They purchased the company in July. According to Merrick's website,

"Merrick is one of the fastest-growing natural and organic pet food companies in the industry, and will continue to operate as an independent business with no planned changes to its management or operations."

I buy this brand and will compare the ingredients each time I purchase a new bag. I've cut out the label to use as a guide when I shop.

I was looking at Canidae but Orijen looks better to me. My pet store has knowledgeable people, so I will discuss with them. Since my dog is a small terrier and doesn't eat much, the higher priced foods are ok for me. Feeding a large dog would be quite expensive.

When we rescued our first dog, Riley, we purchased the most $$ food at the pet store. After much trial and error it turned out that Pedigreed worked best for her.

I submit that most dog owners have not invested the time to read and evaluate the ingredients list for various foods. (I don't know what a "fancy" food is. lol)

I think arkansasgirl is referring to the higher-priced foods and foods which claim to use higher quality ingredients than some others.

By the way Salti, what do you feed your dog? ( maybe I missed it if you mentioned it elsewhere )

Yes.The organic ones with blueberries. My daughter read the labels of some of these and asked if she could buy it for herself.

Socks, I feed my dog Canidae Pure Salmon and that's after trying Acana (a subsidiary of Orijen), Taste of the Wild, Fromm's and several others like Holistic Select and Pinnacle. These are all great foods but my favorites were Holistic Select and Fromm's.

While our dog was on the Acana, she developed severe gastritis, and when nothing the vets did helped, I read the food they had her on (Royal Canine Gastritis) was making some dogs incontinent which was a new problem she had developed. (long but really frustrating story) I stopped all medications she was on that day and started researching foods in depth. What I saw was a pattern where most of the higher end foods use peas, beans and lentils as a supplemental and inexpensive protein within the first few ingredients. A lot of dogs can stomach them but many can't including mine. So all foods use peas, but I decided to at least find a food that excluded the use of beans, lentils and chickpeas. Then we found out she's allergic to yeast. Many foods also use Brewer's yeast as a probiotic. So that excluded more of the food options as well. I only buy foods that are made and sourced in the US and preferrably have never experienced a recall. All these exceptions and conditions limited the source pool considerably. Canidae Pure Salmon was one of the only foods I could find that has no beans, lentils or chickpeas, no brewers yeast, has never had a recall and is sourced and produced in the US.

My dog likes the food, her stools are exactly how they should be and her coat is amazingly soft, especially for a Lab. However, I usually mix a little pumpkin or plain yogurt in it to keep her interested in the flavor.

You have a smaller dog that probably does not have the same protein requirements as a larger dog so this is one issue you should look into before you decide on a product too. A great resource of information regarding the foods and their history is

www.dogfoodadvisor.com.

The site was started by a guy who lost his dog during the Diamond food recall and decided to fight back. There are forums and articles as well as ingredients and ratings for hundreds of dog foods.

In regards to the food purchases, you may want to check out a site called Chewy.com - They carry pretty much most foods, prices tend to match the stores and they offer free shipping on anything over 49.00. I've had great success with the site and love the 2 day delivery.

Thanks so much for the details. My pup is developing some GI issues so I have an option in case I need to transition to another brand.

My previous vet promoted Science Diet which was quite shocking to me.

lukkiirish,

Is your food of choice, "Canidae Grain Free PURE Sea with Salmon Dry Dog Food?"

Thanks!

arkansas_girl,

Do you think your dog suffers a food allergy and that would explain why it did not do well on the arguably higher quality food?

I've worked with Vets that are true "water walkers" - however I have not ever found a Vet that was well versed on food. The older Vets received minimal if any nutritional training back in the day and the younger ones haven't yet gathered the experience. Just my experience. YMMV.

Again, do you think your dog has a food allergy?

Salti, yes, it's the kibble. I use soft food as a "treat" to give her medicines but not as part of her meal. I spent weeks sorting through data and information regarding dog kibble but to be honest, I've not researched the canned foods. From my own experience I am not thrilled with the Canidae Soft foods and won't be using those at all; especially the Salmon Pure canned food. My dog likes it ok, but it's got a weird texture and smells so rank it upset my stomach. I guess the problem is it's "too pure" and has nothing to hold it together but wow, the oder was awful.

