Dehydrated/freeze dried foods - THK vs Sojos vs Grandma Lucy's/Artisan

[sachi]

Im interested in adding dehydrated/freeze dried foods into my dogs food rotation. They currently rotate between Wellness Core dry, BG Chicken dry, Addition Venison dry, and sometimes Petcurean Small Breed dry. I also add in the different grain free Wellness canned foods.

Last night they tried The Honest Kitchen for dinner (only because the Sojos Complete still looked REALLY soupy). This morning they had the Sojos Complete for breakfast. The Honest Kitchen looked really soft, like green baby food. The Sojos Complete was more chunky. The dogs cleaned their bowls both times. I'm also going to pick up a bag of Grandma Lucy's/Artisan Chicken tonight.

Which brand do you feed to your dog(s) and why? Do you/the dogs like one brand more than others, etc. Please give me your opinion/feedback on these foods.

Thank you

[InkedMarie]

I have not used Sojo's, Grandma Lucy's or Artisans but I have used The Honest Kitchen for years. We have used Thrive, Embark, Zeal and Keen. My dogs love the stuff. I like the company, they're easy to deal with, tell you about their ingredients. They offer a program where you send in UPC's and get free food. They offer coupons quite often. I feed Zeal and Embark now, in the morning, to all of mine. One of mine needs grainfree so they all get it.
If you happen to use a Kong with your dogs, make up a small batch of thicker than normal THK, put it in the kong and freeze it.

[So Cavalier]

I have started to supplement my dogs with The Honest Kitchen. Their main diet is premade raw (Primal). But I live in earthquake prone Southern California and with all the huge earthquakes happening in the so-called ring of fire, in the name of "earthquake preparedness", I decided I needed to have food for the dogs that I could feed should we lose electricity for any length of time. The store I get my food from gave me samples of all the different varieties. The dogs loved them all. Right now I have Verve and Embark. Next trip to the dog deli, I am going to get the fish variety. The quality of The Honest Kitchen seems really good and according to their labeling, it is all human grade food.

[InkedMarie]

I have started to supplement my dogs with The Honest Kitchen. Their main diet is premade raw (Primal). But I live in earthquake prone Southern California and with all the huge earthquakes happening in the so-called ring of fire, in the name of "earthquake preparedness", I decided I needed to have food for the dogs that I could feed should we lose electricity for any length of time. The store I get my food from gave me samples of all the different varieties. The dogs loved them all. Right now I have Verve and Embark. Next trip to the dog deli, I am going to get the fish variety. The quality of The Honest Kitchen seems really good and according to their labeling, it is all human grade food.

This is a very smart thing to do! I've never used Verve but most of the others. I'd love to try Primal but it's not available around here, except for some of their bones. If you look at THK's website, you can order trial sizes which might be handy to order to try, if they're a better size than what the store is giving you.

[sachi]

My dogs are now eating canned/dry in the morning and usually Grandma Lucy's/Artisan at night. (Grandma Lucy's is just faster to make than Sojos and THK looks like baby food/no chunks) The dogs liked all 3 different dehydrated/freeze dried foods that we've tried so far and their tummies seem fine with the rotation. I'll just use the bags I have and go from there.

I'm still interested in any feed back and comments - ty


Below are pics of the 3 different dehydrated/freeze dried foods that we've tried so far

Grandma Lucy's Chicken


The Honest Kitchen (dont remember which flavor/meat)


Sojos Complete Beef

[Hallie]

I wouldn't reccommend Grandma Lucy's (artisan) just because you have to feed so much. My dog needs a cup of Wellness vs 2 and half cups of Artisan a day (before you mix the cups of water). 2 cups alone is alot, then you add the water, that's a ton of food at a very expensive price. It doesn't even out like people think it does. I've had great success with premade raw, which is expensive as well.

[KimStephanie]

I agree with Hallie about Grandma Lucy's. If I used it, I would need to feed my dog twice as much as THK. I have used THK and my dog loves it. I like Force the best. I would personally choose a grain-free variety. I haven't tried Sojos so I can't comment on it, but it looks good!

[sachi]

I wouldn't reccommend Grandma Lucy's (artisan) just because you have to feed so much. My dog needs a cup of Wellness vs 2 and half cups of Artisan a day (before you mix the cups of water). 2 cups alone is alot, then you add the water, that's a ton of food at a very expensive price. It doesn't even out like people think it does. I've had great success with premade raw, which is expensive as well.

When I used the food calculator THK Embark vs Grandma Lucy's/Artisan vs Wellness Core - It said I should be feeding 0.5 cups(dry) of THK Embark vs 0.6 cups(dry) of Grandma Lucy's vs 0.7 cups of Wellness core.

Im a little confused about why your dog would have to eat double of Artisan vs Wellness when Artisan seems to have more calories than Wellness (Artisan Chicken - 468 cal/cup vs Wellness Core which - 430 cal/cup vs THK Embark - 524 cal/cup)

Another question that I have - Do all of The Honest Kitchen food look like my picture? Do some of the flavors have chunks of meat? My dogs dont seem to mind, but I was just wondering.

