Merrick Kibble
 

I seems that all the stores around here stock the canned Merrick food but not the dry. After some searching I finally found a store near me that can order it for me. So I ordered the Merrick Wilderness blend. I won't be able to pick it up until payday on the Dec.19th.

But I love the fact that it contains Chondroitin and Glucosamine HCI since I'm feeding a giant breed.

[URL="http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/detail.php?c=14&s=20277"]http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/detail.php?c=14&s=20277[/URL]

Does anyones else here feed the Merrick dry?

I anyone here aware of this Merrick recall? It's pretty much put me off Merrick all together. :(

Petcurean/Merrick recall
[url]http://www.lieffcabraser.com/pet-food-recall.htm[/url]
[url]http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CVM_Updates/petcureanrc.htm[/url]
[url]http://www.fda.gov/cvm/Documents/HHEGoNatural.pdf[/url]
[url]http://www.recall-warnings.com/fda-content-petcurean10_03.html[/url]
[url]http://www.haleys-legacy.org/[/url]
[url]http://www.montairgoldens.com/recall.htm[/url]

Merrick treats recall
[url]http://archives.foodsafetynetwork.ca/fsnet/2002/9-2002/fsnet_september_19.htm#SAFETY%20ALERT[/url]
[url]http://www.recalls.org/vet2003.html[/url]
[url]http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2002/20020918e.shtml[/url]

Merrick canned problems
(most of the problems I have seen with their canned comes from testimonials from i-dog members - Lori (willowchow) seems to have seen the most problems)
[url]http://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/102754.html[/url]
(the above link is just one of several threads detailing their canned problems)

Hereford Bi-Products (owned by Garth Merrick, also co-owner of Merrick's Pet Foods)
[url]http://www.cnjonline.com/engine.pl?station=clovis&template=storyfull.html&id=10867[/url]
[url]http://www.news-star.com/stories/032100/gov_whopay.shtml[/url]
[url]http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/043097/thousand.htm[/url]
[url]http://www.consumersunion.org/other/animal/animal3.htm[/url]
http://tammi.tamu.edu/carcasscompostasae032263b.pdf#search='hereford%20biproducts'
[url]http://www.prwatch.org/forum/showpost.php?p=11209&postcount=2[/url]
[url]http://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/144847.html[/url] (see my post at the end of this page)

I think that's a problem that has now cleared up. I feed Merrick myself and deal with xlarge breeds. Their coats glisten, small poops and general good health plus they love the stuff.

I am looking into another food that gets delivered to your door that is all human grade and produced right here in Quebec. It's called Integral, formerly Lemire. One of my aodptees recommended it to me and I'm meeting with the Rep about it to get some samples and information. So that might resolve my availability issues with obtaining Merrick kibble.

Wow, that's horrible to read! I just went out and bought several different cans of merrick for my pup to try but I think that I will just try to stick with home made after all my cans are used up. Back to the drawing board.

Pet Curean is a Canadian company that used Merrick's factories to get around the beef ban in the US. They are [U]not[/U] Merrick. Merrick is a completely different company. Just so you know. Merrick uses only human grade stuff in their foods.

Thanks Prin!
 

I am so glad that you are on this forum! :thumbs up

I had a conversation by email with Merrick to clear it up, but I'll be asking them again about Mr. Garth and the purpose of him picking up dead cows. In the meantime, Merrick assured me that their foods do not contain "4D" animals (dead, dying, diseased and disabled).:)

Keep in mind though, a few of the quality control issues that are on the net involve plastics, etc in the food. That can happen with any dog food, any human food, too. Accidents happen in factories, and you just have to keep an eye out with anything processed. I wouldn't stop eating a food because there was a plastic thing in one piece- especially if you go through so much of it and only ONE piece ever has a defect. JMO

Merrick used their facilities to make their food for them though. Merrick's quality control *should* have caught it no? So that's what I'm now questioning. Pet Curean (Go Natural) had no issues with their food before this.

Regardless.. I don't want to take that chance. :sad:

I just have to add, that if there is an issue and the company takes it seriously, that's all I need. If there is an issue and you get the runaround or they just don't care, then move on to a different company.:)

It can:rolleyes: we just had a recall on ground beef from safeway and IGA or Sobeys (ecoli bacteria). I think the important thing is that they get the info about the recall out to everyone who needs it.

[QUOTE=RaYne]Merrick used their facilities to make their food for them though. Merrick's quality control *should* have caught it no? So that's what I'm now questioning. Pet Curean (Go Natural) had no issues with their food before this.

Regardless.. I don't want to take that chance. :sad:[/QUOTE]
Pet Curean used Merrick's facilities. I don't know if they're responsible for quality control if they're "renting" out the building. You know? It depends whose staff it was. If Pet Curean hired their own and had their own suppliers, then Merrick has no fault, IMO.

But Merrick has also never had issues with toxins in their foods leading to death of animals, either.

True.. nothing mentioned of who's staff. But I believe that Merrick is the one entangled in the lawsuit.

This just has me all freaked out now. LOL I'm almost scared to feed their products to my dog now.. Well I have a week or so to decide. So I'll see what else I can dig up.

LOL Don't dig too deep or you won't feed them anything but raw.;)

LOL I actually would love to feed RAW but I figured it out and I'd need 80-85 pounds of meat a month.

But my mind is somewhat at ease after reading at mordanna.com. No mention of Merrick being at fault. [URL="http://www.mordanna.com/boards/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=308"]http://www.mordanna.com/boards/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=308[/URL]

Although I'm still searching. LOL ;)

[I]"LOL Don't dig too deep or you won't feed them anything but raw"[/I]

heh heh, no [B]do [/B]keep digging, i encourage you!!!

here's some more fodder: [url]http://www.resteddoginn.ca/petfood.php[/url]

enjoy :evil:

rayne, how much does your Saint weigh?... :)

He's currently 110 pounds. But he's still growing. He just turned 10 months old. I've been trying to keep him a bit on the lean side since he has clicking hips. My vet doesn't seem to think it's HD though.