As you can see from the ingredients, no beans, no yeast and most of the stuff that you can't pronounce is probiotic. Meal is a better source of protein than fresh which is mostly water. Menhaden fish are found down in the very bottom of the ocean. Both Salmon & menhaden are mercury free fish. Beyond the first 8 ingredients is just vitamins, minerals and probiotics.

Ingredients

Salmon, salmon meal, menhaden fish meal, sweet potatoes, peas, canola oil, suncured alfalfa, potatoes, natural flavor, minerals (iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite), vitamins (vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid), choline chloride, dried enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, mixed tocopherols (a natural source of vitamin E)

arkansas_girl,

I can appreciate your Iams experience because one of my dogs loved that brand and thrived on it.

I was skeptical of Science Diet because that vet sold it at his practice for an inflated price and it's been widely touted as an inferior product.

Like Salti, I've never met a vet with nutritional expertise and rely on my own research and trial and error. I've found that trainers and groomers are usually pet owners and generous with their knowledge and experiences. Some of their advice is sound and others I take with a grain of salt.

My current dog is a puppy which presents new challenges as I've never raised one. Her skin and GI issues may not even be food related at all.

Arkansas girl, I've spent countless hours reading information and articles on dogfoodadvisor.com and found it to be a very interesting and helpful which is why I shared about it here. Maybe you just didn't understand the data or ratings because after reading through the site, you still chose to feed your dog a food that is manufactured by Proctor and Gamble, sources it's ingredients from China and has been recalled countless numbers of times for everything from tainted rice to Salmonella.

They aren't there to tell you what to feed your dog. The information when taken in the context of information only can be and is very helpful to someone trying to understand product differences so they can make an informed decision for their pet.

" My poor little dog was miserable with skin problems because I was trying to feed her high quality (five star) dog food."

This is a distortion of what you have earlier posted.

Your dog was miserable because you were unknowingly feeding your dog A food that had an ingredient to which your dog was allergic. The fact that your dog is allergic to that ingredient was also unknown to that www site.

It is like the disclaimers seen on TV ads for prescription drugs. "Don't take Drug ABC if you are alergic to Drug ABC or any of its ingredients.

" But as my Vet told me, all dog foods are nutritionally complete."

I am comfortable that you misunderstood your Vet. Heck, not all dog foods even meed AAFCO standards for completeness.

I am glad that your dog is now getting a food that it is providing good nutrition and also that you are pleased with it. There are lots of good and not so good foods out there.

"Lukki, you have it all wrong"

No, I don't think I do. As Salti pointed out, your dog had an undiagnosed allergy and that's why those foods, grain free or otherwise didn't work for your situation. It wasn't the DFA site, the foods, the people posting about them or even the idea of grain free that was the problem. Yet just because it didn't work out for you, you continue to slam a site that has reasonable information for folks who are genuinly interested in the well being of their dogs.

I question whether you understood the data presented because even after you claim to have read through it, you chose to feed your dog IAM's which is no better than Purina, which you also claim is "ok". Reading that tells me you don't have the information or history of the food to really know. I'm suspect you were overwhelmed, (which is understandable when you have a sick animal) and said if it's good enough for my Vet to suggest it, I'll just go that route. However as everyone has said, Vet's are not trained in animal nutrition and it's up to the pet owner to become an informed buyer.

History has shown that manufacturers like Proctor and Gamble and Purina have one common goal and that's to feed the pockets of their investors higher returns at OUR pet's expense. (which is why I steer away from any of their products in general) They source their ingredients from the lowest bidder and it doesn't matter to them where they come from or what''s really in them, hence all the recalls. Rice allergy or not, I wouldn't offer this food to a charity as a donation much less feed it to my own dog. Without even looking at food quality, there are other rice free foods that are a much better option only because they are sourced and manufactured within the US. Go! Canidae, Fromms. Even Taste of the Wild High Prairie dog food has a rice free option - Here's the ingredients for TotW and it's an affordable food.

Ingredients

Sweet Potatoes, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Chicken, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potato Fiber, Natural Flavor, Flaxseed, Sodium Chloride, Salmon Oil (a source of DHA), Taurine, Choline Chloride, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Manganese Proteinate, Manganous Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Folic Acid

I have deleted my posts, you people are clearly brain washed by the whole designer dog food craze. I'm outta here!

