# New Merrick food...Purfect Bistro



## MB70 (Apr 1, 2012)

Looks like Merrick has a new line of food, not sure if it's going to replace the Before Grain line ( hope not, the Turkey canned is our Inky's favorite). Just passing along the info :wiggle
Merrick Pet Care Our Products


----------



## Zilla (Oct 29, 2012)

Looks like its the same thing just some different dry foods.... I hope the cans arnt going up in price... I want to buy a case...


----------



## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

The cans went WAY up on doggiefood.com. They're charging about the same for a case of the small cans as they were charging for the larger ones just last month.


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

For the Before Grain? Oh no... sounds like if I can I better stock up on the quail.


----------



## Zilla (Oct 29, 2012)

marie73 said:


> The cans went WAY up on doggiefood.com. They're charging about the same for a case of the small cans as they were charging for the larger ones just last month.


That's a definite bummer.... I was really hoping to start buying them on a regular because my kids seem to really like them...  darn... Guess I'll stick with the Fussie Cat 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Some of the original Merrick flavors are staying with new labeling (grammy's, turducken, thanksgiving, surf & turf, and cowboy I think are it) and a bunch of new flavors are being introduced. Haven't heard anything about BG going away, but that doesn't mean anything.

My wholesale pricing appears to be going up 5-6% so that's not huge from my perspective and they haven't had a price increase in quite a while (at least a year).


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

I was at the pet store today, I grabbed some BFF on sale at 1.19 and some Go! on sale at 1.39, and got the last 12 tins of BG quail... they didn't have any cases which is too bad since that would've made it 1.49 a tin instead of 1.59. But when I asked about it the clerk said none of their stores had any cases and their supplier didn't have any either. Whatever that means... he mentioned it could mean they're discontinued.


----------



## MB70 (Apr 1, 2012)

Just looking at their website, looks like the BG line is going away. They are keeping the dry chicken and salmon around during the transition. Guess I'll go clean out my local store of the BG turkey cans this week. Grrr, why do these companies change formulas!! Guess they weren't big sellers??


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

There are two pages to the Before Grain list, on the first is the dry food plus the tins of beef and chicken and on the second is all the other wet food tins.

I find it hard to believe it's not a big seller. The beef, if I recall right, is one of the lowest wet foods in prosperous so anyone with a cat that needs lower prosperous food would be interested in it if they've done their research, and the quail (obviously I'm biased since it's just about the only thing Blaze eats) but it's the only company I know of with a quail food. Surely that's got a novelty value from people wanting to branch out from the norm or wanting to try different types of foods if their cat has allergies.


----------



## MB70 (Apr 1, 2012)

These are the 2 pages on their site with info and FAQ....

Merrick Purrfect Bistro - Merrick Pet Care

New Recipes for Cat | Merrick Premium Natural Dog & Cat Food


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Ah, I see what you mean... what a total let down.  Looks like I have the last 12 tins of it I'll get. Poor Blaze, that pretty much relegates him to Friskies. Unless it's only talking about the dry foods of Before Grain?

*Will Merrick be keeping its Before Grain products?*

Merrick is keeping two flavors of the Before Grain Dry Cat Food that will be available at independent pet specialty stores during the transition: Before Grain Chicken #1 and Before Grain Salmon #2. We will provide suggested new recipes based on your cat's current eating habits and the best way to transition to Purrfect Bistro recipes.


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Oh, never mind. I scrolled down one of the those pages. I see they're suggesting the duck Bistro if the cat previously liked the quail.

Duck =/= quail. Blaze has turned his nose up at the EVO duck, I doubt I'd get a better reaction with other duck products.


----------



## MB70 (Apr 1, 2012)

Merrick did this with their dog food line not long ago, but kept the 96% canned foods. Not sure why they'd stop them for cats. Frustrating when you find a good food your cat loves and then it changes or goes away, glad I feed a big variety of brands.


----------



## Zilla (Oct 29, 2012)

I wonder of this means stores are going to push out the old product at a real cheap price..... I better go to my feed store tomorrow... I will gladly snatch a few BG cans at a cheap price... 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## RockyandLily (Aug 2, 2012)

I cannot wait until they roll out the new line. I wanted more flavors anyways . I keep telling my Mom that maybe, if we're lucky, we'll be at Petco when they have them on clearance.


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

But there aren't more flavors, there's less. They're eliminating the Before Grain and Merrick's lines of food.

