Homemade Food ( ...well kinda) - anyone using Honest Kitchen
Cost a lot and you only get 4lbs. You add water and it gives you 17lbs (really a lot less unless you like serving your dog soup which I don't so as recommended by the person I bought it from... I put less water). Here are the ingredients: Quote: Ingredients Dehydrated white fish (Haddock, Whiting), sweet potatoes, eggs, organic coconut, alfalfa, apples, green beans, parsley, cabbage, bananas, Salmon, cranberries, garlic, rosemary, 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 Anyone else using it? she said she'd give me my money back no matter how much I've used if it didn't work, so I thought... what the heck. It stinks like a mug but thankfully it hasn't come out of her butt yet. |
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| Gigi and I have used it. Mine all liked it but I only used it as a topper. Joahaeyo wrote: It stinks like a mug but thankfully it hasn't come out of her butt yet.  The stuff that comes out of your... keyboard! I started using Grandma Lucy's/Artisan freeze dried foods as a topper. I was originally trying to find a commercial food with pork that Bumble might be able to tolerate... it's one we'll try with him later on. This one is grain-free too. http://www.grandmalucys.com/artisan_pork.html It's a little less expensive here- http://www.heartypet.com/p-1111-grandma ... -food.aspx One nice thing about this product is that they also sell just a pre-mix meaning it has no meat. So while their meat based foods are high in protein (pork is 39%), the level can be dropped/adjusted by adding the pre-mix. http://www.grandmalucys.com/artisan_premix.html Remember to introduce any new food slowly.  Hoping you'll find something that works for Yuki.  |
| oooh... yours is cheaper too! If this seems to work for her, I'm definitely going to switch. I can always rely on y'all |
| Tried it on Gertie. She liked it,I did not like the mess on her face each feeding. I have gone to Lotus Grain Free. I get it on line. Gertie/Erin |
| Yeah, it's a wet food so it's messier. This is Grandma Lucy's. It has chunks of freeze dried meat but also meat throughout the product.  If you ever need to go to a home cooked diet you can buy different ones through http://www.BalanceIt.com . They sell recipes that were created by veterinarians that are board certified nutritionists. I spoke with nutritionists at Tufts on Friday. They said a food allergy isn't really all that common and that you'd see marked improvement when the dog was off the offending ingredient. Bumble was off his food about 1 1/2 weeks ago. To get him eating, I gave him a small Wellness biscuit and about 3/4 of a Canidae biscuit over the course of a few days. He broke out again with a rash and a few sores. Waiting to see if it subsides on it's own since he's back to eating his food, whether it's thyroid related or something else. It was the first time he's had commercial treats since February. For now, the Tufts nutritionists are going to put together another version of the balanced ostrich diet. I'd like nothing better than to get him back on any easy commercial dog food! So I sympathize with anyone who has an itchy dog. |
| Friend used it when her Pyrs were recovering from Tuleremia (they ate a prairie dog). She said it smelled so good she was tempted to dish herself up a portion. Alas, it was too expensive for her and went back to Solid Gold. |
| Kobuck totally looks like he knows what that is ....or would like to know I can't believe you serve them in nice bowls!!! ...and yours doesn't look as messy as mine!! Quote: So I sympathize with anyone who has an itchy dog. I think we ALL sympathize with what you have gone through for Bumbles!!! I pray it's not that difficult for yuki! Nothing seems to work. ...and of course it gets tiring having to say "Yuki... no itch ...YUKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII no scratching!!!" ...as if it's her fault for feeling uncomfortable. Sheepieboss, were you talking about my food or the food 6Girls was talking about? I can't imagine anyone saying mine smells good. It reminds me of wheatgrass, and I'm going to guess it takes like it ...but much worse. The person selling me it went on and on about how these foods are taste tested by humans [and taking pride in it] and I thought... Good Lord what a terrible job. |
| Maybe it's a different menu? Judith said the beef stew smelled just like beef stew. Wheatgrass would not be good. Like you have time for it, but maybe Yuks gets her meals home cooked in the crock pot? |
