The Honest Kitchen

[Lisa M]

Has anyone used The Honest Kitchen dog and/or cat food?  If so, please share your experience with this food.
 

[Cindy Nevarez]

Yes, we bought the HK Preference (just mix...no meat) right after the first recall.

I had been mixing my raw for the dogs with my own meats, squash, veggies, fruits, and 'green' powdered supplements. I had been doing this since late 04' and I was getting tired. I had started adding premium canned food to my raw mix in their bowls in the meanwhile to make the raw last longer so I wouldn't have to make it but 2 -3 times per year. That still is a lot of work since I currently have 4 dogs... and 2 are large.

That's why when then recall happened I freaked out since I had gone back to comm. food at least in part. The only stuff I had that ultimately ended up on the recall list was Kirklands...fortunately the 'best by' dates didn't match, but I threw it out anyway.

When I saw the HK Pref. I got kinda excited as I realized it would save me a ton of work. So when I made it in my last batch of raw, I actually ended up with twice the amount of food compared with the stuff I yielded in the past per batch, plus the whole thing took just a little over 2 hours to do. Let me tell you I was so happy.

Well, now they have been eating it for several weeks and they are doing very well on it. There were no perceptable changes transitionally even when abrubtly going from my meat/veggie mix made from scratch to the meat/HK mix. I couldn't be happier about it. I will be buying it again.

[Lisa C]

I've been using HK for my dogs since shortly after the first recalls.  I had been feeding Wellness, but I didn't want to feed any Menu associated foods anymore.  So, I immediately switched to Fromm's (I'd used it before) and started researching other options.  I was interested in homecooked and/or raw but wasn't sure if I was ready to tackle that right now.  I found HK and we've tried Verve, Force, and Embark.  I've been mixing in other ingredients, like extra meat.  The dogs love it more than anything else I've ever fed them.  I also feel better not feeding them overprocessed kibble anymore.  Just my preference now that I've learned more about dog nutrition.

[sylvia]

I have come across The Honest Kitchen myself and find it an interesting concept. When I fed Wysong the philosophy behind it was to introduce different foods and not stick to the one kibble. I have "mixed things up" for years now. My question to those who use this is do you find it something that could be used in conjunction with a kibble? Sort of a topping like I used cans "in the old days" or as an alternating meal with kibble some meals and THK others? I would continue to add egg, fresh meat, some veggies as I always have but in the past alternated Kibble too. Any suggestions or other info from  THK users would be appreciated.   

[Lisa C]

Sylvia, I started out using the HK exactly like you described.  I used to mix their food half wet and half dry at night, only dry in the morning.  After the recall I couldn't find a canned food I wanted to use, so I mixed the HK with Fromm kibble.  That was my original plan, to continue that way.  It worked really well (just rehydrate the HK food and then mix in the kibble at the end).  However, my dogs liked the HK so much, and I had so much fun adding in other foods, that I decided I'd rather just feed the HK.  For me, personally, I realized that if I continued feeding them kibble I'd keep stressing about whether it was "safe," no matter what brand I chose.  That's just my opinion, and I tend to be a worrier.  So, we changed to just HK food.  I figured that between feeding more than one kind of HK, and mixing in different foods, they'd get a lot of variety.  To answer your question, though, (sorry about the rambling  ) I think it would work really well as just part of the diet.  It could definitely be used as a way to jazz up the kibble.

[sylvia]

Thanks Lisa C. I am going to order some of those $3.50 samples. Do your dogs have any suggestions as to which ones?  My dogs range from 21 months to 11 years. Eleven is still middle aged for Bichons Frise so I go with adult foods. 

[Lisa C]

I have a soft spot in my heart for Bichons--I grew up with one.  He was a little neurotic, but one of a kind.  As for which food, I guess there are a few considerations.  If you want a no grain recipe, you could go with either Force or Embark.  Embark is higher fat, protein and calorie.  Verve has grains (rye, barley, and oats) and is lower calorie.  Preference has no meat so it's just for mixing with meat.  Of course, you can add extra meat or extra whatever to any of them.  A new kind, Thrive, is going to be out in June.  My dogs have tried Embark, Verve, and Force, and they like them all.  I've been rotating them for variety.  Fortunately, my dogs have no allergies or health issues, so they were all options.  One caveat, though--Force contains some garlic.  That doesn't bother me, but some people don't want to feed their dogs any garlic.  So I guess I would suggest that you go to thehonestkitchen.com and compare protein levels and see what works for you.  My doggies give them all two paws up, but they've never been picky.

[sylvia]

Thanks, I will try them all too. I have NO problem with garlic. I use it all the time and when I make up "doggy stew" I always add  a chopped clove to the pot. My dogs love it.  My dogs do just great and this is a long lived breed.  I have had Bichon Frise for many, many years and love them too. Garlic never hurt them. 

[Lisa M]

My dogs absolutely love this stuff as well, so finally one we can all agree on.  I also mix in some beef or chicken or canned Evangers all meat.  Unfortunately, my cats would rather die of starvation then go in the same room its in.

[chicas]

okay.  maybe its research burn out but i may have made a silly mistake!  i like the company, very helpful and love the concept.  my boys sadly didn't like the samples.  i was so excited when they arrived in the mail!

but i tried feeding this to my cats just mixed with water as directed... are we supposed to mix it with raw or some other food too?   

maria

[Lisa C]

You can feed it as is (with just water added) but the company certainly advocates mixing in extra ingredients like cooked or raw meat.  If there's something your cats like, I'm sure it would work well!

I don't have any cats (I have in the past) but I read a good tip in an article about switching cats' food on petconnection.  It recommends that you put the new food UNDER your cat's old food.  That way they can easily get to the food that they want, but will get the scent and a little of the taste of the new food.  Apparently that helps the cats think of the new food as "food" as it can take them a few days for them to even want to try the new food.  The other thing you could try, if your cats are so inclined, is to try to rehydrate with a liquid other than water, like homecooked chicken stock.

I hope your cats warm up to the food  .

[Danielle]

This is going to sound like a stupid question, but can you cook HK food? I bought a few of the small bags as a backup to canned food. I don't really want to switch my dogs to raw because one has a sensitive stomach and the other two are older dogs. I bought it because they seem safe and I like the ingredients. I plan on using it periodically to mix with their kibble for variety and flavor. I'm not sure how you would cook it? Any suggestions?

[Cindy Nevarez]

Well, first let me ask you what are you trying to accomplish by cooking it? Is it bacteria that upsets your dog's stomach, or...what?

I use HK too, and the bacteria is not there in their mix, like if you were to make raw yourself from scratch, which would have it in.

[Danielle]

I'm just trying to make it more like what they are used to eating. I didn't want to make any radical changes. The brochure that came with it made it sound like it could give them diarrhea and would take their intestines a while to adjust to raw. I'm just looking for flavorful food that I can trust, not necessarily the nutritional benefits of raw. So I'd like to avoid the diarrhea and not upset their systems if I can help it. I thought cooking it might minimize that?

[Cindy Nevarez]

Actually the change in ingredients would affect their digestive system more than anything else. For example, I switched from my own raw mix from scratch to the HK with no affects whatsoever.

OTOH, when changing from Kirkland's premium kibble TO my own raw mix back in 2004 it was diarrhea all over the place...mostly from my oldest dog who was on kibble her entire 12 years. But that passed eventually. I did find out later that if I had fasted them first before introducing them to the raw...I would have greatly minimized this problem.

So if the ingredients of your current food are pretty close to what's in the HK, you should have minimal problems.

I hope this helps. If not let me know.