Merrick?

Laurelin

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#1
In the never ending search for food Hank can tolerate I picked up a small bag of Merrick grain free on a whim. The fish one.

His poops have been normal now for a week. Still some farts and belches but no big piles of yellow mushy poops.

Has anyone fed this long term? Any thoughts? The vet was wanting to do either Royal Canin or Science Diet Rx food next with him. He has had horrible digestion on all other grain frees.
 

Julee

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#2
I feed Merrick, and have for about 2 years. I love it. I rotate flavors, I have bags of other foods around for when I'm not home to feed Bloo (so end up feeding other things when I run out sometimes), but Merrick has been the staple.
 

Beanie

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#3
I looked at Merrick before I switched to the Earthborn. Sabine has some significant trust issues with them. Recent issues seem pretty insignificant IMHO, salmonella risk happens and it doesn't get me all hot and bothered like it does some people. But there is some history there.

I do like their treats and feed those with no real qualms, and their food ingredients look good to me. But ultimately I did decide it wasn't something I felt comfortable feeding on the regular as food. YMMV of course, everybody has their own comfort level.
 

DJEtzel

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#5
I've been rotating Merrick, Fromm, and CORE primarily after leaving Earthborn. Love what my dogs look like, smell like, and poop like on it. ;)
 

teacuptiger

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#6
I haven't fed it long-term, but I have rotated it. Roxie looked good, pooped good, smelled good on it. I had fed the dry pork grain free.

As for wet food, I commonly get their wet food (last time it was Turducken) and really liked that too.

The only reason (aside from price) I have not continued feeding the dry is because it was a bit greasy and stinky imo. Otherwise, I've been quite satisfied with it :) The wet food, especially, I will always continue to buy for Roxie's kongs.
 

SoCrafty

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#7
I bought Merrick Grain Free puppy for Addie. She loves it - so much so that she actually takes the food her breeder was feeding out of the dish (am transitioning her) and lays it in a pile next to the dish and only eats the Merrick. So much for transitioning!

I loved the ingredient list on the puppy and adult foods. She has had great BM with it, and is putting on some weight - which is what I wanted. She's tiny. We are sticking with it. It's available at one of the big stores (in other words, easy to access), and its reasonably priced.

I say go for it. Can't hurt to try it.
 

CharlieDog

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#8
If I could afford to keep Harrison and Indy on Merrick exclusively I would. Right now though Harry is on Nurtisource and is actually gaining some weight (a ten month old mal who never stops moving gaining weight, saaay WHAT???)

So we're going to stick with this for a bit. I'm not sure the kcals per cup or whatever, plus the protein and fat are high enough for him right now either.
 

JacksonsMom

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#9
Heard of a lot of quality control issues with them in the past, not totally comfortable with their company BUT IMO, if it was working and basically nothing else was, I would still feed it. They do seem to have improved over the past few years too. I think the issues were more within their treats than the food. Lots and lots of treat recalls.
 

SpringerLover

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#10
I really love Merrick. I am currently feeding it mixed with Fromm gold and love the results. My dogs keep telling me they do really well on Fromm but it doesn't have enough protein. If I mix it with a GF Merrick, then it does. And they do even better as far as poop and coats go.
 

Grab

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#11
Aesop ate it in his younger "everything gives me diarrhea" stage with no issues :)
 

Laurelin

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#12
I definitely think we're going to try it long term and see how they all do on it! I'm hopeful!
 

SoCrafty

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#14
just as an update to this - accidentally picked up a bag of the regular, instead of the GF. Seems a little bit greasier than the GF. Haven't seen any drastic changes. Her BM seemed to be about the same, though I think it was a little more formed on the GF. But, she hasn't been noshing on grass as much on the grain version, either.
 

PWCorgi

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#16
I wouldn't have fed the Merrick pre-2012, but they completely revamped the line and now I'm a huge fan.
 

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