[DieselJunki]

With all these issues regarding Merrick as of late shouldn’t we re evaluate whether or not it should be on the Editor’s Choice list?

I know this is an old article but read the 6th paragraph

How the largest beef recall in history effects pet owners

They admit to putting diseased animals into their feed.

Also read the thread here
/dog-food-reviews/whole-earth-farms-grain-free/
Tons of folks are complaining!

[cindy q]

I was feeding Merrick, but I switched to Orijen because my dog didn’t really like Merrick. I do still have some cans of Merrick. I wasn’t aware of this.

[Tina]

Merrick treats have had many recalls lately and my neighbor was feeding Merrick to her pit bull until he became ill.

[theBCnut]

No, Merrick treats have not had many recalls lately, but maybe they should have. WEF certainly should have. Merrick does not like to do the right thing and issue recalls quickly. They wait until they receive a threat of lawsuit from the FDA.

OK, I sort of take that back. They have had a few minor recalls 2 years, 3 years, and 4 years ago, but nothing lately, though I think they should.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by theBCnut.

[theBCnut]

When I try the Truth link it freezes up my computer every time, so I can’t scroll down. What does the 6th paragraph say?

I went back and read some of the WEF thread and was surprised to only find 6 complaints in 3 months, but they were all pretty much about the exact same thing. One formula smells chemically/rancid, always the beef and lamb.

[Cyndi]

BCnut, here is the 6th paragraph….

“One of many opposing the FDA’s consideration to prohibit SRMs in pet food is Garth Merrick (of Merrick Pet Foods) in his letter dated July 28, 2004. “ANPR’s proposed rule to prohibit SRM’s from all animal food including pet food and prohibiting materials from non ambulatory cattle and dead stock from all animal feed creates the below listed consequences of disposal of pounds that previously could be manufactured into animal feed. SRM’s in cattle under 30 months of age have been estimated to be 20 pounds per head. In Texas there are four packing houses processing approximately 100,000 head per week times 20 pounds equals 2,000,000 times 52 weeks equals 104,000,000 of product that no one has discussed what to do with. If you cannot render it for feed to be fed to chickens, swine or pet food, then you have destroyed a system that currently works. We are the original recyclers. These numbers are only for Texas; when you consider the other lower 47 states, the consequences are inconceivable as to what the health hazards could be if these products are not processed the way they are currently being done.”

[cindy q]

Any one know if Orijen has had any recalls?

[theBCnut]

They were recalled in Australia because cats were eating irradiated dog food(Australia requires it) and getting sick and dying. I believe it was from Vit. A deficiency. Champion pulled their foods out of the entire continent over it. I don’t have a problem with that.

They were withheld at the US border once because someone thought there was some contamination. Testing proved there wasn’t.

I think there was one other non incident, but I can’t remember what it was.

[Tina]

Merrick has had recalls on its treats in the past. My mistake 🙂

[Barbara]

I was curious if anyone knows if Castor and Pollux dog food was really a Merrick Pet Care product as stated in the Editor’s Choice of Merrick? I checked Merrick Pet Care products and it did not state it was. It appears that Castor and Pollux is not a product of Merrick…

[Tina]

http://www.castorpolluxpet.com/news-and-community/press/merrick-pet-care

Merrick acquired Castor and Pollux

http://www.castorpolluxpet.com/news-and-community/press/merrick-petcare-earns-organic-certification

Check out these websites

[zcRiley]

A few months ago, I got Merricks (a 2nd time) to mix with my constant Orijen. Massively dried out & stale with a weird smell. I almost killed my pups & will avoid Merricks from now on.

[Tina]

Merrick is a very questionable company and I agree with DieselJunki.

“With all these issues regarding Merrick as of late shouldn’t we re evaluate whether or not it should be on the Editor’s Choice list?”

[Barbara]

Tina, Thank you for the websites…I must have looked up older sites… I really wish that Castor an Pollux Ultramix Grain free was not part of this issue…

• This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by Barbara.

[Anna S]

Oh gosh! I just am finishing up our Acana Grasslands and purchased Merrick Lamb grainfree. I hope I don’t have any problems with it. We were doing good on Grasslands until I found a bone fragment in the kibble.

[Lynn J]

So the question remains, should Merrick be an Editors Choice food, given it’s questionable response to recall issues? I was going to try Merrick, but there are quite a few iffy reviews about not only the food, but the company.

