[cdubau]

My husband told me this am that we needed food by tonight….so I was able to track down some Fromm food that is within hound dogs mom’s list. Typically we transition over about 7-9 days from one food to another. This will be the first time its a 180 transition. 🙁 But right now it couldn’t be any worse. I will talk to the local place I found today that can order Nutrisource but Honest kitchen is out of my price with having 4 dogs.

Both dogs are healthy, I didn’t mean to imply my vet said diarrhea is healthy. They show no signs of being sick in any way so I’m hoping changing the food will help. 😀

[theBCnut]

I can tell you that NutriSource is usually easy to transition to and doesn’t usually cause upset stomach, so it might be a good one to try. Did you do a slow transition from the old food to the new one?

Constant diarrhea is not healthy, no matter what your vet says. I wonder if he had a large load of worms as a pup or if he had some other insult to his intestines. Or he may be developing a food intolerance, so watch for other symptoms to show up like gunky eyes or ears, itching, hot spots, rashes, oily coat, funky smell, gas. If I were you, I would get some Perfect Form from the Honest Kitchen and start them on that. It has some great ingredients for calming, soothing, and healing the gut.

[Dog_Obsessed]

Try feeding him some boiled chicken with rice, pumpkin, or sweet potato as a carb for a few days, and then slowly re-introduce his normal food. Adding a supplement like The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form could also help. If he keeps having diarrhea, has bloody stools, stops eating, or is lethargic then take him to the vet. I hope he feels better soon!

• This reply was modified 11 years, 1 month ago by Dog_Obsessed.

[InkedMarie]

The only jerky type of treats I’ll use are the ones from The Honest Kitchen.

[InkedMarie]

I don’t have a puppy but my favorite foods are:

Kibble: Farmina, Dr Tims, Annamaet, Natures Logic, Brothers.

Dehydrated: The Honest Kitchen

Premade raw: Vital Essentials, Primal & Darwins

[DogFoodie]

Personally, I wouldn’t rule out a brand simple because they had a recall. It’s the handling of the recall that’s important to me.

Now, if they’ve had a recall, failed to fix the problem properly and continued to have further recalls, then that’s a deal breaker for me. That’s Diamond’s MO.

Take for example, The Honest Kitchen. They had a single issue with parsley, issued a recall and were very straightforward about the matter. I have no issue with THK as a result. On the other hand, The Great Life refused to issue a recall and instead had a “silent recall,” simply to avoid having to remove the words, “Never Recalled,” from their product label. That’s a deal breaker, although they have truly never officially had a recall.

[Amber M]

I have a 4 year old lab that has allergies (scratching jaw, itchy body, sore/irritated paws that she chews, licks, and bites) and I have been looking at alternative diets to kibble. From researching and speaking with many dog food companies, I have found that even high quality kibble is not the best option for dogs.

I have looked into freeze dried diets, dehydrated diets, raw diets, and spoke with many different companies for each type of diet. I am still very unsure of what to do and would like to get input from people other than the dog food companies.

I have mainly been looking at Sojos, Grandma Lucys, The Honest Kitchen, BarfWorld, Vital Essentials, and Nature’s Variety. I am currently feeding Back to Basics dog food, which is a dry kibble. I am planning on giving a probiotic and fish oil, but cannot decide what to feed. Or if I should just keep her on dry kibble.

[InkedMarie]

My favorites: premade raw by Vital Essentials & Darwins, The Honest Kitchen (dehydrated), for kibbles: Farmina, Annamaet, Dr Tims

[Jane E]

I am looking for a grain free dry food without lentils/peas or alfalfa. I have senior Boxers with a history of IBS/colitis and one with some reoccurring yeasty skin issues. I would like to have a food that I could feed all 3 if possible (to date I have not accomplished that). I currently raw feed one,another is on Honest Kitchen Zeal with occasional Thrive or Force and the other is on Orijen Senior (and I think that may just be too much of a good thing for her now) her stools are soft. She’s been on this for about a year and is in beautiful condition otherwise.
So I am interested in anyones input. It’ll be greatly appreciated
Jane

[theBCnut]

This may be IBS, IBD, Colitis, or any of several intestinal issues. Many of them are due to food reactions. Take a look at the ingredients list of the foods your dog has been on lately. Do they have ingredients in common, like chicken, or rice? Try looking for a food that does not contain the same protein and carb sources as what he has been eating. Also think abput ordering The Honest Kitchen”s Perfect Form. It has probiotics and other things that help calm the intestines and form up stools.

