merrick food any good?

One of our forum members found chunks of plastic AND a metal shipping staple.  The wingalings were a public recall.
 
I personally don't care how WONDERFUL a food is, if there are QC issues that are ongoing, to me that's a huge red flag.  And not worth the risk.

Thank s all for the info. Goes to show a nice ingredient list is not the whole picture. I never before considered quality control issues to be a major worry, of course now with Menu Foods, the whole picture has changed. The dog using Merrick is doing great and disgesting well, ingredient list looked nice, so I said, maybe try it, glad I checked here first, this info puts a whole new spin on food choosing in general (i.e. check the whole company record, not just the ingredients, for any company).
 
Glenmar, your info on tartar is surprising , you have a lot more experience than me so I will trust you and research more on it. My original decision not to use cans wasn't really based on the publicity claims: when I got my first dog in 1978 I was feeding canned mixed with dry, urina Dog chow mixed with Dr Ballard[sm=smack.gif] (I don't think that exists anymore), I didn't know any better and better foods were almost unheard of back then. Got a lot of problems with plaque and tartar, they cleared up when I switched to dry only. Have been on dry only ever since, although fortunately with progressively better quality. So nothing very scientific. But like you said this may be only due to food inhaling (both Jeff and Max were real fast eaters, not much chewing there....)
I will also keep more in mind that food digestibility is very individual and any food might react badly on one dog but do great for another, so no garanties....
I think what you said here sums it up nicely:

I personally don't care how WONDERFUL a food is, if there are QC issues that are ongoing, to me that's a huge red flag.  And not worth the risk.

 
Thank all, I love it when a thread really puts a totally new perspective on things.

OH CRAP!!!!  I just bought about 10 cans of Merrick.  I feed Canidae & add a little of the canned food with it.  I thought I was safe with this food.  I emailed Evangers about their food and they never responded.  Jeez, now I don't know if I want to use the cans....Is there any really good canned food out there?

A lady who owns a holistic pet store told me that the canned Merrick food are fine.  She didn't say much about the kibble other than she won't feed that to her dogs.  She briefly mentioned about quality but won't say much more.  Just like many independent pet store owners, she had done numerous tours of the various pet food manufacturing facilities.  For Merrick, she only carries the cans in her store.
 
Anyway, for this reason, I stay away.  The ingredients look great but...
 
 

Merrick just can't seem to get it together. They had a recall 4 years ago, another one 3 years ago, and one last year. Not to mention that the CEO of the parent company fought to use "non ambulatory cattle and dead stock" in pet foods. [sm=vomit03.gif]

ugh....I saw that vet that was on Oprah and checked out his website and he recommended Merrick.  Guess just because he was on Oprah doesn't mean it's the law....LOL...I have a lot of canned Merrick and I will be sure to mash it up and inspect it before I feed it to my dogs. 
 
OK, has there ever been a recall on Nature's Variety canned?

...I have a lot of canned Merrick and I will be sure to mash it up and inspect it before I feed it to my dogs. 

 
Thats all I was ever really trying to tell people to do not stop using it.  I personally stopped but things change for you when you see something like that.  I'm not suggesting everyone stop. 

I know a Golden Retriever breeder that uses it with great success.  She feeds the Wilderness Blend formula though.  I also know a guy with an Mastiff that feeds the Wilderness Blend to his pup.  And my vet sells it.  I often recommend it for people who have lots of dogs of different ages, especially if they have a large breed pup.  It's an ALS formula that you really can feed to all life stages including large breed pups.

I like the food.  I fed it at one time. 

In the past however, Merrick had some problems with pieces of plastic and metal found in the food.  My opinion though, and as far as I've heard from them ( I work for one of their distributors) they have fixed and have taken some serious messures to prevent this from happening again. 

ORIGINAL: pup3cat2

OH CRAP!!!!  I just bought about 10 cans of Merrick.  I feed Canidae & add a little of the canned food with it.  I thought I was safe with this food.  I emailed Evangers about their food and they never responded.  Jeez, now I don't know if I want to use the cans....Is there any really good canned food out there?

