Thanksgiving for Dogs - Merrick Makes Dogs Drool

Merrick’s Classic Grain Free Thanksgiving Day Dinner 

See it at Amazon

It Spoils the Dog – Again

Years ago we spoiled a previous dog by giving him canned dog food once a week and he knew it as “groceries” and oh how he loved the treat.  Until this past Thanksgiving Day our current pampered and spoiled dogs had never had any type of canned food. Their kibbles are high quality and they enjoy quite a few other treats but now I think they’d trade some of their treats for more canned food, especially if it was as good as Merrick’s Classic Grain-Free Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

Canned dog food has changed considerably over the past ten years. The contents in no way resembled old Hayduke’s (our first dog) canned food. Both dogs celebrated and both dogs wanted more and I’m certain they were willing to trade the canned food for their kibbles. 

The furry kids had turkey, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, peas, potato, blueberries, cranberries and Granny Smith apples. This was drenched in turkey broth and seasoned with thyme, sage, and rosemary. Nothing was ground up into a pate but resembled a stew with distinctive ingredients.  The ingredient list is lengthy with vitamins, chelated minerals, olive oil, flax oil, carrageen, canola oil, yucca schidigera extract and more. 

I’m impressed by the contents, the emphasis on quality, and the dog’s response. They had an OMG moment with one dancing backwards (on his two back legs) all the way to his feeding station. This is a meat-based canned food with the first three ingredients deboned turkey, turkey broth and chicken. The guaranteed analysis is 9% crude protein, 5% crude fat, 1.4% crude fiber and 81% moisture.  We mixed a couple tablespoons in with their kibbles. This very moist food coated the dry food. 

Their response was shock and pleasure and when done, the bowl did not require cleaning. When done both dogs checked out the other’s bowl, just in case something was overlooked.   Merrick is a Made-in-America product; actually, it’s made in Amarillo, Texas. They claim this “food worth of a fork” and I’ll add it’s worthy of a plate too. They further claim that none of their products or ingredients are ever imported but instead locally sourced. The food is suitable for all life stages and all breeds. Their foods lack fillers and artificial flavors.

Smile Worthy Dog Food

An important concern for staying on the same food with my dogs, especially the blond lab, is digestive system concerns. If we change her food too much and too fast, without gradually transitioning her over, she experiences two days of intestinal distress. My research indicated that this was gentle on a dog’s digestive system. Neither dog had negative side-effects from their Thanksgiving Day meal.  Neither dog had diarrhea, bloating, gaseous odors or vomiting.  I didn’t gag while serving it. The dogs did, however, wear huge smiles after their meal and kept looking in the pantry for more.

This dog is familiar with being spoiled but
was ecstatic with her first can
of Merrick's food.

Christmas is coming and I’m seriously considering their Venison Holiday Stew or Grammie's Pot Pie. A dog the size of my 62-pound blond lab would require 3 ½ cans a day and at $2 to $2.50 per can that starts getting expensive when feeding multiple dogs. I enthusiastically recommend this food as a treat or for mixing with dry food. This gets eight paws up (12 paws up if you include the cat and her own Merrick food) and two thumbs up from me.

Since Thanksgiving I watch for sales on Merrick’s special dog foods and try to keep several in the pantry that we share with the dogs.

For full and complete attention show
the dogs a can of Merrick's food.

No negative side effects, no diarrhea, bloating or gaseous releases were experienced after eating Merrick’s Thanksgiving Day Dinner–just very happy, slightly shocked, dogs who enthusiastically rate this 8-paws up. Since eating this we've tried most of their special meals and the response remains the same.  One promptly jumps to her food bowl and waits while the other does his own backward version of Michael Jackson's Moonwalk.