Merrick foods - YorkieTalk.com Forums

hugz4all4 · 08-18-2009, 09:34 AM

is anyone feeding this food or tried it? How well did your pups like it and how big are the pieces? Im once again on the hunt for a food

and since I hadnt tried merrick yet I figured Id give it a shot. I ordered some samples of the dry and some canned. If anyone has any info for me I would greatly appreciate it..

Thanks!!

KJLive · 08-18-2009, 10:17 AM

I did try the "puppy plate" and Sophie ate it but she wasn't as fond of it as the Taste of the Wild brands. I also tried the Merrick "Granma's Chicken Pot Pie" (or something similar to that). It's still sitting in my cabinet. She wouldn't eat that. She's not fond of chicken..weird, I know. She eats either TOTW Roasted Venison and Roasted Bison or NB Sweet Potato and Venison. Both of these she happily nibbles at all day long. (I free feed). If yoy have Pet Value store in your area, they do offer sample bags of many different kinds of the higher end foods at no charge.

hugz4all4 · 08-18-2009, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJLive

I did try the "puppy plate" and Sophie ate it but she wasn't as fond of it as the Taste of the Wild brands. I also tried the Merrick "Granma's Chicken Pot Pie" (or something similar to that). It's still sitting in my cabinet. She wouldn't eat that. She's not fond of chicken..weird, I know. She eats either TOTW Roasted Venison and Roasted Bison or NB Sweet Potato and Venison. Both of these she happily nibbles at all day long. (I free feed). If yoy have Pet Value store in your area, they do offer sample bags of many different kinds of the higher end foods at no charge.

thanks for replying.. I have tried totw and after 3 months of using excuslively it started having bad effects on my dogs so I had to stop using it. I have tried just about every good food out there and my dogs either wouldnt eat it or had issues with it. If Merrick doesnt worked out I will probably go back to grocery store food, I know my dogs will eat that..

reeses · 08-18-2009, 01:08 PM

I used to feed Merrick Before Grain but now I feed Life's Abundance and Gizmo goes CRAZY over it! He absolutely loves it! With the Merrick I would put food down in the morning and by dinner it MIGHT be gone...now with the Lifes Abundance I put it down in the morning and he eats and I feed him dinner and he eats! No more pickyness! He loves it and its is a great healthy food for him too!!!

hugz4all4 · 08-19-2009, 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reeses

I used to feed Merrick Before Grain but now I feed Life's Abundance and Gizmo goes CRAZY over it! He absolutely loves it! With the Merrick I would put food down in the morning and by dinner it MIGHT be gone...now with the Lifes Abundance I put it down in the morning and he eats and I feed him dinner and he eats! No more pickyness! He loves it and its is a great healthy food for him too!!!

Thanks for the suggestion, I tried lifes abundance already too. I had a few samples of it and my dogs wouldnt eat it. Not to mention you can only get it online and for the price of the food and shipping to my house I would end up paying 23.00ish for a 8 pound bag, Im sure its a good food but I cant afford that right now.

KJLive · 08-19-2009, 05:50 AM

Have you tired Natural Balance, Wellness, and Barking at the Moon? I'd really hate to see you go back to Grocery Store food if you didn't have too.

YorkieSchmalz · 08-19-2009, 06:50 AM

My Sophie eats Merrick (puppy plate) right. She likes it, but she doesn't seem like a picky eater to me. The piece are small and perfect for puppies or small dogs. I sometimes even make the gravy for her and she loves it. You can make the gravy by just adding some warm water to the bowl of food and letting it sit for a bit. Then it make a little gravy and the kibbles are soft. I have been really happy with Merrick. I have even tried some of there treats and Sophie loves those too. If you have questions you should call them they have excellent customer service. I hope this helps and your furbabies do well on it.

hugz4all4 · 08-19-2009, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJLive

Have you tired Natural Balance, Wellness, and Barking at the Moon? I'd really hate to see you go back to Grocery Store food if you didn't have too.

yes, yes, and never heard of them, but will do a search. .. I will only go back to the grocery store brand if I absoultly have too, I dont want to, but Im tired of finding something they will eat for awhile and they either start having issues with the food or they just stop eating it. With my toy poodle.. the whole they wont starve, they will eat it eventually doesnt work. If she doesnt like the food she wont eat it and will get sick.. been there and wont do it again. At one point I had to hand feed her super mashed up wet food by my fingers because she wouldnt eat. She is that stubborn!! She is only 4 pounds and needs to eat often so I need to find a dry food that she likes, will eat willingly and she does well on. Tucker my yorkie mix will eat anything if he gets hungry enough but because I free feed I would like to keep them on the same food. Location is another issue. I live quite aways from a petco/petsmart and my local feed stores only carry certian foods.. most ones made by diamond.. and we have tried them all.