[Lord F]

Hi!
I am definitely a raw lover. Unfortunately I have 2 large dogs and 1 puppy that we expect to be large-ish as well! (which is an Aussie mix, so cute!) So as you can imagine, raw is expensive for us. We switched to half raw, half kibble, and it works amazingly!
We do raw for breakfast and kibble in the evening. We do splurge on Orijen for their kibble, but they are doing so great on it.
Another thing, I’ve recently decided to switch to store bought meat instead of raw sold in pet stores. Buying the pet food raw, you’re paying anywhere between $7-$13 per pound! Or you can go to a butcher or grocery store and get meat for $2-$5 per pound. They like it more anyway! Plus, you’re paying for the added vitamin/minerals or veggies that they don’t need, they’re getting a balanced diet with regular raw meat plus kibble.
As for Honest Kitchen, I love them too. I buy a big box of Preference and put 1/3 cup with their raw every other morning. It lasts forever and they like it, surprisingly. One of my dogs HATES vegetables/fruits, but she eats this, so lucky me!
Good luck with your puppy!

[Lillian N]

the honest kitchen keen is not a premix, I apologize. It is a dog food. I got it mixed up with preference. I thought the different names (kindly, keen, preference, force etc) were just different flavors lol. The Sojos I was talking about said ‘original premix’ on it. The Grandma Lucy’s and sojo are using about 5 spoonfuls of the premix and you mix with about 5 oz of meat. That does seem like an awful lot but then again both lucy’s and sojo look like they are bulked up with oatmeal and stuff. I don’t really know how my dogs do on oatmeal. I saw I and Love and You premix at Sprouts today and it had oatmeal in it as well. Is Dr.Harvey’s just bulked up with dried fruits and veg? My dogs are pretty good about fruit/veg eating so I would just rather give it to them fresh. SSLL looks like it has just the minerals and vitamins, spinach and eggs. However, since I am not really able to buy SSLL at the moment and it’s not available anywhere but that site, I guess I will have to go back to my kibble for now. It’s too bad they don’t sell it on amazon.

[Lillian N]

right now I am in between addresses/moving and so do not want to ship any food until my address is stable. Also, been having some problems with lost mail lately… Since premixes look like the only safe option to go, what are your opinions on The Honest Kitchen Keen or Sojo original? I asked around and one of my friends said they think they saw those two at a pet store near them. It seems the general consensus around here is that The Honest Kitchen Preference is well, the preference but I saw that it was the only variety that isn’t “formulated to meet and exceed the AAFCO nutrient profile” also, can’t get it locally. If I could buy a premix for a reasonable price on something like Amazon, where they have a great customer service if I run into problems etc rather then a independent company that I have never dealt with I would be willing to try it

[theBCnut]

What a bummer! NutriSource is usually very easily tolerated, but there must be something in it that your dog doesn’t do well on. I have no idea what it could be. As long as you are seeing no other symptoms, you might want to look at The Honest Kitchen Perfect Form. It’s a supplement that helps calm intestines and firm up stools.

Have you seen Hound Dog Mom’s list of foods that have an appropriate calcium level for large and giant breed puppies?

[Crystal J]

Hi, I have been browsing this forum and site for some time now and I love all the information it contains. I had an issue with a picky dog that was pretty thin when we adopted him about a year ago. He would not eat, I tried to put his bowl down and pick it up after 15 minutes and he wouldn’t eat for days. Finally I found that he likes different tastes and textures, funny little guy.

I currently feed him:
breakfast:
2 scoops Ziwipeak airdried, currently lamb and
1/4 can Ziwipeak canned, I rotate through flavors

Dinner:
1/2 cup Honest Kitchen, currently Love with the appropriate amount of water and
1/2 cup Orijen kibble, currently Adult formula

This seems the only way that he will eat consistently. He is now happy to eat, which makes me happy. Also, he seems really healthy, very shinny coat, bright eyes, full of positive energy, good poops. His vet says he is healthy.

Do you think that it is OK to feed all these different foods in a day?

Also, I am going to rotate to ziwipeak airdried venison and fish soon. I rotate the honest kitchen using love and embark. I rotate through Orijen adult, 6 fish, and regional red.

[Lord F]

Hey! My first forum post.
We recently got a puppy (he’s now 4 months), and since getting him we’ve switched 2 of the dogs onto raw. We feed a mixture of Preference by Honest Kitchen with either Primal or Vital Essentials. LOVE Vital btw.
But since reading all about raw and the benefits, I am avid about switching them to a more natural raw! I’d like to start buying my own meats for them and grinding them up with the occasional raw bone.
Any suggestions for a first meat grinder? Nothing too fancy.