| Husband is trying to convince me. We'll see. I've been fighting it to no end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Quote: The person selling me it went on and on about how these foods are taste tested by humans [and taking pride in it] and I thought... Good Lord what a terrible job.  Quote: "Yuki... no itch ...YUKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII no scratching!!!" ...as if it's her fault for feeling uncomfortable. You might try spraying the itchy areas with witch hazel. Not much anti-itch but it does seem to soothe a bit. It's so hard to know what food might work. With Bumble, none of the commercial foods helped. The allergist felt there was a 90% chance it was a food allergy. He's been better on home cooked (fewer sores but still itchy) but I can't say for sure whether it's due to food. There are likely multiple factors with him.  Home cooking isn't too bad once you get into it. (Just pulled 6 pounds of ostrich out of the oven.) It can often be stored for up to 3 days in the refrigerator or 2 weeks in the freezer. You choose a protein and carb and stick with it for 12 weeks with nothing else to eat but the diet. Topical heartworm preventative too. Might be be a way to confirm or rule out a food allergy. The not knowing is frustrating... |
| Should I add any fillers (chicken, green beans, carrots???)? She seems hungry and I'm already giving her about double the portion recommended to keep her present weight. This has been this way no matter what food/kibble she is on, but she is usually not hungry after I've doubled. No thyroid issues either. She normally doesn't complain after she eats, but she just stands there wondering where the rest of her food is when she eats this. ...or should I wait longer to see how well she does on this? |
Joahaeyo wrote: Should I add any fillers (chicken, green beans, carrots???)? She seems hungry and I'm already giving her about double the portion recommended to keep her present weight. This has been this way no matter what food/kibble she is on, but she is usually not hungry after I've doubled. No thyroid issues either. She normally doesn't complain after she eats, but she just stands there wondering where the rest of her food is when she eats this. ...or should I wait longer to see how well she does on this? Maybe she just likes it and wants more?? Perhaps wait a week and reweigh her and see how she's doing on it. (I'm anal and weigh my dogs twice a week) I guess it helps we have a walk-on scale at The Paw - so handy to do when I'm there to teach class. I rotate foods often, so it's (the frequent weighing) my best gauge to quickly see how my dogs do on a new food, and adjust feeding amts as needed pretty quickly. |
| When switching foods, I usually transition them to the new food over a period of 7-10 days. 1/4 new food to 3/4 old for a 2-3 days... longer if there are any symptoms of intolerance. Then 1/2 new to 1/2 old for 2-3 days... 3/4 new to 1/4 old for 2-3 days... then all new food. Too fast a transition can cause stomach problems or bloody diarrhea. Bumble had that when we tried to get him on Royal Canin Rabbit and Potato a few months ago... too fast a change. |
6Girls wrote: When switching foods, I usually transition them to the new food over a period of 7-10 days. 1/4 new food to 3/4 old for a 2-3 days... longer if there are any symptoms of intolerance. Then 1/2 new to 1/2 old for 2-3 days... 3/4 new to 1/4 old for 2-3 days... then all new food. Too fast a transition can cause stomach problems or bloody diarrhea. Bumble had that when we tried to get him on Royal Canin Rabbit and Potato a few months ago... too fast a change. Jaci, that's excellent advice for dogs with known gut issues, but, like Dawn, I rotate mine regularly and just do regular transitions (end of one bag, open new and feed). I start from the time they're puppies. I actually think what we were taught in the past about never switching foods, or only rarely and then carefully, gradually, probably contributes to some of the gut issues we're seeing. I'd just as soon switch things around and challenge them a bit. As they say, your milage may vary and I would never suggest something like that for Bumble. But for the goatdogs/puppies among us, just something to ponder. I've never tried Honest Kitchen, but I've been around when people cooked for their dogs and some of the things people concocted made me HUNGRY. What I cook for myself my dinner rarely smells that good Kristine |
