# Merrick Caused Diarrhea and Vomiting. Other Choices?



## MyRescueCrew (May 8, 2008)

Hi guys! I originally put Luke (we actually changed his name to Sam) on Innova Adult and he liked it, somewhat. The vet recommended that we put him on a puppy food, or something a little higher in fat, because he was still too skinny. After his allergic reaction episode, we put him on EVO and he didn't like it. What he did eat, gave him the runs (yes, it was switched slowly). So then the other day, switched him to Merrick puppy. Holy cow! He's got explosive diarrhea, really loud gas, and bad vomiting of food that's not even digested.

I'd like him back on something grain-free preferrably. He will eventually go to raw like the others in the near-future, but for now I want him on kibble at the moment.

He was a stray mutt that probably lived off the cheapest crappy food. I keep cheap foods in the house like Pedigree and Dog Chow for giving to the strays in the neighborhood. Did an experiment and gave him some dog chow, and guess what? Perfect poops again and no upset tummy. He's obviously not used to the richer, better foods, but of course I will NOT feed him those cheaper foods.

So anyone have any good suggestions of a good food, preferrably grain-free but doesn't HAVE to be, that's maybe good for a dog with a sensitive tummy? I know about Cal. Nat. and Wellness Simple Solutions, but neither have enough protein sources in them for my liking.

Thanks in advance!


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

I've heard that a lot of dogs have trouble with Merrick. Too rich or something, I don't know. I've never tried it. Maybe Wellness CORE? It's grain-free. Or Innova puppy food, since he was doing OK on the Innova adult food.


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## MyRescueCrew (May 8, 2008)

Willow, thanks for the advice! I used Core on a couple of my dogs before going to raw, and it completely slipped my mind. I think I may give it a try with Sam.

I considered Innova Puppy for him, as that's what I've been feeding Mattie (my 12yo dachshund rescue) to help him gain weight before I switch him to raw. Mattie's coped well with it, but I was concerned it may upset Sam some more because of the richness of it and the high fat content. I use mostly canned for Mattie, as he has no teeth, but I mix can with dry for Sam.

I have some Innova Adult left over, so I'll feed him that until Monday when the store opens back up (they're closed on Sundays) and I can buy a different food. 

I'm also considering maybe Nature's Variety Instinct, most likely the chicken flavor. Just concerned that it might be too rich as well. I know it gave my mom's boston gas, but no diarrhea.

I think I may take your suggestion and try Core. It seemed like it's not nearly as high in protein as typical grain-free foods, yet it's still grain free. Thanks for the reminder about Core. 

I told a couple people I know about the Merrick, and I also got the same response. They claimed their dogs loved it, but it gave them horrible diarrhea and gas. Must be too rich.


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## UrbanBeagles (Aug 13, 2007)

> I told a couple people I know about the Merrick, and I also got the same response. They claimed their dogs loved it, but it gave them horrible diarrhea and gas. Must be too rich.



Same problem with Merrick Puppy Plate here ... I was feeding it to an in whelp bitch, and she honestly looked great, but, her stools were always ... sticky  When she had the puppers, it was a nightmare. She had almost no milk, the pups were colic and very, very bad diarrhea that nearly killed them  I changed food and literally within a few hours she had double the milk. 

It's not a grain free food, but Wellness puppy seems to be an excellent diet for growth. Have 3 pups on it ranging from 5 1/2 months - 3 months. Consistantly firm stools, great coats, and in all honestly, my pups have never grown so evenly


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## Spicy1_VV (Jun 1, 2007)

Some dogs react that way to some of the Merrick foods. Merrick does have a product line called Before Grain which is grain free that you could try on him. Wellness Core as mentioned would be another good choice and Instinct too. Solid Gold Barking At The Moon I think is grain free. Some others Go! Natural, Canidae, Horizon Legacy, Now! Grain Free. Taste of the Wild is too but I'm not sure it would be so good for weight gain, some dogs seem to eat a lot from what I hear. It has less calories compared to some of the other foods.

You must also consider that while its not pleasant sometimes they just have to adjust, especially if they are not used to it. Even if it is better for them in the long wrong the first couple of weeks could be bumpy.


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## echo8287 (Jul 5, 2007)

I bought a bag of Cowboy Cookout(Merrick) and so far, it isn't working out for my crew. Loose poop sometimes runny. So I'm still looking for something else to change from Canidae. David


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## MyRescueCrew (May 8, 2008)

UB, Puppy Plate is the one I tried too. He's got gas so bad this morning, and still having major squirts. Just gave him an Immodium. 

