Merrick Canned Cat Food

[garypen]

I think I'm making Merrick my number one canned food brand for my cats. I did have some reservations at first, due to the fact that the father of Merrick Pet Food's CEO runs a carcass-rendering plant next door, and has some f-ed up ideas about what belongs in farm animal feed.

Yet, I must say that the Merrick cat food looks and smells great, with visible chunks of chicken, turkey, and vegetables. The cats loved the Pot Pie (chicken) and Turducken (Turkey, Duck, Chicken) recipes. And, they did not throw up, as they did with Felidae canned cat & Kitten formula, and Evangers Braised Chicken. It has a nice consistency - high water content, but not slushy like Felidae. It's more like a stew.

Yep. I'm gonna stick with Merrick for now, unless I see definitive proof that they're using bulls*** ingredients, or some other unhealthy or dishonest behavior.

[Therese]

I have a friend who feeds Merrick to her cats (and dogs, I believe) and she swears by it. She's used it for years and is very happy with it...and she's pretty particular about what she feeds her pets.

[MissLori]

I want to try them, but that whole rendering plant thing has me a bit nervous.  I may give them a shot though based on your comments (if I can find this brand in town anywhere that is!)

[amy]

Has anyone gotten anything close to a straight reply from them regarding the rendering issue?

[garypen]

Has anyone asked?

[amy]

Last I recall, someone had asked and got the runaround from the company.   Of course, what do we think they would say--yeah we take the dead carcasses and just take them next door to our pet food plant?   I am just wondering if anyone has asked lately.  When I spoke with the Nature's Logic guy he was in the process of slammin other companies without naming them.  So, he mantions that there is a supposedly natural company that operates a rendering plant on the facility.  I said, "You mean Merrick"? and he was like well, I won't name any names.  So....I don't know.  Not that places don't use rendering plants, but having one next door to your pet food makes me very nervous--why do you need it if your ingredients don't contain by-products or anything?  I agree the food looks okay, but who knows what's in it.

[hareting]

I did some research online about Merrick, the founder of Merrick Pet Care, Garth Merrick, owns Nutri-feeds Inc, Tejas Industries, Hereford Bi-Products Inc. which does rendering.

You can google him and easily found these information.

I also found some info online, Garth Merrick disagree with the FDA for their prohibition of using downed cattle in animal feeds (including pet food).

Apparently Garth Merrick wrote a letter to FDA to protest about the rule of prohibition of the use of dead / desease cattle.

Merric’s Letter to FDA could be found here
www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/04/aug04/081304/04n-0264-c00034-vol7.pdf

I copied the first half of the letter here for you all to read.

“ANPR’s proposed rule to prohibit SRM’s from all animal food including pet food and prohibiting materials from non ambulatory cattle and dead stock from all animal feed creates the below listed consequences of disposal of pounds that previously could be manufactured into animal feed. These numbers are for Texas, primarily, but since our service area includes parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico and Kansas, those areas will have consequences as well. SRM’s in cattle under 30 months of age have been estimated to be 20 pounds per head. In Texas there are four packing houses processing approximately 100,000 head per week times 20 pounds equals 2,000,000 times 52 weeks equals 104,000,000 of product that no one has discussed what to do with. Also, in Texas, there are approximately 18,000 head of cows over 30 months of age slaughtered weekly at four packing plants which have approximately 60 pounds per head of SRM material equals 1,080,000 per week equals 56,160,000 pounds per year. Our company services mostly Texas and parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. Last year we processed 255,000 head of dead stock not counting calves with an average weight of 600 pounds per carcass. The total weight comes to 153,000.000 pounds that makes its way into feed ingredients. If you total these three categories, they total over 300,000,000 pounds that no one is discussing what to do with. If you cannot render it for feed to be fed to chickens, swine or pet food, then you have destroyed a system that currently works. We are the original recyclers. These numbers are only for Texas; when you consider the other lower 47 states, the consequences are inconceivable as to what the health hazards could be if these products are not processed the way they are currently being done. There is not a cost to local, state or federal agencies now, but if these proposed rules are adopted, then someone else will have to step in and I fear, they will not be as efficient or cost effective as what private industry is doing now. There are huge consequences to be reckoned with and these consequences have to do with an effective way to dispose of these billions of pounds which are currently processed in an environmentally friendly way.”