| Yep, I switch the whole gang cold turkey Young, old, my dogs and fosters....they all do really well w/ it. Sometime there is a food mix in the transition - usually my fault as I have a little of the old food left in the tin in the house, and I add in some of the new so it suits my schedule better. Like not needing to go grab the new bag at 5:30 am to make enough for everyone's breakfast!  Otherwise the switch is pretty much old food one meal, new food the next. I've been doing it for YEARS and years....the only real change is to see the poop color change....lol   |
| I've been very lucky with all the dogs we've had, Tripper was probably the most prone to allergies which I didn't know anything about but after changing him to taste of the wild lamb the licking mostly went away. Never had lesions or any of the problems some of your poor guys have, just licking. Now that we only have Butchy I plan on changing to different good non-grain foods so we'll see how that goes. Might have a few loose poops but I'm sure it will even out eventually. |
| We've used Honest Kitchen and Grandma Lucy's, the pups loved em! Honest Kitchen is way too expensive for me to feed 100lbs+ of dogs. This is good timing because I'm going to make the plunge and start feeding raw asap. I am thinking of Northwest Naturals frozen dinner bars. Anyone use those? |
| I got scared when I read Mrs. J had given Yuki double the recommended feeding of Honest Kitchen. I could envision her cleaning up a great big poo mess. Would the alfalfa do that? I probably overreacted. I just can't see a human taste-testing the Zeal. It's kind of green, a bit twiggy with chunks of fish. But the dogs LOVE it!! I can't quite bring myself to feed the Preference (the meatless one on the left). It looks like something I'd have fed my rabbits. I do think the dry stuff smells good though... probably the alfalfa. I love the smell of sweet hay and alfalfa!  We do feed the pack a varied diet too. BB had gotten the same up until his skin problems. This approach did make it difficult though when it came time to select a novel protein and starch to home cook for BB. It later came time to try a commercial kibble again but he had eaten all the possible protein options before. So I was told to choose one he hadn't eaten as much of which was rabbit. But we had feed a few of the extra large cases of Wysong canned rabbit before. We're currently doing the Grandma Lucy's Chicken and Blue Buffalo- Basics, Wilderness & Longevity- Mature. What foods do you use in your rotations? |
| YUMMIE! |
| Northwest Naturals frozen dinner bars... hmm, if it's cheaper and works good with allergies, I'm all for learning about them too! I just went to wag.com and bought a 10lb bag of the honest kitchen (turkey - keen) ...and used a first time customer promotion WITH free automatic shipping and paid $45.04 ..............uh, I paid $44 for a 4lb bag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wish I knew whether Yuki and this food were matches or I'd stock up like crazy!!! the Honest kitchen has the price I paid as the going rate for the food, so I felt it was a good deal. I didn't spend too much time going through site to site though. 6Girls, you're so good at picture taking!! We're shocked how much Yuki eats too and is still skinny as a rail. She's getting 6cups of this and is fairly INactive. I think gotsheep may be right in that she just loves this food. She's never had wet/soft food before. She scratches at the fridge every morning now.  This doesn't mean much though if her itching continues.I would buy "preference" from the honest kitchen, but I'm only willing to add chicken, and I'm going to guess it won't be a first pick for Yuki since chicken at least in kibble foods has never worked for her?? I used to rotate sd ultra and pro plan sensitive salmon something or another ...........boy do I miss the days it was that easy! She has little hot spots on her for the first time ever (was on innova). Blue Buffalo didn't work for her and I tried 3-4 different flavors for a long time. My across the street neighbor must love us. She gets all the food we don't use to feed her dogs. She hasn't paid for food in over 6 months!  Good for her. Stinks for us. |
