Consider This Before Feeding Merrick

[JJ]

I guess JJ has chosen to ignore the previous post about ED being used in MANY brands of pet food, mostly the so-called holistic brands. I'm not defending its use, if it is that harmful. Just pointing out that singling out Merrick is ignorant, and unfair. (Just as singling Blue Buffalo for menadione was.)Sorry I did not ignore another post. On the Itchmo forum a biological nutritionist just posted EDDI is an organic form of iodine so feel free to feed food with that in it to your pets.

However, pet owners should keep being vocal about their disapproval of it. And, maybe, just as Blue, Evangers, and others have decided to remove menadione, the manufacturers will cease using ED.

Jenny - My cats seem to like the turkey-based Merrick cans the best (Turducken and Thanksgiving). And, they have a love/hate relationship with Pot Pie (chicken).

Just an FYI, Evo canned is made by Menu, as is all Natura canned food. I don't buy their canned foods for that reason. If they get their own plant, as they promised, I will consider it at that time.

[jenny]

Well, I tried tarducken last night and one of the cats spit it out as if to say "Mom, what is potato doing in my food".  Some of the other brands also have potato but it is pretty obvious in this stuff.  I may try again, but not sure.

[garypen]

Have you tried Pot Pie or Thanksgiving Dinner?

[jenny]

Not yet - I suppose I'll get a can of each and see how it goes

[athena_weim]

I bought some canned French Country Cafe for my pup in an attempt to get her off of the IVD (Royal Canin) Duck & Potato she has been eating for the last 18 months or so. 

Used to feed raw years ago (she did great on it), but she stopped tolerating it around the time she was diagnosed with Mast Cell cancer (which was releasing histamine into her system and making her stomach super sensitive).  I thank God every day that her cancer is not systemic and that we've been able to control it locally.  She is my world!

But even though her stomach is much less sensitive now, I cannot seem to successfully switch her food.  Granted, the IVD did work.  But I've always felt nervous about the duck by-products -- and the recall gave me extra motivation to switch.

The French Country Cafe is the closest thing Merrick makes with all duck protein (there is some turkey broth in it).  My dog LOVES it -- goes crazy for it.  I switched over the course of a week or so, and about every-other-day she would have a little bit of soft stool -- nothing alarming.  Unfortunately, yesterday she had a major episode of diarrhea (no vomiting) -- I spent my evening cleaning carpets... -- so we're back to the IVD today.

Anyone else having this issue with Merrick?

I'm pretty frustrated.  I wonder if we switched more slowly if that would make a difference.  Any other recommendations for a duck food (canned and dry)?  We did try Evangers Duck and Sweet Potato, but had an issue with label discrepancy that made me nervous (see my post in Evangers).  Eagle Pack Duck and Oatmeal is another option.   

Any advice / input is welcome.

[Cindy Nevarez]

Hi...I remember you...with the peas in the cans. BTW, I still haven't seen any peas in my cans.

You might try taking a longer period of time in switching over from one food to another...I think 1 week is a little too quick.

Also, did you actually try the Evangers on her?

[reddancer]

My cat had diarrhea after eating the Thanksgiving Day dinner. In her whole 10 year life she had never had diarrhea before, so I definitely think it was something in there that upset her tummy. Don't know what, cuz she has eaten other flavors and been fine, although she puked 2 other flavors up right after eating them and she is not normally a food puker either. So, I don't know.

Jenny you may want to try a fish flavor of Merrick if they don't like the turkey/chicken ones. I tried New England Broil yesterday and they both loved it. It was the first Merrick's flavor they ate where they actually licked their bowls clean. So, I may be buying that for them in the future. Every cat is different so you may just need to try all the flavors to determine which your kitties prefer!

[athena_weim]

Thanks for the replies.  You're right that one week is probably too quick.  I really wanted to get her off the IVD Royal Canin after they issued a recall of some of their other food, so I rushed it.  Plus, I can only buy IVD in cases of 24 from the vet, and was hoping to do the switch without buying a whole other case.  But, I bought a case today, and over the course of the last 24 hours she is already feeling a lot better.  I'll probably keep her on IVD-only for a week or two to get her tummy back to normal, and then start trying a transition again -- more slowly this time. 

Because of her cancer, my dog has a fleet of vets (regular vet, oncologist, surgeon, and holistic vet).  I talked to the holistic vet about each of the foods I was considering and she did caution that some dogs get diarrhea with Merrick because it is rich (although she did think it was a good food and said that dogs normally love it). 

I had been experimenting with letting her taste some other food for a couple weeks (she did eat 2 cans of Evangers and liked it -- she liked the Eagle Pack too).  She did fine with just small bits of all three types.  It was after we went totally to Merrick that she stopped tolerating it.  Too bad, because she really liked it.  I may keep it around to use in the future as a treat.  (Despite the mysterious peas, I will probably try Evangers again too.)