I'll have to look at Wellness Puppy, that may be another option to try too. 

Spicy, I really wanted to put him on B.G., I've looked and looked at it, as it looks like a great food. But being from the Merrick line, and having these problems (and knowing others that have had the same problems), I'm really hesitant now to put him on anything Merrick. I'm concerned their whole line may be like this. I know when my mom's dog got the squirts from it, she had tried the Grammy Pot Pie one.

At one time, all my guys were on Canidae and loved it. They changed their formula, my guys got sick, and that was the end of Canidae for us. 

I think I'm going to try the Core tomorrow, chicken flavor. Since he's still having the squirts today, I'm just going to take some of the raw meat I have for the rest of the crew, and cook it for him. Some nice boiled chicken and rice should go easy on his tummy.

Thanks for all the suggestions!


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

MRC, my dogs do very well on Wellness Core Ocean. I have seen an improvement in coats, eyes, teeth and breath.

Best of luck to you and your crew.


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## cjslaten (Nov 26, 2008)

I am about to lose mind over the dog food crisis. Lost one female sheltie due to melamine in 2007. I still have two cans of the stuff. Just lost my precious Pom (vet said probable liver cancer). She 2 weeks away from turning 15 years and had been on Hill's Prescription Diet due to bladder stones for the last 2 years. 

After switching to Merrick dry food about 2 months ago, my two male shelties are having very smelly diarreah. My 9 year old is very sick with vomitting and severe projectile diarreah. The 8 year old is having some vomitting with diarreah but seems to feeling better than his daddy. I had the 9 year old at the vet's office last two days. His bloodwork showed nothing. But they stay out in the yard most of the time so I cannot supervise every moment. I have a 13 year old yorkie who is eating the same thing they are. I also mix in chicken and veggies which is cooked in the pressure cooker. I thought maybe I had been doing something wrong before reading these posts about the Merrick food. The only thing my vet said about him was that "he musta have gotten a hold of something."

I had been feeding Nutro, alternating sometimes with Purina One, Purina Pro Plan, Iams, Science Diet over the years, until I read where many dogs are sick and some dying from eating Nutro food. I then chose Life's Abundance until someone told me it's not a very good choice for the price. Then I switched to Merrick for the last two months. I had noticed some loose stools in their yard but nothing like this. Bad Bad smell. Never smelled anything this bad before. I thought I had got a tainted bag of chicken but after talking it over with the vet and after reading this forum I believe it very well maybe the Merrick kibble.

My 9 year old shelties is also showing signs of stress over the last two months by losing some of his very thick coat. I have had him eat only chicken since the vomitting and diarreah started in the last 2 days, but this morning I mixed in some of the Merrick kibble. I wish I had read this forum first. It has been 3 hours since he has eaten his breakfast and no vomitting has started again yet.

My yorkie has been eating the exact same mixture as the others with no problems. The exception is that she has been on a lot of antibiotics for the last several months. She had a urterinary infection which needed surgery and then had to have a bleeding tumor removed. Her diet has not seemed to bother her.

I don't know what food to go to next. Any suggestions?


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## Cheetah (May 25, 2006)

cjslaten said:


> I don't know what food to go to next. Any suggestions?



Have you tried the Natura line? Innova, EVO, California Natural etc.? I don't believe they have been involved in any recalls. I just switched mine to California Natural Herring & Sweet Potato without any problems.

There is also:
Orijen
Eagle Pack (Holistic Select)
Chicken Soup
Nature's Variety
Taste of the Wild


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## cjslaten (Nov 26, 2008)

Cheetah said:


> Have you tried the Natura line? Innova, EVO, California Natural etc.? I don't believe they have been involved in any recalls. I just switched mine to California Natural Herring & Sweet Potato without any problems.
> 
> There is also:
> Orijen
> ...


Thanks for the reply Cheetah. I have found some bad posts where some have fed California and caused the same problem I am having and in addition one found the levels of copper, and some other mineral I can't remember, high causing the dogs to develop urine crystalization. I have been down that bladder stone road to surgery before. I have also researched Wellness and found the same diarreah problems. These companies keep changing their recipes. Orijen is nutrionally dense and some dogs don't do well. They also had a mad cow scare a few years back. Recently bones showed up the the sacks of kibble and company found they had a defective machine which was supposed to be grinding or sorting these bones. Evo uses animal by products. Someone found worms in Taste of the Wild. etc.

I have spent hours in front of this computer researching and I am getting more confused by each review and forum I read. Raw is too risky for samonella and a swallowed bone stuck in the gut.

