The Honest Kitchen | Dr. Justine Lee Product Review
So, I had my first opportunity to try out The Honest Kitchen (THK)’s dehydrated dog and cat food. [As my dog has food allergies and atopy, he’s on a hypoallergenic diet, so he didn’t get the joy of trying this out. That said, my cats tried both the cat and dog formulation as a result!]
First, kudos to the packaging. Ecofriendly with a really small carbon footprint. It’s compostable, recyclable cardboard and BPA-free packaging (Remember that BPA is traditionally only in hard, dense plastic, so even crappy plastic bags are typically BPA-free). As a 10 pound box of THK food makes the equivalent of 40 pounds of real food, you get a lot of food for the buck (and weight)! As you’re not paying for water weight, this makes it easier to ship, pack up, and move into your house. Stores easily in the kitchen cabinet.
Here, some more pros and cons of THK food:
Pros:
- Seems palatable! One of my cats turned his nose to the feline formula, but the other readily ate it. Now, why I wasn’t as brave as the staff of THK to try the food itself (where they host that 62% of their staff have tasted THK’s Force product), it almost looks good enough to eat.
- Human grade ingredients – it’s made with recognizable ingredients that are sourced directly from the human food chain (not from a rendering plant floor)
- It’s healthy and all-natural. But is it balanced?* (See below for more).
- THK uses some non-GMO products and organic products, which makes us feel better about taking care of Mother Earth.
- The food appears to be safe. Some of it is heat steamed or flash heated (you know how veterinarian like to bash on raw and all) which minimizes any risks of any bacterial translocation or spread. Apparently, it’s minimally processed without extreme heat and pressure but still offers a natural quality (as it doesn’t have chemical preservatives).
- They test their food as part of quality control – this is key to make sure there’s no risk for bacteria, fungus, molds, or heavy metals. This kind of testing is expensive, and it’s great to see that they do comprehensive testing (How often though? Fill us in!)
- None of their products come from China. With the melamine scare in 2008 and the recent jerky treat disaster, nothing from that country touches my pets lips (or mine!).
Cons:
- I could do without the smell. I’m schnoze-sensitive, and this one is odiferous.
- It’s pricy, but hey, our pets are worth it, right?
- It has food products in there that are unnecessary for dogs and cats. This is likely due to anthropomorphizing what we eat versus what our pets eat. In other words, it makes us feel better to add in some of these ingredients when really, dogs and cats don’t eat some of these ingredients. Take for instance a few food items that are THK foods: coconut, cranberries, parsley, basil, etc. While these ingredients definitely add some color to the gruel once rehdyrated, they aren’t necessary in a dog or cat’s diet. As cats are primarily carnivorous, they don’t need rehydrated cranberries in THK. My cats wouldn’t eat these, and I always ended up throwing these remnants away. [Another fruit? Blueberries. You’ll never see a wild dog or cat eating these, and while they have antioxidants in huge amounts, the small amount in some brands of designer dog and cat foods is unlikely to be worth it].
- I can’t find that it’s been approved by a veterinary nutritionalist (Having a veterinarian endorse it isn’t enough for me – I want to make sure it’s balanced appropriately). As a veterinarian, I see the occasional patient that presents for trace mineral or amino acid deficiencies – particularly in young, growing pets. For this reason, unless THK comes out with evidence that the food has been appropriately balanced by a veterinary nutritionalist, I worry about trace mineral deficiencies. For this reason, I would only recommend feeding this to healthy adult dogs and cats, not for those with underlying metabolic problems or young, fast, growing bones!
That said, overall, I loved the product. I would personally recommend it as a perfect Kong filler – rehydrate it and use it as a treat. I used it for my cat as a treat – he has underlying chronic kidney failure, and unfortunately the amount of phosphorous in the THK diet was too high for him (based on consultation with a veterinary nutritionalist). As a result, I feed it as a snack, grueled down with extra water to help hydrate him.
Overall, it’s great to see a dehydrated, all natural, eco-friendly product hit the food market. I love THK’s philosophy and eco-friendliness. Just not sure I would feed it as 100% of my pet’s diet right now.
(Don’t forget your cat!)