[Naturella]

Bruno got sick on the NVI Rabbit, but he’s never had the old formula, whatever that is. Vomiting and diarrhea, I tried him on it twice – first time it could have been something else that caused his illness, the second time was fully controlled and I attribute it entirely to the food. Alas, I really hoped it would work for him. Oh well, I will try another protein in the future and see how he does. For now he’s on a food he’s done well on in the past.

I guess, to the OP – Howard C – try to add The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form as a supplement for about a week – stool should improve – and keep your dogs on it for about 2 more weeks after stool is good. If it is unstable again when you take them off of Perfect Form, then it may be time for a food switch…

• This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by Naturella.

[theBCnut]

They shouldn’t be eating the same food. The diabetic needs low carb food. And the pancreatitis dog needs low fat food. All that leaves is high protein, which is expensive. The Honest Kitchen Zeal is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. If they ate separate foods then she could find a low carb for one and a low fat for the other. The low carb one would likely cost more, but only one dog would be eating it.

[AspensMom]

Hello everyone, I am new to this site and forum and I want to thank everyone who has posted such good advice. Due to the recommendations on this forum and the recommendations for the site’s 4 and 5 star rated dog foods and HDM’s lists, I have begun to switch my puppy’s food. I have a 4 month old (will be 5 month in a few days) female English Setter named Aspen who is currently 32 lbs. I was feeding her Nutro Natural Choice kibble alone twice a day, but a few days ago started the switch to Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch and Meadow Feast. I also have gotten several samples of The Honest Kitchen and she really likes this mixed in with her food, and I see that THK LOVE is recommended for LBP.

The Nutro said for a 30 lb dog I should be feeding her 3 1/2 – 3 3/4 cups food a day, but the EH says 1 1/4 – 1 3/4 cups a day. I am currently at a 50/50 split with old/new kibble and currently giving her 1 cup mixed kibble along with 1/3 cup THK sample topper at each feeding, however she still seems hungry. She carries around her food bowl sometimes, leading me to believe she is hungry even a couple hours after feeding her, so I wind up giving her a small handful of food when she does this and she devours it. I don’t see how when I am fully transitioned to EH 100% that only 1 1/4 – 1 3/4 will be enough for her a day, even with THK as a topper. I have a couple questions that I would like all you knowledgeable people to help me with please.
1. The EH back states “You may keep EH Coastal Catch before your puppy at all times; most puppies will satisfy their nutritional needs as their appetite dictates”. Is this for puppies that are younger than 8 weeks of age, or does this apply to older puppies, and if so up to what age? (sorry if this sounds stupid) What amount do you suggest I feed her of kibble, considering she will also be getting 1/3 cup THK LOVE?
2. Do you feel that feeding her either the coastal catch or the meadow feast along with THK as a topper is a good combination? Is her feeding of 1 cup kibble with 1/3 cup THK OK or is she getting more than she needs? I am not going the raw food route and I really like the convenience of THK compared to buying cans and having to store the remaining canned food in the fridge. With THK she can get warm fresh food with her kibble and I find it really convenient for me.
3. I am considering Aspen a LBP as our vet said that she will probably get into the 60 lb. range and to feed her a LBP food, although I want to stay with the all stages food. So am I correct that I can stay with coastal catch or meadow feast and THK LOVE until she is 10 months old and after that I can start to give her any flavors of the EH and THK (or any other recommended food to rotate her)?
4. I have also at times given her organic canned pumpkin or sweet potato and she loves those as well, but I saw other suggestions on here such as tripe/sardines/cooked eggs. If I use tripe/sardines/eggs as a topper how much of those should I give with her kibble?

One final question is that I looked and don’t see a place to upload a profile picture, could someone tell me how to do that? Thank you in advance for any help and recommendations you can provide me, I appreciate it!
AspensMom – Shelly

[Sam D]

Hi all,

We’re getting an Aussie Shepherd puppy in December. Our breeder is wonderful and responsible and has been feeding her dogs Taste of the Wild for years. She says she loves the brand and her Aussies have done well on this food. She’s not against raw at all but she just doesn’t choose to follow the raw diet.

So here is my question(s) We want to start the puppy out on TOTW kibble and, ideally, make a few meals a week raw (turkey necks, beef, chicken, liver, etc…) We’ve also looked at The Honest Kitchen. We want a lot of variety! We want our dog to be able to tolerate both kibble and raw (just not in the same meal, together)

Can dogs do well having a diet that rotates with kibble too?
Thanks, kindly!

