I know most of us are always looking for that perfect diet. While I think we all agree raw is the best way to go it isn’t practical for most of us. This is what one of my friends is doing and she is very happy with it:
I switched all my dogs to Honest Kitchen Embark. Just ordered a case of four ten pound boxes. This stuff is FABULOUS! Super stool, great weights, great coats. I also give tendons and femur bones so they get to use their jaws. I add some Grizzly Salmon oil. Would still love to do raw myself but don’t have the time and want to make sure they miss nothing.
Myself, I have been alternating between Royal Canin German Shepherd formula and raw meat and bones.
Thanks, Julie. I’ve heard good things about Honest Kitchen. It would be especially good for travel because it’s so convenient to carry.
I’m going to transition Batman to 100 percent raw and see how it goes for the both of us. I have to get a separate Bat Freezer for him. Originally, I planned to do homemade raw in bulk using Dr. Becker’s recipes, but our new kitchen setup isn’t ideal for that level of food prep. Instead, I’m going to start with K9 Kravings (locally available brand), and supplement with the vitamins and oils recommended by Dr. B.
I like that you aren’t afraid to change your dogs’ diets — it makes feeding seem less intimidating and more flexible, like you aren’t going to ruin your dog if you don’t follow a recipe 100 percent perfectly.
This is great information. I’ve been reading a lot of good things about Honest Kitchen. Thanks for sharing!
Bravo to your friend!!! Awesome products!
From THK site:
1. “The Honest Kitchen is the only manufacturer in the US to have written permission from the FDA to use the term ‘human-grade” on its product labels.
2. “Humans actually taste every ingredient that goes into our recipes, as part of our product development process.”
I think that pretty much says it all!
Here are some of their other products:
Thrive (Chicken) for ALL Life Stages – gluten free
Force (Chicken) for Adult Maintenance/Sensitive Dogs/Moderate activity levels – grain free/gluten free
Zeal (White Fish) for Adult Maintenance/Sensitive Dogs/Moderate activity levels – grain free/gluten free
Preference (Alfalfa) you add your own raw meat! “Suitable for dogs of all ages including pups and seniors.”
karen what do you think of Nature’s Variety freeze dried and raw frozen diets?
I use to be a fan of Nature’s Variety Prairie but a few months ago I fed it and did not like the results and I do not plan on ever feeding it again.
Aren’t we a crazy bunch……having freezers for our fur kids? 🙂 LOL!!!
NATURE’S VARIETY FREEZE DRIED RAW: The site states: “Nature’s Variety Instinct Freeze Dried Raw is intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding only.” This means that the product is not complete, and is not a balanced diet according to AAFCO standards, so it would not be a nutritionally adequate food for daily feeding. If you wanted to feed this product on a daily basis, you would need to add appropriate vitamin, mineral and calcium supplements suggested by a qualified vet nutritionist. A “regular medallion bag” is 7 ounces, has 15-17 pieces in it and costs $17.99 on line. It says to feed 4 or 5 medallions per 10 lbs. of body weight. If I am figuring this correctly, a 70 lb. dog would eat 28 regular medallions! That’s almost 2 bags! Although their list of ingredients looks good, I would only use it for a couple of days or for treats, IF I could afford it!
*Since I personally am not a fan of sizable amounts of “Montmorillonite Clay” being fed on a daily basis in food, I was happy to see that it was at least listed at about the 11th ingredient in both the freeze dried and raw instead of in the top 8 ingredients, making it more of a trace mineral additive instead of one of the main ingredients as in some of their other products.
NATURE’S VARIETY RAW: The site states: “Formula provides complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages of dogs and cats.”
Chicken is pretty heavy with bone (2nd ingredient). Contains organs….yeah! Doesn’t contain Sodium Selenite…..yeah! Not the worst raw food, but there are better ones out there.