Oh wow, what a disappointment.

I certainly did not mean to imply that I was pushing a "designer dog food", but rather was suggesting, "I am not commenting on the value of that site nor am I suggesting that
anyone has done anything wrong. Just saying, if one has a list of
ingredients and it ultimately turns out one's dog is allergic to one of
the listed ingredients, it would seem wrong to blame the manufacturer
(or critic.) And of course, if the owner did not know of the specific
allergy ahead of time it would be wrong to blame the owner."

Blaming a critic that favorably rates a dog food that contains rice and it turns out your dog is allergic to rice is identical to blaming you for being foolish enough to feed your dog a food containing rice. Neither of you knew!

Had the critic included a warning not to feed the food if your dog was allergic to rice, presumably you would have fed your dog that food anyway. (Not knowing it was allergic to rice.)

I do wish your dog well on Iams.

I don't think there is such thing as a "Designer Dog" food Salti it's just a variety of options, no more no less. I also don't think either of us said anything that wasn't outside the realm of a good debate. If anything, her post was actually directed to me because I tend to say what's on my mind and not soft step around it. I was so sickened after reading about some of the things put in dog food by these manufacturers, they really don't give a hoot about our animals. Unfortunately, it's just as important to know what we are feeding our pets as we do our family members because we are all vulnerable.

What irked me was that she was criticizing a site that's written by someone with the sole purpose of preventing another dog from dying at the hands of manufacturers who make food that can be dangerous for our beloved pets. He plainly states in his "about me" that this is not an income generating site.

I've been very lucky and have not had many issues with feeding my dogs. One of my dog's vets suggested IAMS because it was a highly touted brand at the time and the dog food market was relatively small. Now we have a plethora of choices and that site is very useful as I've learned that I can't rely on vets' advice

"Designer dog food" was not my choice of words, it was the Iams lady's choice that I included in quotes. That said, I have heard it before and I believe I understand the negative connotation she was applying.

I have my Greyhound through an adoption group that gets these dogs from the track. They strongly urge adopters to feed a "house brand" kibble that I absolutely would not feed to a dog. I think there is a mentality that believes that some expensive brands - "designer brands?" - are simply an attempt to extract money from dog owner's pockets. By extension, those folks tend to migrate toward supermarket house brands or big-box house brands believing they are great.

It is a conundrum, as expensive brands are not necessarily 'good' nor are house brands necessarily 'bad.'

In the third post in this thread, I said, "I submit that most dog owners have not invested the time to read and
evaluate the ingredients list for various foods. (I don't know what a
"fancy" food is. lol)"

I would never post a critique, one way or the other, about a specific dog kibble. I have spent a lot of time reading about canine nutrition and have pretty good success as a breeder and exhibitor either in spite of that research or in part due to it.

I've never heard the term before this post. I've only heard of grain / no grain and US sourced. I have a friend who rescues Greyhounds and he has experienced the same thing about the food recommendations. I have to agree about the mentality of it all but I really don't have an opinion about whether an expensive food is better than a cheap one over overall because I tend to focus on the reputation of the brand, recall history, ingredients and where they're sourced from. While price is a consideration of course, for me it's lower on the list of priorities.

I think if a dog like your Greyhound has been raised on a house brand food and has eaten it for years, you've probably had to put a lot of consideration and care into what you felt was right to change it to and how it will affect their system. That's a little different from our scenario where we got a 7 week old puppy and had control over her diet from the git go. I don't know if I buy into the grain / grain free scenario 100%, my best guess is that there is no wrong or right as there are scenario's for both types of food.

I wouldn't have a problem with someone criticizing my choice of kibble if they had informed information that there was a problem with it. On the contrary, I would want to know! In this case, yes I was flat out criticizing her choice, but along with that, I also provided documented information about why I was criticizing it. I also gave her several brand alternatives of foods that were rice free to show her there were better options adding they were just examples.

One thing I was curious about but didn't challenge is that though rare, food allergies are typically protein related and rice is actually a source of protein. Allergy testing for foods is extremely difficult and not 100% accurate, so I'm wondering if she's guessing at the allergy of rice or if she's actually gone through the process of elimination which is a long and involved thing to do.

