Merrick Before Grain

chelsea_b

Oh yeah, plus on the bag it says there's 3500 some calories per kg, and "per cup (100 grams): 107 calories". Yeah, that makes total sense guys...

   I haven't tried it but Merrick's method of figuring calories has always worried me; makes me wonder how accurate they are at calculating the nutritional value of their foods.
 

jessies_mom

  I haven't tried it but Merrick's method of figuring calories has always worried me; makes me wonder how accurate they are at calculating the nutritional value of their foods.

Do they figure calories differently than other companies? I've never used Merrick before...

  I don't know how other companies do it, but this is the formula Merrick uses;      http://www.merrickpetcare.com/about_us/faq.php#faq_119 ;

 How can I calculate calories per cup in the dry food?
For example, Turducken reads 3482 kcal/kg - one pound provides 1594 kcal of metabolizable energy, calculated value.

One Kilogram equals 1000 grams, so 3482 kcal divided by 1000 grams = 348 kcal.

   A few years ago, before all the QC issues surfaced with TO, I tried the Ocean Fish. They didn't have the calories per cup on their site or the bag, so I used Merrick's formula and came up with about 360 calories. Well, Jessie plumped up quickly; later I learned on Mordanna's site that it's 550 calories per cup.  So, based on that, I don't know if the formula is accurate, but that's JMO.
 

Merrick is all that Rory and Primo eat, Kibble and wet food. However both of my dog are extremely active so they do best with high calorie/protein food. I had nothing to worry about when the food recalls hit, its pretty good quality of food but some dogs are turned off by the veggies in them. Supposedly everything is human grade and a lot of the ingredients are organic in the brand

Prior to Merrick we used Blue Buffalo but that was a bit to rich for Rory's tummy

  Your dogs are beautiful. I can't feed Merrick because of Jessie's food allergies (chicken, salmon, white and sweet potatoes), but your dogs look like they do great on it.

I had gotten 2 lb. of before grain as free samples and was thinking of switching my dogs to grain free so I started using it.  After a few days, Zoe had constipation, then diarhea, then bloody poops and had to go to the vet.  I think it is too rich for her and now she is off it and doing much better.

 I was hesitant to use it because it was Merrick and I am not thrilled with their rendering plants but I tried anyway.  Now, no more merrick for us!

 If they are getting 3000 some kcal per kg ME, then their figure of 180 kcal per 100 grams is wrong even by their method.  Or my math is wrong.  Last I checked 1 kg=1000 g right?

How much a cup weighs (g) depends on the density of the food.  Volume is not really a good way to measure food when doing conversions and calculations.  I have a little food scale (WW, lol) and when I get a new food, I figure the kcals each dog will start with based on the last food, weigh it out, then I have a measure I use to scoop in the future based on the volume of that weight.  I do this when I start each new bag too - you never know what they've done, and when you feed as much as I do, every little difference can make a BIG difference!

brookcove

 If they are getting 3000 some kcal per kg ME, then their figure of 180 kcal per 100 grams is wrong even by their method.  Or my math is wrong.  Last I checked 1 kg=1000 g right?

Exactamundo. That's why I think it's so weird. I don't understand how the figures on the bag got to print. How did NO ONE catch this? 100 grams of food has 1/10th of the calories of 1 kg of the same food. There's no getting around that. So if the food has 3500 some calories, 100 grams has 350 some calories... 1 cup may not weigh 100 grams, but 100 grams is 1/10th of a kilogram, no matter what.

The store where I buy my food gave me 1 lb of the salmon to try out. All of the kibble looks uniform, has the right shape, but I noticed the math error as well. I can't believe no one noticed it before it went to shelf!

I doubt I will buy a bag of this food, just because the math error kind of freaks me out. My dogs really like it though. It's like doggy crack, they were begging for it, even the picky one.

For example, Turducken reads 3482 kcal/kg - one pound provides 1594 kcal of metabolizable energy, calculated value.

One Kilogram equals 1000 grams, so 3482 kcal divided by 1000 grams = 348 kcal.

that's just wrong. That's kcal by weight, not volume. You'd have to weigh a cup of the food and see how many grams are in it- varies wildly by kibble type. Merrick's track record of poor quality control seems to extend to this sloppy bit of info.