Hi Dr. Lee,
I’m not affiliated with THK in an way, other than I believe in their product and feed my dog it. As someone who’s a crazy dog parent, I started off with “premium kibble”, like Acana, then moved to homemade via Ollies and Chewy’s Tylees (which I still feed as a topper sometimes). Now I feed THK topped off with freeze-dried raw, both re-hydrated.
To answer your last part where you worry about not being vet-backed, it’s right on their site:
https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/veterinarians
Yoi won’t find that same level of honesty and detail on 99% of other dog food sites, not even the good guys.
this doesn’t say it’s vet backed, this is for vets to get free samples .. I asked c/s if they could give me more info on vets who have formulated the recipes & they wouldn’t share any info…siting privacy of the vets ???
I have used NRG dehydrated raw, then lightly cooked (BC, Canada co.) – they are closing shop (nasty divorce so after 13 yrs. I am looking for a new one .. I knew & spoke with the vet who formulated NRG …
https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/veterinarians
That may give you a good basis to help answer your last bullet. Hope that helps!
I have a cat that suffers from life long pancreatitus issues. He is on a prescription diet of dry kibble. Urinary so by Royal canine. I hate how bad this food is for him and my other two cats eat this food too as you cant feed one cat something different than the rest. Would this be a good food for him? I think that a real good protein rich food woud benefit him instead of the dry food he has eaten for the last six years.
Thank you for your time!
I don’t recommend changing it without talking to your veterinarian, as urinary SO is for urinary crystals, so changing the diet can significantly result in crystal problems. I’d talk to your vet asap before changing anything!
I give to my cat with pancreatitis. Remove dry food from diet! Try novelty proteins like rabbit and venison, and foods that don’t have gums in the ingredients, and most importantly prebiotics. Check out adored beast feline gut soothe
sorry, it looks like I commented twice!
I followed the link provided by the previous commenter, Alan Atlas, and while the title of the page is “Veterinarian Affiliation” the content does not include any mention of veterinarian approval or endorsement. So I would shy that no te link does not respond to Dr. Lee’s comments.
I’m not affiliated with this brand – I just tried it but recommend talking to a DACVN board-certified veterinary nutritionalist to make sure that it is BALANCED.
I have fed my cats and dogs homemade diets for 7+ years and have followed recipes from Dr. Lisa Pierson for my cats, and Dr. Karen Becker for my dogs. Recently I decided to try THK base mix of fruit and veggies in the hopes of having a faster and simpler way of preparing meals for my lab/golden mix. I am not entirely impressed by this product in that I do find it lacking in certain nutrients. I realize that it’s a formula that needs added meat protein but in the list of added nutrients it does have, there is no mention of taurine or deydrated liver and/or eggs. It also suggests that you can add raw or cooked meat to the mix. If using cooked, the taurine as well as other amino acids would be destroyed. After using Dr. Becker’s recipe for dog food where she explains why each of the ingredients were chosen and what benefits they bring to the meal, THK seemed lacking to me. I will only use this premix as a backup until it is used up. For the price I expected a more complete formula. 🙁
https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/expert-reviews
Vets giving their opinions of Honest Kitchen
Clicked on link, “PAGE NOT FOUND.”
Dr. Lee, have you ever heard of the cat food supplement called, “Feline Instincts”? They have powdered nutritional supplements for both healthy/normally functioning cats and dogs as well as a formula developed exclusively for cats with kidney failure. I’ve used it for years for my cat with CRF as well as my other 3 with healthy kidneys. It is a base that is mixed with water, fresh or powdered chicken liver, canned pumpkin, salmon oil and freshly ground raw meat (chicken, turkey or beef). My cats love the recipe and it has helped with CRF tremendously! Here is the link if you wish to check it out: https://felineinstincts.com/
I am not in any way affiliated with this company or any other for that matter. Just want to pass along this info if you or anyone else has a cat or dog with this dreadful disease.
