Merrick dry food - anybody using this??

do you have a listing of ingrediants?

erica1989

do you have a listing of ingrediants?

  Here's the list of ingredients and guaranteed analysis;

Ingredients:
Buffalo, Oatmeal, Barley, Salmon Meal, Venison, Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Natural Vitamin E and Ascorbic Acid, a source of Vitamin C), Flaxseed, Freeze Dried Potatoes, Freeze Dried Carrots, Freeze Dried Peas, Freeze Dried Apples, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Lysine, Guar Gum, Sea Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Whole Blueberries, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Venison Broth, Whole Garlic, Chondroitin Sulfate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Natural Venison Flavor, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Natural Celery Flavor, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Natural Caramel Color, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Ribofl avin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

Crude Protein (Not Less Than) 24.0%
Crude Fat (Not Less Than) 15.0%
Crude Fiber (Not More Than) 2.5%
Moisture (Not More Than) 10.0%

  It does look like a good food, but I haven't tried the dry either. It will be interesting to see if anyone's tried this and if they liked it.
 

Their foods LOOK really good, but Merrick has had soooo many quality control issues that are ongoing, that I just am not willing to run the risk with any of their products.  Too much really high quality stuff available that doesn't have QC issues.....

I thought I had read quality issues before.

There is a TON of higher quality foods, but so very many of them contain chicken and/or sage that it's getting very frustrating.

The foods that do not contain either of these ingredients tend to have calcium levels that are too high for a young pup.....arghghgh. Just venting!

By the way, what EXACTLY is Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide?? Anyone know?

Thanks a bunch.

stanton

By the way, what EXACTLY is Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide?? Anyone know?

  According to their website, it's an organic source of iodine. I really understand your frustration in finding a food without chicken; Jessie's allergic to chicken, and also salmon, brewer's yeast, and potatoes.  Of course she's nine years old so I don't have to worry about calcium levels. I thought all the recent QC issues at Merrick had to do with their canned foods. I have fed their canned foods and haven't had a problem with them. There was a serious issue with their dry food a few years ago; I think some dogs died. More recently, dogs died from aflatoxin in some of Diamond's foods but in spite of that, TOTW seems to be popular.
 

Thanks a bunch for the help in deciphering ingredients.

Boy, it just creeps you out when you don't know what companies to trust.....unfortunately, feeding my bigger guy completely homecooked is out of my financial range.

I fed him Cal Natural lamb/rice canned food last night, so far no itchies, so I'm wondering if he's actually intolerant to lamb afterall, or if because the last time I tried lamb it was too soon following a skin infection and blamed it on the lamb.

If I can get him onto lamb at least, that'll give me back a decent variety of foods. Right now though, if he proves intolerant to both lamb and chicken, I'm in a world of hurt for a dog who's only 9mnths old!!

I really like the TOTW salmon formula, but knowing they were a part of major recalls/issues in the last few years doesn't give me any kind of peace feeding that at dinner time! Makes you want to just cook an extra pound of beef from your dinner and throw it in their bowls with some veggies.

Diamond has only had ONE quality issue incident. Merrick has had multiple quality control incidents, recurring, over and over again. Apparently they don't care enough about dogs to fix their problems.

Thanks for the info Mudpuppy. I'll admit to thoroughly being up on my research as of 2-3yrs ago, but haven't researched as in depth since as I had for years prior to that...lack of time I guess, and happy with results of Naturapet varieties that I didn't really need to look any further.

I will keep that info in mind, and lean more towards TOTW formula's rather then Merrick...I didn't purchase either last night, as I was a bit leary of both and just decided on buying some canned cal natural lamb/rice for now.

I have Rivers partially, and I mean a VERY small partial amount on Instinct duck/turkey, but I'm thinking it may be too much for him - his energy has dimenished ever so slightly, but for a puppy, he's not hyper active anyways, but since I started the Instinct, he appears extra sleepy, and his poops are not quite right. I'm thinking that it's upsetting his tummy, cause for a few hours after he eats it, he just doesn't look right.

I don't know if it would be suitable for a puppy (I didn't start feeding it until Ben was over a year and don't remember details like calcium levels) but have you looked at the Orijen fish formula?  My dog does really well on it, and there's no chicken or sage.   

Benedict

I don't know if it would be suitable for a puppy (I didn't start feeding it until Ben was over a year and don't remember details like calcium levels) but have you looked at the Orijen fish formula?  My dog does really well on it, and there's no chicken or sage.   

I can't get any Orijen formulas locally, as far as I know. Who sales them??

I've been to just about every independent dog food store that I know of in my area.

There's a store finder on their website:  http://www.championpetfoods.com/orijen/storeLocator/

I order mine online, but I'm in the UK so that's not much use to you I'm afraid.