Consensus on Merrick?

I've seen a bunch of negative comments about Merrick since they ditched the Before Grain line and replaced it with Purrfect Bistro.  A few posters have noted they've simply stopped buying Merrick foods altogether.  I've done all kinds of searches, and I can't seem to get a consensus on what the criticism is actually about.

I understand why people who only fed BG and similar 95% meat foods wouldn't want to suddenly settle for a less "premium" formula.  But other Merrick foods seem to have always been well-regarded and good on the "charts" (Cowboy Cookout, Turducken, etc.).  Has the formula on those changed substantially? Same for the new Purrfect Bistro formulas.  Are they actually poor in terms of carbs and/or ingredients--or is that just as compared to BG?

I'm curious, because my two (otherwise picky) dudes have always liked Merrick's non-BG canned foods, and they LOVE some of the new canned flavors.  I always felt good about feeding Merrick.  Would love to get people's thoughts. 

l'm one of the people who stopped buying. My cats used to get Cowboy Cookout and Turducken.

l was very happy with the Cowboy Cookout - if l could only buy them one type of food, that would have been it.

Merrick shows off its new product under the heading "new packaging" which is a deliberate obfuscation. The can size has changed (smaller, obviously) and the formulation has changed. lt is a new product - not a new package.

There appears to be less beef since there is the addition of egg (protein) high on the list, but the protein has gone down from 10 to 9% in the GA. Sweet potato is replaced with potato starch, and moisture is up to 81% from 78 (among other changes).

l'm not willing to pay for this new size and product. lf Dr Pierson's next chart reveals it to be a food worthy of its price, l'll go back to buying it.

I have read a lot about people stopping feeding Merrick, but I do have some flavours Jackie likes in the regular rotation....Cowboy Cookout included. She really likes them and as she won't eat pates the choices for lower-carb grain-free chunks & shreds (especially ones she likes) are few and far between. These get thrown in the rotation with Weruva, CITK, and the raw, Like with my own diet, I aim for overall balance rather than perfection (*cough* ice cream *cough*) and I don't consider Merrick bad by any means even if some (or some kitties) were put off by the formula change.

I bought one can of the Merrick Purrfect Bistro without thinking about it. I was shocked to find out it was about 20% carbs.

Raintyger said:

I bought one can of the Merrick Purrfect Bistro without thinking about it. I was shocked to find out it was about 20% carbs.

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Yeah, you have to check each of them. I do not know about the pates, but while a couple of the chunks are under/around 10% (I feed these ones) some are hovering around 20%.

How do you determine the carb %?

Merrrick either brought back their BG line, or didn't actually get rid of it.  They SAID they were getting rid of it when I called them, but then I kept seeing it in the store, and it's still on their website.

As far as their Purrfect Bistro line, one of my cats used to absolutely LOVE Cowboy Cookout in the old line, and now she won't touch it :-{.  She won't touch ANY of their Purrfect Bistro line so far, plus I am kind of disgusted with them that they've lowered the protein, etc.

Thanks everyone. It looks like the carbs are okay on the ones my two like. I'll stick with them.

We used to do real good on Merrick and luckily the human stocked up on the old formula with bags that went on markdown and won't expire until June this year. So we are ok for the moment.

She has checked the new formula and does not like how it changed and how it was portrayed just a packaging change.

She did buy a couple bags on sale, but is planning on mixing this with Nature's Variety instinct which is quite a bit higher in protein.

Before we ate Merrick we were on Evo until the recall a year ago. Since then the human always mixes two brands, just in case.

We may stay on Instinct after our Merrick supply is up, until we find something else that's good.

Generally speaking even on the "old" Merrick formula we always seemed to be more hungry than on the Evo.

We really loved our Evo, sigh!

I'm not too worried about value for the money. Just finding a line of canned food that at least one of my two loves most varieties of is worth the $$$. But if there's something really questionable like carbs over 10%, I might reconsider. I don't know how you can really get an idea from the GA, even with the carb calculators.

You could always increase protein by mixing in extra meat, if you are happy with the variety a certain food offers.

I never knew the old formula my cats love the new Pates and do not throw up, their coats are beautiful and eyes bright. I do not feed dry other than occasional treat so I am happy with Merrick in the rotation even with carrageenan.

Actually they like the pates and Grammys pot pie and turducken.

Carbs are low in the cans I buy

They still like Merrick over a lot of brands, they get duck Pate, chicken pate, and Grammys pot pie in their 12 food daily rotation. I believe it is a good food.

I feed Merrick turkey, duck, and chicken pates in rotation with other brands. My crew always eat it.