# Merrick Five Star Gourmet Entree Wet Food



## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

I found Merrick Five Star Gourmet Entree wet food today at Petco when I was trying to find more varieties of wet food for our kitties who are getting tired of eating Wellness chicken, turkey and beef. I bought Cowboy Cookout (beef), Grammy's Pot Pie (chicken) and Thanksgiving Day Dinner (turkey) but I have not had them try yet. I was searching for some reviews of these products and found some threads regarding recall because the plant in Merrick had something which caused deaths in dogs and cats. It was 2003 or 2004 so long time ago. 

Have you given this product to your kitties? If you do, is it safe enough to feed? (I know I need to do more research myself) This contains "pearled barley" as 8th ingredient and this means it is not grain free. Does it mean it is junk food by having filler (pearled barley)? I am trying to give my kitties grain free as much as possible, but if it is junk food and of course if it is not safe I do not wish to give them, so I appreciate if you can share your opinion and experience. Thank you


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Merrick makes a very good food, several of them are certified "low glycemic" which is what you're really after...a food that doesn't spike the blood sugars like heavy carb foods do. That little bit of barley isn't going to have any major effect one way or another. And as grains go...barley is one of the better ones. Their food also has a different texture than most others...something in between pate and chunky.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Though Merrick may have had a rocky past, they are a great company. I myself feed their Before Grain variety.
I wouldn't say it is 'junk' just because it has barley as their 8th ingredient. Grain-free is great, but whats most important is fluids and good sources of proteins in a diet.

(edit)Maybe I'm missing something, but when I look up the ingredients on petfooddirect, barley is not mentioned anywhere...??


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

Dear Doodlebug:
Thank you for your information!!!! I can go to bed soon with some relief  Yes, the can states "low glycemic" and I did not have any idea what it means but thank you for explaining to me. My kitties started getting tired of pate, so I wanted them to try different texture. That is great it is in between chunky and pate! If they like this, I hope they still can eat Wellness as well.... Thank you for your help!

Dear MinkaMuffin:
Thank you again for your help in assuring me about Merrick products. I am glad to know that you use Merrick as well  As for the barley in ingredients, I missed it at first as well, but the worker in Petco found "pearled barley" as one of ingredients written on the can and thus it is not totally grain free food, she said. Then, I was like "Oh, it is there..." it was easy to miss for me. I wonder why petfooddirect.com does not mention... Anyhow, thank you again for your help!


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

spockally said:


> Dear MinkaMuffin:
> Thank you again for your help in assuring me about Merrick products. I am glad to know that you use Merrick as well  As for the barley in ingredients, I missed it at first as well, but the worker in Petco found "pearled barley" as one of ingredients written on the can and thus it is not totally grain free food, she said. Then, I was like "Oh, it is there..." it was easy to miss for me. I wonder why petfooddirect.com does not mention... Anyhow, thank you again for your help!


Are you sure you weren't looking at the dog food? I even looked it up on Merrick's website and it is indeed free of barley.
Did you check the expiration? Maybe it is an old can?
If not, could you type the ingredients out? If it is truly different than what's listed online, I'd like to email the company about it...


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

MinkaMuffin said:


> Are you sure you weren't looking at the dog food? I even looked it up on Merrick's website and it is indeed free of barley.
> Did you check the expiration? Maybe it is an old can?
> If not, could you type the ingredients out? If it is truly different than what's listed online, I'd like to email the company about it...


Hrm, I know at least two of the flavors contain brown rice, but I just checked the online ingredients list and didn't see pearled barley either. But for some reason I do remember seeing that on the label in the past, so maybe you're right about it being an old can?

I know Cowboy Cookout, Grammy's Pot Pie, and I think both turkey flavors are grain-free. Since Athena's sensitive to grain I checked all the labels before buying them and those were the ones I ended up settling on (no fish or grain). Unfortunately my cats disliked all but Cowboy Cookout.

