# Nails found in Merrick Dog Food



## Jacksons Mom (Jun 13, 2010)

Report of Nails in Merrick Dog Food

A pet owner contacted TruthaboutPetFood.com when he received no response from Petco or Merrick after finding many small nails in Merrick Dog Food. Merrick has since contacted the pet owner. Here's the story...

On August 19, 2012 the following message was sent to Merrick Pet Food and Petco by the pet owner...


To whom it may concern,

Recently I noticed a 3/4 Brad Nail in our dog food bowl, not being able to make any sense of where it had come I removed it and disposed of it. Then not to long after I found the same sized Brad Nail on the floor near his food bowl. Again with some concerns I still could not comprehend where this other one had come from. Unknown to me, my wife had discovered the same type of Brad Nail in the dogs food but she had also dismissed the incident until we happened to be speaking about dog food and we both mentioned the finding.

Since then upon feeding our dog we have paid more attention when we poured the dog food into the bowl and found that on two other occasion the presence of 3/4 Brad Nail. These Brad Nails go undetected between the grains of the dry dog food and the steel colored bowl, but once we knew what we where looking for they have been easy to spot.

On August 15th on my last discovery I became seriously concerned and called our local Petco on 9717 Roosevelt Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19114-1010 to inform and inquire if anyone else had reported such a case. After explaining to the manager what had transpired who showed an air of indifference, she was able to track down our purchase through the Petco member account. The results showed that on July 21 we had indeed purchased item 001368095 Mer-Dog (Merrick)30# 5s WIL $46.98 Regular price $62.99 along several other items. Our name or phone number was never asked and as of this email we have not heard from the Pecto manager.

Since then, with the uncertainty that our dog may have already swallowed some of these Brad Nails, we have disposed of the remaining Merrick dog food and replaced with a 30# XXXX purchased at Pet Smart. We hope and pray that because of his large size and with the possibility that we may have caught what may have been the beginning of the appearance of the Brad Nails because of the consumption of the dog food there is no effect on him.

We are not only concerned for the welfare of our pet Cooper but for others that may ingest several unexpected Brad Nails, causing severe health damage or death. The same letter will be forwarded to the Merrick dog food manufactures.

Sincerely,

Merrick responded to this pet owner - 2 days after the first email was sent - stating "is a very isolated incident and that we have not had any other issues such as this reported."


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

I know there are people who would say, it's just a nail but i think it's disgusting. I realize things happen but that's not good enough for me. Glad I don't feed Merrick.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I'm not a big fan of merrick, I think they've had issues in the past where people found pull tabs in their canned food, but honestly this letter sounds a bit fishy. It looks like some of the kibble pieces are colored and merrick doesn't use artificial coloring. Also no mention whether the owner took the dog to the vet for x rays.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

Unosmom said:


> I'm not a big fan of merrick, I think they've had issues in the past where people found pull tabs in their canned food, but honestly this letter sounds a bit fishy. It looks like some of the kibble pieces are colored and merrick doesn't use artificial coloring. Also no mention whether the owner took the dog to the vet for x rays.


Agree. Always take things like this with a big grain of salt.


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## Jacksons Mom (Jun 13, 2010)

I was wondering about the kibble, but they do have a really crappy kibble as well... so did not know what that looked like, or if they ever still sell it.

It was a food called Beef N More.


Ingredients:
Beef, Ground Yellow Corn, Beef and Bone Meal, Wheat, Wheat Middlings, Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Animal Fat, Flaxseed, Yeast Culture, Fish Meal , Salt, Potassium Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Dried Whole Whey, Vitamin E, Manganese Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Beta Carotene, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Proteinate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pytidoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Proteinate, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenate.

Regardless of if this is true or not though (I do agree - need to take one story with a grain of salt on the internet).... I still think they have horrible QC. The CEO of Merrick also owns a rendering plant at the same location as the pet food plant apparently.


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## nupe (Apr 26, 2011)

Nails??....I mean really?...never will use any Merrick product now, love this forum the info is great.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

Doesn't surprise me, people find all sorts of weird things in their canned foods from what I hear.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

here's a response from Merrick on facebook:



> We take pet health very seriously, and our No. 1 priority is to ensure that we are doing everything we can to help in the care and well-being of pet family members. After receiving this report earlier this week, we conducted a thorough investigation and found that it would be virtually impossible for the nails shown in the photo to have entered the bag during our production process given our safety measures and quality controls, and that the product in the photo does not appear to be from Merrick. Our manufacturing processes have numerous safeguards in place to prevent the potential for metals, including those much smaller than the nails in the photo, to enter the dry dog food we produce. The kibble in our Merrick 5 Star line is round and larger rather than the triangular shape of the product shown in the photo.
> 
> We have been in touch with the customer for several days, with the common goal of ensuring Cooper's health and safety. We appreciate everyone's concern, and are committed to seeing that our customers are happy and feel supported.


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## stajbs (Jun 5, 2010)

Well this is just jim dandy, and then there was the Bil-Jac recall today too. Been spreading the word on our dog groups on FB, and now I see the Brad Nail thing too. Back to FB to inform. Thanks for the info. Hope your dog will be ok.


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## Savage Destiny (Mar 16, 2011)

Seems a bit fishy that the kibble isn't even the correct shape...


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## nupe (Apr 26, 2011)

i HAVE A 4 year old male doberman....and not sure of Merrick...but I do believe canidae is ALS ((their grain free line is called "Pure')....so good for puppy and adult dogs. and Lets see tha pic of that Dobie you have!!!!!


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