[brian1684]

Hello all, new to the forums and just had a question. I am in the process of switching over my two dogs, a 2yr old akita, and a 1yr old siberian that has a somewhat sensitive stomach over to evo, and i have a sib pup on merrick puppy plate food. Never really heard much on the merrick, but it seemed like good ingredients, just curious if any one has used it.

Ingredients:
Organic Chicken, Turkey Meal, Oatmeal, Duck, Chicken Meal, Whole Barley, Whole Brown Rice, Flax Seed, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Natural Vitamin E and Ascorbic Acid, a source of Vitamin C), Freeze Dried Sweet Potatoes, Freeze Dried Carrots, Freeze Dried Peas, Natural Dried Chicken Liver, Freeze Dried Apples, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Lysine, Calcium Carbonate, Guar Gum, Sea Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Whole Blueberries, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Whole Garlic, Dried Chicken, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Natural Celery Flavor, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Natural Color (tumeric), Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

[HersheyPup]

I used Merrick for years, but not with this dog. She gets gas really bad from it. I think it is good food though, just not for my dog.

[Independent George]

If you're worried about a sensitive stomach, you might want to consider starting with California Natural instead. It's also from Naturapet (makers of EVO), but is a single-protein kibble with minimal ingredients. This makes it easier to identify what the problem ingredients are - so if the dog doesn't do well with chicken, you can switch to lamb, beef, etc. to see what works best. From there, you can use it as a baseline when trying out other brands with more an different ingredients.

My dog's on EVO, and loves it, but it's not for everyone. It's a high-protein, high-fat kibble, so be sure to transition slowly, and make sure your dog has enough water.

[brian1684]

they are doing good so far on the evo, i am mixing it in with there old food a little at a time, he is responding good to it. The reason we are trying evo is because he is not putting on weight, he eats good but stays the same weight, we are trying to get him to fill out a little. Our vet recommened trying the evo, and the merrick food is for our pup we just got, he likes it and seems to be doing good on it too, his breeder was feeding him diamond but we read some bad things about it so we decided to switch him to merrick.

[MissMutt]

I use Merrick. The kibble has been working pretty well. For a while I *thought* it was the cause of runny poops, but it seems that something else was causing that problem.

[Summerhawk]

I tried my dogs on Merrick, but it was too rich for Gunnar's sensitive tummy. He puked up every meal. Plus, their mom was on it, and she was always wound tighter than an 8 day clock!! Trust me, my dogs already have more energy than a pent up Border Collie - I don't need anything that gives them more!