NATURE’S VARIETY PRARIE KIBBLE: I agree with you, Julie. Montmorillonite Clay (7th ingredient). Sodium Selenite (repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organ damage). Canola Oil (Weston A. Price Foundation article quotes “These studies all point in the same direction–that canola oil is definitely not healthy for the cardiovascular system of animals”).
*As to purchasing it? NV would be further down on my list as it does not meet my personal criteria for feed.
*Although, Nature’s Variety does not use all human grade ingredients (“materials used in our raw diets are obtained from USDA-inspected facilities”…..materials being the key word here) their quality control and safety measures are above board.
*Rabbit and canned food ingredients are sourced from China. Eeeeek!
The Blue Ridge looks good. Thanks Irene, I had not heard of it before!
As always thank you Karen!
My pleasure! 🙂
I used Nature’s Variety frozen and freeze dried many years ago and I liked it then but don’t know if it is the same formula. Unfortunately it is very expensive as are most processed raw diets.
I was doing my own pey diet with good results but it takes work to find bargains. In June, I came across a source for Blue Ridge Meats (http://blueridgebeef.com/testimonials.html) and it works very well for us. We have tried the venison w/bone, quail w/bone and beef. This month we also got some rabbit w/bone and duck /bone ut I have not fed it yet. I like that it is 100% meat with bone, no fillers. I can add my own veggies, etc so I prefer not to pay 6 to 7 dollars per pound for a processed raw that has lots of non meat fillers. The dogs love the Blue Ridge products, their coats look terrific, we have no itching or chewing. Stools are small and compact and not smelly. It comes in two pound rolls and is easy to use. I took a weeks worth for Sade and Sammy in a cooler when we went to the NASS and just kept replacing the ice daily. We arrived on Wednesday and stayed until Monday. The food I fed them on Monday smelled as fresh as the first roll I used on Wednesday.
And yest, the dogs have their own freezer. Right now between my two freezers, I have about 100 pounds of raw food for the dogs plus 1/2 gallon of ice cream, one salmon and two steaks for Tom and I.
Sade and Sammy look fantastic. They could be walking endorsements for Blue Ridge. We have a distributor in Chantilly, about an hour from DC, and the prices are very good. They are on my shortlist.
Thank you for the blueridgebeef link. You made me laugh reading about your freezer! 🙂
They are also a walking endorsement for their breeder!
Seriously, I think good food is important and I happen to believe raw does great things for my dogs but frankly, don’t underestimate beeding and the care given to mom and baby puppies.
There is more than one way to feed a dog. There are many good quality food options, raw, kibble, canned, home made. The thing is to find what works for you and your situation.
And sometimes we do everything well and it is not enough. My last girl died of lymphoma at 4 and I still wonder if I could have done something different.
All we can do is our best. We also need to relax and enjoy or dogs.
I like your last sentence a lot. This is very true.
The breeder and quality of the breeding is definitely more important than diet. You can feed a poorly-bred dog the best diet and it will make his coat shiny, but it won’t erase bad hips or weak nerve, if those genes are expressed in that pup. I’d take a genetically sound, well-bred dog on cheap kibble over a poorly-bred dog on the best raw diet any day. Now, when you have a dog from a breeder you trust, and also maintain a healthy diet for that dog, then you have the best of both worlds. You get dogs like Sammy and Sade.
Carole said something to me the other day about the way Julie breeds and raises her puppies, how it gives you such an advantage right out of the gate, and stacks the deck in your favor to achieve everything that you want with your dog. That is such a gift.
I’m so sorry that you lost your last girl so young. Even if you do everything in your power right, you can never control the vast number of circumstances outside your power that might go wrong. And even if you know that in your head, your heart still breaks all the same.