It is a safe food. Removed for personal content. but I sell Merrick - I work for one of their distributors.  While I believe Willow, I have 20 + clients that sell Merrick in their retail stores.  My company has 100+ clients that sell it.  Not one, Not one, of the retail stores we sell Merrick to have had a customer return a can or a bag of dry for wierd peices of stuff or poison or anything.  I have 12 cans of it in my pantry.  I'm confindent in feeding it. 

Further Merrick sales have shot through the roof since this recall thing.  Increased Merrick sale - mean more people are buy it - means if there was something wrong than we'd definatly hear about it.

Removed for personal content.

I'm sorry Maxdad to turn this into a personal thing. 

ORIGINAL: pup3cat2

ugh....I saw that vet that was on Oprah and checked out his website and he recommended Merrick.  Guess just because he was on Oprah doesn't mean it's the law....LOL...I have a lot of canned Merrick and I will be sure to mash it up and inspect it before I feed it to my dogs. 

OK, has there ever been a recall on Nature's Variety canned?

My vet sells it and feeds it.

 
 there is a holistic pet food store/doggie day care here in Dallas where the owner sells only merrick.  because he is local and it is very reasonably priced, i thought about switching to it- it runs about $5 per bag less than the Innova Evo that i feed right now, which doesn't sound like a lot until you calculate that i buy a big bag every 3 weeks or so, at $50 a pop..
 
anyway, i asked him about his exclusion of other brands, and he said it was the only food he had successfully fed his own dogs in terms of stool quality and overall wellness and because they are a small business, they had to choose their "favorite" food, so they chose that one.
 
i have ended up staying with Evo for now because.. well, if it ain't broke... (which i know it might be- i'm watching menu foods very closely).
 
anyway, the point is- this guy is all about his dogs, and HE really loves it and trusts it.  i think that should count for something.  but so should willowchow's negative experiences as well.

Not one, Not one, of the retail stores we sell Merrick to have had a customer return a can or a bag of dry for wierd peices of stuff or poison or anything.

I just wanted to say that I didn't actually return mine to the store either.  I contacted the company directly.  I just threw out the bad cans and sent them the objects and they dealt (or didn't deal) with me.  I never involved the store.  So, there is a possibility that someone did have an issue and you just weren't notified. 

ORIGINAL: badrap


there is a holistic pet food store/doggie day care here in Dallas where the owner sells only merrick. because he is local and it is very reasonably priced, i thought about switching to it- it runs about $5 per bag less than the Innova Evo that i feed right now, which doesn't sound like a lot until you calculate that i buy a big bag every 3 weeks or so, at $50 a pop..

I think Merrick kibble is horribly overpriced for what it is. At my feed store it runs around $45-$55 for 30 lb bags. You can get so many other foods from less questionable companies that have better ingredients, IMO, for less money. The Puppy is the only one that seems to have a good amount of meat. The rest have water inclusive meat followed by a couple of grains before the meat meal.

Puppy: Turkey, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Oatmeal, Whole Barley, Duck, Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil...
Cowboy Cookout: Beef, Oatmeal, Barley, Beef Meal, Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil...
Grammy's: Chicken, Oatmeal, Barley, Chicken Meal, Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil...
Turducken:Turkey, Oatmeal, Barley, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Duck, Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil...
Wilderness: Buffalo, Oatmeal, Barley, Salmon Meal, Venison,Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil...
Senior: Chicken, Oatmeal, Whole Barley, Chicken Meal, Oat Fiber, Whole Brown Rice, Flaxseed, Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, Canola Oil...

ORIGINAL: sooner


I think Merrick kibble is horribly overpriced for what it is.

 
noted!  thank you! 

There are lots of foods that are overly priced.  By the way, it's now organic chicken they are using.  I don't think organic chicken comes from a rendering plant.

Seriously, why aren't we this emotional about any other food?  Diamond, Natural Balance, even TWO has had problems - remember - they were customer service related too, but we forgave Timberwolf Organics.  And the recalls... but Merrick is still the outcasted food.  I think I know the answer to my question.  So does everyone else. 

I'm just asking.  Can we give opinions on this forum without involving loyalties?

Oh, well, I'm still going to feed it and I'm still going to recommend it and I'll still recommend many other foods whether or not someone with clout on this forum has had a problem with it.