredient safe, and PALATABLE food for Clem.
Check out Merrick at www.merrickpetcare.com. Please!
As you can see, Clem is manging down on the new Buffalo and Sweet Potato kibble (he would never eat kibble before) and HE ADORES the seasonal flavor Love Potion #9. Me? Clem is happy and healthy. Therefore I AM HAPPY and HEALTHY. Thank you Merrick for revitalizing your food to add new and better ingredients with excellent quality control! Did I say they are certified organic? Did I tell you that they BUY LOCAL PRODUCE and MEATS? Did I say – well, although I LOVE the older Merrick recipes, I ADORE the 11 world class recipes that are under the Classic and Grain Free Brands for top results. Merrick is an innovator and I trust their food. And That’s a Biggee for Me!!!!! (REALLY!)
Merrick Pet Care products are available at Petco and other fine retailers.
Ratings are based on a 5-star scale
Overall: 5 stars and a woof from Clem and Ellie as they attack the Merrick new recipe kibble, grain free buffalo and sweet potato (see pics!!).
Review by Broad “A” – Ava
We received a copy of this title for our book review. All opinions are our own.
I, like you, wanted the best for my dog Charlie and my cats Sam and Jack. Years ago I had no clue about pet nutrition either and I truly believe my pets that had cancer,nutrition was involved. All my boys are on Merrick kibble and canned. They love it and are very healthy. It may cost more, buy it’s definitely worth it!! 🙂
I agree 100%. Good food translates to healthy dogs.
This review, with pictures and all, is AWESOME. I’m wondering if the author would be interested in posting similar reviews to my dog food review blog? You can contact us through our contact page, here is the blog: http://www.allnaturaldogfoodreviews.com/
Thanks for bringing Merrick to our attention, if you guys don’t end up reviewing it for us we will definitely research it further!
Merrick and Petcurean are amazing products. Do a little research on them, I think you’ll be very impressed.
Merrick is now owne by purina so I am wondering what changes will occur in the manufacturing?
Very unhappy with dog food with chicken bones in it.
Chicken bones are good for dogs, unless they are cooked (then they splinter). I feed my dog RAW and he gets raw chicken backs as a treat (bone and all). The enzymes in the bones are very good for them. Just don’t EVER allow them to have cooked bones. They can splinter and a dog can choke on them. One of the reasons that we LOVE Merrick is the fact that it is all natural bones and all.
I do disagree with Zippy. Having spent many years working as a vet hospital nurse before switching to humans I can tell you with enthusiasm that bones are most assuredly NOT good for dogs. What enzymes are you talking about Zippy? I can’t think of any nutritional value you can get from bones at all, actually, apart from calcium and phosphorus, which mostly make one another worthless. I cannot name one single enzyme that is available in a raw chicken bone and would appreciate the names!!
Merrick includes bones and they are cooked heavily and disintegrate so there is no risk. The tiny portions of marrow are moderately nutritious but mostly bones just increase volume and are easy to include without difficult deboning of small parts.
Raw and non pressure-cooked bones are dangerous for dogs. They are not digested easily and many dogs suffer from obstructed bowels and require surgery to remove the blockage and survive. Other complications (yes, even from raw bones) include bowel perforation and mouth and throat injuries, along with rectal injuries and fecal impaction.
I personally never recommend raw poultry or cooked or raw bones.
This is simply not true. Anyone with a background in animal nutrition would know this. Think of how wolves eat! A dog is a domesticated wolf. True, the large cattle bones that you find smoked in stored would not be consumed in their entirety and smoking them makes them brittle, but small bone of rabbits, birds, vermon, and some long ones on deer and other prey animals are absolutely consumed/ gnawed on and cracked for their high fat, glycosaminoglycans, collagen, and other nutrient content. Raw bones are a healthy additive to a dogs diet. It is a natural satiating way that they clean their teeth while also in taking nutrients. They usually bury bones to ferment them to aid in digest ability- the filthy bone outside is the one they go back to over and over again. So long as it is large enough to not be a choking hazard, it is a healthy stress reducer as well. Up until the 29th century we didn’t even have ‘dog food’ they lived on our remnants.
I have My phd in animal nutrition, specializing in performance equine, but am very experience with canines..
Hello! I could have sworn I’ve visited this website before but after looking at many of
the posts I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m certainly
delighted I stumbled upon it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back regularly!
I am doing some research to provide my clients with up-to-date information. Do you happen to know if Merrick manufactures their own canned foods? Most companies do not. I cannot find any info about this and as of yet Merrick has not answered my email inquiry. I am curious and this makes a difference (in my opinion) as it seems it does yours. So far I’ve loved and heartily recommended Merrick foods and would like to more heartily recommend their cans as well! Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.
Annette – Merrick produces their foods in THEIR OWN kitchen using local ingredients.
Great review and Clem is uber cute!!