The 80-85 pounds approx. was RMB, Muscle meat and Organ meat combined. I figured it out a 3.5% of his body weight. I was told that since he is still growing that I should go with a higher percentage since I had first figured out my totals at 2.5%.

Does that sound right? Or did I do it completely wrong? LOL

Here's a pic of the big dopey one. lol
[IMG]http://67.18.37.14/95/148/upload/p461415.jpg[/IMG]

OMG! HE IS GORGEOUS!!!! and he's gonna be a big 'un :D

you know, dogs on raw typically eat 2-3% of their body weight in food per day, some eat more and some eat less. since your boy is still growing your estimate seems right-on, but you never know until you try... my boy (the big head, below) will be 2 yo in a few weeks and weighs 106 lbs, he could be fatter for his frame but the vet says he's perfect and don't compare him to other akitas who are all overweight, LOL! at full maturity in about 2 years we expect him to hit 120 lbs. very slow growth but steady and safe.

clicking in hips... hmm i would be concerned... but that's just me :o

how much are you currently spending per month on food? including dry, canned, supplements, treats, vet visits?

raw feeders average $1/pound of food, some a bit less if they're savvy and some a more if they don't stock up on sales. i am currently at $80/month for my dog (he eats about 2.5 lbs per day on average) because i splurge on more expensive items - he's not a big eater and he loves the expensive stuff (brat!). but i was spending over $90/month with kibble and canned food alone, not including all the vet bills trying to resolve his digestive issues. which raw fixed!

[IMG]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5d831b3127cce924c9acdb3ed00000005108BauGbZoxbi[/IMG]

Wow! I haven't seen pics of him since he was little.. What a difference. He's HUGE! So cute.:)

I've taken quite a few pics from the time I brought him home. And it's amazing to compare the amount he's grown in such a short amount of time. I'll have to put some together and post them later. :)

technodoll, I want to try feeding Bubba raw. But my hubby isn't convinced. Currently we are feeding Solid Gold Hund-en-flocken. And he's doing ok on it. But I'm always on the lookout for something better. ;)

Figuring out monthly totals... I'd say $60 for kibble, and I'm going to be adding the Chondroitin and Glucosamine HCI supplement, that's about $25. And vitamin C which is $10. Bubba's last vet visit was a couple months ago for a hot spot. Although I do spend $10 each month on Advantage flea drops since Bubba has a flea allergy.

We don't feed canned, although I'm tempted to get some since the Hundenflocken does seem kinda grainy. They are good grains but nonetheless still grains so I'd like to add more meat.

As for his clicking hips my vet seems to think it's growth related. He's rotated his hips and said they are completely in the socket, or feel like they are. We are going to have x-rays done at 18 months if it doesn't resolve. He doesn't walk odd, or have any of the other signs of HD. So we are keeping an eye on it for now. He also has Pano.. :( He was limping and in severe pain and it rotated from his front leg to front right leg. Luckily he hasen't had anymore episodes. :fingerscr

Back on topic here. My hubby absolutely refuses to buy Merrick canned or dry. :( I could skip the dry but I wanted to try the canned since it was dry kibble that was affected.. He said what if one of the dogs died/affected were yours? Would you buy it? I can see his point because I wouldn't. And I'd probably be one of those people on every forum telling my story. It would be different if we knew who was at fault.. but since we don't and neither side are admitting any fault in the matter I can only assume they are both responsible. Just my 2 cents..

Rayne... your Saint is beautiful! My goodness what a handsome fellow. I presently feed Merrick and have been doing so for a few months with no problems. Solid Gold is an excellent food and I don't think that anything has come out about them? There's also Prairie Dog by Nature's Way (I think) that is a frozen raw but I think it's costly. I know a few Bully owners who feed it and swear by it. I'm looking into this other food so when I have information I will share it. It's kind of neat that it can be shipped directly to your door, makes my life simpler at any rate.

rayne, the only way your hubby will be convinced to feed raw is if he gathers enough information himself to make a decision.... based on facts he probably is not currently aware of... thankfully the internet makes it so easy to get information these days, specially if you have friends who guide you in the right direction! ;)

what i did was print out a bunch of stuff and read to my hubby... that got him thinking and now he is the strongest advocate, after seeing the effects himself. very few raw-fed dogs get pano (because their growth is not artificially pushed, specially for giant breeds, bone grows in pace with the muslces), very few get hot-spots or allergies, cancers, rotten teeth, fleas are not attracted to a healthy pet (strong immune system), etc. and you don't need supplements either...

how about i just give you these links to visit, read, print out for hubby to read when he has spare time... mull it over, and how about joining a raw-feeding forum to lurk and see what people who are actually feeding raw have to say? ask questions there? :highfive:

raw-feeding forum, super informative for beginners and seasoned alike (over 4000 members): [url]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/[/url]

some good why feed raw sites, and how-to, etc:

[url]http://www.rawfed.com/myths/[/url]
[url]http://www.rawlearning.com/[/url]
[url]http://www.shalako.com/diet.htm[/url]
[url]http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html[/url]
[url]http://www.dogpack.com/shop/food/WhyFeedRaw.html[/url]
[url]http://www.saintbernardclub.org/diet_survey.htm[/url]
[url]http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm[/url]
[url]http://www.4loveofdog.com/benefits.htm[/url]

let me know how it goes and have fun! :pawprint: