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-   -   Puppy Food Opinion (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=20391)

BMDLuver October 15th, 2005 06:06 PM

Puppy Food Opinion
 
What do you think of this food... it looked quite good to me?

[B]Merrick's - Puppy Plate[/B]
Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (Not Less Than) 28.0%
Crude Fat (Not Less Than) 14.0%
Crude Fiber (Not More Than) 3.5%
Moisture (Not More Than) 10.0%

Calorie Content:
3615 kcal/kg - One pound provides 1643 kcal of metabolizable energy, calculated value. (Caloric content calculated using Modified Atwater Method)

Ingredients:
Turkey, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Oatmeal, Whole Barley, Duck, Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Vitamin E and Ascorbic Acid, a source of Vitamin C), Flaxseed, Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, Natural Dried Chicken Liver, Whole Apples, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Lysine, Guar Gum, Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Whole Blueberries, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Whole Clove Garlic, Dried Chicken, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterocococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Natural Celery Flavor, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Natural Color (tumeric), Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

Prin October 15th, 2005 06:17 PM

I love Merrick. :) The only thing you'd have to be sure of is the calcium content if it's for a large breed doggy. Ideally it should be between 0.8 and 1.2% but 1.5% is apparently passable. If the info is not on their website, you can email them and you should get an answer really quick.

My bro (Mr Vegan) would have to say that Canola oil is the most genetically modified oil (along with corn oil), but I don't have a problem with GMO's of that nature yet. ;)

BMDLuver October 15th, 2005 07:35 PM

Thanks Prin. I couldn't find the information on their site so I emailed them about it. :thumbs up

BoxerRescueMTL October 15th, 2005 10:17 PM

Did I hear that Merrick had a quality control issue awhile back? I could be wrong.. :confused:

Prin October 16th, 2005 12:07 AM

hmmm I didn't hear anything, but I'll search...

Ok, I found one message board with stuff about Merrick buying mad cows and having plastic in their canned foods. I sent Merrick an email for an explanation. I can believe that staples and plastic get into foods (I found stuff in Milk Bones, and they have crazy quality control), accidents happen. But it sucks that the guy who originally posted this didn't put any references. Where did he get the info? I can't believe him 100% without proof.

I feed a tiny bit of the canned, and I really mix it in their food, so I would see if there was anything mixed in there, and I haven't so far. Of course somebody who feeds three cans a day and goes through a thousand cans a year might find one or two cans that are not-so-great. Maybe my standards are low, but I have had that happen with sooo many human products that I'm just not that surprised.
Here's the site with the post on Merrick (further down the person who found the plastic posts too). I'll let you know what Merrick says...

[URL]http://www.i-dog.com/board/messages/46/165485.html?1129041797[/URL]

Thanks for the heads up BoxerRescueMTL. ;)

Prin October 16th, 2005 12:15 AM

I found this by accident... Not Merrick but disgusting.. Don't buy foods with sodium pentobarbital... :yuck:
[URL]http://extoxnet.orst.edu/newsletters/ucd2002/nltraug02.htm#Pentobarbital%20in%20Dog%20Food[/URL]

BoxerRescueMTL October 16th, 2005 01:18 PM

Oh Prin-that's the exact article/post that someone had forwarded to me! It's also all I could find when doing a search. I guess it was a false alarm..

BoxerRescueMTL October 16th, 2005 01:21 PM

[QUOTE]I found this by accident... Not Merrick but disgusting.. Don't buy foods with sodium pentobarbital... [/QUOTE]
Ugh, I heard this awhile back. Sickening.

BMDLuver October 16th, 2005 01:26 PM

So it's just maybe a false alarm and the food should be ok? Argh... I'm so worried all the time about feeding the wrong thing.

Prin October 16th, 2005 01:29 PM

I say it should be ok. It's a good food as far as we can tell without going to the factory. ;) The ingredients are definitely among the best of any kibble.

BMDLuver October 16th, 2005 01:31 PM

I guess I will watch and see coat improvement, skin improvement, etc... poor guy has a staff infection right now due to a compromised immune system .... definitely points to his puppymill beginnings. :(

BMDLuver October 16th, 2005 01:32 PM

oh, I wanted to ask... he's on antibiotics now so do you think with this food that he should also get some yogourt to boost his good bacteria?

BoxerRescueMTL October 16th, 2005 01:35 PM

Definitely yogurt :) A generous tablespoon a day is good. If you really wanna go nuts, then add some digestive enzymes to help him get all the vitamins/nutrients he can out of the food.

Prin October 16th, 2005 01:37 PM

Apparently if you really want the probiotics, you should get them in refridgerated pill form. But otherwise, definitely yogurt. You can try the Solid Gold Sea Meal too. It has those proenzymes in it.

