# Raw Diet + Honest Kitchen? Switching, cost, etc



## fireflyeyes (Jun 15, 2015)

Hi there! I've been feeding my 11 month old male a mix of premium kibble and Honest Kitchen (pm) and a premade raw diet from Stella and Chewy (am). He's probably getting about 25% raw and the rest split evenly between kibble and HK. I am feeling like I want to get him off kibble, but not sure I want to do totally raw because I am worried about messing up the nutritional balance. Also cost, is a concern (not like HK or premium kibble are cheap!). I need to keep total cost under $3 a day and I only have limited freezer storage.

Jet is 60 lbs but a little underweight (recent rescue). I want to feed him to stay lean but put on a bit of weight now and then appropriate weight as he fills out. He gets at least two hour long walks/hikes a day, and sometimes dog park play on top of that. Weekends he often gets a long day hike or we go to the lake and he swims on and off for hours. 

If I'm giving him, say, 1/2 cup HK per day, how much raw meat/bones/organs should he be getting? 20 oz total with 80/20/20? Or more? (obviously more on very active days)

Should I separate the feeding time of HK and raw or mix it together?

What are good, cheap sources of raw meat? I don't eat a lot of meat myself, and mostly get it from our farm market. I don't think I could afford to feed him the grassfed/organic/local stuff I eat... but maybe I can get scraps from some of the vendors at a low price if I tell them what I need? How willing are butchers at grocery stores willing to work with raw feeders? I live in Salt Lake City, if anyone knows the area. 

Thanks for your help.


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## voodoolamb (Jun 21, 2015)

What about just doing the honest kitchen base mix plus your added protein? That would help alleviate your concerns about balancing the nutrients out. Even when your dog fills out to his adult size one box of Preference will last you a month. 

According to the feeding guide a highly active 71 - 90lb highly active dog needs 1 cup of THK base mixed with 1 1/2 cups of water and 2 cups (1lb) of ground meat a day. 

The preference is priced at 57.99 per box . As long as you keep your meat choice $1.25 and under per pound you will be within your budget. That shouldn't be too hard if you keep your eyes on the sales flyers. I can usually find chicken here on sale under $1 per pound. 

When I lived out in the boonies the butchers were awesome about giving me scraps for my dogs. All I did was bring them some fresh baked cookies and they handed bags upon bags over to me. Now that I am in the city - I am having a heck of a time finding a real butcher period - let alone one who I can strike up that kind or relationship with. If you have the space it would be worth it to invest in a chest freezer that way you can stock up when you find good deals - I was able to snag turkeys after thanksgiving at $0.59 per pound. Too bad I could only fit 4 in my freezer. 85 pounds of cheap meat though.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

I feed THK Preference with beef. I found that the feeding guidelines on the back of the box were way too low for my dog (he's around 75# and just 2 y.o., with a fast metabolism). He dropped a bunch of weight even getting the top of their feeding scale, so I ditched the box guidelines and focused on the dog in front of me.

The big box only lasts me 2 weeks. It took us a while to figure out the optimum feeding for him, but he's getting more base mix AND more meat than they recommend, and holding at a nice lean weight.

Some things I love about Preference: it's _fantastic _for allergy dogs since you have total control of the protein, and the poops and nice and firm. You can mix up 2-3 days worth at a time in a big covered bowl and store it in the fridge, and you can mix it up with broth (including bone broth) if you cook, and bone broth has lots of nice health benefits.

You can mix it with any meat. So you can buy a commercial product with no veg (like Primal Grinds) or just buy from a slaughterhouse or butcher directly and have them grind for you. I have one that will grind up hearts, spleens, liver, tongue and other odd bits for cheap (left over bits that don't sell well).

This diet has saved my dog's health. He was sick, with lots of health GI/allergy problems. It made an incredible difference for him once we got him off kibble.

ETA: You can usually find coupon codes to by THK online much cheaper than at retail stores. I've been consistently paying around $45 for the big box of Preference (with 20% coupon codes for various online sites).


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## Blondi's Revenge (Jan 31, 2015)

Doing some of your own research on nutrition and nutritional requirements will benefit both you and the dog


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## fireflyeyes (Jun 15, 2015)

Thanks for the advice! Jet is not a fan of the HK base mix, even with meat mixed in (and I don't want to feed him a ton of ground), so I've been continuing to give him a bit of the complete diet mixed with some pumpkin or other veggie, salmon oil, and a probiotic/enzyme supplement in the morning and then a raw meal in the evening. I found a butcher who gave me meaty chicken scraps for $0.70/lb and got some good other good deals from the mark down bin at Smith's, and I made up baggies of 20 oz each. He loves it... I've actually been giving two portions a day because he really needs to gain weight. So far he's handling it well, we had a little diarrhea but I think he just needed to adjust and I needed more bone in there. So yay!

I love the idea of getting cheap post-thanksgiving turkeys. Unfortunately a chest freezer isn't an option at the moment but hopefully we will have space for that in the future. I've also found some good deals on pork at the local Mexican market.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

I agree with the others who say keep THK, They've come out with a new formula, Duck that our dog really loves. We rotate the flavors so feeding does not get boring.

We also do some prepared frozen raw from Nature's Variety.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

If your dog doesn't like THK's Preference, try Kindly -- some dogs like one but not the other.


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## fireflyeyes (Jun 15, 2015)

Oh good idea, we haven't tried Kindly. He is pretty anti-veggie unless it's small and coated in meat though, so I'm not sure he will do any better. We'll finish our current box of the HK complete formula though.

I did have a huge score yesterday... at my grocery store they had five huge pork shoulders marked down to about $1/lb! They barely fit in my freezer with the chicken I got from the butcher but I'm super psyched - especially since I'm still trying to put weight on Jet!


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

At my local independent food store, yesterday they told me that their best seller in the whole store right now is THK's "Revel," which retails for around $57 for a 10 lbs (makes 40 lbs. reconstituted). It is THK's newest food, introduced as a "budget" option. It's a chicken and barley food.

You might see if you can get a sample packet of it to try. 

_All ingredients dehydrated: Free-range chicken, organic barley, potatoes, organic flax, organic oats, green peas, carrots, bananas, parsley, organic kelp, celery, tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, potassium iodide, potassium chloride, iron amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate, thiamine mononitrate._


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

fireflyeyes said:


> Oh good idea, we haven't tried Kindly. He is pretty anti-veggie unless it's small and coated in meat though, so I'm not sure he will do any better. We'll finish our current box of the HK complete formula though.
> 
> I did have a huge score yesterday... at my grocery store they had five huge pork shoulders marked down to about $1/lb! They barely fit in my freezer with the chicken I got from the butcher but I'm super psyched - especially since I'm still trying to put weight on Jet!


Make sure you freeze any pork for at least 2 weeks before using raw.

Moms


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