I dont mind ordering online as long as the shipping prices are reasonable, but most places charge as almost as the food.

Anyways.. that is my dilemma.. lol.. A feed store 30 miles away from me carries Merrick so Im gonna try the samples I ordered and if they like it I will get a bag this weekend, if not IM on the hunt again.

hugz4all4 · 08-19-2009, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YorkieSchmalz

My Sophie eats Merrick (puppy plate) right. She likes it, but she doesn't seem like a picky eater to me. The piece are small and perfect for puppies or small dogs. I sometimes even make the gravy for her and she loves it. You can make the gravy by just adding some warm water to the bowl of food and letting it sit for a bit. Then it make a little gravy and the kibbles are soft. I have been really happy with Merrick. I have even tried some of there treats and Sophie loves those too. If you have questions you should call them they have excellent customer service. I hope this helps and your furbabies do well on it.

Thanks.. yes, your reply did help.. I hope it works out too!!

hugz4all4 · 08-19-2009, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJLive

Have you tired Natural Balance, Wellness, and Barking at the Moon? I'd really hate to see you go back to Grocery Store food if you didn't have too.

I checked out barking at the moon, and it looks like a great food but the protien level is too high. My dogs have stomach issues with the higher protien foods.

KJLive · 08-19-2009, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hugz4all4

I checked out barking at the moon, and it looks like a great food but the protien level is too high. My dogs have stomach issues with the higher protien foods.

No troubles. The Protein level is much higher in this food than others. As long as their are no illness issues, it's usually ok for them. But you already know that high protein is not good for them. You know, you can always try wet food or just add water to your dry food? I also feed Pet Botanics or Natural Balance. It comes in a log...like a summer sausage and sort of resembles one. My dogs LOVE this stuff and I will use it for treating or if their appetites seem off. You can cut this up or shred it over the kibble. Some on here will even sprinkle Parmesan Cheese over top the kibble. There are many things to try with a less than desirable food being that your options are slim based on your location. I find as I get towards the bottom of a bag of food, mine won't eat it. Even though I have it sealed, I swear they can sense it's not as fresh and won't eat it. :-)
Tricky little buggers, aren't they? LOL

hugz4all4 · 08-20-2009, 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJLive

No troubles. The Protein level is much higher in this food than others. As long as their are no illness issues, it's usually ok for them. But you already know that high protein is not good for them. You know, you can always try wet food or just add water to your dry food? I also feed Pet Botanics or Natural Balance. It comes in a log...like a summer sausage and sort of resembles one. My dogs LOVE this stuff and I will use it for treating or if their appetites seem off. You can cut this up or shred it over the kibble. Some on here will even sprinkle Parmesan Cheese over top the kibble. There are many things to try with a less than desirable food being that your options are slim based on your location. I find as I get towards the bottom of a bag of food, mine won't eat it. Even though I have it sealed, I swear they can sense it's not as fresh and won't eat it. :-)
Tricky little buggers, aren't they? LOL

Thanks for all your help and advice.. I really do appreciate it.

Reese1 · 08-20-2009, 03:29 AM

We have one really picky eater and one that is somewhat picky! So they ate Merrick for awhile, but then got bored with it!
We are now feeding Nature's Variety and they LOVE it! We like it because they have several varieties of the Prairie and you can rotate so they don't get bored. Right now they are eating the salmon and we were really worried they wouldn't like it, but I think it's been one of their favorites!

107barney · 08-20-2009, 05:20 PM

I've used Merrick foods with good results. My dogs liked the Grammy's pot pie and turducken. They did not really go for the dry kibble so I fed canned. The food is very high quality but pricey. I am currently feeding home cooked but do use Wellness Superfive chicken mix when in a pinch. They like that kibble much better than Merrick.

Good luck!

jdonica · 08-20-2009, 05:38 PM

I feed Merrick BG and Harley loves it! We started out with the traditional Merrick but then switched to the before grain. I usually buy a 6 lb bag of the chicken and then will also buy the little sample size of the buffalo and will add it to his food sometimes just to mix things up. The one nice thing about the traditional Merrick is the variety of "flavors" that have the same base ingredients so you can switch back and forth without the transition time, the BG only comes in 3. Harley seems to have a sensitive belly and this food has worked out great for us! Hope this helps...