[Nancy C]

I have had great luck with The Honest Kitchen’s “Perfect Form” —

[Melissa P]

I love The Honest Kitchen grain free food

[theBCnut]

Lucky you!! Dogs need calcium in their diet, that’s what they were talking about with the egg shells. You can either feed consumable raw bones(which are great for teeth) or eggshells with each meal. For bones, they need to be 10-15% of the animal portion of the meal. For eggshells, it’s 2 shells for every pound of meat.

They also need organs. About 10% of the animal portion of their food should be organs. Half of that should be liver and the other half should be other secreting organs. Heart coulnts as muscle, but kidney, spleen, etc. count as organs.

They need a regular source of omega 3s. The salmon should cover that as long as it isn’t too overcooked. Or add an Omega 3 supplement, 100mg of DHA and EPA combined per 10 lbs of body weight daily.

They need vit E and D, zinc and selenium, manganese, and a whole food supplement would be good.

If you want an easier way to do it, they sell premixes for boneless meats. Look for The Honest Kitchen Preference, See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix, or Dr. Harvey’s Veg to Bowl fine ground.

[Naturella]

Karen, it is not bad at all to add wet food to dry – it helps moisten it, which helps with digestion and the constant state of mild dehydration that dry food causes. Just try to switch around both dry and wet food brands until you find a combo that works for them. Also, adding just warm water to kibble and letting it sit for a few minutes should help too.

Some quality and affordable brands with small kibble are Victor, Earthborn Holistic Grain Free, NutriSource (in some areas it is affordable, in others – not so much), Wysong, and my boy did well on Blue Buffalo Wilderness, he managed Dr. Tim’s kibble size (a bit on the medium size), and has done great on the above brands both food-wise and kibble size-wise. Also, Holistic Health Extension he has done well on and with. For wet I use The Honest Kitchen dehydrated and I just add water to it and the kibble, let it sit a bit, then serve.

Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions!

[JeffreyT]

Our very picky little dogs love all the freeze dried they’ve tried so far…Stella and Chewys, Primal, Orijen, Big Dog Natural, Healthy Pet Products (both the freeze dried and frozen, it’s the only frozen food they gobble up..but since it has garlic we limit to a few times a week). They like Addiction, which is crumbly like Big Dog Natural, but Big Dog Natural is way more palatable.

They go crazy for Vital Essentials but it needs to be soaked overnight in fridge. We soak it in water along with some pumpkin, pureed veggies, Animal Essentials Green Alternative or Dogzymes Cornucopia fruit/veggie mix for added fiber and nutrition since this food has no fruits or vegetables. In the morning each piece is cut in half or thirds then put back in water where the rest is quickly absorbed. Once reconstituted it becomes chewy-like which gives it a novel texture and won’t turn to mush. We make a few days worth and take the chill off by placing stainless steel bowl with food in a hot pan with some water for a few minutes.

Even though their favorite is freeze dried and the bulk of their diet, they also eat Ziwi Peak, non-gmo small breed kibble and dehydrated. They will only eat Grandma Lucys or Honest kitchen if we add some cooked meat along with other enticing toppers like cheese, egg yolk or crumbled Origen or Stella and Chewy treats. We buy sample packs so it’s easier to augment with these foods.

NRG has quality ingredients but they wouldn’t eat it…reminded me of Sojos which they wouldn’t eat either.

Good to know you pup likes Stewarts b/c we’re trying that next. Dogs for the Earth looks good as well…it’s organic dehydrated patties but I believe meat is cooked first. We were also going to try Smack when it’s available again in US.

[Donalee K]

I also use Honest Kitchen and would love to see what you think

[Naturella]

I would not want to repeat what the above posters have said – I think they got you covered, Dog_Obsessed. I would just add that, depending on your area, some of those budget-friendly foods are not-so-budget-friendly. For example, I live close to Atlanta, GA (north of Atlanta) and in my immediate area with 5 pet stores I can EASILY get to, NutriSource is severely overpriced. Earthborn Holistic and Victor are decent though (I LOVE Victor btw – small kibble, great quality food). Dr. Tim’s is not sold in any of “my” local stores. So it just depends, but do some research on those brands mentioned above, and you will find for yourself what foods cost what where. Also – websites such as petflow.com , chewy.com , wag.com often have sales and/or deals that you can take advantage of. Petflow sometimes sells “trial sizes” (usually 4-5lb bags!) of good quality food for about $1/lb! I have gotten me some Nutrisca Chicken and Chickpea, Dogswell LiveFree Salmon (although they had Turkey, Lamb, and Chicken too), Wysong Nurture with Quail from them all for $1/lb. AND, The Honest Kitchen dehydrated food – 4 boxes, 2 lbs each, for I think $2/lb, which is UNHEARD of a price for this food – it was 97% off so that tells you what it usually costs! It is worth it though! 🙂

[cindy q]

First is one better than the other? My picky eaters seem to like this type of food, they love Big Dog Natural and now they will also eat Stewarts freeze dried raw. I want to add more so I can rotate their food. What freeze dried or dehydrated food do you like? They seem to prefer a chunky food not mushy, they would not eat Honest Kitchen and I tried several of them. So what are your favorites and how many foods are good to use in a rotation? I was thinking 3.