After reading this, i’d never never feed Merrick, this guy is only concered about being “efficient” and “cost effective” and want to include diseased cattle in animal feed (including pet food)

[PetFoodTracker]

oh BLEEP! 

I *just* started buying Merrick and my cats are loving it.  This makes me sick!  And furious.

[garypen]

I thought everybody here knew about that letter. It had me concerned too. But, I don't think he owns Merrick Pet Food. I believe his son does. And, the food doesn't look like the mainstream crap usually made from rendered products.

If it turns out that it does contain that crap, I'll just go back to Blue Buffalo or Chicken Soup, or even the Evangers turkey, if the cats continue to eat it, AND it isn't as inconsistent as it appears it might be.

Actually, I may have to go with another brand anyway. Today, when I gave them the "pot pie" recipe, they wouldn't eat it! They loved it the first time! They did eat the "turducken" about 3 or 4 times. I'll try that one again. If they thumb their noses at that, I'll have no choice but to drop Merrick then.

[MissLori]

I bought a can of Merrick's Thankgiving Dinner canned food for my cats. They completely lose their little minds when it's time to eat this stuff!  They jump on the counter, walk around in circles, and start meowing like it's the only food they've had in days.   They love it more than any food so far.  I can't say it looks all that appealing, but they don't even leave the slightest little crumb on their plates when I feed them this.

[garypen]

Mine appear to really like Thanksgiving Dinner, as well. But, as I mentioned above, they have completely lost their taste for the "Pot Pie", which they totally loved the first time I gave it to them. 

So far, though, they still seem to like the Turducken. Let's hope that lasts. (They lost their taste for the Evangers Turkay, as well, it seems.)

[alek0]

I tried this brand before in my quest for finding good food for my kitties, but they weren't interested in it at all.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Hi All,
I have reservations about Merrick too, but I have to admit that the food and treats I got for my dogs are pretty awesome.
The canned food I got for them is the Smothered Comfort homestyle which when you open the can looks and smells like homemade chicken/vegetable stew for people, which is mostly white thigh meat (it states this on the can too). I also got them Rocky Mountain Rainbows homestyle Trout with veggies/fruit, which they also love.
I got the Beef Filet Squares treats, which is like a jerky, and also the Phat Flossies spiral tendon chews for them. Both of these the dogs love. My thinking is that if anything is coming from that rendering plant, it might be these Filet treats. BTW, the address on the cans/Flossies is different from the ones on the Filet Squares treats. The Filets come from Hereford, TX, and the others from Amarillo.
Also, if I can't get my cats to like more of the Evangers varieties other than the mackerel and seafood/caviar I mentioned on the Evangers forum, then I might try some of these Merricks cat flavors some of you have mentioned here.

[reddancer]

My kitties love Merrick. Although, I guess I am lucky because they will both eat pretty much anything I give them. I have been very concerned with finding good brands that I think will be safe. Their wet food now consists of Merrick, Evangers, & Felidae.  These are the brands I feel are the safest at the moment. At least I hope so. I am still very nervous though!! The Merrick looks and smells great, and the only grain in some of the flavors is brown rice. 

[garypen]

Those are three of the first brands I zeroed in on, along with Blue and Chicken Soup. They seem to have settled on the Merrick Turducken, and to a lesser extent, the Thankgiving Dinner. (They just didn't like the Evangers and Felidae. And, I prefer the Merrick ingredients to Blue and CS.)

In the back of my mind, I still have reservations about this brand due to the family history with meat rendering plants, as I've mentioned before. But, when I researched their recall of dog food due to metal bits in the food, it turns out that the chicken they were using had metal "kosher" tags on them. That means that they use "human grade" chicken. I will assume, for now, that they use similar "human grade" turkey, duck, and other meats in their canned products, as well.

However, I will definitely keep my eyes and ears open, and will not hesitate to drop them like a needy girlfriend, if I hear anything bad about their foods.