Merrick Before Grain is the top of my list for a reason. It’s difficult to find any negatives to say about this product solely due to its phenomenal value. Have a read of this review to see why I think this is the best dry food for cats.
Merrick - Before Grain
Summary
The cats proved that the taste was good when they emptied the bowls for the entire two week trial. Their coats were shiny and bowel movements were firm and healthy. Value is superb and in my opinion the best on the market. If your cats like this food then you will be saving money for sure. Highly recommended.
Quality Of Ingredients
As with all of the products that I test, Merrick Before Grain follows the guidelines I set when choosing food for my cats.
- NO Grain
- NO Artificial Flavours or Preservatives
- NO Potentially Poisonous Ingredients
- Meat is the First 2 Ingredients
Being a dry food then they have added potato to the ingredients. This is to help bind the kibbles during the cooking process. As long as this binding agent is not in the first 2 ingredients then it is acceptable in my opinion. Remember if this was a wet food then there is absolutely no need for this. Because the potato has been added to the food, this pushes the calories up. Always look at the feeding instructions on the pack for the weight of your cat.
Taste
Being a much cheaper ‘premium’ dry food I genuinally thought that it wouldn’t be a massive hit with my cats. Obviously I thought that there would be some sacrafices made in the taste of the food to bring the price down so much. I was wrong. The cats devoured Merrick Before Grain just as quickly as any of the other dry foods I have tested (perhaps the only other dry food that was eaten quicker was Acana Regionals Meadowlands). Being honest, I don’t have the most picky of cats, however I can only say that bowls were empty and over the couple of weeks of testing this did not change.
When choosing a flavour there are pros and cons. They have a chicken and a salmon varient. Both are very tasty for the cats and went down well. The salmon comes with higher omega inside so this is one benefit. However I very rarely feed my cats fish due to the amount that is written about mercury content. This has nothing to do with Merrick Before Grain and the quality of it’s produce but I would advise against regularly feeding your cats the fish varient.
Health Benefits
Because of my ingredients guidelines I very rarely have any negative health problems with my cats. Merrick Before Grain is no exception. Both the cats had healthy firm bowel movements for the duration of the trial, they were both full of energy and their coats were as shiny as ever.
Value
Merrick Before Grain is ridiculous value compared to other premium ingredient dry food. Everything on this website I would strongly recommend to any cat owner and Merrick is half the price, if not less, than most of the other products. Cats can be very picky and can all have different reactions to different foods. I strongly recommend you try this product because if it goes down well then you will be saving yourself a lot of money whilst also maintaining the health of your feline friends.
Summary
Overall there is nothing I can say negative about this product. In my own personal experience it was flawless. The cats loved it, they stayed very healthy and the ingredients are top notch. highly recommended. I absolutely love the Orijen brand of cat food and have fed this to my cats from the beginning, Merrick Before Grain is making me reconsider.