If you have ever been to a local pet shop or checked online for pet foods, then you must have seen the black & white cottage theme logo on the wraps of the popular Fromm dog and cat foods or the five-star logo of the beautifully wrap dog and cat foods of the Merrick brand.
Fromm and Merrick two pet food brands that bring excitement and unforgettable experiences to the homes of new and old pet parents who patronize their products for their cats and dogs.
While the Fromm brand offer bundles of deliciousness packed in state of the art designed bags and cans with great nutrition to meet the nutritional needs of your pets, the Merrick brand offers a fountain of irresistible delight that leaves your dog and cats happy, healthy and fit.
As much as these brands both offer great value for your pets health and satisfaction, let us compare them to know which is a better fit for your furry family member.
So how do we do this? Stick with us through this article and we will show you how to pick the most suitable brands for your pet by comparing various parameter mentioned in the guaranteed analysis section.
After you are done with this awesome comparison check out Fromm and Merrick here to see the different flavors and pricing.
Contents:
- 🤔 Fromm vs Merrick FAQ
- ⚖️ Fromm and Merrick Pros and Cons
- 😻 Types Of Pet Food
- 🥕 Nutritional Value Comparison
- 💰 Price Comparison
- 🤤 Ingredients and Flavors
- 🏡 About Fromm and Merrick
- 🙀 Product Safety and Recalls through History
- 🏆 Fromm Vs Merrick: And the winner goes to…
🤔 Fromm vs Merrick FAQ
What is guaranteed analysis?
The concept of guaranteed analysis on pet food products is to assure purchasers of the precise nutrient content of each consumable. Emphasized by AAFCO, guaranteed analysis by food labels must meet certain requirements such as an exact value for the minimum percentage of crude protein and fat, as well as the maximum percentages of crude fiber and moisture on the basis of dry matter obtained. All of the percentages that I use in this comparison are averages of dry matter basis. Learn about dry matter basis here.
Which one has more protein?
The Merrick brand guarantees 8.47% more protein for dog foods and 4.70% more protein for cat foods than the Fromm brand. Whereas Fromm also meets optimum levels of protein.
Which one is cheaper?
The meals of Merrick brand are more expensive than the meals of the Fromm brand while the wet cat meals are cheaper.
Which one has more flavor?
The Merrick brand offers 206 different flavors for all meals type while the Fromm brand offers 84 flavors for all meal type except cat treats.
Which one has received more recalls?
Check out the current prices, recipes and flavors for Fromm and Merrick
⚖️ Fromm and Merrick Pros and Cons
Fromm Pros:
Fromm Cons:
Merrick Pros:
Merrick Cons:
😻 Types Of Pet Food
| Product (Dog Food) | Fromm | Merrick |
| Dry Food | 29 recipes | 37 recipes |
| Wet Food | 21 recipes | 65 recipes |
| Treats | 10 treats | 38 treats |
| Product (Cat Food) | ||
| Dry Food | 12 recipes | 13 recipes |
| Wet Food | 12 recipes | 51 recipes |
| Treats | ❌ | 2 treats |
| 😻 See all Fromm recipes | 😻 See all Merrick recipes |
Both brand offer a wide variety of recipes and treats for our furry companions. The Merrick brand offers a total of 102 recipes of dog foods, 64 recipes of cat foods and 40 treats for dog and cats together while the Fromm brand offers 50 recipes of dog foods, 24 recipes of cat foods, 10 dog treats with no treat for cats.
🥕 Nutritional Value Comparison
A common term when dealing with nutritional content of pet food is “ guaranteed analysis”. This piece of data is displayed on every pet food packaging as mandated by regulatory bodies.
The guaranteed analysis is a summary of the minimum and maximum percentages of all the nutrient contained in a pet food and this is a mandatory requirement of every pet food manufacturer by the AAFCO. With this analysis, you can be sure to purchase the pet food that best suits your pets’ nutritional needs.
