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Merrick Backcountry Freeze Dried Raw Game Bird Dog Food package official product image via Amazon

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Backcountry Freeze Dried Raw Game Bird Dog Food

Dry food · adult dogs · distributed by Merrick Pet Care

A formulated-to-meet, deboned-first dry food that's cheaper per calorie than 5% of the dry foods we've priced and denser than 48% (you feed fewer cups) — $4.18 a day for your 40-lb adult dog.

THE FACTS, ONE SENTENCE — data as JSON · reference dog 40 lb · updated 2026-07-11

Your dogupdates every number on this page
40 lb

Joint, kidney, dental or heart concerns? Labels can't honestly answer those — that's vet territory. Why we don't checkmark them →

The evidence

The Verified Label

Every food on this site gets this exact panel — same fields, same order, sourced from the official label — so brands finally become comparable. Dots show where this food sits among all 494 dry foods we've verified.

Verified LabelThe standardized pet-food panel
VPFD № MERRIC
verified 2026-07-11

Composition — dry-matter basis

why dry matter
Moisture hides the real recipe: kibble is ~10% water, canned food ~78%. Removing water puts every food on one scale, so these are the only nutrition numbers that can be compared across foods. As-fed label values shown small.
Protein 38.2%label: 34% min higher than 93% of dry foods
Fat 19.1%label: 17% min higher than 85% of dry foods
Fiber 3.9%label: 3.5% max lower than 85% of dry foods
Est. carbohydrates ash not disclosed → 8% assumed, so this is an estimate ≈29.8%computed anchor available once more brands disclose ash
Calcium / Phosphorus extended guarantees: Ω-3 0.3% Not disclosedcalcium/phosphorus no ratio to anchor

Calories & cost — for your 40-lb adult dog

Calorie density 386 kcal/cup3636 kcal/kg typical — the median dry food is 388 (median 388) — you feed more cups
Daily serving2½ cups
Cost per day$4.18
4-lb bag lasts6 days

Cost per 1,000 kcal: $4.24 — cheaper than 5% of the 360 dry foods we've priced (median $1.93). Serving math uses standard veterinary energy formulas — see the formula.

Standards & ingredients

AAFCO statement
what this means
Two kinds of AAFCO claims exist. Most foods are only "formulated to meet" nutrient profiles — a paper calculation. A smaller set carry the stronger claim: fed to real dogs in AAFCO-procedure trials ("Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate…").
 Formulated to meet · maintenance
First five ingredients (by pre-cooking weight)Deboned Turkey · Turkey Meal · Chicken Meal · Sweet Potatoes · Potatoes
Named animal protein first; named meals onlyYes
Legumes in first 10 (FDA DCM inquiry)2 (peas, pea protein)
BHA / BHT preservativesNone on label
Carrageenan (thickener)None
Ethoxyquin
why unknown
When a fish-meal supplier adds ethoxyquin, U.S. rules don't require it on the finished label — so no label can prove its absence for recipes containing fish meal. We report this as a gap rather than guessing.
 Can't be determined from label

Safety

FDA recalls — Merrick, since 2023None on record
ManufacturerMerrick Pet Care, Hereford, TX 79045
Label transparency 10 of 15 standard fields
Green = verified favorable · amber = gap in the record · red = verified unfavorable · gray = not disclosed / neutral fact.
Source: official label source (official)· price: Amazon, 2026-07-11 · anchors: 494 verified dry dog foods (360 priced) · how to read this label

The fit

For your dog, specifically

Checked for a 40-lb adult with a sensitive stomach — the same published criteria our finder uses. Change your dog above and these update.

✓
Validated for adult dogsAAFCO statement covers adult maintenance.
✓
Passes our sensitive-stomach checksNamed animal protein first, and no unnamed by-products in the ingredient list.
·
Contains chickenNot selected as a concern for your dog — shown here for reference.

The source material

The full ingredient list

Every flag on the Verified Label is computed from this list. Ingredients are ordered by pre-cooking weight — the first five carry the most information.

Deboned Turkey, Turkey Meal, Chicken Meal, Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Peas, Chicken Fat, Pea Protein, Salmon Meal, Duck, Natural Flavor, Chicken, Chicken Liver, Tapioca, Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Calcium Iodate), DL-Methionine, Taurine, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Mixed Tocopherols for Freshness

Wet ingredients like fresh deboned turkey shrink once cooked — which is why named meals appearing high on the list matter: they keep meaningful animal protein after moisture is removed.