I agree with Hallie about Grandma Lucy's. If I used it, I would need to feed my dog twice as much as THK. I have used THK and my dog loves it. I like Force the best. I would personally choose a grain-free variety. I haven't tried Sojos so I can't comment on it, but it looks good!

Sojos did look good, my only problem with it was that it needs to be soaked overnight/24 hrs for it to look like that. If you only soak it for an hour it still looks really watery. I had a little trouble trying to measure out the food when it was really watery since I made a full days worth of food for my dogs. It probably would have been easier if I made only one meals worth of food and just divided it

[So Cavalier]

Do all of The Honest Kitchen food look like my picture? Do some of the flavors have chunks of meat? My dogs dont seem to mind, but I was just wondering.

The ones I have tried look like your picture. There aren't huge chunks of meat. But the premade raw I use doesn't have big chunks of meat either. My dogs are not picky eaters....Cavaliers seem to like anything edible (and some things not edible...lol) My dogs seem to really like THK. They haven't complained once!

[Binkalette]

We tried THK once.. and I didn't like it, but I can't remember why. We have some Sojo's now which i like pretty well. It smells really strong, but the dogs love that about it. Next time I make it I will add a touch less water than the recipe calls for as there was a little standing water in the bottom that kind of grossed me out.

[KimStephanie]

I've fed all of them to Tucker and there are slight differences, but they pretty much all look the same. I talked to an Honest Kitchen rep at a dog show recently and she told me the meat was ground up in the meal; that's why I didn't see any meat chunks.
[/B]

Sojos did look good, my only problem with it was that it needs to be soaked overnight/24 hrs for it to look like that. If you only soak it for an hour it still looks really watery. I had a little trouble trying to measure out the food when it was really watery since I made a full days worth of food for my dogs. It probably would have been easier if I made only one meals worth of food and just divided it

Yikes, having to soak 24 hours wouldn't work for me since I'm a forgetful person

[wardjohnson]

This is Ward Johnson, Owner of Sojourner Farms. I came across this post and thought it wouldn't hurt to weigh in. The biggest difference between our food and Honest Kitchen is that our meat is freeze-dried raw whereas their meat is cooked between 140 and 165 degrees (see http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/abou...n-demystified/ for more info on how HK prepares their meat).

As far as soaking overnight, we recommend that as it makes the food more digestible. One really easy way to do it is to soak a four-day batch ahead of time in the fridge. Or just put the next day's food in the fridge the same time you feed so it's soaked ahead of time.

If you guys have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[Miss Bugs]

sojo does not exist here, but I have used THK and Grandma Lucy's...my dogs are iffy on THK, and I am iffy on it because in my area the larger box costs $200(not kidding)..and I cant stand the smell of it. I like the Grandma Lucy's, the price is decent , the smell doesnt make me want to puke and its fast...however my dogs, who would eat a pencil if offered as a treat, wont touch the stuff.

[InkedMarie]

Miss Bugs,where do you live? The most expensive THK is Zeal, which is just over $100 for the ten lb box.

[Miss Bugs]

Sask. Canada, only one store in my area carries it, and they charge $198 for the "big" box

[Jade Alexander]

I'm new to the freeze dried/dehydrated dog food world. Can you tell me if they're healthier than dry? Also, other than Natural Balance's Vegetarian formula (which was recalled with the whole Diamonds fiasco), is there any high quality dry, vegetarian dog food?

[kafkabeetle]

I'm new to the freeze dried/dehydrated dog food world. Can you tell me if they're healthier than dry? Also, other than Natural Balance's Vegetarian formula (which was recalled with the whole Diamonds fiasco), is there any high quality dry, vegetarian dog food?

IMO, no such food exists. Why would you want to feed your dog vegetarian? Btw, a thread on this topic was already started not that long ago. http://www.dogforums.com/dog-food-fo...-suitable.html (Is vegetarian dog food suitable for a lab?)

[Jade Alexander]

Apparently one of my dogs is having to go on a vegetarian diet for a bit because of protein issues. I've used Fromm Dog food for years and never had a problem but we're having to eliminate protein until his PH level drops. I looked on dogfoodscoop.com and found a couple but I'm not familiar with them. We're using Grandma Lucy's pre-mix to start things off...

[Kathyy]

I thought urine pH tends to be lowest with a meaty diet and highest with a plant diet and for good health a pH never needs to be higher than 7 or so.

[Jade Alexander]

Yea, Kathy...that's what I'm reading the more research I do. I'm also discovering that minerals in tap water can be problematic for dogs. I live in Florida and our water is pretty chlorinated. He's been eating a lot of grass lately. I wonder if that's contributing to the high ph. And he's not eating grass because he doesnt feel good. Just a bad habit that I have to yell at him about constantly. Almost like he likes the taste...