[Molzy]

While I’m sorry to see that others have this problem too, it is always nice knowing we’re not alone.
Since my last update in February we’ve gone back to feeding only 2X a day (12 hours apart from each other). He is still on the Honest Kitchen Keen. We bought a slow-down bowl which seems to help (definitely takes him a lot longer to eat!). The BEST change we’ve made though is getting him a Thunder Shirt. If he starts an episode, I put the Thunder Shirt on him, and it seems to really help calm him down. I don’t think the attacks are *started* due to anxiety, but they definitely bring on an anxiety, which I think escalates the attacks. Anyways, I highly recommend trying the Thunder Shirt if you think there is an anxiety portion of the attacks.

So, in summary what we’re currently doing is feeding wet food (Honest Kitchen) in a slow-down bowl, and using the Thunder Shirt on certain nights. The massaging the tummy to “push” gas out is also still really helpful, both to calm him down and relieve some of the tension in his tummy.

Good luck everyone!

[Jude s]

Hey! I was going to make a thread on this topic, but I saw this one….I hope it’s ok if I can ask my question on here 🙂
My 2 month old puppy has really soft stool, foul smelling, some mucus, and always seems to push kind of hard. He doesn’t whimper, he still eats and plays just fine.
I checked for worms, or any white specs, but he’s clear. I’m thinking he’s just having some irritation. I was thinking on putting him on some digestive enzyme supplements, I saw the suggested ones above, but not sure if those are ok for my puppy. I also saw the honest kitchen had supplements as well (Perfect Form & Pro Bloom).
Also if this helps he is a pitbull/chihuahua mix and about 7.5 lbs. He is eating Wellness puppy kibble, but I will be introducing raw foods sometime this month.

[Naturella]

Dfwgolden,

So, a few days ago my boy also got serious diarrhea, and I tried a few things myself – yoghurt, bread, pumpkin, boiled chicken and brown rice… Individually nothing helped, and my guy was also vomiting on top of it all… But, I had two packs of The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form, and DO I SWEAR by it now! This stuff is amazing! My Bruno stopped vomiting, got his appetite back (I was feeding boiled chicken with brown rice, tossed in the blender with some of the chicken water, and blended until mushy, with a tablespoon of canned plain pumpkin and 3/4 teaspoon of THK Perfect Form per meal (a bit more of the recommended dose)). I then added canned dog food with only 3 ingredients – chicken, chicken broth, and garlic. Now he’s on that canned mushed up with brown rice and still with the pumpkin and Perfect Form. Tomorrow I will introduce a canned version of normal dog food that I plan to feed the kibble of and see how he does. But THK firmed up his stool from watery mucus/jelly to formed, almost normally-firm stools today! I am ecstatic, and will run to grab him a few more packs from the store down the street from me. If you can, try it out for a few days, maybe with the same or similar mush as me if you think that your guy will benefit from it, but whatever you put it in… That stuff should work! 🙂

BCnut, I was going to ask how long to give THK for, but you answered my question before I posed it. Lucky for me, 1 packet lasts him about a week, maybe more when I go down to his recommended dose (1/2 teaspoon/meal).

[Kristin C]

Jude-I just started my girls on the See Spot Live Longer Dinner Mix this week. Good poops! I mixed ground beef (normally I have hearts and beef cheek but this was a test) with 5% liver, 5% kidney and thymus, 5% puréed vegs, 5% sweet potato, 10% pumpkin. I think you can add just muscle meat or you can add an additional 20% fresh ingredients, if that makes sense. I split a can of sardines for them over the weekend and mid-week.

I have a sample of The Honest Kitchen base mix I am going to try next week. I don’t have high hopes. I think it will come out like it goes in, chunky.

[Jude s]

Ok guys, I think I’m going to start my puppies off with premixes for they can used to raw food, but I’m not sure which to choose. I was thinking of See Spot Live Longer dinner mix, The Honest Kitchen preference or kindly, Dr. Harvey’s Veg to Bowl Fine Ground….which one do guys think is the better one of the bunch?