The table below compares the protein, fat and fibre content of the Fromm brand versus the Merrick brand.
| Fromm | Protein(dry) | Protein(wet) | Fat (dry) | Fat(wet) | Fiber (dry) | Fiber (wet) |
| Dog | 28.7% | 41.1% | 16.6% | 21.9% | 6.6% | 6.3% |
| Cat | 37.5% | 45.1% | 19.2% | 24.4% | 5.3% | 6.4% |
| Merrick | ||||||
| Dog | 37.2% | 43.7% | 16.8% | 20.3% | 4.3% | 8.6% |
| Cat | 42.2% | 46.5% | 15.8% | 21.6% | 5.1% | 5.9% |
| 🥕 See more Fromm info | 🥕 See more Merrick info |
Protein
Dogs, cats and other carnivorous animals use the essential amino acids derived from protein for cell and tissue growth and maintenance as well as several metabolic functions. Proteins of animal origin are termed complete because they contain all eleven essential amino acids require by cats and dogs.
Taurine is an amino acid not usually required or found in dog foods but it is a major amino acid required for cat’s vision, reproduction and heart functioning.
Fat
Pet foods use either animal fats or plant seed oils as a source of fatty acids. This nutrient supplies twice the amount of energy that carbohydrate or protein will provide.
The essential fatty acids gotten from these fat based nutrients are used to repair and maintain healthy fur and skin, protect organs and produce specific hormones, insulate pets’ body and much more.
There is no significant difference between the fat content of Fromm pet food and Merrick pet foods from the table given above.
Carbohydrates
Carbs are the energy giving nutrient of a pet’s diet that is required for every body building function in dogs and cats, thus pets need a continuous supply of this nutrient. It supplies the fibre content of a pet’s food that enhances a health digestive system. Carbs are broken down by enzymes to glucose which is needed for brain and muscle enhancement.
When our pets continuously lack carbs in their meals, they easily lose weight and appetite and subsequently, fatigue and other stress related symptoms may result.
The fibre content of both brands are slightly different, with the Fromm pet foods guaranteeing 2.35% more fibre than the Merrick pet food.
Water
Every pet must be provided with adequate amount water every day and on every meal not just because two-third of their bodies is made up of water but because they need water for every process and function in their body.
💰 Price Comparison
The pet food market is dynamic and always evolving so it is not so easy keeping track of the prices of your favorite pet food brand while comparing them with new ones introduced into the market on a daily basis.
Pet food price comparison can be both tricky and stressful especially when you are on a budget and cannot accommodate any additional expenses.
Both dry and wet foods contain moisture so how do you calculate and actually pay for the dry matter of the pet food.
If this unanswered question is hampering your ability to choose between Fromm and Merrick pet foods, then you are in luck. Using both the cost per calorie and cost per pound metrics, we have compared the cost of both brands and recommend using the cost per calorie metrics.
| Dog Food | Fromm (Dry) | Fromm (Wet) | Merrick (dry) | Merrick (wet) |
| Per pound | $2.37 | $4.08 | $5.84 | $4.54 |
| Per calorie | $0.0014 | $0.0099 | $0.0034 | $0.0104 |
| Cat Food | Fromm (Dry) | Fromm (Wet) | Merrick (dry) | Merrick (wet) |
| Per pound | $3.75 | $6.61 | $7.74 | $5.69 |
| Per Calorie | $0.0020 | $0.0145 | $0.0045 | $0.0123 |
| 💰 See the best Fromm prices | 💰 See the best Merrick |
🤤 Ingredients and Flavors
Do you know that pets actually detect the flavor of their food using both their sense of smell and taste? Do you also know that over 70% of their ability to taste comes from their sense of smell?
Mouth-feel often times described as the smell and texture of a pet’s food determines the likelihood of consumption of that food by a dog or cat.
