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Very displeased with Merrick

3K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  mydogs 
#1 ·
I usually switch between a couple brands of dog food - Orijen, Acana, and Go! I decided to try out the pork recipe of Merrick dry dog food and since I added it to the food rotation, my pup has had nothing but diarrhea and a few instances of upset stomach including dry heaves and coughing up yellow bile. Had the vet check him out and he's fine, but I have taken him off of Merrick for good. What is everyone else's experience with Merrick? It seems like this is not usual for most dogs?
 
#4 ·
I have met a couple reps from Merrick's (Canada) and they had all good things to say about the company.
1) Independently owned...as in not owned by a massive (corp.) soap company
2) Their ingredients are sourced from USA only...even the vit./min. mix and sweet potato...NO ingredients from China.

This as told to me by the reps. Cannot vouch for however...I am RAW feeder and biased against kibble.

Oddly, my dog tried to stick his head in an empty bag on garbage day...he has never done this....guess if I HAD to do kibble, it may be the choice.

Perhaps a different protein/formula (lol, I hate that "term":))
 
#5 ·
Meh, some dogs just don't tolerate some foods. I won't ever feed Pinnacle again, because my Rattie developed acute pancreatitis and my mutt was a dandruffy, flaky mess on it. Other people swear by it, and will feed only that.
 
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#8 ·
I have done a seminar with Merrick and had meetings with a sale rep in the past, and really like the company and food. I even recommend it to clients... I honestly recommend trying something other than the pork - pork is notorious for causing digestive upset. If it happens with a different formula though, I'd be interested in hearing about it!
 
#10 ·
My dog's gut has been über sensitive since treatment for giardia. Was on Wellness and switched to Merrick Pork and Sweet Potato and this is day 4 of no explosive diahharea. I am very pleased except that it's ten dollars more a bag and you get five pounds less... But it's worth it if he's done pooing all over the place via butt pee. Thinking the lamb was too rich so we'll keep him on beef, pork, or salmon. I was actually thinking about buying Merrick, Wellness, and a cheaper brand and mixing the three to make 60 lbs of equal parts to see how he does. That way there is some variety. He's also on probiotics. Haveyou tried this stuff? Worked great when my pups gut was sensitive to everything:


*-*Summer*-*
 

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#12 ·
I'll have to look that up, thanks! He's always been pretty sensitive, but more in a "this food is giving him really soft stool" way rather than the diarrhea and yellow bile he was getting with Merrick. I also tried the chicken recipe of Merrick after I got his stomach settled with some chicken and rice. After the first meal of the chicken Merrick he immediately vomited big globs of yellow bile again. I just got back from picking up a bag of Acana. Going to get him back on what he's done well on before I try anything else for a while. I also just noticed that since he's been on Merrick, his coat has dried right out.
 
#13 ·
Lola and Connor have been on Merrick chicken and sweet potato grain free for about 5 months now and they do awesome on it.

I curious why you switch between so many brands though? Is that typical? I just figured find one that works and stick with it.
 
#17 ·
I've just always had at least a couple of brands my dogs could eat. Both to switch up the protein sources and I guess out of habit. I used to live way out in the country, so I had to have alternatives if the local feed store ran out of a certain brand of food because they only got shipments every couple of weeks. I guess I don't really need that habit anymore, but I'd never had problems with it before, so I never really thought about changing it and sticking to an exclusive brand.

I think I'll probably end up sticking with the Orijen and Acana though. I don't think I've ever had a dog with a stomach this picky.
 
#16 ·
Honestly, if your dog has been sick with that food, doesn't matter if you switch to anything else, they will still have an upset tummy! It needs to have a break and an easy diet before you transition back to anything else.

Generally speaking, upset stomach tends to be due to fat content in things if they don't have an allergy to some kind of protein in the food. Pork is notoriously fatty compared with other things. All those pig ears, pork rolls, etc tend to cause all kinds of icky gut in a lot of dogs. I actually like Merrick myself based on what I have seen of it. Only experience feeding however was buying a bag to switch it up for my cats lol.

They actually recommend trading protein sources periodically to help prevent an allergy from forming. My oldest girl has an allergy to chicken based on what I can see from different food trials with her. No one else who owned her ever saw an issue, however all the food she got from puppy til I got her at 3.5 years was primarily chicken based. Best food for her was actually kangaroo and red lentil lol. That food kept burning holes in my wallet however. :(

Maybe give your pup's tummy a breather then try the chicken one again?
 
#18 ·
Generally speaking, upset stomach tends to be due to fat content in things if they don't have an allergy to some kind of protein in the food. Pork is notoriously fatty compared with other things. All those pig ears, pork rolls, etc tend to cause all kinds of icky gut in a lot of dogs. I actually like Merrick myself based on what I have seen of it. Only experience feeding however was buying a bag to switch it up for my cats lol.

Maybe give your pup's tummy a breather then try the chicken one again?
I don't think it was the pork. When he was on a raw diet, he did stellar with pork protein sources. Maybe the pork formula in the kibble has a higher fat content that just plain pork meat?

And I did a small break before I tried the chicken. I took him off the Merrick almost a week ago now, and I started the thread a bit after the incident with the pork food. So he was on chicken and rice for a few days before I tried the chicken Merrick. It just didn't go well.
 
#19 ·
I change protein source and brand with practically every bag. I also feed quite a bit of raw, and rotate between proteins with that, also. If I come across a food they don't do well on, like the Pinnacle or Innova (ugh, the loose, nasty poops they all had on that), I just don't buy it again.
 
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