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Hello,
I recently contacted Honest Kitchen customer service to learn more about the Preference. I inquired about feeding bone-in meat with the Preference, and they claimed that Preference (and the two new base mixes they are coming out with this year) are fine to mix with meat and bone mixtures, and that the calcium/phosphorus ratio would be balanced as long as I used their ratio of Preference:Raw Meat.
Now, as a scientist and having some knowledge of mathematics, I am not sure how that can be true. How can it be a balanced diet with ground boneless meat AND balanced with meat/bone grinds?
Any thoughts?
Molly
If it is balanced at a 1:1 ratio with just meat, and meat plus bones is a 1:1, then meat + bone + Preference would be 2:1 which is the upper limit for calcium, but still considered balanced.
Ok, that makes sense! Thanks patti. I guess I was getting thrown by the meat not being balanced…so I just need to make sure that the meat is balanced prior to using the preference with it. I’m leaning towards balancing everything on my own, but like most newbies I’m just a little scared to take the plunge!
Balanced is between 1:1 and 2:1 according to old AAFCO guidelines, BUT and this is a big BUT, large breed dogs need lower calcium than that, in fact it is looking like AAFCO may finally update this year to recommend lower calcium in all puppy foods because of this. You still want to have closer to 1:1 if you are feeding a large breed pup. Sorry I can’t remember what you said your dog is.
No problem, thanks! Both my dog are around 40 pounds, and full grown (2 years old), so I don’t have to worry about puppy growth with them! Quincy is a cattle dog and LoJack is a German shorthair mix, currently on honest kitchen keen (Quincy) and Halo salmon kibble (LoJack).
It does look like the preference is a 2.43:1 calcium to phosphorous ratio, so it should may not be best mixed with bone-in mixes?
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