The Honest Kitchen?

[kdhawks]

Levi and I visited the pet store today, and received several samples of dehydrated Honest Kitchen. Has anyone used this food, or have recommendations? I think we got every single variety they offer I don't plan on feeding this every day (he eats Orijen kibble, and kibble is just so much easier to manage as we travel a lot), but I thought this would be nice just to add a little spice to his food on occasion.

[rachelanne820]

I tried a few samples, too. Mine wouldn't touch it. It turned out to be this green soupy liquid. It didn't look or smell very good. Both of mine just sniffed it and walked away.

[LDandPasquale]

Tried it when Pasquale was younger....he wouldnt even go near it. Although now Pasquale isnt as picky as he use to be...now he's a little piggy!

[Britster]

Originally Posted by rachelanne820

I tried a few samples, too. Mine wouldn't touch it. It turned out to be this green soupy liquid. It didn't look or smell very good. Both of mine just sniffed it and walked away.

Jackson did the same thing, hahaha.

[LuvMySissy]

We have been using this for over three years now. If you fin dit is too soupy, you are using too much water. It is a very good, high quality food that is close to you get to raw without any worry about e-coli or salmonella.

My girls didn't care much for the beef formula, but they love everything else. We can't wait for the new fish formula to finally be released.

IMO it smells like homecooked chicken soup when you are making it. It doesn't look very appetizing though!!!!!

It is a very easy food to travel with and most of the varieties are grain-free!

[FL Tink]

we used it over a year before we switched to raw.

Bella looooooooved it. It is more like oatmeal..not runny.

I just slowly add warm water until i get the consistency i want.

Force was her favorite To me it smelled like thanksgiving dinner

[LuvTaycieGirl]

I have a friend who has an Italain Greyhound who SWEARS by it and is constantly telling me how wonderful it is. I did pick up a few samples and Taycie seems to like it!

I just switched over to Natures Variety so I am hesitant to make yet another switch. I like the company the ingredients in it and I know it is really easy for them to digest. What I have been told kibble is the HARDEST! But then there is the entire issue with teeth? Is it ok? Does anyone that use this have dental issues.. cause essentially when mixed it looks alot like mush...

So I guess we will try the samples now...

[capt_noonie]

Uni is very picky and she loves this food. i got a sample in every variety except the ones for puppies and/or nursing mothers. She is on verve now, the beef. It has very low fat only 7.5 percent as Uni has mild pancreatitis, i can't give her too high of fat or protein. The Preference variety is also good. It's meat free and you add in your own fresh meat. It's a bit more of a hassle than kibble, but less hassle in the long run for me begging Uni to eat her kibble.

It is more like an oatmeal consistency. if it's runny there's too much water in it. It's a very high quality food, and the people who make it actually do taste tests on themselves! All human grade ingredients.

[kdhawks]

Thanks everyone! I am anxious to try it out (and I am glad to be forewarned that it doesn't look appetizing!) Levi isn't super picky, so we'll see how this goes. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it turns out, I was just excited to get all of the samples!

[Melcakes]

I bought the Embark formula (turkey) for Zoey. I heard it was the most popular and best selling formula and picky eaters/puppies prefer it, but Zoey wouldn't touch it.

I'll have to see if I can get samples of the other formulas. Does anybody know if one can and where? I don't know why I went with Embark since Zoey isn't a big turkey eater to begin with. They say Verve, their beef formula, is designed to be fed to less active adult dogs. Does anybody know if it's okay to feed it to puppies as well, Zoey likes her beef.

It definitely has a different consistency in comparison to what is the norm with dog food.

[capt_noonie]

The nutrition info is on their website Dog Food | The Honest Kitchen

You can order samples from their website as well. a 1oz. size for $1 and it hydrates to about 3 servings for our little guys.

[LuvMySissy]

Originally Posted by LuvTaycieGirl

I just switched over to Natures Variety so I am hesitant to make yet another switch. I like the company the ingredients in it and I know it is really easy for them to digest. What I have been told kibble is the HARDEST! But then there is the entire issue with teeth? Is it ok? Does anyone that use this have dental issues.. cause essentially when mixed it looks alot like mush...

Kibble is not better for the teeth - that is a total farce. Raw is actually much better for the teeth as there isn't garbage ingredients or sugar added (which many kibble does).

[LuvTaycieGirl]

Originally Posted by LuvMySissy

Kibble is not better for the teeth - that is a total farce. Raw is actually much better for the teeth as there isn't garbage ingredients or sugar added (which many kibble does).

I completly agree... after posting my questions I started googling and I came across an article... actually from the honest kitchen website that basically mimicked what you said... (I posted it below!)

"Secondly, most kibbles are so laden with processed simple carbohydrates, that any that is chewed will actually impact starches and sugars into the gum-line, thus increasing the likelihood of periodontal disease over the long term. In contrast, most home prepared diets do not seem to contribute to the same levels of tartar buildup as processed dry foods and a fresh, minimally processed pet food diet causes almost no tartar buildup in most cases."

I really like The Honest Kitchen and with that confusion cleared up I would totally feed it!

[capt_noonie]

I always had a hard time believing kibble was better for cleaning the gumline too. What I was told was that the kibble was hard so it helped to scrape off tartar, but once you start chewing on it, it turns to mush just like everything else, so how would it scrape off tartar?

[LuvTaycieGirl]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

I always had a hard time believing kibble was better for cleaning the gumline too. What I was told was that the kibble was hard so it helped to scrape off tartar, but once you start chewing on it, it turns to mush just like everything else, so how would it scrape off tartar?

You might find this interesting as I did... I have a friend who feeds The Honest Kitchen and she explained to me she was nervous at basically feeding "mush" instead of kibble. She was told the comparision to kibble and reducing tarter was like us brushing our teeth with pretzals... not exactly recommended by 9 out of 10 dentists. The Honest kitchen website basically stated it perfectly... (quote posted below)

"Many pet food manufactures promote their dry, crunchy kibble products as capable of cleaning the teeth. There are a couple of flaws with this claim. The first is that in the majority of cases, dogs and cats don’t actually even crunch up their kibble with their teeth. Have you ever seen your animal companion vomit or regurgitate his kibble? Almost without exception, that kibble returns to the world in the exact same form as it was consumed – round pellets. There’s no way they could have cleaned the teeth because they were never even chewed, and simply got swallowed whole!"

So... I think you are exactly right in thinking this! After googling like crazy tonight... I am not sold kibble is the solution or prevention to tarter buildup... I think if you establish good dental habits that is the BEST prevention by far