If indeed her dog is allergic to protein, it would definitely make sense that a high protein food like Acana or most no grain foods would make her dog itch even more where as the IAMs helped to relieve the symptoms, IAMs protein content is much more limited.

Her posts have been deleted so I can't go back and re-read. But if I recall correctly, she was not seeking recommendations, just criticizing.

Yes, Nannygoat, you're right. She was very critical of my post about dogfoodadvisors.com and to be honest it annoyed me because she didn't have any factual basis for what she was saying. Then she went on to gloat about her choice of food which didn't help. Whatever, I personally feel that at the absolute minimum, our animals deserve to be fed food that is historically safe to eat and in that regard I know I can be annoying. LOL

I don't feel I was rude to her though...at least that wasn't the intent. I guess that's up to each individual reader and how they interpret it. Obviously you and Salti not only have more grace with your words but you're also much better at biting your tongue.

I likely should not have mentioned that I have a Greyhound. I raised, bred, and exhibited (English) Bulldogs and enjoyed an international reputation for dogs of good health, excellent disposition and conformation. My background in choosing foods includes maintenance, lactating, and growth - all three phases of breeding.

I only mentioned Greyhounds because of a tendency for that adoption group to want to standardize their recommendations, including food choice, and in my opinion they did not have the ability to properly compare foods.

In way of backgrounds, Greyhounds that are racing at a track are fed a soft meal laced with vitamins, supplements, and hormones... for example, my female would have been receiving testosterone to prevent coming into heat. As often as not, they have tooth and gum issues likely due to a soft diet.

As far as getting them on to a kibble based diet, the new owner pretty much has a clean slate. No info as to what protein(s) they have been fed nor any other info.

I've had my Greyhound for just about a year and she is thriving. I maintain her weight constant to within 1/2 pound. She is exercised daily. She likes to kill bunnies and mice with no apparent adverse protein effects. lol

I'm not doing anything that any of you wouldn't also do.

I do like dogs. :-)

Salti, what happens in Houzz, stays in Houzz.

Hey lukki, your'e a quality poster! Perhaps she's an IAMS stockholder.

Thanks Nanny! Ha ha! Maybe!

Salti, There's no harm in mentioning it, they're wonderful dogs. My friend's are rescued and racers I think but I'm not sure. They are so sweet and docile.

Now that's a treat! A grey hound that finally gets to catch the rabbit! I'm sure she's happy about that! So they don't give you any information but doesn't the dog's body react positively or adversely depending on the food? Can I ask out of curiosity what Kibble you ended up using for her?

I wish I could maintain our dogs weight so evenly! I've tried to be very careful with her, but she's mostly english lab and they tend to add the weight pretty easily whereas the American labs are more hyper and seem to have better metabolisms. So far we've been able to keep within the range recommended but she's tinkering on the border right now. We exercise her daily as well, every time we take her out, Chuck it is her favorite. It's to the point though that I'm going to have to cut back her K-cals a bit because she's not burning enough during the work outs.

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of dogs too, I really enjoy training them.

(English) Bulldogs tend toward being over-weight (owner responsible) and they also tend to have medical issues associated with too little exercise (again, owner responsible.)

It was my practice for my adult Bulldogs to weigh each one every
Wednesday. If one went up in weight, say, half a pound, I would reduce her food by a couple of Tbsp's and I'd add maybe 1 Tbsp per feeding. The following week she'd be back at target weight and I'd adjust a little up. My girls never knew that they had been on "diet."

I also walked each of my Bulldog girls one mile every single day - I had up to four adults at one time living with me. That's about a mile each more than the typical Bulldog does. While I did not walk them at high-noon during the summer, I did walk them! The only reason I would not walk them was if it was dangerous to me. I have two artificial knees ans slippery ice and snow are not good for me.

I'm a firm believer in counting calories - both calories in and calories out.

When I had pups, they all got weighed daily, same time, prior to a feeding and after defecating. (I do love Excel Plots.) I am a retired MIT Engineer and, according to my wife, I have too much time on my hands. (It did allow me to write a helpful magazine article years ago about the financial, emotional, and physical "costs" of having a litter.)