Instead of 6 Before Grain wet foods and 2 dry foods, and 12 wet foods in the Merrick line, we'll have 5 dry foods and 7 wet foods in the Purfect Bistro line. That's it.


----------



## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

There are 16 canned foods in the Purrfect Bistro line.


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Oh, you're right!  Well, that's not bad. I still want quail... *sigh*


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

To continue on my quail rampage, I contacted Merrick about it out of curiosity, they said it was being discontinued because of limited quail resources and product demand as the reasons. Still a little baffled, it gets very positive reviews online.

I went to another store and their supplier has some, so I ordered two cases... about enough for Blaze to eat it once a week for the next year. I may order more later if there's still some around in a few weeks, I don't know how long it will remain in stock with suppliers.


----------



## Zilla (Oct 29, 2012)

Quail rampage... :lol: poor Blaze. Well I hope you find something else he likes  I can't think of any other cans with quail... I literally think that was the only one 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Yeah, there are quite a few with rarer protein sources like duck or venison but that was the only quail I know of as well.

Blaze mostly only eats fish foods now, and even then it depends on the brand. That's why I really liked the quail and chicken BG, not only is it a good food, but it's change from constant fish.


----------



## MB70 (Apr 1, 2012)

The ingredients in the new foods don't look too bad, although very different from the BG cans. They added salmon oil which is good for kitties but why alfalfa? I've read mixed things about this ingredient...anyone have any thoughts?


----------



## Zilla (Oct 29, 2012)

Carmel said:


> Yeah, there are quite a few with rarer protein sources like duck or venison but that was the only quail I know of as well.
> 
> Blaze mostly only eats fish foods now, and even then it depends on the brand. That's why I really liked the quail and chicken BG, not only is it a good food, but it's change from constant fish.


Evangers has some pheasant cans.... I don't know if that would be similar or not... Have you tried the Fussie Cat Chicken n Veg with Blaze?? My two LOVE that one... I can get it for only 17 a case where I'm at. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Blakeney Green (Jan 15, 2013)

I'm not happy to hear about this. BG is one of the main brands I have in rotation. 

I don't like the formulas of the new line as well.

Like you, Caramel, I'm particularly disappointed about the quail. My cats really like it, and there's nothing else I can find on the market that uses it. They can live without it, but it's a shame to see a potential source of protein variety disappear. 

I guess if it's too hard to source, it's too hard to source... I'm not mad about it, I'm just sorry for my cats' sake that they had to make this choice.


----------



## Zilla (Oct 29, 2012)

Primal makes a frozen quail nugget... That's all I see :lol: 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Thanks so much for the suggestions!  I've never seen Evangers in stores around here, so I've never had a chance to try it. Pheasant does sound interesting. I'll have to ask about it in the future! The same goes for Fussie Cat, I can't say I've seen it stocked but I'll ask about it too. While I'm at it I might as well ask about Hound & Gatos, I've been interested in buying their pork. It might be the only cat food with pork... 

The good news is, anything Blaze doesn't eat (most things unless they're fish... stubborn old cat) I can always pass off to Jasper. :lol:

I'm not mad about it either, just disappointed it wasn't a viable option for them to continue, it did seem popular from people that had given it to their cats.

I'm entertaining the idea of tracking down a quail to feed raw to see what happens.Or even if I cook it and use it as a food topper... Blaze still goes crazy for any real cooked meat. Haven't had luck with raw yet, but maybe he'd like a quail.


----------



## Zilla (Oct 29, 2012)

Yea evangers is a good price... They have pheasant game meat cans and then another called holistic pheasant dinner.... Since you say he likes fish have you ever tried Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Lamburini? It's actually lamb but I think it has fish broth so it smells fishy. Maybe he would eat that? Just so he's not eating fish all the time?


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

The Evanger's Game Meat is not nutritionally complete, but the dinner is. Just something to keep in mind.

A word of caution...feeding every protein source available, even in rotation, may create a big problem if your cat ever develops a digestive issue like IBD. Variety doesn't necessarily prevent that from happening. So stay away from a few of the more unique proteins to have something in reserve in case you need it.


----------



## MB70 (Apr 1, 2012)

I went into my local pet store to try to get another case of BG and they were gone, replaced with the new line of Purrfect Bistro. I bought a bunch of Turkey pate and Chicken pate, wowsa does our Inky love these!! Price went up 10 cents a can, not bad. Texture is smooth pate with more liquid (broth, gravy whatever it is )than BG. Hope this helps someone :catmilk


----------

