# The Honest Kitchen food?



## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Sawyersmomma said:


> Well I'm going to try out the honest kitchen food since Sawyer has allergies. Would beef or fish be the best ones to try for allergies, or would turkey be okay? I've heard Chicken can be a somewhat common allergen, but would I expect turkey to be too? I don't want to spend tons of money, but if I have to to find out what's causing this then I will


Do you know what he is allergic to?


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## Sawyersmomma (May 28, 2012)

nope, that's the problem. I was trying grain free food, but he's still just as itchy as he was on the original food. and it's been 3 months trying


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## momtymztu (Mar 27, 2012)

I have dogs with both chicken and beef allergies and they all do fine with turkey or fish...have you requested samples? THK will send you samples and also they sell a smaller/travel size so you try it out before committing money to a big box, most stores that sell it also sell the travel/sample sizes.


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## Sully's mom (Jun 6, 2012)

We had a dalmatiam with allergies, and used a lamb based holistic food from our local pet food store. Found it the most agreeable for her, but it was trial and error for a while. Good luck.


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Have you ruled out enviornmental allergies? The are far more common than food allergies, but people tend to blame the food.

You can do an elimination diet with her at home to figure out what specific foods she is reacting to. THK has a lot of ingedrients. Dogs can be allergic to more than the meat source! It is easy to spend a lot of money switching foods, assuming the meat is the allergen. It might be any ingredient - like egg for example. You might decide your dog is allergic to 5 meats, when each of those kibbles happened to have the true allergen in it. You would end up restricting your dog food options and spending a lot of money.

Elimination diets aren't balanced, but when they are medically necessary it's a good thing to do. 

Start with one ingredient (a meat source) and feed it exclusively for two to three weeks. If your dog does not react, assume the meat is "safe". Continue to feed this meat and begin adding additional ingredients, one every one to two weeks. Make a note of any foods that cause a reaction and stop feeding it.

Pick a dog food you want to feed and check each ingredient in your dog's diet. If your dog appears to tolerate them all, you should be able to feed the food.

If you don't get conclusive results with an elimination diet, do a re-check at the vet and look into environmental allergies.

Funny, I checked to see if I remembered the time periods for elimination diet correctly and THK has an article on it.

Dog Elimination Diet | Dog Allergies | The Honest Kitchen


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## Sawyersmomma (May 28, 2012)

I dont Think it's environmental. I got him in the winter where there was lots of snow, and he was itchy so I considered it a possibility then, but this is my first summer with him and he seems just as itchy. What environmental causes could it be? Not grass I guess since he was in snow at the beginning. What other environmental causes ARE there? :O


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## Sawyersmomma (May 28, 2012)

So I went to our local feed store to see if there were other kinds I should try since I found out how expensive the other stuff really will be (Didn't know I'd have to feed him 5 cups a day or something!)
And they said to try Natural Balance limited ingredients duck and potato.
Still expensive but he said if that works then I can try the Go version which has a bit more ingredients but is cheaper.
Only problem is now he won't eat it. I just put down a bowl because he seemed hungry, he sniffed it and wouldn't bother touching it. How can I make it more appetizing if I'm not allowed to have any other ingredients during the trial period?


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

You wouldn't feed 5 cups of THK!!! Henry and Millie eat it sometimes - he is 60 lbs. and eats 1 cup in the AM with 1.5 cups water and repeat in the evening.

Millie is 45 lbs. and eats 1/2 cup THK with 1 cup water twice daily.


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## Sawyersmomma (May 28, 2012)

"31-50 lbs Average 1 – 2 cups 1 1/2 – 3 cups
Highly active/Puppies 2 – 4 cups 3 – 6 cups"
is what it says on their feed guide
How to Feed Our Dehydrated Dog Food | The Honest Kitchen

and the second ones (3-6 cups) is how much water to add.
I would definitely consider him highly active/puppy, and would be trying embark

Is it just really off or am I understanding it wrong? 
I would have to feed him 4 cups once he finally gains weight, and he'll probably end up weighing more since hes 27''


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## momtymztu (Mar 27, 2012)

I currently feed the Preference to a 9.5 lb dog (who was closer to a thin 8lbs before THK)...She does get about 1/4 cup dry per day, half in am/half in pm and of course with Preference you add your own meat. My ratio of meat to dry mix is a little heavier on the meat than they recommend for her size, but she needed to gain a little weight when I started feeding it. So I'd say their recommendations are fairly accurate for the Preference formula, at least with my dog. 