Pet food ratings say it’s a good food but also the meat and protein content seems lower than most foods. I have a Border Collie so not sure if I should get something with more protein or not? Merrick foods seem to be a good price for what they are, and I can’t really afford brands like Orijen unfortunately.
Pet food ratings review is 4 stars out of 5 – http://www.petfoodratings.org/dry-dog-food/merrick-cowboy-cookout/
Thank you so much for insight on Merrick dog food. I have been toying with switching food. Not knowing what to do. A friend had suggested Merrick. She swears by it. Her dog lived to 17. This has been very helpful
and confirming. Thank you again.
I recently acquired a Brittany, Lola. I have researched and read more about dog food I the last year than I though I ever would! Looked at Blue Buffalo, Innova, EVO, timberwolf, Euba crap a lot, Iams etc. etc etc, when you say Merrick dog food is good and you like it, ABSOLUTELY! You hit the nail on the head from ingredients to quality US made etc! Merrick is highly highly recommended by me too! Great review by the way!
Im soo happy I stumbled upon this site, I currently have an english bulldog that has food allergies. .. Grain, to be exact. I currently have him on the Blue Buffalo grain free chicken, freedom, it seemed to work for a while but recently(about 2 weeks)he started to constantly lick his paws again… I’ve heard about Merrick, grain free, and was contemplating on switching him over…. any body out there with similar situation? Thoughts?
My Golden Retriever was on Blue Buffalo Large Breed Chicken and Rice. He was doing very well on it but started to get nasty gas and itching a lot. After a lot of research and advice I went with Merrick Grain Free Real Texas Beef & Sweet Potato to get away from the grains, chicken and chicken meal. (I’ve heard dogs can also have a reaction to chicken) We’ve just started transitioning him from BB to Merrick so I cant say if it worked but I know he goes crazy for it and absolutely loves it!! Was never as excited with the BB.
I have the same issue as Jackie..my dog also is constantly licking her paws..I took her to the vet and was told most likely allergies from food.. I am switching from Blue Buffalo Lamb to Merrick Buffalo. Hopefully I will see a difference..
Do you have to “introduce” new canned Merrick foods to your dog? My cockapoo has been eating Merrick canned Grammy’s Pot Pie for awhile and I would like to let her try a variety of the Merrick canned foods. Do we have to “introduce” each one?
Ann,
I am not a professional but I have a dog who has a VERY sensitive tummy. I have been feeding her Merrick(grain free) forever and we change her canned flavors often. She is always fine aside from the occasional extra flatuant. 🙂
But every dog is different.
Hope this is helpful.
What’s up to all, how is all, I think every one is getting more from this site, and your views are good for new viewers.
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Do u have any samples of pot pie or others. I m trying buffalo starting today but my 2 dogs are not to interested I tried alot of different stuff not liking anything. If u have any tips please help me out! Thanks
SUBJECT: CAT FOOD ONLY
Does anyone use Life’s Abundance? Cats have eaten it for years, but now, lately, refuse to eat Life’s Abundance dry anymore. Kibbles look and smell differently from bag to bag..in color and size.
Also, consistency of wet changes from time to time (I was told this is normal because it is completely natural) But, they don’t like it anymore. So, any suggestions? I was told that
Life’s Abundance was the best food available to feed, and I am scared to try anything else.. Company will refund, however, shipping
will cost $12 to return (not available in stores) and the bag costs $16. I would very sincerely appreciate any responses. I just found this site, and I love it, especially the “name”! also I was considering Merricks long ago, but read some unsettling things about euthanized animals , in addition to mold in the food, among other things. And, I think the food has been recalled several times. Also, does anyone subscribe to
Susan Thixton site “The truth about Pet Food?
Can’t believe I wrote this much….please excuse me.! Look forward to some responses. Thanks.
Thank you
After a long search for what food to give my dog when I switch him from puppy to adult food, today I decided on Merrick. I came across this page after making the choice and I am so happy I did! My little Alfie looks just like Clem and I love hearing all the great things about the food. Thank you!!
Yesterday was a sad day. Merrick announced it sold to Purina. I don’t believe that they will remain independent of Purina for very long & I won’t support the Purina brand in any way, so Merrick, as well as their other brands Castor & Pollux and Whole Earth Farms, will no longer be considered in our house. http://truthaboutpetfood.com/purina-buys-merrick-and-castor-pollux-pet-food/
Yes, Merrick was purchased, however it is currently still being made at Merrick the same way that it always has. It hasn’t transferred over to Purina quite yet, and the agreement between Merrick and Purina is that Merrick will continue to operate as an independent business with no planned changes to its management or operations.