Jeri and Harley

08-18-2009, 09:34 AM	#1
hugz4all4 YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: upstate NY Posts: 2,114 Blog Entries: 1	Merrick foods is anyone feeding this food or tried it? How well did your pups like it and how big are the pieces? Im once again on the hunt for a food and since I hadnt tried merrick yet I figured Id give it a shot. I ordered some samples of the dry and some canned. If anyone has any info for me I would greatly appreciate it.. Thanks!! __________________ Love all 9 of my furrbutts!

08-18-2009, 10:17 AM	#2
KJLive Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Lebanon, PA, USA Posts: 1,162	I did try the "puppy plate" and Sophie ate it but she wasn't as fond of it as the Taste of the Wild brands. I also tried the Merrick "Granma's Chicken Pot Pie" (or something similar to that). It's still sitting in my cabinet. She wouldn't eat that. She's not fond of chicken..weird, I know. She eats either TOTW Roasted Venison and Roasted Bison or NB Sweet Potato and Venison. Both of these she happily nibbles at all day long. (I free feed). If yoy have Pet Value store in your area, they do offer sample bags of many different kinds of the higher end foods at no charge. __________________ Sherry, Sophie, Ivan, Alfie, Addie, and Winston Click Here for Information on Biewer Rescue

08-19-2009, 05:50 AM	#6
KJLive Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Lebanon, PA, USA Posts: 1,162	Have you tired Natural Balance, Wellness, and Barking at the Moon? I'd really hate to see you go back to Grocery Store food if you didn't have too. __________________ Sherry, Sophie, Ivan, Alfie, Addie, and Winston Click Here for Information on Biewer Rescue

08-20-2009, 03:29 AM	#13
Reese1 Donating YT 5000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Ohio Posts: 5,304	We have one really picky eater and one that is somewhat picky! So they ate Merrick for awhile, but then got bored with it! We are now feeding Nature's Variety and they LOVE it! We like it because they have several varieties of the Prairie and you can rotate so they don't get bored. Right now they are eating the salmon and we were really worried they wouldn't like it, but I think it's been one of their favorites! __________________ Crosley Wrigley Camden

08-20-2009, 05:20 PM	#14
107barney T. Bumpkins & Co. Donating YT Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: New England Posts: 9,816	I've used Merrick foods with good results. My dogs liked the Grammy's pot pie and turducken. They did not really go for the dry kibble so I fed canned. The food is very high quality but pricey. I am currently feeding home cooked but do use Wellness Superfive chicken mix when in a pinch. They like that kibble much better than Merrick. Good luck! __________________ T. Bumpkins & Co. Washable Doggie Pee Pads (Save 10% Enter YTSAVE10 at checkout) Cathy, Teddy, Winston and Baby Clyde...RIP angels Barney and Daisy

08-18-2009, 01:08 PM	#4
reeses My Lil Man! Donating Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Alabama Posts: 1,703 Blog Entries: 2	I used to feed Merrick Before Grain but now I feed Life's Abundance and Gizmo goes CRAZY over it! He absolutely loves it! With the Merrick I would put food down in the morning and by dinner it MIGHT be gone...now with the Lifes Abundance I put it down in the morning and he eats and I feed him dinner and he eats! No more pickyness! He loves it and its is a great healthy food for him too!!!

08-19-2009, 06:50 AM	#7
YorkieSchmalz Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: New Jersey Posts: 192	My Sophie eats Merrick (puppy plate) right. She likes it, but she doesn't seem like a picky eater to me. The piece are small and perfect for puppies or small dogs. I sometimes even make the gravy for her and she loves it. You can make the gravy by just adding some warm water to the bowl of food and letting it sit for a bit. Then it make a little gravy and the kibbles are soft. I have been really happy with Merrick. I have even tried some of there treats and Sophie loves those too. If you have questions you should call them they have excellent customer service. I hope this helps and your furbabies do well on it.

08-20-2009, 05:38 PM	#15
jdonica Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Cadiz, KY, USA Posts: 216	I feed Merrick BG and Harley loves it! We started out with the traditional Merrick but then switched to the before grain. I usually buy a 6 lb bag of the chicken and then will also buy the little sample size of the buffalo and will add it to his food sometimes just to mix things up. The one nice thing about the traditional Merrick is the variety of "flavors" that have the same base ingredients so you can switch back and forth without the transition time, the BG only comes in 3. Harley seems to have a sensitive belly and this food has worked out great for us! Hope this helps... Jeri and Harley