Merrick Cat Food

My cats had been eating Merrick cat food for years. We’d give them a variety of the Purrfect Bistro chicken, turkey, duck, tuna, and salmon. Starting maybe end of 2019, early 2020 we noticed one of our cats being oddly picky about which kinds he was willing to eat - sometimes only tuna, sometimes only chicken. Our other cat would eat only small amounts and walk away, but ask for more frequently, and started hanging out constantly by her water dish. We thought it was just them being weird with us being home all the time, or maybe we got a few odd batches and the next would be acceptable.

We raised Archie on Purina Beyond Grain Free Whitefish dry cat food since 2014 and this is the only cat food he would eat until about a month ago when Purina did something to their formula. The smell is horrible and the texture looks like dog food and does not have the same look to it either. Archie will only eat dry cat food that is made with fish and we preordered $300.00 worth of food for him because he used to love it and now we are stuck with all this food he will not touch, so we decided to go with Merrick’s Salmon grain free dry food and we put it in his bowl and he got a whiff of that and ran for his life. Would not even go near the food.

One of my cats' favorite flavor is Merrick's Purrfect Bistro Thanksgiving Day Dinner. She's the picky one so we cater to her flavor preferences and my cats have been eating it for years (besides other flavors/brands). Recently (and by that I mean for the last two months) Chewy has been "out of stock". I called them, they had no information. I called Merrick and they said something about "supply chain issues". Hmm, okay. I ordered Chicken Casserole flavor instead. THEN MY BOY KITTY (Benjamin) STOPPED EATING, would dry heave and spit out bile. I freaked out, took him to a veterinary urgent care location (Bond Vet, they were fabulous). They did bloodwork, urinalysis, gave him fluids and ** (anti-nausea shot). $586.86 later, he went home. It took him several days to regain his normalness.

I have been feeding Merrick wet food, several flavors, for about six months, about 75%, remaining 25% is Wellness. They love it. Great, healthy ingredients. I am shocked reading all the negative reviews and really put some question marks behind them. Vomiting?? Never. Merrick got worse reviews here than Purina and Fancy Feast, both known for junk food. One caveat: Merrick is now owned by Purina, so it has to be followed closely, although they promised they would not lower the quality. At this point of time I can absolutely recommend, it is, without a doubt, by far the best cat food reviewed on this site.

We had been using Purrfect Bistro for our rescue cat, Luna, for over 4 years. Her favourites were Rabbit and Turkey. About 9 months ago, she started rejecting the Rabbit, which she used to eat in case loads, but would no longer touch upon smelling it. In late-December 2020, she started throwing up violently after a couple of times eating Turkey. We switched her to Purrfect Bistro Salmon, but she continued to vomit for 2 days after each feeding, ranging from a brown paste to blood-tinged bile. We rushed her to the Emergency Vet Hospital on December 24, where the vet diagnosed her as suffering from food poisoning, loss of weight, dehydration, lethargy, and disorientation. Because Luna occasionally goes out, we thought that she might have eaten something outside.

I've had the same experience I'm reading over and over here. Vomiting. Have used Merrick Limited Ingredient can cat food for years. Something has changed, looks different, smells different. All 3 of mine started vomiting. When it's one kitty vomiting I don't jump to conclusions but when all three get sick together right after I've noticed the food I'm feeding them looks and smells different... well. And vomiting the weird red-ish color of the food (turkey) for 12 hours: my sensitive girl was REALLY sick. I know I read the company was bought out a few years ago ("all about cats" website states: 2015, Nestlé Purina announced its buyout of Merrick Pet Care).

I have used Merrick cat food for years. I buy it from Pet Supplies Plus. About five days ago one of my cats threw up after eating some of the canned Merrick cat food and some of the dry Merrick cat food. He threw up and then was not interested in eating for a day. When he started eating again, he seemed reluctant and was very slow. He also was not interested in his food as much as he normally is. I was not sure what was wrong, but I noticed he had softened stools. Then my other cat started exhibiting the same symptoms. I have read some of the comments and I suspect there is a problem with the Merrick food. I am going to return all the Merrick food I bought. I just am not sure what food I can try now that Merrick has made changes to its cat food.

The wet food is literally one of the only foods my super picky Maine Coon will eat. And she never gets sick of it either, like she will with other foods. Great ingredients and family owned, We love them. ❤️

I feel very upset what happend with this food, esp been feeding this close to 2 years. Maybe I got a bad batch or got unlucky but I rather share my experience so more people are aware of it. So I bought new bag from Petco and started feeding after week, cat started vomiting, then this moved to intense diarrhea where it became pure liquid form. I ended up taking to vet twice coz I thought it was parasite issue. Feeding medicine helped but diarrhea continued. When vet asked me what I was feeding and suggested prescribed wet/dry food, that's when I realized maybe dry food was causing it. I immediately changed the dry food to different brand, I had no issues with poop/vomiting since then.

We have been feeding our cat Merrick, both the Cowboy Cookout and Beef Wellington, for about 18 months. The last case I got is not the same. The gravy has been replaced with a gelatinous goop coating the top! I put some in a bowl and set it on the floor. My cat just walked away. I threw that can up and opened another one. Same goop. Thought it was just a bad batch, possibly expired, but the date on the bottom said it was good until 2022. I have read other recent reviews elsewhere, to people saying it's a definite change for the worse. Our cat is picky. Merrick has always been his favorite, but we have had to change to another brand.