BMDLuver October 16th, 2005 01:38 PM

[QUOTE=Prin]Apparently if you really want the probiotics, you should get them in refridgerated pill form. But otherwise, definitely yogurt. You can try the Solid Gold Sea Meal too. It has those proenzymes in it.[/QUOTE]
k, where do I get the refrigerated pill form? Is Missing Link a proenzyme too?

Prin October 16th, 2005 01:41 PM

You get it at any natural food store for humans...
Missing link, eh? I can't remember.. I know Woofers sells that but it was so similar to the Sea Meal that I didn't bother (i.e she told me not to bother).

BMDLuver October 16th, 2005 01:45 PM

I've just seen Missing Link more readily available around here than the Solid Gold Sea Meal but if you say you got it at Woofers then there's one on the west island I think. Either way, I'll head out tomorrow for the yogourt capsules which I think I can get at the health food store on St. Jean and then try to find Woofers.... I'm beginning to think that he eats better than my kids. :eek:

Prin October 16th, 2005 01:48 PM

Woofers is on Sources just north of the 40. You go past the ultramar and there's a huge strip mall on the right with a pizza hut and a jean coutu and stuff. It's small but it's got a pretty big pink Woofers sign...

BMDLuver October 16th, 2005 01:50 PM

Thank you! It's easy then to just hop over there after the health food store then. Looks like part of my day tomorrow is mapped out! :thumbs up

Prin October 16th, 2005 01:54 PM

Woofers, if you're looking at the mall, is about 3 or 4 stores to the left of the PizzaHut (the Pizza Hut is the end of one building, and woofers is in the next one) :)

coppperbelle October 16th, 2005 08:07 PM

Seameal
 
I was at Woofers today buying more Seameal. I started giving it to Chloe about a month ago. She is the one that is hypothyroid and gets skin infections. Since the end of August she has been on two rounds of antibiotics and about a week after her last round the rash started again. I thought she was going to need to go on antibiotics again but she has fought it off on her own. She has also gained back a few pounds that she lost over the summer. Seameal works for her.

Hunter on the other hand had been scratching a lot. I thought he had fleas and started checking him daily but found nothing. Something made me think that it may be the flax in the Seameal so I stopped giving it to him and the scratching stopped within 2 days. He has had problems with flax before so what works for one dog may not work for another.

BMDLuver October 16th, 2005 09:27 PM

Thanks Copperbelle, I'll keep an eye on that then as he's already itchy from the staph infection rash. Maybe I'll wait to let it clear so that if he does get the itchies again I won't attribute it to the original problem if there's no rash present. :thumbs up

Prin October 16th, 2005 09:31 PM

Check if the Missing Link has flax in it... It might not.

BMDLuver October 17th, 2005 07:10 AM

Thanks Prin, I'll do that.
Another question is: If the food already has a high enough quanitity of calcium, then I add yogourt, then I add Missing Link or Sea Meal... am I then putting at risk for too high a dose of Calcium?

I must say that this food industry thing has become very complicated vs when I had my first dog some 20 years ago. :o

BoxerRescueMTL October 17th, 2005 09:25 AM

I have a bag of Missing Link here somewhere, I'll go check for flax.

BMDLuver October 17th, 2005 09:39 AM

Thanks Crystal!

BoxerRescueMTL October 17th, 2005 09:42 AM

First ingredient is flax seed.

BMDLuver October 17th, 2005 10:38 AM

Thanks Crystal... I'll wait then until the antibiotics are done to introduce additional flax in the diet just in case. One less trip today then. :thumbs up

BMDLuver October 17th, 2005 03:34 PM

That's the breakdown I received from Merrick in response to my question for anyone that is interested.
[B]Nutrient Grammy's Wilderness Cowboy Turducken Puppy Senior[/B]
Protien % 23.0 24.0 22.0 24.0 28.0 20.0
Fat% 14.0 14.0 14.0 13.0 14.0 9.5
Fiber % 2.8 2.9 3.1 3.2 3.0 5.0
Ash % 7.4 7.5 8.9 7.6 8.7 7.0
Calcium % 1.1 1.7 2.3 1.4 1.6 0.95
Phosphorus % 0.8 1.1 1.4 0.93 1.0 0.76
Ca:P ratio 1.4:1 1.5:1 1.6:1 1.5:1 1.6:1 1.3:1
Potasium % 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.6
Sodium % 0.32 0.29 0.30 0.41 0.46 0.26
Magensium % 0.10 0.24 0.32 0.12 0.11 0.12
Copper ppm 13.1 12.2 11.5 13.3 13.8 13.0
Zinc ppm 110.0 112.0 110.0 110.0 112.0 110.0
Vit A IU/kg 16000 16000 16000 16000 16000 16000
Vit D IU/kg 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Vit E IU/kg 70 70 70 70 70 70

Prin October 17th, 2005 05:52 PM

So for puppy, it's 1.6% calcium? Not bad but I wouldn't use it for huge breeds.


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