Merrick vs Wellness

How do the Merrick 5.5oz cans compare to the Wellness 3oz pouches nutritionally? I'm asking because as others on here have suggested and I've thought about as well, I really should be feeding Junior twice a day. While I can't afford giving him 2 Wellness pouches at $.99 each, I can afford splitting a 5.5oz can between 2 meals for $1.09.

Also, when is the earliest I should consider switching Junior to adult dry food? While the bags all say 12 months, I've read several places online that suggest 8-9 months is also acceptable.

Mez

I feed Merrick but that is mainly because our 2 won't eat Wellness. Merrick for me is $1.69 per 5.5 ounce can but it's worth it to me to know they are getting quality food.

Do you also feed a dry food?

Wellness comes in a 5.5 oz. can as well. In my area it costs the same as Merrick and Eagle Pack.

How big is your cat? I wouldn't think one pouch/can per day would be enough... unless he is getting dry also.

Merrick is a great food as well, its what my cat eats for wet. You need to make sure your cat will eat it though.

For a brief period I used Merrick. I would NEVER feed that food again. Merrick's quality control is dismal. Myself and other TCS members have found large and small pieces of plastic and sharp bones in that food. The food itself was often very inconsistent in texture. The Turducken flavor, for example, would at times have large, hard chunks in it; at other times, it was almost entirely liquid! This is "gourmet" food?!?!

I'd highly recommend the Wellness canned food. It's grain-free and high quality. When you feed a quality food, you don't have to feed a lot of it.

Wellness has added lots of seafood flavors to their line, but use those only occasionally. Your cat is better off eating the turkey and chicken flavors more frequently.

My advice is to feed Wellness canned food twice a day. One 5.5 oz can per day may be enough, but you'll have to experiment a bit with the quantity to determine what's right for your kitty to maintain a healthy weight. Only feed dry food as a treat, not as a whole meal.

both are supposed to be great foods....

Wellness goes over better at my house ...but here is more $$ than merrick

Riley eats Merrick canned every day and I have never had a problem with it. I always check it thoroughly with a spoon to make sure there are no foreign objects or bones in it and I have never noticed any consistency problem. Turducken is one of his favorites and it always seems to be the same texture and size.

I'm sure the Wellness canned is fine also, but not every cat will eat it. You have to feed what they will eat.

I had one issue with Merrick's about a year ago. There was a small piece of soft plastic wrap in the food. I informed them, they sent me some free food and I haven't seen anything in the food since then. I spoon it into their dish and check it anyway just as I would with any food.

Originally Posted by AlleyGirl

How big is your cat? I wouldn't think one pouch/can per day would be enough... unless he is getting dry also.

Click to expand...

Junior is 8 months and I was told around 10 pounds. I give him about 7/8 cup of Nutro Max Cat Kitten dry food which is free fed and a Wellness pouch when I get home from work.

I've tried several of the Wellness cans but Junior didn't care for them (he'd eat about 1/4 and then not touch the rest, even if I put it away and brought it out the next day) which is why I switched to the pouches. He also didn't care for Merrick's Grammy's Pot Pie, but he did like the New England Boil so I was going to try the other flavors as well.

Any comments on when to switch to adult dry food for Junior?

Mez

I talked to the pet store owner where I buy Wellness and he said that Merrick is higher in carbohydrates than Wellness but is still human-grade food. He also gave me a can of Evo Turkey & Chicken Formula to see if Junior likes it or not.

Mez

Originally Posted by mezlo

I talked to the pet store owner where I buy Wellness and he said that Merrick is higher in carbohydrates than Wellness but is still human-grade food. He also gave me a can of Evo Turkey & Chicken Formula to see if Junior likes it or not.

Mez

Click to expand...

Do to merricks high use of starches and veggies I could see that ... but realize HIGH carbs in a WET is about 10% vs high carb in a dry being 45 ish or more ...

I still feed a 3.5 yr old kitten food as the % seem to be right and she maintains wt ... GENERALLY a yr ... thou some here think 4 to 5 months ... at 8 months and 10lbs JR is a good size boy since many his age are 6-8 lbs

Originally Posted by sharky

Do to merricks high use of starches and veggies I could see that ... but realize HIGH carbs in a WET is about 10% vs high carb in a dry being 45 ish or more ...

Click to expand...

Since switching Bijou over to Merrick's twice a day with 1/2 cup Orijen (shared with Mika) during the day, Bijou has lost 1.3 lbs since mid July. I knew he was looking leaner so I'm really happy with the Merrick/Orijen combination.

Evo is a really good food too. Riley likes it and Merrick equally, so I alternate the brands. He eats 3 flavors of Merrick and then the Evo on the 4th day. You might try alternating brands if your cat will eat more than one also.

I do this because 1) he likes it and 2) I feel like what one might be lacking nutritionally, the other will likely make up for

I gave Junior 1/3 can of the 5.5oz Evo Turkey & Chicken Formula this morning. While he ate most of it, it wasn't with his usual vigor so I'm assuming he didn't care for it all that much.

Mez

You could try Natural Balance or California Natural. Riley won't eat either of those, but he is a fussy boy