[theBCnut]

This is going to take time, because his intestines are so irritated they need time to heal. Get digestive enzymes and leave him on them until at least 2 weeks after his stool stays normal. The enzymes will help him to get the most out of his food so you can feed him the least amount. Get The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form and give it until at least 2 weeks after stools are normal, when you do decide to take him off it, taper off so if he starts to have stool changes you are ready to increase it again. THK Perfect Form has probiotics, prebiotics, fiber, slippery elm, and some other good stuff that will help to calm his intestinal wall. Get NutriSource Large Breed Puppy and slowly transition to it. NutriSource foods are usually easy to transition to, but I don’t want you to irritate his system any worse than it already is. Start giving him organic coconut oil. Start with just 1/2 teaspoon and slowly work up to 1 teaspoon per day for every 20 lbs of body weight. If you start seeing improvements within 3 days of starting THK Perfect Form, that’s great, keep going. If no improvement, he may need some psyllium or ground chia seeds for added fiber. Don’t expect this to totally clear for a while, but if it is going to help, you should start seeing improvements pretty quickly.

[Paula D]

The ONP easy raw is similar to Honest Kitchen or the Stella and Chewy’s mix that you,rehydrate with water. My girls much prefer the ONP Max meat–a jerky type texture.

[Bobby dog]

Hi all:
I signed up for Honest Kitchen’s newsletter a while back and the other day I received some treat recipes from them; they have others posted on their site too, but I didn’t see these recipes there. So, since Bobby isn’t thrilled with eating THK I read through them and it looks like a perfect way for me to use up the boxes I have. I think Bobby would gladly eat them. Although they list specific flavors to use for each recipe I don’t think it would matter if you add a different flavor and they also look like recipes that you could play around with the ingredients if you wanted to.

Since you guys have run into the same issue as I have with Bobby not liking THK, I thought I would post them in case you would like to give making treats out of THK a try:

~Chicken, Pumpkin & Apple Loaf
Ingredients:
2 C THK Force
2 C warm H2O
½ C plain pumpkin puree’
1 apple de-cored & finely chopped
2 eggs lightly beaten
½ C cooked diced chicken
¼ C grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Hydrate THK with 2 C warm H2O and mix well
3. Mix the pumpkin into the hydrated THK and then add the chopped apple, eggs, cooked chicken and cheese.
4. Stir mixture thoroughly
5. Pour mixture into greased loaf pan
6. Grate a little extra Parmesan on top if desired and bake for about 50 minutes or until the top is firm to tough and slightly crispy
7. Cool thoroughly and cut into slices appropriately sized for your pet

~Duck & Ham Dumplings
Ingredients:
1 C THK Halcyon
1 C warm H2O
1/4 C plain pumpkin puree’
2 slices nitrate-free ham, torn into small pieces
½ t cinnamon
3 T sharp cheddar cheese
1 egg lightly beaten

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Hydrate THK with warm H2O and mix well
3. Thoroughly mix in remaining ingredients to form a thick batter
4. Using your hands roll the mixture into small balls or dumplings and place onto a greased baking sheet
5. Bake for 20 minutes and serve when cooled

~Pumpkin Ginger Nibbles
Ingredients:
1 C THK Love
1 C warm H2O
1 C lean ground beef
½ C pumpkin puree’
2 T honey
¼ C cream cheese
½ t ginger
1 egg lightly beaten

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 375 degrees
2. Hydrate THK with warm H2O and mix well
3. Mix in ground beef, pumpkin, honey, cream cheese & ginger
4. Add egg and stir well
5. Using your hands scoop out small marble to golf ball sized quantities and shape into balls; place directly onto a greased baking sheet and flatten gently
6. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes and serve when cooled

[aimee]

Kristin C,

i have used Honest Kitchen Preference. Readily identifiable food elements were present in the stool. The sweet potato came out looking identical to when it went in. The pumpkin was not identified in the stool, cabbage was minimally digested, apple was significantly digested peel were identified. Cooking the food solved the digestion issue. I posted on the HK thread complete with pics if you are interested.

[Kristin C]

Thanks USA. My girls just had their first SSLL this morning. I give them a can of sardines each per week to round out the raw meat, organs, puréed veg mix they mostly eat.

Has anyone tried The Honest Kitchen base mix? It’s dehydrated so I’m afraid it will be chunky like Sojo’s which does not digest well.

[cindy q]

Dori I would like to feed a rotation but BDN is the only food I have found that my dogs will eat that’s why I wondered if this food needed any thing added to it

Kristin. I did email them and they said the food was nutritional complete.