I was feeding my dogs Merrick as well, and they love the food. As to recalls, i recently discovered Merrick did indeed have MANY recalls. I am very disappointed, as I thought it was a health, safe choice for my dogs. And now reading it has joined with Purina, I will never purchase this product again. I am thankful my boys have not suffered any terrible side effects, other than the canned puppy food gave my new little guy gas and diarrhea. Check out best dog food reviews. They will not even recommend Merrick due to all the recalls.
http://feedstuffs.com/story-merrick-pet-care-purchased-nestle-purina-petcare-45-130172
Merrick was purchased by Nestles/purina. I just had a can that was so sour smelling and runny. The degradation of a wonderful product by big business that sells garbage
Yes, Merrick was purchased, however it is currently still being made at Merrick the same way that it always has. It hasn’t transferred over to Purina quite yet, and the agreement between Merrick and Purina is that Merrick will continue to operate as an independent business with no planned changes to its management or operations.
Fast forward to 2018. After feeding Wingaling canned food to our Pom and chihuahua very successfully for a couple of years, I opened a can from a case of Wingalings I bought through Amazon and the smell was the same sour smell Mary described. The “best used by” date on the can was May (cannot remember the day) 2018. I noticed that the chicken and veggies, which are usually at the top of the can were no where to be seen because they were packed at the bottom of the can and the gravy had a very dull look – and again, the odor – yuck. So, I opened another can from the case. Same problem. Thank goodness I had several cans from an earlier shipment which were okay. I called Amazon and the vendor – nothing, nada, not interested. So, I called Merrick, told them what I experienced and found that, yes, they were very interested to hear what I experienced. The woman I talked with said Merrick pulls sample cans from each batch and stores them so if there were to be a problem, it can be investigated. I emailed pictures of the food from the May can, which I poured in a clear plexiglass refrigerator dish sitting beside another plexiglass dish of Wingalings from the older shipment. There was an obvious difference even in the appearance of the two. The gravy from the May can was very dull appearing and sort of a grayish-brown color, while the other was richer in color and you could see grease shining on the top. Merrick was kind enough to send coupons and Amazon refunded the money for my purchase. Merrick was going to send their investigative team to check out their samples. That was a couple of months ago.
A few days ago Chewy called me and told me an item I have on automatic ship was not available. While I was talking, I thought I would get an extra case of Wingalings. I ordered it and opened the first can tonight. What are the odds of getting two bad cases of Wingalings? Actually, it must be pretty good. As soon as I opened the can, the sour odor wafted up to meet me. Was this my imagination? I opened a can of Wingalings from another shipment – it was fine. No, it is not my imagination. So, I will call Merrick again tomorrow and I am sure get the same bland response of we will check it out. Thank you for calling. Boy, I hate to have to find another canned food these little boys like, but I no longer trust Merrick’s quality on their canned food. I still feed Merrick’s grain-free Salmon kibble and have found no fault with it.
I am trying to do as much research as I can on Merrick , I have been feeding my lovely “Ra” Origen for 4 years , and I only want to change it because the Vet said it would be a good Ideal , however I have NEVER had any problems with Origen… my dog , Has very small , (very little waste ) firm bowel movements. no Gas and rarely any loose bowels … He gobbles Origen up like candy , But I have never feed my dog ANYTHING other than dog food and Wellness or Gold standard treats . so I am really confused if I should transition him off Origen or not ..
I really would like to hear some other pet-owner suggestions ..
Ra is 7 now and I have had him since he was 2 months old , He is my everything …
We have traveled to many cities together and I hope to take him to more 🙂
He is 4 pds total weight as of 9/15 the biggest he has every been
He is best best friend .
I tried feeding Blue Buffalo to my 9 year old Sheltie and she barfed it up . I did some research and discovered that Blue had been taken over by a conglomerate , Mars Pet care who already owns 35 pet food brands from other buyouts from P & G and others . You know that the first thing that happens when a company is bought is a cost cutting program , and maybe the company was bought just to eliminate competition with a product already marketed by the acquiring company . It’s sad that corporate america only knows how to ruin good smaller company’s . I will continue to feed Merrick until I hear lots of negatives or my dog quits eating it or gets unusual things from it . Keep us posted on this one please .
Merrick is also owned by P&G. However, it is still made in small batches the same way that it used to be.
Does anyone know if Merrick still makes their dog food at their Texas plant? Or if they have started messing with the ingredients?
I recently switched (2 months ago?) from blue buffalo to merrick texas beef & sweet potato. The ingredients looked better, the price is good for a quality food and I’m supporting a business located in my state… unfortunately my 16 month old bostie has always had tummy issues and been a finicky eater, and for going on 3 weeks now he has had bouts of diarrhea. It has to be this food. No other changes to diet or schedule. My older bostie does fine on it but she’s always had an iron stomach. I’m going to guess that it might have too much protein for him as I believe I read it’s got a high concentration of protein. I’m going to have to search for something else… Again. 🙁
Is merrick still made in Texas, in small batches or is it made in a purina factory