But yeah, I like Merrick. I feed their Before Grain varieties a lot (my cats enjoy the quail) and my cats looove Cowboy Cookout.


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

Here is the list of ingredients according to the cans I bought:

COWBOY COOKOUT (best by 05 Aug 12) beef, beef broth, beef liver, fresh sweet potato, fresh carrots, fresh snow peas, fresh whole granny smitth apples, *pearled barley*, potato starch-modified, dried egg.....
THANKSGIVING DAY DINNER (bet by 17 Feb 13) turkey, turkey broth, turkey liver, fresh sweet potatoes, fresh carrots, fresh green beans, fresh whole granny smith apples, *pearled barley*, potato starch-modified,....
GRAMMY'S POT PIE (best by 12 Aug 12) chicken, chicken broth, turkey liver, fresh red jacket new potatoes, fresh carrots, fresh snow peas, fresh wholoe red delicious apples, *pearled barley*, potato starch-modified,....

I do not have dogs so I never go to the isles for dog food and these are, of course, cat food  I checked the list of ingredients for each in Merrick's site as well and I did not see pearled barley although mine has..... On my cans, it shows up between apples and potato starch-modified... mystery!!!! As you can see the expiration dates for each type, I do not think my cans are too old. I wonder if Merrick forgot to put it in their web site or change it recently or made mistake on printouts on cans??? I will call Merrick asap and ask about it. I will post what I hear from them though it might take long because I am busy this week with kids staying at home for spring break from school  If anyone has a chance to check ingredients of these cans in stores, please post your findings! Thank you for bringing this to my attention. If they did not put barley, it would be nice!


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

Huh! I'll go check my cans when I get home (at my parents' house right now). I'm curious now...very odd indeed!

Athena gets Cowboy Cookout maybe once a week or so, and it does make her stool a little less than perfect, although all canned food doesn't work as well for her as raw does, so I'm not sure if it's the barley or not. She definitely doesn't have the same reaction to that food as she does to food with rice or corn in it.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

I as well will email them.. I cannot leave a mystery unsolved...


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

Thank you to both of you, Saitenyo and MinkaMuffin!!!! I would love to hear what Merrick says. Also, I would like to know what the label says on the can you have, Saitenyo. In the area I live (Charlotte, NC), the only place that sells this type of Merrick can is Petco. It will take about 30 min to get to another Petco (assuming all the cans are the same in Petco that I went) so I appreciate if you can post what your findings are. I feel that I am causing some troubles and confusion here, but I hope Merrick will explain well  If it does include barley, it is not good for Athena and other kitties who are sensitive to grain. I hope we can find out! MinkaMuffin, I will email them too! They might respond better with multiple emails!


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

The barley has been on the labels for years. The food I currently have in my store has barley on the label (just looked at them with a customer this week). They may have changed the formula...updated the website, but not the labels yet. Legally, pet food manufacturers can make formula changes and have 6 months to update the labels (gives ya a real warm & fuzzy feeling doesn't it?).


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Just emailed them.

As for the 6 month rule, I can see how that could be misused, but I think with Merrick we should not worry. I think the reason it was initially implemented was because when a formula change is made, there are still hundreds upon thousands of cans of the old formula in the warehouses, in shipping trucks, and still in pet stores. Those labels can not be changed because they still harbor the old ingredients and (unless the ingredients were harmful) there is no reason to recall them. So the six months is enough leeway to sell out of all the old cans and implement the new ones.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

No the 6 months is not to give them time to use up old stock, that stuff is accurately labeled and can be out in the market for 3+ years. I believe that we can rely on most of the high quality food manufacturer's to notify consumers when they make significant formula changes...but taking out some pearled barley...not so much. Formula changes can and do happen all the time...whether with the food company's knowledge or without...most of these food companies farm out the actual manufacturing to contract facilities who have been known to cut costs by modifying the ingredients (or sourcing of the ingredients)...just look at what happened in 2007. 