Does anyone have any experience with feeding this to a dog with food allergies?I have a 3-year-old Shih Tzu who suddenly started vomiting her food up with the beginning of the year. I took her to her vet who recommended a sensitive stomach or limited ingredient dog food. She didn’t tell me any name however. I’ve tried her on a couple now and she is doing better. But now someone brought to my attention the FDA alert about grain-free and limited ingredient diet. I have literally spent about three and a half days trying to research and read all of these comments about it. I know I’m probably jumping the gun by wanting to change her food but I’m not willing to wait and see what happens and then her potentially be hurt in the process. I haven’t really been able to figure out exactly what she was allergic to. she’s also a very picky eater, she will only eat chicken flavored food and wet or soft food. If anybody is had any experiences regarding allergies I would really appreciate your input. Thanks
I have a 13 year old Cavalier King Charles that had stomach issues (according to his vet) that caused him to throw up approx. 3 times a week. I was feeding him Nutro Lamb formula for overweight dogs. A friend recommended THK so I tried it. The vomiting stopped immediately and is now at a healthy weight! Before THK, He acted like a picky eater so I often fed him by hand to get him to eat. Now he can’t wait to eat! As soon as he sees the container (we transfer product to airtight container) he starts dancing and has learned to listen for the timer to go off and goes nuts! When we first started feeding him THK he started waking us up earlier and earlier (as early as 3:30AM) to be fed! We quickly put a stop to that habit. I am really glad we tried this food and I think he is really happy too! Now all I have to work on is getting over the guilt of feeding him food he hated for so many years (work in progress).
I have a 2.5 year old Pom/Yorkie that had awful digestive issues a little over a year ago. Vomiting, diarrhea, even mucus and bloody stools were consistently occurring. I tried countless brands with no luck, and eventually was recommended THK by a rescuer that also owns a local pet store. I slowly switched her over to THK Limited Ingredient Recipe in Duck, and I can honestly say her digestive issues immediately improved. She hasn’t had a single issue since switching to THK, and I’ve also given her the Fish recipe too. Both my dogs have been exclusively eating THK for almost a year and continue to devour their food. It looks gross to me, but they love it! I highly recommend giving it a chance.
Interesting comment you had on blueberries. I live in Alaska and many times while hiking I have seen wolves and coyotes graze on blueberries when they’re in season. Their scat can sometimes be so filled with berries that it doesn’t hold the normal shape. And my dogs absolutely go nuts when I take them with me when I pick blueberries myself. They’ll compete with me for the prime spots. They’ll also eat low bush cranberries and crow berries but they don’t particularly like the seeds so they usually stick to blueberries and cranberries.
I am a licensed veterinary and like THK organic grain product. Jury is still out on the grain free diets. I feed it as a topper. I would be more comfortable feeding as a sole diet,if it had a AFFCO statement on the label. This indicates tested by veterinary nutritionist organization and found to be a balanced diet. It is nice THK partners with veterinarians, but offering samples to try and personnel reviews are not the same science based testing a AFFCO statement.
Thank you for a good product hope it only gets better.
Hello. Just wanted to say I have been feeding my dog The honest kitchen (Embark.. which is the grain free turkey recipe), since she was about 6 months old. She will be 17 years old in 2 weeks. She has had a pretty clean health record except for the time she got into my mother’s medication and vitamins. My little silky terrier is definitely showing signs of her age but I truly believe that feeding her well from the beginning has had a huge impact on the longevity of her life. As a customer of the honest kitchen I highly recommend their dog food.
Both my dogs love blueberries and blackberries. They’ll pick them right off the bush and eat them, so I think wild dogs may enjoy fruit more than you think…
Agreed! Just no grapes or raisins! 🙂
https://support.thehonestkitchen.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052399472-Who-formulates-our-foods-
This is from their website:
The Honest Kitchen has a rigorous development process to ensure proper formulation for your pet. We work with a team of renowned veterinarians, including a veterinary nutritionist, to create each and every recipe. We ensure that ingredients serve a specific purpose and deliver a solid nutritional punch including appropriate protein, fat and micronutrient requirements.
Our recipes are formulated to meet the AAFCO dog food or cat food nutrient requirements, and are rigorously tested at an independent ISO accredited laboratory during the product development phase, and in production to ensure optimal nutrition. We routinely review ingredients for quality, purpose and palatability. If we find an area we can improve our recipes, we do not hesitate to begin a review process to implement changes that would benefit your pup or kitty.
Our 3 dogs are suddenly getting sick from THK food they are eating. Anyone know if they recently changed the recipe somehow? Throwing up and loose gel like stools.
Can you recommend a better food than THK for them? We’ve been researching for hours this morning. 6/11/23.