The Honest Kitchen

[JulieM]

You might want to call the Honest Kitchen people and see what they have to say - I would think you'd probably be fine with turkey necks/HK, maybe giving muscle meat once a week or so (from what I recall, turkey necks are fairly meaty, though it's been ages since I've fed any and of course suppliers could vary), but the HK people will know better how/if that will affect the calcium-phosporus balance.

 

[Lmuglia]

Hi all - great thread as usual. I, too, have researched the Honest Kitchen as well and am interested. I do have a question, though, about the "need" for kibble and "crunchy" food. I don't know if this is a myth or not, so I'm gonna throw it out there. Is it bad to just feed your dog "moist" food? I was told a long time ago (hence not sure if it's a myth or not) that dogs "need to eat kibble-type things because it's good for their teeth. If you feed just "wet" foods, it's not good for their teeth."

Any views on this? Again, I really have no idea if it's true or not. A vet told us about our cat years ago that if we fed just wet/canned food that she would get tartar build-up on her teeth, etc.

Not sure if it's all hooey or what...

 

[boxer]

Dogs do indeed need something to chew on to keep their teeth clean. But kibble won't do the job - not even close.

The best thing they can have is raw meaty bones - preferably the smallish, slightly soft sort such as beef brisket (sternum) that they can chew right through and consume. Any sort of ribs is good, and any sort of raw bone is better than no bones.

The way it works is that the dog crunches right through the bone, and that scrapes off any tartar or other gunk. Can you see why kibble is useless in this regard? 99% of dogs don't chew it anyway, and even if they do, it is nowhere near hard or large enough to be doing any scraping whatsoever. The various dental bones and chews available in petstores aren't a whole lot better.

If you don't give raw bones, then you need to brush your dog's teeth

 

[Lmuglia]

Just a note - Grace has been on Honest Kitchen now for about 3 weeks - I started with Force. Meals used to be a so-so, "well it looks good, whatever, I'll give it a shot" event. But now, when I pull out the bucket of Honest Kitchen, she SITS in the CENTER of the kitchen until it's ready. Also never experienced the drooling before with her, but I just saw the first signs - I cracked up. I think I "cook" more for her than I do myself now! I started with HK for breakfast and then her regular kibble/can at dinner, but now HK for both meals. I am shocked at how long the bucket lasts, and I am not skimpy about it, though I don't overfeed either. She LOVES this stuff. I was going to look at VERVE as well, just for another kind/variety. I have been adding some kibble to it (Natural Balance, which she used to really like) just to get rid of it, and some ground beef, but really she likes it alone just as well. Some talk about the high cost, but when I think about the food I used to waste at times, frankly, it's money well spent. Just wanted to say thanks for all of the great information - she (we) couldn't be happier and I feel much better about my ability to maintain her good health - as much as I can.