Joahaeyo wrote: 6Girls, you're so good at picture taking!! We're shocked how much Yuki eats too and is still skinny as a rail. She's getting 6cups of this and is fairly INactive. I think gotsheep may be right in that she just loves this food. She's never had wet/soft food before. She scratches at the fridge every morning now. This doesn't mean much though if her itching continues.Does it make you want to taste test it? My granddog is like Yuki... but she's 45 pounds and eats 4 cups a day. It's what she needs just to stay at a nice weight. I love to see that dog in motion... a different dog with different needs and metabolism.Quote: I'm going to guess it won't be a first pick for Yuki since chicken at least in kibble foods has never worked for her?? If she's allergic to chicken it wouldn't be a good choice.  It's hard to predict what food will work, if it will make a difference. We went through a whole list of kibble brands/varieties over the 2 years. Food unfortunately won't fix the problem if the itching is due to an environmental allergy like dust mites or molds. And that's the reason for again repeating intradermal testing on BB. I'm going to move in across the street from you! |
| Jaci is that stuff soaked before serving? We have a product here, a dog museli, Dr Bruces vets all natural, costs a fortune but makes up after soaking for 24 hours heaps and absolutely amazing for dogs with allergy and IBS problems. You also add to the soaked museli fresh meats and recommended kangaroo or Tripe (ewww I dont think I could handle Tripe   in any form being that raw or cooked, but I believe that is an option that is beneficial to dogs with problems). Known a few people over the years that have had great success with this option as a filler rather then a commercial kibble filler. Looks like rabbit food too but you add the proteins after soaking. After my pro plan experience with it being made here now and not rice based but full of wheat, got onto another product made here after finding it hard to source Eagle Pack Holisitic, a holisitic one and made in OZ amazing stuff and even includes Emu Oil for all its benefits. They even make emu sticks which the dogs love. I've been lucky no major problems in skin, allergy problems or IBS with the oes over the years but I still like to swap on occassions, meats, mine love for a change from the basic raw beef, cooked chicken, tuna or sardines or raw lamb is raw minced rabbit, they go crazy over that, kangaroo ( makes them jump higher ) and they love that too and now I can add emu to that, they love this new holisitic kibble which is lamb and rice based with the emu oil included in the kibble, but the chewie emu sticks they just about take my fingers off waiting for the treat of emu. I always add fresh vegies and meats to there kibble as I cant stand the thought of just putting a bowl or just dry food down twice a day as the only food they get. I also laugh when my kids were younger and they come home from school, Hmmm something smells great cooking what's for dinner, had to disappoint them it's the dogs food a cooking , especially with a reciepe I had of a dog health loaf that was baked in the oven with heaps of goodies in it, I reckon we could of eaten that as well, nup for the dogs kiddos  !!!!  The Dr. bruces vets all natural stuff is great, I fed it to the puppies, the puppy formula museli mix as a sort of porridge soaked for 24 hours and warm goats milk added when ready to feed the pack of weaning darlings. Still doing the ostrich? |
lisaoes wrote: Jaci is that stuff soaked before serving? Yup, you mix both The Honest Kitchen and Grandma Lucy's Artisan with water 1:1 or 1:1.5... you let it set so it rehydrates. The Lucy food serves a bit faster (in about 3-5 minutes) and seems a little less messy. Think more mashed potatoes since it’s potato base. But both are enthusiastically greeted when set before all the dogs. At some point I'll try the pre-mix and ostrich or pork with Bumble. lisaoes wrote: We have a product here, a dog museli, Dr Bruces vets all natural, costs a fortune but makes up after soaking for 24 hours heaps and absolutely amazing for dogs with allergy and IBS problems. I found the website! Not sure why I'm all excited about it I want to go through it though to see what they offer. Maybe he wants to bring it to the USA? http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/index. ... &Itemid=53 This is where I get Bumble's food- http://www.blackwing.com/product_shop.p ... pet%20food OSTRICH Dog Formula. I ordered a few bones for the other dogs but am waiting until bath day to let them have the raw ones. Do I confess that I have ostrich femurs in the freezer? I did get a few of the smoked ones for BB. I gave him one outdoors thinking he'd like some privacy but he wouldn't chew until I brought him in with Emma who had a raw one. He