# Really disappointed with Honest Kitchen



## dogmama (Nov 17, 2006)

Zack has environmental allergies - as confirmed by many food trials, an allergy test by his doggie dermatologist and thousands of dollars of vet bills, allergy meds etc. In short, we've been around the block with this several times. "It ain't my first rodeo."

The dog derm says he needs to be on a fish based diet because the current thinking is that antihistamines work better when combined with the omega's. So, he gets fish oil in his food and I had been feeding Preference and canned salmon (in the meanwhile, we're eating hot dogs - I'm sure you can relate. ). When HK came out with Zeal, I balked at the price but figured, hey, if it helps, lets do it. Zack was getting tired of the same thing.

Within ~ three weeks, he had dandruff, was really itchy and developed contact sores (from allergens) on his belly. I've never had a problem with dandruff & never had those sores. Vet said - only change has been his food - get him off of it. 

I emailed HK & explained everything I've written above. I got an email back saying that maybe he had allergies, I should add fish oil, etc., in other words - they didn't even read my email but defended their product. I wasn't writing to complain - I was letting them know that this batch number might be giving my dog problems. You never know - maybe other people have had problems & something got into the mix - who knows? They said if I wanted a refund (I hadn't even mentioned that) I should write to SitStay.com & work it out with them!

This is very contrary to everything I've read (mainly through the Whole Dog Journal) about HK. Supposedly they are super conscientious, make a superior product with human grade foods in their own facility. That's one of the reasons I was using them rather than making my own food.

So, I've gone back to Orijen temporarily until my kitchen remodel gets completed (another saga entirely.) I thought I'd post this here in case anybody else had similar problems with Zeal or any HK foods.


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

It's just very possible that that's not the right food for him, or that he does need some extra nutrients because of his health situation.


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## sable123 (Jul 11, 2010)

Orijen fish is not a food for allergies. You should use one that is intended for this application.

Annamaet Option or Verus Opticoat


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## dogmama (Nov 17, 2006)

LisaT said:


> It's just very possible that that's not the right food for him, or that he does need some extra nutrients because of his health situation.


I completely agree. I just wanted to let HK know that I had problems in case other people had the same issues with that batch. I'm going on the assumption that this isn't "his" food.

He doesn't have food allergies, but a good food certainly helps his environmental allergies.


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## dogmama (Nov 17, 2006)

Just a note to let everybody know that I received an extremely nice and concerned email from the owner of Honest Kitchen. They had not received any other comments about their food. It's certainly nice to know that some dog food manufacturers ARE concerned about the quality and reputation of their product.


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## Mika140 (Jan 8, 2011)

I've been feeding HK Zeal for about 6 mos now (I mix it w/ Wellness Simple Solutions Salmon/Rice kibble). My dog has IBD/colitis and can only tolerate fish based food - he's done fantastic on the mix and the HK is what stabilized him when he had a horrible flare up this past winter.

However, I saw it pointed out on an IBD forum that the HK Zeal product has EGG as an ingredient. So if your dog is supposed to be on a fish only diet, it could be the egg that is causing the problems - that your dog is intolerant/allergic to that ingredient. I think I just got lucky that my dog can tolerate it in this product. That would be my best guess though - I know a lot of dogs w/ allergies can't tolerate chicken/egg products.


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## EastGSD (Jul 8, 2001)

In looking at the actual product the problem could simply be that it is a maintenance diet with a low fat profile. If a dog does not get enough fat in their diet they will present with skin and coat issues namely itchiness, poor coat condition etc It could be simply that your dog needs a higher fat ratio and there is nothing amiss with the food at all. I personally would not feed a GSD a food with 8.4% fat unless I was adding additional fat to make up for it. My experience with GSDs is that they need a moderate amount of fat in their diet.

JMO


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## Mika140 (Jan 8, 2011)

Makes sense that the fat could be an issue for the op's dog. However, I think they made this product lower fat on purpose, as it's intended for dogs with intestinal problems - and those dogs tend to do better on lower fat diets. Anything over 12% fat can cause a lot of problems for an IBD dog.


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## EastGSD (Jul 8, 2001)

I agree with your concern Mika, but this is not a script diet and should not pretend to be either, know what I mean? Many companies are coming out with tons of different formulations in the attempt to cover more of the consumer base which is understandable but not all of them are created equal. This Zeal diet states it is a maintenance diet and claims it is good for moderate energy levels but I'm not seeing that in the panel, does anyone know the kcals?

Don't get me wrong either, I love the Honest Kitchen's products. People just have to be more informed sometimes in order to find the right diet for their particular dog and with alllll the foods out these days as well as the information, misinformation and myths it has indeed become a daunting task to choose one diet.


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