Merrick Pet Care

Merrick Pet Care Profile

Setting the Stage

We are a family-owned company that got into to the petcare business by accident. We created some prototype treats for a potential account and made the trip to "pitch" them. The account picked a handful of them and placed an order. Of course, when we went to make duplicates of the prototype, we couldn't get it done.

Eighteen years later, we still keep working harder to perfect the treats that dogs have come to love. For the past couple of years, our treats have been ranked as the number two best-selling treat in pet stores across the U.S. by a Pet Retailer Report - so, our guess is that we do have some fans.

The secret to our products is the simplistic approach we take in making them. We are a simple processor, meaning that we use the least amount of steps as possible during our manufacturing process. We want to retain as much of the natural benefits as we can. We do that by staying away from any artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. We believe that this approach keeps our treats popular with our customers and their guardians. We only distribute our treats to the specialty pet retailer channel, and have been doing that since the beginning.

A Bump in the Night

In 2002, we started working on a gourmet line of pet foods that came with a bump in the night. I couldn't sleep and so I went out and started working, and the ideas started flowing. The product names and recipes that you have come to love all came from a scratch sheet of paper in the early morning hours. We took these ideas and began working on a line of pet foods that would rival the best in the world. We worked with our nutritionist, research and development team - and the rest is history. We launched these products in October of 2003 with eight unique dog entrees. We now offer fifteen different gourmet excursions; however, Grammy's Pot Pie is still the favorite. We use human grade ingredients along with fresh fruits, vegetables and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. We now offer a can line of gourmet entrees as well which recently were featured in none other than Gourmet Magazine.

After our dog and cat can debuts, we introduced a dry dog food line. We started with six different entrees and recently converted our chicken- based dry selections to organic chicken at no extra cost to you, our consumer. We created a dry product that was as unique as our can entrees. We added freeze-dried vegetables and fruits after the kibble- cooking process. This is unique because most pet foods add the vegetables and fruits, if any, during the cooking process. We add ours after the cooking process so that your dog gets the optimal benefit of these nutritious ingredients in their flash freeze-dried state. The best thing about health food for dogs is the benefits of a healthy diet . Healthy food doesn't have to taste bad, though. We created a natural gravy coating that we add to our kibble for delicious flavor. This allows you to add warm water and stir to create a savory homestyle gravy, just like Grammy used to make. If you don't want to add warm water, your dog will still thank you as they dine on our kibble, due to the fact that natural gravy will be made on their tongue as they enjoy their healthy lifestyle.

"Comfort for the Soul"

Our mission statement is "Comfort for the Soul," and we do that by offering you simple, nutritious and healthy products. You want to be a good pet guardian and our products give you comfort to know that you are giving your pet a healthy meal and treat. We feel the same way because we are pet guardians just like you. In fact, we don't have just dogs and cats, we currently have llamas, ducks, chickens, emus, zonkeys (that's right a cross between a donkey and a zebra), goats, koi and longhorns. When my father started our treat company, he put the following scripture from the Bible on our boxes, and we still display this Proverb today; "A good man is concerned for the welfare of his animals." I don't know many people who could argue with that, and we feel the same way. Knowing we are committed to this verse is "Comfort for the Soul".