This past weekend I bought a new dog food called Merrick to give to my 2 dogs. After battling problems with my one dog Sonya (hair loss issues and scratching) that still seem to be undiagnosed. My vet has a feeling it is food allergies, since it is so mild she is unsure. She had been on a raw diet primarily using chicken, so I switched her over to Merrick brand food that contains buffalo, venison and salmon.

http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/detail.php?c=14&s=20279
For some odd reason it is $20 more expensive on their site than at the store I buy it at.

Is this food any good? It is the highest quality (according to the sales person) they carry at the store. Anyone have any good or bad experiences with it?

Thanks.

Kimberly

I am feeding a combo of Merrick and Canidae. Merrick alone causes loose stools. I have a 20 months GS female out of Norbo BEN JU and Afra Naspo.I fed raw until she was appro. 6 mo. old but switched to kibble.

Kimberly, I fed my previous GSD Merrick canned food, which I thought was very good (my dog loved it). I did try the Merrick dry food but found that it went rancid very quickly, so you might want to watch for that (smell it - the rancid smell is unmistakable). I wouldn't feed rancid kibble. Mainly I fed Chicken Soup for Dog Lover's Soul dry kibble with Merrick canned mixed in.

Merrick canned (chunk style) has large chunks of cooked chicken or turkey, etc. The canned chicken wing and chicken thigh are actual whole pieces, bone and all. The bone, although cooked, falls apart in your fingers if you crush it, so it's not dangerous.

I fed my dog Merrick for a while. I alternated between that and Canidae. I thought Canidae was better, and Merrick gave my dog horrible gas. Why did you switch from raw to kibble?

I switched her from raw to kibble because of her scratching and some hair loss. The only connection that she had when this problem started was the protein in her diet (chicken, both fed using kibble and a raw diet previously). Since my vet thinks it may be a food allergy I am switching the protein source and other types of meat are not easy to get in my area. If this doesn't improve her scratching then it obviously is not a food allergy, while on a raw diet she didn't have grains in her diet so it wasn't from grains.

I still don't believe it is a food allergy, but I will try this to see what happens. She was never treated for mange, so that is what I need to talk to my vet about today. She did have some crusting skin on the ridges of her ears but the vet thought it was from her scratching at her ears from allergies.

The only other possibility is that Frontline Plus is causing this reaction.

Kimberly

 Quote: kimberly bunk

I still don't believe it is a food allergy....

Neither do I.

It's near the bottom of the list of the many things (including inhalant and flea allergies) that it can be.

But a strict elimination diet is the only way to find out.

This is by NO stretch of the imagination an elimination diet:

Ingredients:
Buffalo, Oatmeal, Barley, Salmon Meal, Venison,Whole Brown Rice, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Natural Vitamin E and Ascorbic Acid, a source of Vitamin C), Flaxseed, Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, Dried Chicken Liver, Whole Apples, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Lysine, Guar Gum, Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Whole Blueberries, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Whole Clove Garlic, Chondroitin Sulfate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Natural Venison Flavor, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterocococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Natural Celery Flavor, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Natural Caramel Color, 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.

If a food allergy is suspected and this diet continues to trigger symptoms, what has been accomplished? Then you'd know that one (or more) of those thirty zillion ingredients was the allergen(s).

QUOTE: The elimination diet generally contains one protein and one starch. These must be based on previous exposure of the dog to various foodstuffs. Important to remember is that dogs who live in households with cats tend to have been exposed to fish, through their consumption of either cat food or cat feces. At UC Davis, we often start dogs with pork and potatoes, although pinto beans and potatoes may also be used. Based on non-exposure, rabbit, duck, and tuna are also options. We have also used ‘exotic’ foods like elk when feasible. Other than fresh water, nothing else should be fed to the dog during the elimination diet trial. END from http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00093.htm

An elimination diet is very individual, based on every item the dog has ever eaten. Not one of them is included in the "elimination" diet, which eliminates all possible allergens.

If I were feeding a poultry-based raw diet and needed to devise an elimination diet (while I ruled out atopy and flea allergies and all the other possibilities for itch and hair loss, like mites and folliculitis, demodex and thyroid problems), I'd probably get some rabbit or lamb (only if the dog had never been exposed to rabbit or lamb) or I'd consider one of these (whichever one the dog had never eaten):
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Wellness-95-Meat-Canned-Dog-Food/138131.aspx

One thing to remember is that the food you're asking about has at least *seven* protein sources. Another is that if the dog has ever lived with a cat, he has almost certainly been exposed to fish.

P.S. The elimination diet is concluded (if successful in ending the allergic reactions, I mean) by challenging the system with one new ingredient at a time to see which it was.

So after the one- or two-ingredient elimination diet, my first challenge ingredient (since it's suspected) would be a little poultry.

Also, some dogs really have never had fish before, so white fish can be a novel protein for those dogs. My dogs do get fish, so it wouldn't work as an elimination diet for them, but again, it's a very individual diet.

I would put a little more pressure on you vet to check for mange if the dog has ear crusting along the edges of the ear leather. I spent quite a bit of time money at the vet and trying steroids and different elimination diets on a dog that had mange.

 Quote: Lynn Cheffins

I would put a little more pressure on you vet to check for mange if the dog has ear crusting along the edges of the ear leather. I spent quite a bit of time money at the vet and trying steroids and different elimination diets on a dog that had mange.

Yes, that would be something to look at more than once, since canine demodectic mange can present with papules on the edges of the ears.

Good point, Lynn.

I was thinking more along the lines of sarcoptic mange(scabies).
Try rubbing the edges of her ear leather between your fingers and see if that starts a scratch response. Luckily it is very easy and inexpensive to treat.