I was given a choice of what I wanted to try for my dogs and I opted for grain-free varieties, as all three of my dogs (two terriers and one non-terrier) do better with little-to-no grain in their diets. And since I once spent hours each month grinding raw chicken wings and prepping veggies and other ingredients for a dog with a compromised immune system, I am always interested in products that are fresh, are prepared in smaller batches, companies that pay attention to quality and ingredients - and I like the idea of smaller operations with "real" people. So I've been interested in Honest Kitchen for a while.
A little background (gleaned from the HK website and other readings):
Both personal experience and verifiable research have shown me the benefits of a high-quality human grade food. The Honest Kitchen is based on philosophies in line with my own, so I feel confident about the products. According to their website history (The Honest Kitchen - our history), the company had humble beginnings - founder Lucy Postin was making food for her dog Mosi at home in her kitchen in Pacific Beach (CA). The first product, Verve, was born in that little kitchen and used by Mosi's dog park friends and carried by a local store. That was 2002. The company celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012 and is recognized as a leader in the industry. In all fairness, there have been some glitches along the way. Earlier this year, the company issued a recall for several of its products, citing fears of contamination. That gave me pause but, after I checked the product information and read the news releases, I realized we were in the clear. The Honest Kitchen still uses human grade ingredients. In this case, a batch of parsley was thought to contain Salmonella. The potentially affected lots were recalled - a voluntary recall, I might add - and the company severed ties with the supplier in question. I don't think you can get more proactive than that!
Anyway, I selected the grain free foods shown below - Embark, Zeal and Love.
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| Box of samples from The Honest Kitchen |
They came in this great package, along with three booklets about the company and its products. The trial boxes were enough to feed my three a little bit each day to see how they adjusted. I also wanted to see if there was one type they liked more than the others. All three of these varieties are described as "completed and balanced for adult dogs" and are both grain-free and gluten free.
Embark has 29% protein and 18% fat, according to the packaging. It is made with cage-free dehydrated turkey, organic flaxseed, potatoes, celery, spinach, carrots, organic coconut, apples, organic kelp, eggs, bananas, cranberries, rosemary, and various vitamins and minerals.
Zeal has 35.5% protein and 8.5% fat and the primary ingredient is dehydrated white fish (haddock and whiting), along with sweet potatoes, eggs, organic coconut, organic alfalfa, apples, pumpkin, parsley, cabbage, bananas, salmon, cranberries, garlic, rosemary, vitamins and minerals. The packaging says the fish is "wild, line-caught."
Finally, Love has 31% protein and 18.5% fat and is comprised of dehydrated beef, sweet potatoes, potatoes, organic flaxseed, organic coconut, parsley, dandelion greens, papaya, cranberries, pumpkin, honey, rosemary, vitamins and minerals.
Love was the hands-down favorite at our house, with Embark running a close second. My dogs will pretty much each anything, however, so I'm not sure we're a good test group! At this stage of our lives - what with multiple jobs and family commitments - I have a hard time being able to prepare fresh meals for the dogs each day. I feel a little less guilty knowing I can add products from The Honest Kitchen to their diet to ensure some variety and wholesome ingredients. While I will continue to feed a high-quality kibble for the time being, I hope to once again - some day - feed a more natural diet. I am blessed that, for the time being, all my dogs are healthy and can handle a more commercially-prepared version than was the case in the past. But that doesn't mean that I EVER take such blessings for granted. After all, I spent too many years grinding more than 20 pounds of chicken wings each month, weighing and separating into individual feeding containers. Ew.
Check out The Honest Kitchen for yourself. Read about the company, its employees, the work environment (Outside Magazine named them "one of America's best places to work" in 2011 (read about it here: The Honest Kitchen). Take some time to read their client testimonials. As with all living beings, the foods dogs and cats are fed can make a huge difference in health and well-being. There are some heartwarming stories of healing and medical turnarounds.
So that's it for this week. If you haven't tried The Honest Kitchen, I would encourage you to do so. There are treats and snacks as well as the dehydrated foods. Your pets will love you for it!
