Honest Kitchen?

[Kat's Dogs]

So, I think that I like the sound of the Honest Kitchen stuff. Daz just doesn't seem to do well on kibbles, and raw does work better for her - but its not easy with days of driving to agility trials. I was thinking this might be a good alternative to try, and I already have quite a few little free samples of it to test out.

 

I know that the Honest Kitchen stuff has come up here before but the search function isn't working and I don't remember what was said about it. Does anyone here feed this stuff? Anyone have anything to say about it (good or bad)? Also, I don't know which variation would be better for Daz....going with the "active lifestyle" thing would point towards either Embark or Thrive....

[nancy in AZ]

Kat, I ran across Wysong's products when I was considering alternatives to Science Diet Prescription food. Some of them sound similar to your description of the freeze dried. They have tons of info on them as well. Here's the URL:

 

http://www.wysong.net/page/WOTTPWS/CTGY/CD

 

click on the link for "Archetype"

[airbear]

Hi Kat,

 

I tried it a few years ago, and honestly, it's way more work than raw (and more expensive). You have to soak the stuff, then add meat (because there really isn't that much protein in the mix). For my two, it made their poops really yucky, and Wick lost a lot of weight quite quickly, despite eating 4 cups of a day of that stuff. Also, the, er, methane output... you don't want that on a roadtrip.

 

When we travel, we do raw because it's so much easier to go to a grocery store and buy a bulk pack of chicken quarters, or hamburger, or whatever. When we come to the States, we can't bring kibble across, so it's always raw. Or Burger King.

[Maralynn]

I know a few people swear by the honest kitchen for traveling, but it seems awful expensive for the amount of meat that you're getting.

 

Nature's Variety and Solid Gold both have a freeze dried product that I would probably try before the Honest Kitchen. But, if I were in your situation, I'd probably just use grain-free kibble or canned.

[Alaska]

I had EXACTLY the same experience as Kristi, and drew the same conclusions.

 

I gave HK a try to see if there was a realistic way to keep my dogs on a "raw" diet during longer backpack trips. There may be, but HK wasn't it. FWIW, I fed NB Instinct on our most recent hike (3 weeks) as the next best option, and I wasn't impressed with that either. Getting them back on REAL food was a relief.

 

I think you'd have to be a millionaire to feed the freeze dried stuff with any regularity. Plus, I can't imagine it's any closer to the real thing for dogs than human freeze dried food is for us. Okay for astronauts maybe, but here on Planet Earth there are better options.

 

I travel at least as much as you do, and I've found that once you decide you're going to make it work, raw isn't that hard to maintain on the road. Might have to spend a bit more to buy raw in grocery stores on the fly, but you can almost always find something to feed. If it's just for weekend trials, especially this time of year, try freezing their meals before you leave home. That's what I do for weekend hikes and it works.

 

BTW, will we be seeing you at the ZAP trial?

[diane allen]

I keep Honest Kitchen around for a few travel days, and for an occasional break from raw. It isn't THAT much trouble! You don't HAVE to add meat, though I usually add something. For travel: yeah, it's a bit of a hassle beforehand. I freeze meat in various size containers (one meal, two meals, etc.), freeze vegies (similar), and have oats on hand. I keep the frozen in my tiny camper freezer - and a small ice chest, on a block of ice, with dry ice. You can purchase dry ice in various groceries - usually Albertson's or Smith's (in the intermountain west) have it. I just did a 10 day trip, including 6 days in southern AZ, with frozen to the bitter end!

 

My experience with HK is similar - expensive for long-term use, huge poops.

 

Another alternative, though still frozen, is Nature's Variety frozen patties or medallions. I use those as a first backup - pretty much complete meals for those nights when it's just too late, too cold, too whatever. I usually repackage them, so I can thaw just a few (wrap in plastic wrap, seal in a ziplock, freeze & thaw individually).

 

diane

[Kat's Dogs]

Well, glad I asked about it then! I guess we will not be doing the HK.

 

The trouble I have had with raw while traveling was keeping things cold and fresh - especially if the hotel didn't have a fridge. Now that I think about it, it really wouldn't be to bad to just go out to the store and pick something up I always just brought whatever I needed which actually sounds kind of silly now - it isn't absolutely necessary to do that! Duh.

