How Fanatical About Grain-Free...

mbfrench said:
Barb, I ordered two small cans of Merricks today for the pups. I thought it would be something special for them. About how much..teaspoon,tablespoon would I give? I think I remember somewhere that you had fed it to the boys.
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Yes, they each get a tablespoon of Merrick's Thanksgiving Day Dinner twice per day(very timely as you American's are having your's real soon).

I like Merricks because it is very liquid, so when I mix it with their kibble it does not add alot of bulk, just a little bit of flavour and moisture and a few chunks of pure turkey or veggies. It's not the cheapest canned food, but it sure does get Bacca eating.

Indy is starting to get a little proky though, so I'm thinking of switching him back to a slightly reduced kibble and adding the green beens that we talked about on the forum ad naseum.
 
everyone has their own opinion of course, but I think that a grain free diet is mainly just a fad.
I do feed Ruckus Taste Of the Wild, which is a grain free diet, because he is sensitive to grains. I recommend grain free diets to people with dogs that are itchy, dry skin, has allergies, or to white dogs like maltese that get bad tear staining, and do feet chewing.

there is an argument that dogs were not designed to digest grain, but Id love to know that if that is the case, then why would you think they can digest potatoes? I dont remember where I read it, i wish you could give you the link, but I read from a reputable source unless i am mistaking... that potatoes are harder to digest than a good high quality grain. and most if not all grain free dog food contains potatoes.
 
Thanks for the all the great comments, folks. For now, I think I'll stick with the dry Merrick's and slowly ease into the adult formula for Gus.

I do have to say that I transitioned Big Dee, my older Dobie, onto Merrick's canned last year after her emergency bloat surgery. Vet said I needed to switch immediately from kibble to wet food. So, with Dee, I went from Merrick's adult kibble to the canned varieties literally overnight. No stomach upset, no major adjustment issues.

This stuff isn't cheap, but it is 5-star and the ingredients are good and well-balanced. Plus...I swear, one of these days I'm going to chow down on Turducken or Granny's Pot Pie myself! I've never fed canned dog food that was so visually appetizing and had such an enticing aroma! :yes:
 
RetiredProf said:
This stuff isn't cheap, but it is 5-star and the ingredients are good and well-balanced. Plus...I swear, one of these days I'm going to chow down on Turducken or Granny's Pot Pie myself! I've never fed canned dog food that was so visually appetizing and had such an enticing aroma! :yes:
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I can't say that Thanksgiving Day Dinner looks as appetizing (it's pretty sloppy) but I agree about the smell! It really isn't stinky at all. And they sure do have creative names!
 
Barb: Yes, Merrick's has marketing down. Just reading the descriptions of the contents on the various canned varieties gets Dee's stomach rolling (I read her each day's selections: "Mmmm, Dee, this morning we're serving turkey, duck, chicken, red potatoes, peas, and green apples."). She dances around frantically till I pop the can open.

The other thing I like about Merrick's: The easy-open pop top cans and the zip-lock foil-lined bags for their dry food. No more pulling strings or ripping 30-pound bags. Very consumer-friendly.

I'm trying to keep Gussy Gus on Merrick's kibble due to the cost factor, but it's great with a little chicken or beef broth added. Makes its own gravy. Gus wolfs it down with absolutely no digestive problems. Regular as clockwork.

PS: Try the Turducken! It's the absolute favorite!

PPS: No, I don't work for Merrick. :lol:
 
If your pup is doing well on the Merrick's, it is a good, high quality food. I also fed it in the past before switching to TOTW.
I really like their canned stuff... Sometimes my girls will go off their food a week or two before they deliver a litter of puppies. When that happens, I go to the store, and buy the lunch box of Merrick's canned food. That stuff is always sure to get them through on eating until the pups arrive (when they then get a mix of dry food, and wet Merrick's).
I know, I know... hard to imagine, a sheltie that doesn't want to eat. However, last time it was one of my 13.5" girls who had 6 puppies, and she was just MISERABLE before the pups were born. Not even eating seemed very appealing to her
 
RetiredProf said:
Barb: Yes, Merrick's has marketing down. Just reading the descriptions of the contents on the various canned varieties gets Dee's stomach rolling (I read her each day's selections: "Mmmm, Dee, this morning we're serving turkey, duck, chicken, red potatoes, peas, and green apples."). She dances around frantically till I pop the can open.

The other thing I like about Merrick's: The easy-open pop top cans and the zip-lock foil-lined bags for their dry food. No more pulling strings or ripping 30-pound bags. Very consumer-friendly.

I'm trying to keep Gussy Gus on Merrick's kibble due to the cost factor, but it's great with a little chicken or beef broth added. Makes its own gravy. Gus wolfs it down with absolutely no digestive problems. Regular as clockwork.

PS: Try the Turducken! It's the absolute favorite!

Snort! I have to admit I spend more time reading ingredients for my pup's food than I do my own. will check out the Truducken.

And the turkey, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and gravy does sound wonderful!

Be careful of the Wing-a-lings. They really are wing bones in it. I was gladly serving it up without thinking only to have Indy gagging up a bone (probably fine for dogs that eat slow, but not for our fast eaters)

I don't work for Merrick either, but I think they have good product.
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Yes I read that about the Wing-A-lings...and there is another one also that has bones in it.I steered clear of those two. I have to agree the ingrediant labels they do look like it would be close to what we would eat.

If it smells anything like Halo canned food...golly gee I wanted to take a spoonful and take me a bite!

P.S. One day I'm going to bake a Turducken,alway wanted to give it a try~:winkgrin:
 
I'm not really fanatical about what I feed Bentley in general. I fed my first sheltie Science Diet which I now know doesn't have a great ingredient list. But, she was a happy little dog.

Of course, now knowing what I know, I'm more careful about the food that I feed Bentley. I was feeding Nutro since that's what the breeder fed, but because of the recalls we decided to switch him to California Natural. It's not grain-free (so I'm definitely not fanatical about that) but it has a great list of ingredients.

We tried Evo once and it didn't sit well with Bentley, so I think my thing is to just feed a high quality diet.

That being said, he does get a few treats from the table every now and then :o
 
RetiredProf said:
This stuff isn't cheap, but it is 5-star and the ingredients are good and well-balanced. Plus...I swear, one of these days I'm going to chow down on Turducken or Granny's Pot Pie myself! I've never fed canned dog food that was so visually appetizing and had such an enticing aroma! :yes:
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Boy, even my mouth is watering! I'm jealous - I looked at the cans and even the labels look yummy! The closest i can get is the Eagle Pack holistic tinned - the dogs really like it but it doesnt look apertising. And it costs $5.50 a small can:eek2:
 
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