Jennie, you have a wonderful way with words…
You are right Jennie. I am getting really sick of the very poor temperaments I am seeing and that are being ignored by judges, breeders, and others. I was at show this weekend and a dogs owner is telling me what an awesome temperament his dog has, as his eyes are rolling around in his head, and then goes ballistic at a little girl that walked around the van
I teach the puppy and CGC classes at my club and I can tell you all puppies are not created equal. I am always saddened when I see an owner that does everything right and faces an uphll battle with training because of poor genetic temperament. I was very blessed to have GSDs with awesome temperament as well as a few who didn’t. Both take hard work to become a well behaved, balanced dog. The diffference is that when you have good genetic temperament, training is fun for both you and your dog. When they have a genetically poor temperament, it is truly work and can be frustrating for you both.
BTW- Sade is still a go,go, go girl but I can get her to relax for a few minutes here and there for a belly rub and I am sure this comes from all the belly rubs mommy from Mommy Julie.
Thank you very much Irene. Your last sentence says it all.
Julie, I meant for you to see this-I never know what box the comments will show up in. “I told Julie last week I was taken aside by the rally instructor and asked about her breeding. She told me that Libby is the only sound mentally and physically GSD she has seen or had in class in 2 years. Julie congratulated me on my good job, but she deserves the credit since you can’t make the pearly gates from a mud fence!!!
@Irene
I didn’t know your last dog died of cancer. I lost my 9 yr old Zeus to cancer too, hemangiosarcoma.
I agree with you all regarding breeding. Koda amazes me everyday. Here comes a 5 month old puppy who didn’t know us and yet loved my son the moment he saw him. I called his name and he came running up to me and kissing me all over my face. There was no scaredy cat moment, he was bold and confident.
His PSA training is coming along very well. PSA is not an easy sport- it easy on the handler as far as training because it’s all the dog’s ability, the sport is all about genetics, either your dog got it or they don’t.
I am so thankful to Julie, and her breeding program. I am so glad that there’s still breeders out there that breeds for the right reason.
I will never forget this lady when we were down in Austin one time, I was 8 months pregnant and hormonal. Zeus was sitting next to me, this lady and her 5 children came up to say hi to Zeus- then she says “Hey, I gotta a bitch in heat at home!”……………… I looked at her and said “I bet you do!”.
Haha!
Josie, Josie, Josie, why can’t you live closer to me! Because we would have too much fun and get into trouble that is why!
@josiem You are so bad Josie. LOL LOL
LOL! I can’t count how many people have said that to me, usually I’m polite about it and say, my dog will be a virgin forever. You can get away with a lot of stuff when pregnant. hehe
@Irene I told Julie last week I was taken aside by the rally instructor and asked about her breeding. She told me that Libby is the only sound mentally and physically GSD she has seen or had in class in 2 years. Julie congratulated me on my good job, but she deserves the credit since you can’t make the pearly gates from a mud fence!!!
That is outstanding compliment. The owners deserve just as much credit. Once you have that puppy you can build upon what you have or you can destroy it.
I would love to feed Honest Kitchen! Schumi, being his usual self scarfed it the first time I fed a sample to him. Then after I bought some more he sniffed the bowl and walked away. 🙂 He holds out for raw (that I weigh out and such) that he knows I will eventually give him! By the way, I love Karen Murray! She’s the best! Schumi got a package in the mail a few weeks ago from her and it’s the vitamin mix she’s been telling us about! Thanks Karen! 🙂
You are welcome Becky!
Did you ever try mixing ground meat into the Honest Kitchen! If not, try mixing the ground meat first with the water before you add the dehydrated HK. Just reduce the HK a little to allow for the meat!
Alright Karen, you are in trouble where is our sample of the vitamin mix? And a sample for everyone else who reads the blog? 🙂
I thought the Honest Kitchen formulas have meat in them already?
Let’s see……100 people on the blog with at least 1 dog each weighing
approximately 75 pounds each……..hmmmm that would take me how long to
actually make that much Vitameatavegamin mix????? 😉 Thank you Lucy for the
branding! 🙂 LOL
Yes, they all do and are perfectly balanced. The Preference is the only one that
you add your own meat to as it is Alfalfa based.