I guess I am suggesting that I have always developed a plan for "creating" healthy dogs and researched the details and expended the effort to optimize the results. I think, or at least hope, that we all do that. But I have been fully retired for over twenty-years and have an understanding and supportive wife of 50 years.

I don't know much about bull dogs, my interest is more towards the retrievers but I've never really bought into the logic that some dogs don't require exercise. They may do well in a more confined dwelling but when I see or hear people say a dog doesn't need exercise or even outside stimulation (as in a house dog), it feels wrong to me. How can any dog not need that?

I can see where breeding and showing would require the strict weight regime. I don't have the resources to be that strict. My concern is the lab's susceptibility for hip dysplasia; excessive and/or rapid weight gain during their younger years has proven to be a contributing factor. Plus they can't run and use their energy carrying extra weight. Bottled energy can be painful for them too. Our Lab is very calm and laid back but I think it's because as habit, every time she goes outside, we run her. We're on almost an acre, and have a large yard which she proudly owns. I also think socialization is important and since we don't have a pack, she goes to "doggie day care" twice a week to be around other dogs and play. It sounds crazy I'm sure, when I first heard about doing that I thought so too, but it's really paid off (and they're a great resource during the months of ice and snow). I used to take her to the dog parks as well but some of the dogs there made me uncomfortable.

I'd love to think that all dog owners are as responsible and caring, but I have a friend who runs a dog rescue, so I'm not as optimistic. However, it's great to see the changes our society has made in the way we think about and treat animals over all. At least it's moving in the right direction and people are becoming more educated.

Having the support of family members is important. I too am fortunate in that regard though lately I've been having a hard time talking my husband into doing some foster care for my friend's rescue. He's afraid we'll get attached and end up keeping them all; I suspect he's right. :c)

lukkiirish,

I agree 100% with your comments!

I take my Greyhound to a different local pet store to a Greyhound "Meet and Greet." We are trying to educate the public as to the plight of retired track Greyhounds, with the hopes of interesting folks in the possibility of adopting one.

It is funny to see the reaction of the Greyhounds when they walk into the shop and are confronted with a herd of Greys. It almost seems they are attending a reunion, however it is extremely unlikely they ever met at a track. Lots of sniffing and affection seeking.

With regards to Greyhounds, they are surprisingly long lived (12-14 years), an extremely healthy breed (hip dysplasia, for example, is nearly unheard of), and require surprisingly little exercise. Virtually no body fat. What ultimately ends their life is simply "old age" or a form of cancer.

I was a huge supporter supporter of Bulldog Rescue in the day, and made absolutely no dog of my breeding ever ended up in need of help. My last Bulldog girl died four years ago at the ripe old age of 13. Cried for days and vowed never to have another dog - lasted almost three years and then read an article in the Washington Post about the plight of track Greyhounds when they stop winning.

Did some research and concluded I could best help by adopting a Greyhound. I am not yet active in fostering or other activities, but I do go with Willow to these Saturday meetings and I am in a financial position to help out the organization. I would love to rescue a Bulldog to round out my extended family, but my wife is a voice of reason. lol

Willow, what a lovely and perfect name for a Greyhound. I can only imagine the joy when they get to play for the first time. When I was doing Real Estate, I found a house for my friend with the greyhounds. He has a pack of several dogs so he wanted a good size lot for them to run on. The house he ended up buying has 3-4 acres and his greyhounds run and play all day long; so happy and care free, it's really beautiful to see them run.

I think what you do to help is wonderful. Since I'm unable to foster, I usually double up on the food and toys I buy so I can donate monthly to my friends organization. If everyone just helped a little bit, it would add up and have a huge impact.

Until we got Ellie, we would always get our animals in pairs. I sure would love to have another Lab but it's not something we're in a position to do right now. Whenever I see one that needs a home though, I can't say I'm not tempted to bring it home anyway. LOL

Salti, I enjoyed reading your bio-small wonder you offer such sage advice:) The shout-out to your wife is especially refreshing!

The rescue world is fortunate to have you and Lukki.

I have four young granddaughters - they formed a committee and named her WILLOW. (Oldest granddaughter is now 14, two in Indianapolis, two in Simsbury, CT.)

Nice!!! They did a great job!

Thanks Nannygoat!!!