There are so many dog foods available in the market offering a wide range of products based on your dog’s needs, taste as well as in a range of price to match how much you are willing to pay. In today Merrick vs Orijen article, we are going to give you more information regarding these two brands from the product variants to the ingredients they used to made their foods, so you can pick which is more preferable for you.
In this article we are going to give you information about:
– What are Merrick and Orijen
– What Merrick and Orijen can offer to you
– What Merrick and Orijen are made of
– Merrick vs Orijen
About Merrick
Merrick is a well-known brand that has been around since 1988. The brand offer both dog and cat foods that was made from wholesome recipes use USDA-inspected deboned meat and fresh produce for high level of protein, glucosamine and chondroitin. The company also handcrafted their food in their Texas manufactory with ingredients from trusted farmers. If you are looking for a high quality food for your pet that will be able to support their healthy life, the brand may provide what you need.
Merrick Food Variants
Just like many other brands out there, Merrick also offer a wide range of foods. The company differentiate their foods in several product lines; Grain Free, Backcountry, Backcountry Raw, Limited Ingredients Diet, Classic, Wet Foods, and Treats. All of these food lines are made with different combination of ingredients to match the food’s purpose. For example, the limited ingredients don’t use allergen triggering ingredients, such as grain, corn or soy, so it is safe for sensitive dogs.
Classic is your regular dog food that was made with deboned meat as the main ingredient, Grain Free is just like its name is made without grain to provide high level of quality protein, Backcountry use the recipe inspired by ancestral canine diet, Backcountry Raw is made with freeze-dried raw pieces for tasty protein that can be served as it is or as mixers to kibble as well as for treats.
Merrick Ingredients
Since Merrick has so many foods, we are only going to pick some of them and try to see what they are made of. The first food we are choosing is Grain Free in Real Texas Beef and Sweet Potato recipe for adult dog. This food is made with various ingredients, the top ones are deboned beef, lamb meal, sweet potatoes, peas, potatoes, potato protein, natural flavor, pea protein, pork fat, and flaxseed oil. It contains 38% crude protein, 15% crude fat, 3.5% crude fiber, 0.35% omega 3, and 3.5% omega 6.
The second food we are picking comes from Limited Ingredients Diet in Real Lamb and Sweet Potato recipe for adult dog. This food is made from single source of animal protein and limited natural ingredients for sensitive dogs. Even though it says as limited, this recipe is also made with various ingredients, the tops being deboned lamb, lamb meal, sweet potatoes, peas, potatoes, pea protein, sunflower oil, natural flavor, organic alfalfa, and minerals. It contains 25% crude protein, 13% crude fat, 3.5% crude fiber, 0,3% omega 3, and 3% omega 6.
About Orijen
Orijen is another well-known dog food brand in the market. This brand is actually at the same house with Acana, which is why their appearance/packaging design are very similar. The company claims their food use a philosophy called Biologically Appropriate that designed to nourish and keeping up with your pet evolutionary adaptation to fresh meat and protein-rich diets. Unlike some conventional pet foods manufacturers out there, the company purchase their ingredients from farmers in the same region to ensure its freshness.
Orijen Food Variants
Similar like most of pet food brands out there, Orijen also divided their foods depend on the product lines mainly base on the ingredients combination. Those lines are Original, Fit and Trim, Tundra, Regional Red Freeze-dried, Regional Red, Six Fish and Treats. All of these food are made to meet each categories purposes to deliver the best possible food for your dogs. They also made food for different life stage from puppy to senior as well as large breed puppy. Read also: Orijen vs Acana here.
Classic is the regular food that is made with fresh free-run chicken and turkey and suitable for all life stages, Fit and Trim is intended for overweight dogs with soluble fibers, Tundra is made with goat, wild boar, and venison to nourish your dog according to their evolutionary and biological needs, Regional Red is made with several fresh whole animal ingredients and suitable for all life stages.
Regional Red Freeze-dried is made with gently freeze-dried ingredients to give your dog the nourishment with a great taste, and the Six Fish is made with whole and wild caught fish from Vancouver Island’s pacific waters.
Orijen Ingredients
Since there are so many of them, in this article we will only going to pick some of them to see what they are made of. The first food is Original, which is made with various ingredients, such as deboned chicken, deboned turkey, yellow-tail flounder, whole eggs, whole Atlantic mackerel, chicken liver, turkey liver, chicken heart, and many more. It also contains 38% crude protein, 18% crude fat, 4% crude fiber, 0.8% omega 3, and 3.3% omega 6.
The second food that we are going to pick is the Regional Red Freeze-Dried Food, which is made with angus beef, wild boar, lamb, whole herring, bison, beef liver, spinach, pea fiber, lamb liver, pork liver, beef heart, lamb heart, beer tripe, and many more. It contains 36% crude protein, 35% crude fat, 5% crude fiber, 1.1% omega 3, and 2.5% omega 6.
Comparison
Now, let’s compare Merrick with Orijen. Both of them come with a wide range of food but Merrick offers more options as well as the recipe taste. From the nutrient content, they are in par and some may higher or lower depend on what recipe/type of foods you are choosing. They also has grain-free foods for sensitive dogs.
Merrick vs Orijen
| Merrick | Orijen |
|---|---|
| - Has more food options | - Has lesser food options |
| - More affordable | - Less affordable |
| - Contains lesser protein in average | - Contains more crude protein in average |
Conclusion
All in all, the decision is all yours to make. In our opinion, both brands are as good and you can pick whichever seems to be more convenience for you. However, taking the price into consideration, Merrick is far more affordable than Orijen, so in this article, we will recommend you Merrick that has the similar quality but less expensive.