Merrick has had their issues in the last year...5 different recalls on dog treat products for possible salmonella and/or e. coli. Of all the high end food companies they're the ones I have my eye on the closest for quality issues. The dog treats with the problems are probably not manufactured in the same plant as the cat food and because of the type of treats are much more susceptible to salmonella. So I don't think those issues are any more likely to spill over to canned cat food than any other manufacturer and I still endorse their product. But, at this point, I'm not naive enough to think they're 100% on the up and up. Or that any company is....


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Well, anyways... here was the reply:

Pearled barley was removed from all forms of canned cat food in a couple of years ago. We do not put this ingredient in any of our canned cat food.

California Roll has whole brown rice and Southern Delight has brewer’s rice and these are the only 2 grains in the only 2 foods that contain grains.

Ocean Breeze, Surf-n-Turf, New England Boil, Grammy’s Pot Pie, Cowboy Cookout, Turducken and Thanksgiving Day Dinner do not contain any grains.


I responded back by saying that we have a can in our posssion (because I emailed from the perspective that there are several of us who want answers) with the pearled barley ingredient. We'll see what she says then.

It basically sounds like you have an old can.


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

I wasn't able to check my cans because apparently I am out of Merrick, but I'm going to the store today to pick up more. So I will check then.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I don't have any here at home either. I'll check the date codes when I go into the store tomorrow. I'm pretty sure they're out in 2012 or even 2013. But like I said, shelf life is around 3 years so it's quite possible that there are still tons of the old formula out there.


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

Thank you, MinkaMuffin, for posting what Merrick said. I emailed as well telling them that what I have includes pearled barley. I have not heard from them yet. I guess the cans I bought were the ones before Merrick changed the formula... which means they are old as you said  As long as the expiration dates are 2012 or 2013, it is okay to use them, right? I hope  By noticing a little thing like this, I leaned many things like shelf life! Thank you so much for all the help and information, doodlebug and Saitenyo. I will post what I hear from Merrick when available as well.


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

Ok, looks like the cans of Cowboy Cookout that I picked up today do still list barley on their label. These ones have 2012 expiration dates.

Odd indeed. Since I only feed canned on occasion, I can't tell if that little bit of barley is enough to upset Athena, but so far she doesn't seem to have any issues with it. I'll pay closer attention to her stools next time I feed it.


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

I just wonder when I will see the cans with new formula in the store here.... another 2 to 3 years from now? Or, until I buy all the cans from the store? LOL


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

Here is what Merrick said:

_Thanks for taking the time to e-mail us, pearl barley was removed from_
_all the cat food. This was removed quiet awhile ago, we are in the_
_process of using up old labels. None of the product on the shelves will_
_contain pearled barley. _

So, this means that those cans that I bought are all grain free as well?! If it is, that is great  Next time I hope they take out pearled barley, of course and write "grain-free"  Thank you for all the help to solve this mystery! I am glad that Athena does not have to worry 

EDIT: Oh, wait!!! It says "none of the procust on the shelves *WILL* contain....", this means that the cans I have now still have barley? I am a bit confused or paranoid.....sorry!


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

To answer your first question, yes, it is perfectly fine to use the 'old' 2012 cans.

Hmm, let me know how buying all the cans at the store goes... 

I got an email back as well that says the new cans have the old label but new ingredients. Whether this is actually correct or not, I'm a bit skeptical because both (or it could be the same person) people seem a bit 'slow'.

If you are really worried, why don't you switch to the Before Grain variety? Then you will be guaranteed to be grain-free until they update their labels/ingredients.


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## spockally (Mar 7, 2011)

I agree with you, MinkaMuffin, about them being "slow" and started being skeptical as well. I will let them try Before Grain sometime soon as you suggested. When I shake the cans of Five Star, it sounded like different texture, not pate. Plus, they were on sale  So, I wanted my kitties try. Before Grain sounds good as well, thank you for your suggestion!