Crazyforcats. My dogs hated Honest kitchen and they love BDN.

[crazy4cats]

Hi-
Does anyone know if you must order a certain dollar amount to get the free shipping with the introductory offer? After checking this food out, it doesn’t look like it costs anymore than a premium kibble if you order enough. Also my dogs are not crazy about the Honest Kitchen, but this food looks a little more chunky than THK. Has anyone’s dog not cared for THK, but likes this food? Thanks!

[pugmomsandy]

I’m not sure if there is a best way to start pups on raw. But some recommended premixes are See Spot Live Longer, Urban Wolf, The Honest Kitchen, Granda Lucy’s, maybe Dr Harvey’s. There are also some premade frozen raw that come in small nuggets like Primal Pronto and Natures Variety Instinct which are quick to thaw and easy to introduce.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by pugmomsandy.

[Tiffany K]

For your Mini Schnauzer….The Honest Kitchen is so healthy as is mainly fish and veggies. This is the dehydrated formula; I believe it is called Zeal You add warm water and let it sit a bit. It looks like green gruel or oatmeal. But, I specifically purchased it for my Pit Bull/Great Dane mix who was hospitalized with pancreatitis (my mother was keeping her and I have never got to the bottom of what she was fed) but it has completely smoothed out her digestion problems , as well as helping her chronic skin allergies. It is just getting her to eat it. It smells exactly like fish food. If you mixed her 3 ounces of chicken in with the Zeal, I am sure she would gobble it down. Another “trick” is I use the chicken broth from boiled chicken as the mixing agent for the Zeal. I hope this helps and your little girl feels better each day.

[theBCnut]

It’s not canned, but rather dehydrated, look into The Honest Kitchen Zeal. Fat is a big issue. Usually when you lower carbs, you raise protein and fat. THK Zeal is the best one I know of with good levels, though in your case, I still might add lean meat to lower the carbs even more. Zeal comes as a dry powder that you add water to. If you add water right before feeding then you have a soupy mixture. If you prepare it a while ahead of time, it is more like a thick paste or pate style food. My dogs love all of THK’s foods.

[Naturella]

Kayla – I am loving all your posts and questions!

I think from my reading this is how it goes, best to worst:
Balanced raw
Freeze-dried/air-dried balanced raw
Balanced dehydrated
Canned
High-quality kibble
Low-quality kibble

Even the best kibble is in the bottom as far as “good” for dogs. As C4C said, if you can, go ahead and mix kibble and canned for each meal; heck, throw a few teaspoons of water in there too. Kibble can lead to a constant state of low-level dehydration, so making it wet is better, plus it is supposed to help with nutrient absorption.

That said, I feed kibble – I never go below 4-star foods and I rotate brands and protein with every bag now. Thank goodness my guy is small, so foods last him a while. But, I supplement with a heaping teaspoon of raw, organic, unrefined, cold-pressed coconut oil every other day or so (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday at breakfast), 2 heaping teaspoons of plain yoghurt/plain kefir Monday and Friday at breakfast, a raw egg once/week (Wednesday at breakfast), a half can of sardines in water once/week (Saturday at breakfast), and a raw meaty bone once/week (Sunday for dinner always – no other food for that meal). Also, for all meals that do not include the above additives (the dinner meals), I add 1-2 teaspoons of The Honest Kitchen (THK) dehydrated food and I add water to make it soupy. Sometimes I would use canned, and still add a tad more water. And I just got green tripe from Big Dog Natural (BDN; air-dried), so you add that and water to the kibble, let it rehydrate as with THK, and serve. So far so good, Bruno is happy, lean, and healthy. 🙂

Please let us know if you have any other questions! 🙂

P.S. If you have a Costco membership, they have the best prices on good coconut oil, as well as cheap, good food – Kirkland Signature brand is 4-star and $26/40lbs (4.5 stars for Puppy and Mature dog, and small breed), and Nature’s Domain (grain-free) is 3.5 stars and $30/35lbs!

• This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by Naturella.

[Naturella]

Kayla, for training, do not use Beneful. In fact, do not use Beneful-or-Purina-anything for anything (food/treats/chews/etc.), EVER! You can do so much better for the same money, or less!

For training, look up the treats suggested. For dental-style “treats” or to satisfy the natural chew urge, I would recommend natural chews, such as: bully sticks, fish skins, cow/pig ears, and, if he’s a heavy chewer – some deer/elk antlers and maybe a Himalayan dog chew (a type of very hard Himalayan yak milk cheese). All of those chews and others are available online at: http://www.bestbullysticks.com
I would avoid the smoked bones (femurs, knuckles, etc.) but the rest of the chews are great. Also, The Honest Kitchen has fish chews (Beams and Wishes) that did wonders for my Bruno’s coat.

