# The Honest Kitchen???



## jpgsds (Jan 5, 2013)

This looks like a great, and much easier IMO, alternative to frozen raw food. Does anyone have any experience with feeding dehydrated raw food from The Honest Kitchen? If so, would you recommend the product? Do you feel it inferior in any way to traditional raw feed? 

All Natural Dog Food | Dehydrated Raw Dog Food | Like Homemade Pet Food


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## Bear GSD (Apr 12, 2012)

I tried Honest Kitchen because of all of the great reviews and I know that a few people on here feed it. My dog was not a big fan unfortunately, I would have loved to continue but if he won't eat I have to feed him something that he will eat!

I even tried another dehydrated raw brand and he wouldn't eat it. I think it was the consistensy that threw him off. 
I think most people on here will tell you if you can feed raw that that is the way to go, but for me it was not an option.


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## Narny (Sep 8, 2010)

My Lulu LOVES the turkey.... either of them. I have fed natural instinct and primal (both frozen) and I agree with you (and switched) because it ALWAYS has to be frozen or refrigerated... I dont always have a fridge. 

I now feed Honest Kitchen... at least for now and she loves it... she didnt care for the fish to much but if she doesnt finish her dinner/lunch then I just put it in the fridge till dinner. She doesnt get to decide not to eat something. Over all she eats it just as well as primal... and actually... once I got her on to primal she wouldnt touch the natural instinct any more which is funny because she CHOWED DOWN on it when I switched her from Royal Canin German Shepherd Puppy.


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## Carriesue (Aug 13, 2012)

I used to feed it, my dogs went absolutely nuts for it...add in some fish oil and coconut oil and there coats will be amazing.

Only reason I stopped feeding it was when I brought my GSD puppy home a couple months ago, he didn't want anything to do with it. Plus with four dogs we were going through a box every two weeks! I may try it again though now that my pup is not as finicky as he was.

You can usually find sample packs of it at the store to see if your dog might like it.

For me raw isn't feasible because I do not have space for an extra freezer, not to mention my husbands reaction if I told him I wanted to buy a freezer just for the dogs lol... So I think dehydrated/freeze dried is a good way to go if you cannot feed raw, it's just A LOT more expensive.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

I've used it before, the only reason I stopped is the cost, combined with the amount needed to feed, made it really expensive. They talk about how it rehydrates to x pounds of food but then if you look at the instructions for feeding (and not just that but the amount I was feeding based on calories my dogs needed), it ends up lasting about the same as a similar sized bag of food (before rehydration) so it is very expensive. If that makes sense? 
For example I think one of my dogs was eating 2 1/2 cups of this food, and that is before rehydrating; which is the same or more than what I fed when I was feeding kibble-- except the Honest Kitchen food costs about $30-40+ for a 3-4 pound bag versus the kibble was maybe around $3-4 a pound IIRC... So that ends up being very expensive over time.
However it is a good food, although I would not say it is as good as raw, and keep in mind the food is heated somewhat in the dehydration process.
I would say raw > dehydrated food > kibble.
If you want packaged food, another option is pre made raw, such as Nature's Variety makes.


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

I am a total raw feeder except when I run out or go on vacation. Then I use HK.
Honest Kitchen is THE ONLY pet food which the FDA will legally allow the words "Human Grade" to be used on its packaging and advertising. This is because they use human grade food and it is processed in a human grade facility. 
You can actually feed a combination of HK and raw in two ways to get the best of both worlds!
I emailed Kat Pennik from HK about a year ago and asked what formula should be used to incorporate raw or partially cooked meat into their mix. Here is her answer: "For every 1 dry cup of Thrive, Love or Embark, you can add ½ to1 cup of meat. Then, to compensate for the meat, you will want to reduce the dry mix by ¼ - ½ cup. I have attached some information that may be of help. Here is an example: 5 cups of Thrive + 2.5 cups of meat – 1.25 cups Thrive = 3.75 cups Thrive (dry) and 2.5 cups of meat _per day_."Here is the formula I use for 1 & 1/2 cups of food: 

Dry H/K = ¾ cup + 1 cup water + ½ cup Meat = 1 ½ cups of prepared food 

"PREFERENCE" - is another way but it MUST be mixed with meat, otherwise it is not a complete diet.
Honest Kitchen is the most fantastic food but, you are right that some dogs just don't like it! Possibly, those dogs might IF raw or partially cooked meat was mixed in!
Hope this helps!


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

We rotate between Embark, Force and Verve. We need to add a little topping of something for our girl to eat it, but it has done wonders for her GI system along with using some prepared raw too. The chronic colitis is now gone. Our vet says she has a beautiful coat.

We feed exactly the formula the *Momto2GSDs* posted.


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## dioworld (Feb 1, 2012)

we've just switch over to honest kitchen preference + meat for about 3 weeks, our dog has a very sensitive stomach, we've tried different dog food, a lot of grain free one, still his poop is loose and he'll have diarrhea quite often, but ever since we switch over to honest kitchen , his poop is perfect, and never had a diarrhea. I wish we could find out about this dogfood earlier, so he don't have to wake us up middle of the night so many times....


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

dioworld said:


> we've just switch over to honest kitchen preference + meat for about 3 weeks, our dog has a very sensitive stomach, we've tried different dog food, a lot of grain free one, still his poop is loose and he'll have diarrhea quite often, but ever since we switch over to honest kitchen , his poop is perfect, and never had a diarrhea. I wish we could find out about this dogfood earlier, so he don't have to wake us up middle of the night so many times....


You must be SO relieved Dio!
A couple of side notes: If your baby has a sensitive stomach try HK's digestive enzymes or The Wholistic Pet both human grade and make sure that the meat you are adding is VERY low fat. Example: not just "hamburger" from the store, but at least ground round because of the fat content. Jennie-O and Purdue have sales on ground turkey that is 93%/7% which is great, but just Purdue ground chicken has too much fat and might cause an upset.
I wish you continued success!
Moms


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## Karma6577 (Jan 22, 2013)

We use Preference only...our Dogo doesn't like the other due to the texture she is super picky!! I ground up meat and they all get it in the morning and in the evening we do RMB. I would recommend it to anyone who is short on freezer space to do RAW.


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## Narny (Sep 8, 2010)

Narny said:


> My Lulu LOVES the turkey.... either of them. I have fed natural instinct and primal (both frozen) and I agree with you (and switched) because it ALWAYS has to be frozen or refrigerated... I dont always have a fridge.
> 
> I now feed Honest Kitchen... at least for now and she loves it... she didnt care for the fish to much but if she doesnt finish her dinner/lunch then I just put it in the fridge till dinner. She doesnt get to decide not to eat something. Over all she eats it just as well as primal... and actually... once I got her on to primal she wouldnt touch the natural instinct any more which is funny because she CHOWED DOWN on it when I switched her from Royal Canin German Shepherd Puppy.



I have to add to this previous post because I no longer feed this to Lulu. I feed Lulu the two kinds of turkey that they have over the course of 3 weeks and she started getting very itchy. Now I feed Orijen and she doesnt itch at all anymore. 

She did enjoy the food but after a while of eating it she was less thrilled about it. I have been feeding Orijen for the last 2 weeks and she is still thrilled to eat it.


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