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

spockally said:


> I agree with you, MinkaMuffin, about them being "slow" and started being skeptical as well. I will let them try Before Grain sometime soon as you suggested. When I shake the cans of Five Star, it sounded like different texture, not pate. Plus, they were on sale  So, I wanted my kitties try. Before Grain sounds good as well, thank you for your suggestion!


The texture varies between flavors, but yeah, they're slightly chunkier than most traditional pate foods. Cowboy Cookout is more of a soft mushy blended variety (not as solid as pate) and some of the other flavors (like the turkey ones I believe) are slightly chunky. It's like somewhere between pate and chunky foods.

The BG is definitely pate though. Hopefully your kitties enjoy that one! Mine seem to love it.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

So...the cans I have in the store expire in April of 2012. Who knows what formula they are since they admitted to using the old labels, for who knows how long. 

As I said above, you can never completely trust the food companies...


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

saitenyo said:


> The BG is definitely pate though. Hopefully your kitties enjoy that one! Mine seem to love it.


The cans of BG I have are not pate, they are more... minced I guess.
Don't tell me there is a difference there too... X___X


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

doodlebug said:


> So...the cans I have in the store expire in April of 2012. Who knows what formula they are since they admitted to using the old labels, for who knows how long.


If you contact the company and give them the numbers off the cans, would they tell you?


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

MinkaMuffin said:


> The cans of BG I have are not pate, they are more... minced I guess.
> Don't tell me there is a difference there too... X___X


Really? That's odd. Mine have always been just standard pate mush-in-a-can. The flavors I've fed are chicken, turkey, and quail...maybe some of the other flavors are different?

Or maybe I am confused on terminology. Pate is the typical soft canned food texture that basically molds to the shape of the can, right? While non-pate foods are chunkier with more texture/large pieces/flakes?


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

^^That's correct.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

saitenyo said:


> Really? That's odd. Mine have always been just standard pate mush-in-a-can. The flavors I've fed are chicken, turkey, and quail...maybe some of the other flavors are different?
> 
> Or maybe I am confused on terminology. Pate is the typical soft canned food texture that basically molds to the shape of the can, right? While non-pate foods are chunkier with more texture/large pieces/flakes?


Does your food really not look like this? Kind of a hamburger minced texture? This is Before Grain Chicken.


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## saitenyo (Nov 28, 2010)

MinkaMuffin said:


> Does your food really not look like this? Kind of a hamburger minced texture? This is Before Grain Chicken.


Hmm, yeah I guess when I mix it up it sometimes does. It's just so soft and finely ground that I assumed that qualified as pate, but now that I think about it, I guess it is rougher than standard pate.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

saitenyo said:


> Hmm, yeah I guess when I mix it up it sometimes does. It's just so soft and finely ground that I assumed that qualified as pate, but now that I think about it, I guess it is rougher than standard pate.


yea, I think its a mix of the two. Straight pate is more of solidified goo. ...xD


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

So I just opened a can of BG Turkey and its definetely pate. Now I'm really confused. X___X


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## yellowdaisies (Jan 25, 2011)

Minka - does it say 100% or 96% on the can? I've accidentally bought 100% before (our cats will not TOUCH it), and as I recall the texture was less pate-like than the 96%. 

Our BG is definitely pate, and I've tried all kinds, although we've settled into turkey, chicken, salmon, and quail (their favorite) now. It's a looser pate than Wellness though, for sure. If that makes sense, haha.

And, thanks everyone for the Merrick info! I had no idea some of their regular flavors do not contain grains. I am always looking for chunkier foods for Lily, since she seems to not be too fond of pate foods these days...


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

All of my cans say 96%.
I'll open another chicken tomorrow, but the last one I opened was definitely hamburger like texture and not 'goo in a can' texture.
I think it might be possible that Before Grain has different textures... ?? idk X___X


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