Overall, Merrick Lil' Plates Grain Free Dainty Duck Medley is an above average dog food, earning 7 out of a possible 10 paws based on its nutritional analysis and ingredient list.
When evaluating a dog food, the first five ingredients can tell you a lot about the quality of a product as they make up the bulk of the product. Ideally, you're looking for quality protein sources with a minimum of cheap starches, fillers or by-products. Continuing down the ingredient list, look for ingredients that resemble real food with a minimal number of unpronounceable chemicals - the same as you would for human food.
Merrick Lil' Plates Grain Free Dainty Duck Medley includes the following:
Note - a bolded ingredient in the above tables indicates it is one of the first five ingredients listed by the product manufacturer.
In this case, Merrick Lil' Plates Grain Free Dainty Duck Medley's most plentiful ingredient listed is deboned duck, which is considered a quality protein source. It also contains chicken liver and deboned chicken as additional quality protein sources.Additionally, it's worth noting that this product does not list either by-products nor bulk-adding fillers within its top ingredients. By-products are considered inferior, lesser quality ingredients. Common fillers typically used to add bulk to the product are not required in your dog's diet. Together, their combined absence may be indicative of a higher quality product.
Please also be aware that this product contains guar gum, which is an additive that some experts claim may be a possible contributor to certain medical conditions in dogs.
Allergen alert: This product contains dried egg whites which may be problematic for dogs who suffer from eggs food allergies.
Compared to the other 1160 dog foods in our database, Merrick Lil' Plates Grain Free Dainty Duck Medley has:
Using the calculations provided by the AAFCO, Merrick Lil' Plates Grain Free Dainty Duck Medley has approximately 76 calories per 100g (21 calories/ounce), which is compared to the average of the other wet dog foods in the DogFoodDB.
All the product information on this page is based on data collected from the manufacturer's product website as retrieved on April 23, 2017.
Ingredients as published by the dog food manufacturer:
Deboned Duck, Duck Broth, Chicken Broth, Chicken Liver, Deboned Chicken, Dried Egg Whites, Potato Starch, Potatoes, Carrots, Peas, Guar Gum, Tricalcium Phosphate, Sunflower Oil, Sodium Phosphate, Salt, Natural Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Sodium Selenite, Cobalt Amino Acid Chelate, Potassium Iodide), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Choline Chloride, Xanthan Gum.
Nutritional information as published by the dog food manufacturer.*
The manufacturer's published guaranteed analysis values normalized for moisture content.
*Note that some nutritional percentages reported are only estimated values, and are indicated as such as (est). Each dog food manufacturer is required by law to publish a Guaranteed Analysis, which defines each product's maximum values of fiber, moisture and ash in addition to the minimum values of protein and fat contained within. Exact nutritional percentages are not available and hence all calculated values (including carbohydrate percentages and calorie amounts) are determined using these minimum and maximum published values and therefore may differ from actual values.
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