Fromm
The Fromm brand uses biologically specialize ingredients like flaxseed, chicken, brown and white rice, oat meal, dried whole egg, chicken meal, barley, lamb, menhaden fish meal, chicken liver, salmon oil, cheese, celery, potato, minerals, vitamins and others that gives the ever irresistible flavors of all 84 recipes.
Some controversial ingredients used are dried tomato pomace, white rice, garlic powder, liver and beet pulp. The ingredient all have their nutritional value but they are termed controversial because of the adverse effect they could have on dogs and cats if an in-apposite amount is used during recipes formulations.
Popular flavors
- Salmon and Chicken pate
- Pork and peas
- Shredded beef in gravy
- Chicken and Salmon
- Chicken and Duck
Merrick
Two hundred and six flavor is a lot to manage but the Merrick brand is one brand that does not compromise its pet food quality. It uses natural ingredients with any additives or fillers and they include deboned fish and chicken, sweet potato, brown rice, green pea, salmon oil, apples and blueberries, flaxseed, chicken fat, turkey and chicken meal, potato, natural flavor, and some chelated minerals and vitamins.
Merrick pet food manufacturers use six controversial ingredients, powdered cellulose, canola oil preserved in tocopherols, caramel color, garlic, meaty femur bone and canola oil.
Popular flavors
- Texas beef and sweet potato formula
- Morsel in Gravy
- Beef, Whitefish, and Chicken
- Venison and chickpea formula
Check out the current Fromm and Merrick recipes here
🏡 About Fromm and Merrick
Fromm Information
This is a privately owned brand dedicated to producing high quality dog and cat foods. The brand is owned and managed by Fromm Family Foods LLC situated in Wisconsin, United States. It has production plants in Columbus and Mequon and has three product line of dog foods, Fromm Family Classic, Fromm Four-Star Nutritionals and Fromm Gold Nutritionals.
Highly recommended and sort after formulas of the brand include Fromm Gold Holistic, Heartland Gold grain-free, Weight management gold, reduced activity and senior gold, gold coast weight management formula, and others.
Merrick Information
This is one of the leading brands that manufactures some of the best recipes for dogs and cats. The brand was founded by Garth Merrick in 1988 at his family ranch in Texas, United States. It was owned by Merrick Pet Care until 2015 when Nestle Purina Pet Company acquired it.
Pet foods of this brand are manufactured in Texas but its distribution network cuts across different continent. Popular recipes of Merrick are Merrick Classic, Merrick Grain-free, Merrick Limited ingredient diet, Merrick Backcountry, Merrick Backcountry Raw and the Merrick Treats.
🙀 Product Safety and Recalls through History
Companies make scheduled recalls on products that may have a foreseen defect or safety issues. The importance of a recall is to conduct further safety tests in order to effect changes to
Fromm Recalls
- March 14th, 2016 – Wrong minerals and vitamins
Merrick Recalls
- Jan. 28th, 2011 – Salmonella sp risk
- Aug. 8th, 2011 – Salmonella sp risk
- July 2nd, 2010 – Salmonella sp risk
- Aug. 3rd, 2010 – Salmonella sp risk
- Aug. 13th, 2010 – Salmonella sp risk
- May 23rd, 2018 – Increase concentration of beef thyroid hormone
🏆 Fromm Vs Merrick: And the winner goes to…
If you are comfortable throwing in a few extra dollars to purchase quality pet food from a renowned brands and to make your furry family members happy and healthy then Merrick pet food should be your choice brand. Fromm pet food brand is budget friendly with only one recall and guarantees high quality ingredients and nutrients in all its eight-four recipes which is great as well, however, our winner for this comparison special is Merrick.
| If you want | Then you should choose |
| Higher levels of protein | Merrick |
| A cost effective option | Fromm |
| A wider variety of flavors and ingredients | Merrick |
| Safety, based on number of recalls | Fromm |
| A balanced diet for all age levels | Merrick |
References:
https://www.merrickpetcare.com/why-merrick/compare-merrick-to-competitors