 

The NV frozen stuff looks better than the HK stuff in terms of meat content, maybe I will pick some of those up for emergencies, and then try just to make the raw work the rest of the time. I do really like how she does on it....

 

BTW, will we be seeing you at the ZAP trial?

Yup. All three days. Even Peanut will be running....that should be interesting.

[btrent]

I've had excellent results with HK. If I could afford it, I'd feed it all the time. It is an extremely well made product. The only downside is cost. You do not have to soak it very long, with the exception of the Verve product (which takes longer). The Force and Embark products do not have to be soaked very long at all and you do not have to add meat unless you want to. I used it on a week-long travel trip for my 3 dogs in July and it worked wonderfully. Also HK has won the right to use the terms human grade on its food.

 

When my elderly guy Augie developed seizures I put him on HK with some raw as a grain-free diet as that type of diet was recommended for both seizures and cancer (the idea being that he had a brain tumor causing the seizures. although I never had an MRI done to determine the cause). He was roughly given a month or two to live. However, he lived more than a year and a half and quit having seizures all together and I was able to wean him off all meds for the seizures. He passed away this last May of causes completely unrelated to seizures or cancer. I credit his diet at least partially with keeping him going.

 

I would highly recommend HK if you can afford it, or as a partial diet otherwise.

 

Just IMO.

 

--Billy

[Wendy V]

I, too, started raw feeding six years ago in response to a dog having seizures. She is now 4 years seizure-free and off all meds for the past 2 years, and still working at the age of 12 1/2. (yeah!!)

 

I travel frequently and compensate for the lack of refrigeration by using a 5-day extreme cooler and packing the food frozen. I add ice as necessary. I can make it through the 12-day Florida trials by using this method. I'm sure other raw feeders have developed other methods as well.

[Laurae]

I feed raw, too. When I travel, I pre-portion my dogs' meals into freezer baggies and freeze them. (I usually choose ground elk, ground turkey, or tripe for these meals.) I keep them in a soft cooler. They last a few days that way. I just bought a car-fridge cooler, which plugs into the old cigarette lighter outlet of my truck for even longer storage.

[sandra s.]

On the last holiday trip, we brought canned food with us (a high-quality brand), and except for the stinkiness , we were very happy with it.

Both dogs loved it, and had no trouble switching! We also bought them other stuff there - chicken legs, canned tuna (oh yuck!), cottage cheese, eggs etc - but we fed them the canned meat for dinner about every other day and it made things a lot easier.

[SoloRiver]

I was not a big fan of Honest Kitchen. I fed my dogs Force for a while (this was back when they only made Verve and Force). It's mostly vegetable material and yes, results in humongous poops. Solo also soured on it after about a week and refused to eat anything that it had touched, including chunks of beef and lamb, and he's not a picky dog, so when he tells me he really hates something, I don't make him eat it.

 

I ordered Force directly from the company. They've gone through a number of packaging changes over the years. Back when, if you ordered in bulk, your order came in a big twist-tied plastic bag tossed into a cardboard box. My first (and only) bulk order arrived exploded inside the box. When I contacted them, they basically accused me of lying and gave me all sorts of hassles before they finally agreed to send a replacement order. They actually told me I needed to measure exactly how much was missing from the bag, and they would send me that amount, if you can believe that. Since then, I have not had that much interest in supporting the company, although I think the food itself is high quality.

 

I recently got a bunch of samples of their new foods and my dogs ate all of them (including Force -- I guess Solo forgot how much he used to hate it). To me, the cost is prohibitive and back when my dogs were eating Force as their main diet they didn't look or act any different than they do now, so I'd rather feed the way I do now, which is raw breakfast and Canidae dinner.

[SoloRiver]

Oh, and of the commercial raw diets we like Nature's Variety best -- it's the only "complete" one that doesn't look like it's 65% vegetable.

 

We also like Hare today, but it isn't "complete" so I stick with the ground products that are basically the entire animal ground up and put into a chub, like the rabbit, or goat.

[Kat's Dogs]

They actually told me I needed to measure exactly how much was missing from the bag, and they would send me that amount, if you can believe that.

That is just insane.

 

Thank you Melanie - that was a very helpful response .