Merrick Dog Food Review - Is it Worth Giving it to Your Dog?

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One of the first decisions you will have to make as a dog owner is which dog food to pick. There are different brands available, and all of them have something to offer. One of the biggest dog food manufacturers in the world is Merrick. If you’re considering putting your dog on a Merrick diet, you should take a deeper look at the brand, their recall history, ingredients, and their overall image. All of those things can be a good indicator of whether a food is worthy of your dog.

We prepared a helpful Merrick dog food review, where we will go through the most important things we mentioned earlier. We will also take a closer look at their products. Out of those products, we will pick the best Merrick has to offer. We will get advice from vets, trainers, and dog nutritionists. We hope this Merrick dog food review will help you make an informed decision.

Merrick dog food

Merrick has been a part of Nestle Purina PetCare since 2015. The company was founded by Garth Merrick in 1988. The official story goes that Garth started to cook the food for his dog at home. He wasn’t too satisfied with what the industry had to offer and decided he wanted to produce wholesome and nutritious dog food for Gracie (his dog).

Since those early days, the company has grown quite a bit, and you can be sure Nestle wouldn’t be interested in acquiring a company that produces sub-par dog food. As the company grew, they bought other brands like Castor and Pollux Natural Petworks, and they produce Whole Earth Farms pet foods.

Ingredients in Merrick dog food

The most important thing to look for in any dog food is ingredients. It doesn’t matter how good or famous a brand might be; if it doesn’t include high-quality ingredients, the food will not be that good. Here are the most essential ingredients that can influence Merrick’s dog food quality.

Proteins

The most crucial nutrient in any dog food is protein. Dogs are omnivores, but the most significant part of their diet should be animal protein. Merrick uses all sorts of different meats in their recipes, like beef, chicken, or salmon. However, they also use a lot of meat meals. Meat meals are not necessarily a bad thing since they contain significantly more protein than fresh meat. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know precisely how good or bad the meat meal is without the manufacturer’s help.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates have somewhat of a negative reputation in the general public. That is based on what carbs do to us. If you consume a lot of carbs, you will gain weight. However, dogs need carbs because they are a great energy source and are not necessarily bad for their bodies. Merrick uses mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rice. Those are great and high-quality carbohydrate sources.

Fats, vitamins, and minerals

Other than protein and carbs, your dog will need other ingredients and nutrients as well. Things like healthy fats, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and antioxidants are something you want to see in the dog food analysis. Merrick includes things like flaxseed oil, peas, apples, quinoa, and many other high-quality ingredients that make this dog food worthy of our dogs.

Merrick recall history

Another thing that can play a part in your decision-making process is the company’s recall history. Nobody wants to give their dog foods that have been recalled many times. Many recalls can be a sign the manufacturer’s production process is not optimal or entirely safe. Plus, if they often have severe food contamination, you might end up risking your dog’s life and health. Here’s Merrick’s recall history;

• Merrick Recalls Multiple Dog Treats 5/23/2018
• Merrick Recalls Dog Treats 8/9/2011
• Merrick Pet Treats Recall 1/30/2011
• Merrick Expands Dog Treats Recall 8/16/2010
• Merrick Expands Recall of Dog Treats 8/4/2010
• Merrick Dog Treats Recall 7/6/2010
• Merrick Dog Treats Recall 2010 1/15/2010

6 out of these 7 recalls were caused by Salmonella contamination, which you would not want your dog to get infected with. The good news is that each time a contamination issue happened, the company had a prompt response. We can also clearly see that the production process has become a lot safer since 2011, when the company updated and modernized its production process.

Best Merrick dog foods to choose

If you’re thinking about putting your dog on Merrick dog food, you should know that Merrick makes 5 dry dog foods, which is what we will focus on here. After careful consideration and review from our nutritional experts and vets, we selected these three choices;

World Dog Finder team