remembered chewing as being a social thing here. lisaoes wrote: Still doing the ostrich? Ostrich- yes, rutabaga- no. Way too long a story... surprised I have any friends left that will listen to me about it. Suffice to say that I’ve at least felt a need to press for answers and question some things. Hopefully these have been valid concerns and I'm not just being a pain in the butt. Requested testing that inadvertently found he was hypothyroid (T4 <0.4), then pursued what I felt might be the reason for it after his T4 went up even after having dropped his Soloxine level. Corresponded with Dr. Dodds to verify info in her book... tapered him off Soloxine six weeks ago, diet changed and we retested weekly. His T4 yesterday was 2.5... normal is 1-4. Had blood sent blood down to MSU for the full profile too. I felt the balanced version of his diet might be low in protein but who am I to say... so I had an appointment last Friday to speak with a board certified veterinary nutritionist and resident at Tufts for their opinion and to get their version of a balanced ostrich and potato diet. Not sure what this means long term other than we can connect all the dots and create different pictures. At the moment, the pyoderma is gone but he's very itchy after coming off the soloxine, a boost in protein and drop in added oil. Not sure what that means either other than a low dose of Soloxine may be beneficial to him... have to wait for the MSU profile. Or maybe just more fat (safflower oil) in the diet. lisaoes wrote: I've been lucky no major problems in skin, allergy problems or IBS with the oes over the years but I still like to swap on occassions, meats, mine love for a change from the basic raw beef, cooked chicken, tuna or sardines or raw lamb is raw minced rabbit, they go crazy over that, kangaroo ( makes them jump higher ) and they love that too and now I can add emu to that, they love this new holisitic kibble which is lamb and rice based with the emu oil included in the kibble, but the chewie emu sticks they just about take my fingers off waiting for the treat of emu Emu was another food option here. And you provided me with your puppy diet when BB was little.  I like to add the fresh foods too. Salmon this morning with breakfast for most of the pack. Kangaroo is one thing I just haven't been able to find here. I do try to be careful with fats... most fat is removed from the meat. We have two that had elevated pancreatic enzymes once in the past... so the basis of their meals is a low fat kibble (currently the mature version of Blue Buffalo Longevity or Wilderness). One is Kaytee... her full brother Chap was just diagnosed with diabetes so maybe a good reason to be a little more careful. Don't think that I didn't grab a Bayer pee stick and verify her glucose level when I heard. lisaoes wrote: also laugh when my kids were younger and they come home from school, Hmmm something smells great cooking what's for dinner, had to disappoint them it's the dogs food a cooking , There have been a few times when I made a pot of stew for the dogs and we had it for dinner too. It's all human food anyway (no tripe!!  ). |
6Girls wrote: There have been a few times when I made a pot of stew for the dogs and we had it for dinner too. It's all human food anyway (no tripe!! ).Love it! I'm all for multi-tasking! Kristine |
| I use Honest Kitchen's Keen formula as an occasional add-in. My two love it. If I stop feeding Fromm (which I am able to get a wholesale price straight from a distributor), I will be feeding Honest Kitchen. They are the ONLY pet food that is allowed, by law (they won a court case) and FDA permission to advertise that they use human grade ingredients. They are not truly raw because the ingredients are lightly cooked before being dehydrated but they are nutritionally close to raw. For a pup I would steer clear of the grain-free formulas (Embark, Force, Zeal) because the calcium could be too high. But that still leaves three formulas (Keen, Thrive, Verve). Keen is turkey-based, Thrive is chicken-based and Verve is beef-based. Also, as a supplement to raw feeders, they make Preference which is a base mix like Sojo's where you add raw meat and have a complete meal. The 10-pound box of Keen around here runs about $57 with tax and it makes about 42-pounds of food which is comparable to a large bag of kibble. They also from time-to-time offer some great coupons, such as $7 off a 10-pound box. If you're interested, email them and they will send single-meal samples of their foods. Or online they offer small 4-ounce trial sizes of their foods for $3.50. BTW, since I give mine an Honest Kitchen mixed with kibble meal about once or twice a week, to assure that the dry food doesn't spoil I split a 10-pound box into separate vacuum seal bags. |