We fed Natural balance Duck & potatoe for a long time but just before we switched I found it to be very inconsistent in quality...particularly in the cans. One can would be very firm, the next almost soupy and some bags of kibble were so hard the dogs couldn't chew it (actually, I got one bag so hard that I couldn't even break the kibbles with a hammer!).


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I've fed Embark and Love. Fed according to the package instructions. I've never fed any food at the "highly active" level to Henry or Millie because they simply don't need that much. They are quite active but are spayed/neutered and have average metabolisms. 

Tiger is the only one I might feed a "highly active" amount to but that's more because he's unaltered than due to any outrageous activity level.


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## Sawyersmomma (May 28, 2012)

I don't plan on sticking to this food, the guy said to try it just to narrow down the possible allergies. If he gets better on this I'll be trying the GO variety. it has a couple more ingredients but is cheaper and just as good


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Your dog could be allergic to anything. (If it is allergies. I didn't see if you had seen a vet for a workup?) Dogs can react to indoor dust, detergents, etc. 

Is there any reason why you don't want to do an elimination diet? It is the fastest and least expensive way to resolve your dog's health problem.


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## Lily's-Mom (May 31, 2012)

Many pet supply stores will take back kibble if the dog doesn't like it, you should ask. The place I go doesn't sell sample packs, but they will take returns if the dog doesn't like the food. Also, You can try adding some warm water and let the kibble soften and he might like it better. Or you could add a spoonful of canned, but then he may just pick out the kibble and eat the soft food.


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## Apres Argent (Aug 9, 2010)

*Dr Dodds allergy testing*

Dr. Jean Dodds on Dog Food Sensitivities

Many people have had success with this, it is a new more accurate way to test.  Have you ever tested thyroid? Dr. Dodds is great for thyroid information also.


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## Sawyersmomma (May 28, 2012)

tortoise said:


> Is there any reason why you don't want to do an elimination diet? It is the fastest and least expensive way to resolve your dog's health problem.


I want to do an elimination diet, the guy at the store recommended the limited ingredient food first, to make sure its neither duck or potato, and then if it works I'll try adding some other sort of ingredients or foods or whatever to find out what the cause is. the only problem is he doesn't really care for the food. he's never been picky before, and isn't too picky but I'm also trying to make him gain weight... 27'' and only 45 pounds! I guess I was just hoping he'd gobble it all up so I could get both problems dealt with. But for now I'll just work on the allergy issue


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

If your dog's allergies are not severe, there's no reason to start an elimination diet with a novel protein source. (Except if you want to waste money on expensive dog food.)

Give your dog a turkey back (raw) from the grocery store and a boiled potato. He'll have an almost-balanced meal (will be a little short on some B vitamins). If he's doing well in 2 weeks, then add liver (vitamin-rich) as the next ingredient.

If the THK formula you are interested in is chicken-based, use chicken leg quarters (raw) in place of turkey backs and do the same thing. Both of these meats have a safe calcium/phosphorus ratio. The bones are chew-able, and they pieces are too large for a novice-raw-eater to gulp.

You can feed 2 pounds of meat per day (2 turkey backs or 2 large leg quarters) and a baseball size amount of cooked potato per meal. This is for weight gain. Rather than trying to weight portions and split up boney chunks of meat, you can follow a big meal with a small one and it wil work out.

If your dog tolerates either the chicken or turkey, you can buy it by the case for about $0.40/pound and get the THK Preference to add to it so you don't have to worry about getting your dog a balanced diet. It's high quality and cost-effective. (Plus you can feed it with cooked boneless meat if raw and bone is a problem for you.)


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