What food do you plan to feed your new guy?

[Naturella]

If you’re looking into training, I would say Zuke’s Minis, about 3 kcal/treat. Or The Honest Kitchen’s Quickies – pure fish treats, also good for training. Or, his own kibble can be used as treats, but factor that in his daily ratio of food.

[Bobby dog]

Robyn:
I am not sure how to attach a photo, but others can help!

Has your Vet checked for giardia and coccidia? Those parasites can cause runny stools and I have read that owners sometimes have to run tests several times as they sometimes don’t detect them initially, IDK.

I don’t have too much experience with putting weight on dogs, and certainly not with an emaciated dog. I am throwing questions out to you in hopes others can offer help and to bump your post up.

Maybe you could try a lower protein/fat kibble such as Nutrisource to help with the transition to a new diet. My dog and cats do well on Nutrisource products. I always add canned, lightly cooked fresh meats, or commercial raw to my dogs kibble. I would keep offering her a canned food as well.

As Cyndi suggested, canned pumpkin might help with her stools. I feed some everyday to one of my cats so I always have a frozen bag full of ice-cube sized canned pumpkin on hand. In most cases it helps with diarrhea or constipation; good food with multiple uses! Some other products for help with firming up stools are:
• Firm up pumpkin supplement –dehydrated pumpkin
http://www.dydusa.com/firmup_p…
• Fruitables – canned fruit supplement
http://fruitablespetfood.com/f…
• Honest Kitchen Perfect Form supplement
http://www.thehonestkitchen.co…

[meky6ra]

Ugh, read the comments under the Pioneer Naturals review before you buy them! I used to feed Dr. E’s Limited Ingredient dog food and had the same problem that all of the reviewers had, then switched to Pioneer Naturals (which is made by the same company) and had the same problems. Someone mentioned in the comments that Pioneer Naturals didn’t follow AAFCO guidelines and I’m inclined to believe them. For a long time Pioneer Naturals had no AAFCO statement on their website (even though their other products did) until they changed their lists of ingredients. So did that mean that the original ingredient list was untruthful or didn’t follow AAFCO guidelines? I wonder… Anyway, I’ll never feed Great Life foods again.

As to a venison-only food, what about The Honest Kitchen? They don’t make a venison food, but they make a base that you prepare and add meat to yourself. I’m going to try that once my allergic dog finishes her food trial.

[Dori]

Hi Chabs. I feed all three of my dogs (they are the three in my avatar) commercial raw foods. I also feed rotation with the different brands and also with the different proteins within the brands. All with the exception of anything fowl or fowl in the ingredient list. One of my girls, Katie, is highly allergic and intolerant. The brands that I rotate within are Primal Formulas, Vital Essentials Raw, Answers Detailed, Stella & Chew Raw, Nature’s Variety Instinct Raw, OC Raw. I used to feed Darwin’s also but they have upped their fat content and raised their prices so though all commercial raw foods are pretty expensive, I don’t appreciate a company raising their prices due to a fat increase. More nutritious ingredients I would have been fine with but not fat. I feed my girls pretty high fat foods as it is. I feed high protein, moderate to higher fat and low carbs. As for dehydrated foods (not strictly raw in the truest sense) I use The Honest Kitchen (now that they have removed alfalfa from Zeal), and Big Dog Natural. Once in a blue moon I would use freeze dried but freeze dried is the most expensive way to go. I used to need freeze dried when traveling with the dogs. I’m not one to drive around with frozen foods in coolers. Now that The Honest Kitchen has removed alfalfa from their Zeal formula (the only one that Katie could eat until she developed an intolerance to large amounts of alfalfa) I’m using THK and Big Dog Natural for traveling with the dogs. Yes, the commercial raws are expensive but not as expensive as having to spend a lot of money at the vet with issues that now no longer exist so it all paid off for me and my girls. 🙂

By the way, though your vet may have meant well, tear staining is not necessarily from the water but more an issue with foods being fed. Somewhat of a grain intolerance or allergy. There is not a type of water that I have not tried throughout the years. Tap, filtered, bottled, distilled, reverse osmosis. I even went so far as to put in a whole house water filtration system. I have an additional filter in the fridge. None of that worked. Changing them to grain free and then raw is what did the trick.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by Dori.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by Dori.

[Zach M]

I had looked at the honest kitchen and was wondering if I should try them. I’ll check out the others. Thanks! Anyone else?