 

[JJ]

I bought some canned French Country Cafe for my pup in an attempt to get her off of the IVD (Royal Canin) Duck & Potato she has been eating for the last 18 months or so. 

Used to feed raw years ago (she did great on it), but she stopped tolerating it around the time she was diagnosed with Mast Cell cancer (which was releasing histamine into her system and making her stomach super sensitive).  I thank God every day that her cancer is not systemic and that we've been able to control it locally.  She is my world!

But even though her stomach is much less sensitive now, I cannot seem to successfully switch her food.  Granted, the IVD did work.  But I've always felt nervous about the duck by-products -- and the recall gave me extra motivation to switch.

The French Country Cafe is the closest thing Merrick makes with all duck protein (there is some turkey broth in it).  My dog LOVES it -- goes crazy for it.  I switched over the course of a week or so, and about every-other-day she would have a little bit of soft stool -- nothing alarming.  Unfortunately, yesterday she had a major episode of diarrhea (no vomiting) -- I spent my evening cleaning carpets... -- so we're back to the IVD today.

Anyone else having this issue with Merrick?

I'm pretty frustrated.  I wonder if we switched more slowly if that would make a difference.  Any other recommendations for a duck food (canned and dry)?  We did try Evangers Duck and Sweet Potato, but had an issue with label discrepancy that made me nervous (see my post in Evangers).  Eagle Pack Duck and Oatmeal is another option.   

Any advice / input is welcome.

Thx for that part on the soft stools. Now it all makes sense when I had my dog on Merrick canned that her stools would be entirely too soft as I mixed the food with Karma dry and now her stools are normal again. At first I thought it was due to the fact I adopted her from a shelter and she was still a little shy and getting used to her forever home. Hope no one else is going thru this too.

[garypen]

I haven't had any issues with my cats' poop while using Merrick. But, I also feed them Cal Nat dry. So, maybe that keeps it firm?

[ITEACHCOMPUTER]

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[u2philly]

Hello, im happy I found this site finally to talk about cat foods, etc.  I have 2 four month year old kittens who I tried to feedl Nutra Max kitten can food with, they sniffed it and walked away. Yesterday I gave them Merrick Turkey brand and they ate the whole thing!! gobbled it up quickly.  So right now they are eating Meow Mix kitten dry, which they didnt like anything better that I gave them and today will be the second feeding of Merrick the seafood kind. I only see good reviews with merrick and they are one that was not on the recall list. 

[garypen]

My cats liked Merrick canned food, as well. If I remember correctly, it was the Thanksgiving and Turducken formulas they liked.

Currently, I feed them Wellness canned food, along with Royal Canin dry. The Wellness canned Chicken and Turkey formulas are grain-free, and thus, very low in carbs, which is a good thing. It cleans easily, as well, without the grains, as there is no rock-hard dried up starchy residue left in the bowls. You might want to look into Wellness. It is also more readily available in my area than Merrick.

[ITEACHCOMPUTER]

Hello, im happy I found this site finally to talk about cat foods, etc.  I have 2 four month year old kittens who I tried to feedl Nutra Max kitten can food with, they sniffed it and walked away. Yesterday I gave them Merrick Turkey brand and they ate the whole thing!! gobbled it up quickly.  So right now they are eating Meow Mix kitten dry, which they didnt like anything better that I gave them and today will be the second feeding of Merrick the seafood kind. I only see good reviews with merrick and they are one that was not on the recall list. 

Hi,

Meow Mix has *dyes* in in among other not so nice things. Dyes are carcinogens (cancer causing agents), so you might want to look for a food that does not have that in it.   Ask yourself, why on earth Pet Food Companies make Pet Food colored?   It certainly is not for the pets! They obviously want to appeal to us , the ones with the purchase power.  Animals are not going to care what color anything is !

Here is a link to my list of Ingredients research thus far.  http://www.animalsspeak.org/food-ingredients-alphabetized-t189.html

This list  is NOT a bad ingredient r a GOOD ingredient list.   It has both good and bad ingredient in it along with their descriptions and many great links to information about the various ingredients

[Perseus]

Hello, im happy I found this site finally to talk about cat foods, etc.  I have 2 four month year old kittens who I tried to feedl Nutra Max kitten can food with, they sniffed it and walked away. Yesterday I gave them Merrick Turkey brand and they ate the whole thing!! gobbled it up quickly.  So right now they are eating Meow Mix kitten dry, which they didnt like anything better that I gave them and today will be the second feeding of Merrick the seafood kind. I only see good reviews with merrick and they are one that was not on the recall list. 

I have 2 kittens just about the same age as yours!  I've had them on Wellness Kitten canned grainless for about 3 months and they are doing very well on it.  I would definitely stay off any type of dry food and preferably find a canned kitten food with lots of calories.  I've never had two kittens at the same time before, and all they do is bounce off the walls playing and burning calories.  Good luck with your kittens!