I can just type in, Is (the name of the dog food company) making dogs sick? and get results from all of these food making dogs sick. I know some don't know how to make the transition in making a change in diet but when you read so many.

In the end we don't know what we as humans are really eating in the foods we buy.


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## Azu (Nov 22, 2008)

I have been feeding Orijen Puppy (the yellow bag) to my Aussie, Tazz, and to my suprise his stools have been quite solid even though he had been on Wellness Puppy a week before. Tazz has also visibly been improving in his size and energy levels! 

I highly recommend the Orijen brand as my picky and sensitive husky Czar reacted quite well to Orijen too (and to get him to like or digest anything well is very difficult).


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## BarclaysMom (Aug 24, 2008)

I think you need to be careful in accepting everything you read on the net. For example, your dogs are having some sort of crisis right now, and your vet thinks they got hold of something. That doesn't necessarily mean your dogs illness was caused by the food. It is possible they got into something. There are a lot of reports on the internet like that. Someone's dog becomes ill, they change it's food, and it gets better. The food is not necessarily what caused it. The dog might have got better if they had stayed on the food, because the illness was caused by something else. 

There are a LOT of posts on the net if you look for them, and you're right, every food has been implicated in making some dogs sick. Maybe the food had nothing to do with it. Maybe those people were just paranoid because of the Nutro scare. The Nutro/melamine problem was a real problem, it really did make dogs sick. But since then people have been blaming food for all sorts of illnesses, and very few of them have been proven to have anything to do with food. (and did you say you still have cans of the bad nutro food - throw that stuff away!)

This thread has some people saying that Merrick is too rich for their dogs. Other people use it without problems. If your dogs are not doing well on it, you might want to try another brand. But that doesn't mean Merrick is a bad food that will make all dogs sick. It also doesn't mean every brand that someone said made their dog sick will make your dog sick. As for food having worms in it, that's probably a good sign. You won't find worms in your cheap grocery store dog food because it's so low in nutrition and packed with preservatives worms probably wouldn't touch it!

I'm just saying don't let what you read on the net scare you into being afraid everything will make your dogs sick. People post stuff online for a lot of reasons, they may be mistaken, they may have good intentions, they might just be looking for attention and making stuff up (I moderate a forum and we have had people making up stories, and I think these folks were actually mentally ill). You have to really take everything on the web with a big old grain of salt. 

And just so you know, we also have a dog with cancer, and recently lost a dog who spent most of hislife on SD/UD for bladder stones, plus he had food allergies. So I have delt with picking the right food a lot. And like you I used to be scared and confused by what I read on the net.

I'd advise you to choose another quality food, maybe ask your vet for a recommendation, perhaps try a different protein source than they are on now, and slowly change them over and see how they do.


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## noisebug (Nov 22, 2008)

As stated above, be careful. The vomitting may not be caused by the food.

Max is 7.5 weeks, we are switching him from a pedigree & purina mix (i know, our breeder wasen't as great as we thought) to orijen. 2 days later he got liquid poop with blood inside. We thought it was the food, but after a visit to the vet, turns out he had round worms.

While on the orijen (we started switching VERY slowly), he had wayyyyy more energy. Night and day, now after going back to his crap food, he is still a happy puppy but we can tell his energy level is way down.

We were ready to give up orijen, but thankfully we didn't and will try again after we de-worm. 

Check this website out, it may help you. Also lists all ingridients for all foods, so if your dog has an allergy to something it will show up in the list.

www.dogfoodanalysis.com

Check out the 6 star foods, lots of choices.

Good luck.

--edit--

Personal choice: Orijen OR Go! Natural Grain free. (Make sure its the Natural grain free, their other lower end product isen't great).

But I'm not speaking from experience only from what I've read so take my advice with a grain of salt!


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## workingdog (Oct 19, 2006)

Iv'e been feeding canned Merrick for a year now with no problems. They get dry chicken soup with a little canned Merrick mixed in. They all look great and feel great.


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## Cheetah (May 25, 2006)

cjslaten said:


> Thanks for the reply Cheetah. I have found some bad posts where some have fed California and caused the same problem I am having and in addition one found the levels of copper, and some other mineral I can't remember, high causing the dogs to develop urine crystalization. I have been down that bladder stone road to surgery before. I have also researched Wellness and found the same diarreah problems. These companies keep changing their recipes. Orijen is nutrionally dense and some dogs don't do well. They also had a mad cow scare a few years back. Recently bones showed up the the sacks of kibble and company found they had a defective machine which was supposed to be grinding or sorting these bones. Evo uses animal by products. Someone found worms in Taste of the Wild. etc.
> 
> I have spent hours in front of this computer researching and I am getting more confused by each review and forum I read. Raw is too risky for samonella and a swallowed bone stuck in the gut.
> 
> ...