It’s just to add a little UMPFTTTT to it go get them started or another way to get some total raw into their diet! I add sardines (or salmon) and also eggs to our dogs raw
food 4 times each per week! A good way to add a little Omega’s and fatty acids!
I sent Honest Kitchen an email as I am very interested in their product (thank you Julie for sharing…). Here is the reply I rcvd back from them (fast one too…):
Thank you for your email inquiry. For a young growing GSD, you may wish to consider Thrive, at least during the first 6 months or so. The reason is because the calcium;phosphorous values are more ideal for a large breed dog whose joint growth and development needs to be managed. You may wish to consult with your breeder for advice, too, since they are familiar with our products and the breed. They should be happy to help you choose.
Embark is also a good option but more ideal for the 2.5 year old who is done growing. Or, you can rotate between the Embark and Thrive and our newest food, Love, for your pup. The more variety you can offer from a young age, the better.
When feeding an adult dog, you feed according to their weight and activity level. We offer a guideline to get you started and, from there, you can adjust as needed. For pups, feed according to their weight and our more-active guideline. Increase as needed and as your pup grows. The amounts are listed in dry cups and for the entire day. This can be split up into however many meals your dog needs. Embark, Love or Thrive may be fed alone or you can combine with kibble if you wish.
http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/learn/how-to-feed/
If you have any other questions, please let me know. We are happy to send you a couple of samples if you are located in the U.S. I just need your U.S. mailing address.
I did send them my address & am looking forward to trying their product.
Hi Orly,
You just CAN’T go wrong with these products! If your pup seems a little picky add a tablespoon of canned sardines (packed in water) or canned salmon. They will gobble it up! 🙂
Remember that it is dehydrated, so don’t let the price scare you. At $44.00 for 4 pounds, when re-hydrated, makes 16 pounds of food = $2.75 per pound. Keep us posted on how the pup likes it!
OK, I am definitely going to try this stuff! For Batman, I mean, not myself. Though I might taste it.
Anyway, I do have a point to this comment, and it is that WholeHealthyPet.com is running a special for 7% any 2, or 10% off any 4 boxes of HK formula. If you get 4 10lb boxes of HK Embark (reg price $84.95/ea), with each 10lb box = 43 lbs re-hydrated, that calculates to $305.84 for 172 lbs of food, or $1.78 per pound.
That’s not bad! To bring the price down even more, you could do a mix of half HK and half raw meat/RMBs you get on sale at the grocery.
I really like doing math. I made a whole customizable BARF calculation spreadsheet on Excel that I need to share with you all.
http://wholehealthypet.com/Honest-Kitchen-Embark-Low-Carb-GrainFree/M/B000OC7N68.htm
I think the combination of Honest Kitchen and raw would be GREAT for the “BatBoy”! 🙂
Don’t forget that you can also order directly from The Honest Kitchen and be on their auto delivery program.
You could do different combos like HK in the morning and raw at nite or HK all week and raw on the weekends. Endless combo’s! You won’t have to add the vit/min mix to the HK because it is complete, just add the oils Doc recommends. The vit/min mix and the oils will be great for the raw diet! Doogan can’t do flax oil (makes him itch) so I use coconut instead of flax when they eat fowl and hemp when they eat beef or other meats. They get krill oil everyday except on the days they get sardines. This is all per Becker’s diet.
Forgot to tell you in the last post but 2 cups of raw = 1 pound so Becker’s vitamin recipe (which makes enough for 50 pounds of meat) would last Doogan about 23 days with him eating 2 1/4 pounds per day.
If you’d like the code numbers for ordering the vitamins at Lucky Vitamin’s (instead of searching for them) email me at kmurray@thejandtgroup.com. Put “dogs” in the subject box so I know it’s not spam. It actually takes longer to order the vitamins online than it does to make the whole batch of vitamins! 🙂