6Girls wrote: Kangaroo is one thing I just haven't been able to find here. I do try to be careful with fats...There have been a few times when I made a pot of stew for the dogs and we had it for dinner too. It's all human food anyway (no tripe!! ) .Always good to taste test the stews !!! I did when I made the health loaf, DARN IT, could of fed it to the kids too Pity you cant get roo, so lean and the health benefits they are discovering for both humans and dogs from this meat is amazing. We can buy it at the supermarket now and yes we eat it too and share with the dogs as well Pop a roo steak on the BBQ rinsed down with a cold beer for us uprights while we have 3 drooling hair balls at our feet waiting to taste test Info on the Kangaroo meat. http://www.csiro.au/files/mediaRelease/ ... roofat.htm |
| Oh and this is the new dry food I sourced and checked out also explains the benefits of Emu Oil that has been added to this product. Love It and Aussie made and not irridated either. Most or nearly all premium drys that come in from overseas and sold here, due to our quaranteen requirements the bags are irridated so this is even better as a local new high quality, holisitc kibble Did not even need to transition them over slowly, they hoed in with great gutso and no problemos with going straight onto the new kibble. This company also does the Kangaroo and Emu sticks (like a Jerky strip) and they adore that as training treats or just for the heck of it a snack http://www.kylainknls.com/food.htm |
| Thought of this thread last night when Mr. J randomly said he's always wanted to try kangeroo. Trying KEEN Honest Kitchen now and it smells much better (turkey). Also isn't as soupy. What I was on was the most expensive one on websites, so I'm praying this one works. It's literally half the price but same amounts. Just ordered 30lbs (three 10lb boxes) that came in last night (makes 129lbs of food). Since the food came late and I was out of this food, I actually made her rice and chicken for the first time yesterday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Hmm... maybe I would consider making her food. I just don't know how much to add of rice, protein, veggie, fruit, etc. ...and if I need to add a multi type vitamin?? Well I guess I want to hope these food works and then I can add some veggies? I can't believe I'm getting into this. It's hard enough for me to get the plates on the table for the kids, ...and now I've got to feed yuks (before the kids took care of it b/c it was all dry kibble).  |
Can you make up several days worth and store it in the fridge? That way the kids could still scoop out the correct amt and feed her  and these guys must be on the same wave length! Todd was asking last week (to the Aussies here) if they make kangaroo jerky down there?? (and I forgot to ask! |
| We've been feeding Grandma Lucy's for a few weeks now, it's going really well! I just have a few questions to see if anyone else has experienced this... 1. Neither dog is interested in their water now. Rudie gets 4 cups of water a day in his food and MArley gets 3, but is that enough? Dave says they drink on walks, but they haven't touched their water bowl at home in 3 days. seriously! 2. They are going to the bathroom more often. Rudie now goes twice a day instead of once and Marley will go as many times as we walk (she is very efficient...) Is that a good sign? I've heard that with raw the dogs go much less because they are using all the nutrients so I was a little confused. Otherwise it's going really well and Marley never has to be coaxed to eat anymore! |
| It's working well for us too (still on keen - honest kitchen but it's the same thing as yours basically). Mine drinks a lot MORE water haha but I would think all is fine considering the amount of water in the food?? |
| I think the reduced water consumption is OK. The water is in the food for the most part. Sort of related - I learned from watching the eaglecam all summer that the eaglets NEVER drink any water up in that nest. They get all their moisture intake from the meat they are fed. |
| That's really interesting! I was actually concerned about their water intake, especially Marleys, when they were on dry food. |
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