I'm looking at the ingredients of EVO right now and there are no by-products listed (in fact, one of the things they boast about is the LACK of by-products):


> Turkey, Chicken, Turkey Meal, Chicken Meal, Potatoes, Herring Meal, Chicken Fat, Natural Flavors, Egg, Garlic, Apples, Carrots, Tomatoes, Cottage Cheese, Alfalfa Sprouts, Dried Chicory Root, Taurine, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, Vitamins/Minerals, Viable Naturally Occurring Microorganisms


Where did you hear that from? Also, could you provide us with news articles on each incident with the foods that you mentioned? I haven't heard of any of that and would like to stay up-to-date. Not to mention the fact that I am feeding California Natural to my two and would like to know if it's really true before I switch foods for the 4th or 5th time.

Also, dogs have shorter digestive tracts than we do, so very rarely get salmonella, and Raw can be fed without bones if you properly supplement (and brush their teeth regularly).

If you're this scared of kibble, then maybe you should just go get a few homecooking books for your dogs. Here are a few I found:
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DN261
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DN205
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DN252


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## xlb57 (Oct 31, 2008)

I had my 4 1/2 mos. old Frenchie on Merrick's Turducken, but decided to switch after his remained far too soft for too long. We've since switched to Wellness Core Original and have seen a marked improvement. Good luck!


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## daisyveda (Mar 13, 2008)

We also have been feeding Merrick since the recall several years ago. We believe we lost our choc. lab because of the recalled food. 
Recently bought a new lab puppy and have been feeding Merrick puppy plate to him and Merrick Wilderness to the older lab. They do fine for awhile, and then have terrible bouts of the runs. 
I found an article on the web, and if I can find it again I'll post it. 
She suggests the protein level be between 22-26, the fat to be between 13-15 and the fiber be at 4%. She said if the fiber was below 3, her dogs would react the same as mine. Loose stools every other month. These were the levels that worked best for her dogs. But said everyone has to see what works best for there own dogs. Her dogs didn't do well on the super premium foods and not good on the super market brands. But did well with the food somewhere in the middle. I found these levels in Eagle Pack. Currently introducing that now. We'll see how it goes. The Merrick Wilderness fiber % is 2.5 and the puppy Plate is 3.5. Just my 2 cents.

I found that article. Hope it helps.
http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/dogfoods.html


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## Bailey08 (Aug 12, 2008)

I admit my bias -- my favorite food is Orijen (and it's what my puppy is on and my cats have been on for a long time). I also sometimes feed some of the canned formulas of Eagle Pack Holistic and Wellness (again, both for cats and dog) and like them.

[My Merrick story -- the cats refused to eat the canned cat food, so I gave one of their cans to the dog, and it was not a good idea. The rest was donated.]


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

I think if you researched enough you could find a dog with the big D on any and every type of food. You just ruled out almost every kibble there is. 
Salmonella is not too risky in RAW, btw.....


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## MyRescueCrew (May 8, 2008)

Since posting this thread originally, I switched Sam to Wellness Core Fish (which is a grain free food). Sam loves it and is doing well on it overall. However, almost all of my guys are on a raw diet, and Sam is going to be switched to raw very soon as well, most likely within the next 2 weeks. Overall, I am happy with the Core though.


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## Angiemas (9 mo ago)

cjslaten said:


> Thanks for the reply Cheetah. I have found some bad posts where some have fed California and caused the same problem I am having and in addition one found the levels of copper, and some other mineral I can't remember, high causing the dogs to develop urine crystalization. I have been down that bladder stone road to surgery before. I have also researched Wellness and found the same diarreah problems. These companies keep changing their recipes. Orijen is nutrionally dense and some dogs don't do well. They also had a mad cow scare a few years back. Recently bones showed up the the sacks of kibble and company found they had a defective machine which was supposed to be grinding or sorting these bones. Evo uses animal by products. Someone found worms in Taste of the Wild. etc.
> 
> I have spent hours in front of this computer researching and I am getting more confused by each review and forum I read. Raw is too risky for samonella and a swallowed bone stuck in the gut.
> 
> ...


Hey have my dog on merrick for 2 weeks now his been pucking and havin loose stools


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## DaySleepers (Apr 9, 2011)

This post is fourteen years old, so I'm closing it to further replies. Please start a new thread if you'd like advice about food!


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