Anybody have info on the new Merrick foods yet?

I know Merrick recently changed their recipes.
We're feeding two kitties with special dietary needs - our diabetic cat needs low carb, while our cat with a liver shunt has a whole other set of needs: poultry only, limited organ meats, low ash.

The Merrick Turducken and BG (Before Grains) foods have kept us going for the past few years. Now, Merrick changed recipes for Turducken and BG is becoming hard to find. We're down to nothing but chicken EVO, which neither of them are wild about.

We used to feed Weruva a lot, but then they seemed to have a formula change. The "broth" was thicker and more cloudy, and Daisy's readings were elevated every time she ate it. We informally concluded that they had increased the carbs in their recipe and dropped it from the short list.

Has anybody had a chance to analyze the new Merrick recipes?

 

Merrick's isn't revealing the "as fed" values on their new Purrfect Bistro line yet. It doesn't look like the original has been discontinued (yet), but you'll have to look for it since it seems most of the stores around me have replaced them all with the Purrfect Bistro versions.

 

I have bought up all the old BG cans my store had. They are not going to put out the new stuff until the old stuff has been cleared off the shelves by customers. My store was told that the BG was not going to be continued - it was to be replaced by the Bistro. Not sure whether this is right or not but the real issue is that my store will no longer carry the BG. I may look for it online. My sugarfoster loves it - it's his grazing food. I have ordered some samples of Wild Calling to see if he likes that to replace the BG.

 

Tiki Cat is the favorite in my house and I'd feed it all day, every day if it weren't so darn expensive. :-|

Michelangelo is also a "pesce-pollotarian," as I like to call him. I created this sorted version of Dr. Lisa's list for his poultry needs that you might find helpful. There's an entire tab with just poultry foods.

 

Actually KPassa, your list is how I found Tiki Cat

I get it auto shipped so it is somewhat less expensive than in the pet store.

 

Glad I could be of help I'll have to look into getting it auto-shipped, myself. We go through a can a day and the cheaper I can get it, the more I can use it for them.

 

Thanks, everyone, for the input. KPassa, special thanks for the very helpful poultry list!
Steering clear of the "fishy foods" can be a real challenge!

We LOVE Tiki Cat, too! We actually feed a can every night for overnight snack. (Daisy does much better when she eats smaller meals every 6 hours, rather than larger meals every 12, so we use timer feeders for "2sies" - afternoon and overnight snacks.)
We use the Tiki overnight because the shredded chicken is less mess in the feeder, but I would feed it every meal if we could afford it!

We decided to go ahead and test run one of the new Merrick Bistro flavors - the duck pate. It got two enthusiastic paws up from each of our three kitty taste testers, who licked their plates clean. The real test will be Daisy's numbers. We're going to feed it for three or four meals straight and keep a close eye on her readings. If she starts to run high, we'll donate the rest to the animal shelter! So far, so good - she ate her first serving for 2 pm snack, and tested at 130 before dinner. (Lower end of average for her these days.)

 

I was amazed at how many foods contain fish in them. Fish oil is okay to feed daily (no fish proteins), but I try to stick to fish only once a week.

Most cats (especially diabetics) seem to do better grazing than eating two set meals. Another technique you can do is that I often mix it in with their pate akin to sneaking vegetables in. :lol: They love it that way and are disappointed when I don't do it. It helps me stretch a can across an entire day.

How did things go with the new Merrick's? Have you had a chance to try them yet?

 

We served the Merrick for 5 straight meals/snacks to try to see a pattern, but really didn't. She had one elevated reading, but all of the rest were normal/low-normal. I'm guessing the higher reading was from a lazy afternoon or finding something to eat that she shouldn't have. (She is a world-class crumb scavenger!)

We've worked the Merrick duck pate into the rotation for now and will hope for nutrition information soon.

A side note - we're avoiding the Merrick turducken because it has potatoes in it.

 

Thanks for the update! I think we will give it a try. I can buy one can at Petco to test it on Cleo

 

Any idea what the phosphorous levels are in the Tiki Cat products? I like the zero carbs things for Grady, but I don't want to buy a case online and have the phosphorous be too high for him.

 

Here is the food list in Phosporous order. Tiki is on there.

[urlhttp://catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPhosphorus9-22-12.pdf]food list by phospherous[/url]

 

All the Tikis seem to be pretty high in carbs and only a couple are below 250 for phosphorous according to the list, yet if you go to their website http://www.petonly.ca/Tiki_Cat_Food_s/389.htm they list all of the foods as either 0% or 1% carbs. Granted, it's for a different sized can but it's still a considerable difference.

 

Upon looking at the labels I noticed that the Turducken & Cowboy Cookout has sweet potatoes and potato starch-modified listed, while the Surf & Turf and Grammy's Pot Pie have actual potatoes in their ingredients. After giving Grady some Surf & Turf after his PM injection I saw his BG levels spike up at +2 before it started to come down. I'm going to be watching more carefully now when giving him these.

 

Which list show the Tiki Cat as high in carbs? Dr. Lisa's list and their website show they're around 0% carbs. Which, going by the ingredients list of basically pure protein, looks to be fairly accurate.

 

The sorted version of Dr. Lisa's list that I created (linked above) has the phosphorus sorted (carbs first, then protein/fat ratio, then phosphorus/100 kcal) so that might help.

 

I was going by the list provided by Robincot from catinfo.org. So, Tiki should be good then. What about the potato in the Merrick foods? I have a cupboard full of them. Now I don't know if I should actually feed them to Grady or not if he's going to spike like he did last night.

 

Tiki Cat tends to be high in phosphorus but not carbs. The list I sent was a list sorted by phosphorous which is probably why it was confusing. You asked about phosphorus ... Believe me if it were high carb I would not be serving it.

Anyway, I hope you find some foods that satisfy your health requirements that they like. It's such a tricky game with food - that's why I make my own raw.

 

Just a non-update...I'm currently working with a customer service representative from Merrick on returning a case of the old formula of Cowboy Cookout (my cats won't touch it...which is weird because they've liked other batches and eat basically anything/everything.)

I asked for the 'as-fed' nutritional information for the new Puurfect Bistro line, linked them to Dr. Linda's food chart, and let them know there's a whole board of people potentially looking to switch back to their brand once these values are released (assuming they are acceptable for sugar cats). I got the following reply:

"The guaranteed analysis on the Purrfect Bistro is still not available, I do apologize, we are hoping to have is very soon, and will gladly give you what you need."

So...like I said, a non-update, in that it is still not available, but hopefully they'll release it soon.

That said, I found their customer service to be very responsive. Not only do they have a 30 day money back guarantee (which I was too late on), they have agreed to send me a refund, as well as pick up the case of food for QA testing.

I guess we'll have to keep checking back for now...