[DogFoodie]

I’ve never cared for Merrick and I don’t think it should be an Editor’s Choice food; but that’s up to Dr. Mike, not me. I respect Dr. Mike’s opinion and this is his blog.

[Tina]

After working at Petco for 3 years I did learn some secrets about many of these dog food brands. Sometimes they would clear the shelf of a product and not tell costumers why or they would make up excuses. Merrimack changes its formula every 5 years or so and has lots of silent recalls.

[meky6ra]

Oh no! I just bought a bag of WEF beef and lamb and started transitioning my dog to it. I did notice that it smelled a little funny, but not bad enough to cause alarm. It had a bitter smell that reminded me of horse feed. Fortunately for us, it inflamed my dog’s allergies (I assume because of the pork, as she’s never had it before) and I had to stop feeding it. I inspected the kibble pretty well and didn’t see any unusual particles.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Mary,

In what way did it inflame your dog’s allergies?

I’d be a little surprised if your dog had a pork allergy that you were unaware of.

[Lynn J]

I believe that you need exposure to an allergen for awhile before you develop the allergic reaction. That’s not to say that pork didn’t agree with your dog, or that you didn’t need a longer transition period.

[meky6ra]

She developed really bad hives all over her body. I had been transitioning her to it for a few days when I noticed the hives and scratching. Now that she’s not eating that food, her hives are going away.

[meky6ra]

How would I know if she had a pork allergy if I had never fed her pork before?

[aquariangt]

You wouldn’t 🙂

Also, totoro terrifies me, though I’m a big fan of his work

[meky6ra]

Lol, I can understand the terrifying part. He has a lot of teeth.

[meky6ra]

I guess her allergic attack could have been caused by something in the environment that happened to be around at the same time that I gave her the new food… My vet said that was possible. Nothing else in the ingredients seemed like possible triggers, also. It just seemed like too much of a coincidence.

[DogFoodie]

So, it sounds like you’ve possibly dealt with other intolerance / allergies that your pup might have had previously. Is that the case? At first, I thought this was his first reaction ever, to anything. It seems like a dog that has any intolerance / allergy, is likely to have more.

I’d probably compare the rest of the ingredients just to be sure. I’d hate to see you rule out pork. Maybe keep it in your back pocket (figuratively) to try again another time just to be sure. My thought was that it could been another ingredient or an environmental allergy…, or depending on the type of reaction, it could’ve been a problem with the food (an ingredient, a chemical, preservative or some sort of chemical reaction).

And, I don’t believe you have to have had prior exposure in order to illicit a response. I have a pup whose food intolerances have me confounded. I believe his food intolerance issues started as a result of vaccinosis as a tiny pup. He’s just turned two and there are very few foods I can feed him. I never know what he’ll react to and I always have a food spreadsheet going.

[meky6ra]

Yes, she has a history of allergies. She was more or less allergy free for two years, then I decided to try the WEF, then BAM! hives! I’m pretty sure that she’s had all of the other ingredients before, if the ingredients list is accurate.

When my husband and I adopted her, we didn’t know anything about dogfood, didn’t know what was in the food that we were feeding her, and struggled with her horrible allergic attacks. Her health was what made us start researching dogfoods. Before we stopped feeding her supermarket brands or Royal Canin (the food our vet recommended) I don’t know if she ate pork or not. Since then, though, she hasn’t had pork and she hasn’t been itchy until now.

I also know that she’s allergic to plastic, which is what the WEF packaging is made of. I thought that maybe it was the plastic, so tried Merrick Pork, which has packaging similar to ones that she’s been ok with in the past. WORSE hives than the WEF were the result. Now she’s back on her Wellness Simple Salmon and Peas. Her hives are going away, so this is why I think that it was the pork.

I also don’t think that a dog has to be on a dog food for very long to be allergic to something. Sometimes a dog develops an allergy over a long period of time, but sometimes not.

[meky6ra]

I won’t be feeding her pork again. I think that I also won’t feed any Merrick products anymore because of the things that I’ve been reading about them. When people are involved, mistakes happen, and I think that most people won’t begrudge a company one or two honest recalls. A company who has persistent recalls or who KNOWINGLY sells products that can make animals sick while concealing the facts is unforgivable. We can’t do our jobs as consumers if they don’t perform a proper recall.

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