I have been feeding my two dachshunds raw diet in the morning and had been feeding them a holistic dry kibble at night. Then recently I switched and continued to feed raw in the morning and started using Honest Kitchen dehydrated/rehydrated for the evening meal. I was just wondering...Dr. Becker?....if Honest Kitchen is okay to be feeding regularly along with the raw? I like the convenience of it and know that it is better than dry kibble but was wondering if it's the best choice if I can't really afford the raw for all feedings. I had been making the chicken raw from Dr. Becker's book, but it's kind of a pain in the butt to mess with. So when I get tired of it, I buy Stella and Chewey's different raw diets. So what's the opinion on Honest Kitchen? An email to Honest Kitchen gave me information that the Zeal which is the fish is 35% protein and the Embark Turkey is 30% protein. The rest is veggie and fruit.

Well I appreciate all the input. Guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. :)

SORRY Aerorider!!!! I thought you addressed your post to Dr. Becker so I decided not to answer. Dr. Becker only has limited time to answer posts and must have missed yours. I hope you don't mind me butting in with my opinion....?? A couple things 1. Better to feed Stella & Chewys over just feeding Dr. Becker's chicken recipe. Dr. Becker's diet is ONLY balanced when the entire diet is fed (eggs, sardines, beef, turkey etc). By just feeding the chicken you could cause some problems down the line. Okay, back to your question --- it is absolutely fine to feed raw in am and HK in pm.. HK is a bit low in protein but no more so then many kibbles so you're not doing any harm there. You can also get the HK Preference (which is not balanced by itself) and add your own meat (done in the ratio they recommend balances the diet). Hope that adequately answers your question. Please let me know if it didn't or if you have more questions :)..

No need to yell. I didn't address my question to Dr. Becker, was just hoping she would have some input, but I appreciate ANY input. :) I should have made myself clearer on the raw chicken diet. I used to make the beef and the chicken raw according to Dr.Becker's book along with dry kibble once a day. Then as beef got more and more expensive I did just the chicken with dry kibble once a day. I rotated between the chicken according to Dr. Becker's book and different flavors of commercial raw diet. Now I pretty much do the commercial diet raw in the morning and Honest Kitchen different flavors rotated daily. I also give them sardines about once a week and fresh fruit and veggie tidbits for snacks. I had asked HK about protein levels on the only two flavors I had at the time and they said the turkey was 30% protein and the fish was 35%. I now have the beef 31% and chicken 21% protein. I'm a little confused on protein levels. What is "crude protein" mean? Stella and Chewey's says 13% crude protein but a paper I have from Natural Pet Productions says Stella and Chewy's is 95% meat.

I use all caps to emphasize specific words. If I was yelling (which is VERY rare) the whole post or most of it would be capatized. Don't think I've ever done that though. :) Sorry I confused the issue :) The percent of protein given on the food analysis is on dry matter basis. Because canned and raw foods have significantly more water in them the data has to be converted to dry matter basis to compare to kibbles. The 95% meat in S&C's food; "meat" includes protein, fat, vitamins, minerals etc. Crude protein is just the amount of the meat that is protein (chains of amino acids) only. Hope that makes sense.

Might help if I give some examples -- HK foods are dehydrated so the food analysis is already on a dry matter basis. So the HK chicken at 21% actually has less protein then some of the high end kibbles (ranging from 36 and up). Stella & Chewys Duck Duck Goose on an as fed basis has 13% protein but on a dry matter basis is actually 46% protein. S&C Chicken has 15% protein as fed but after calculating dry matter the amount is 50%. The information on how to convert wet foods (canned and raw) to dry matter can be found here http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2690#answer_2 The benefits of HK are that they are minimally processed, guaranteed to be human grade quality ingredients etc but are considerably lower in protein then most (if not all) of the raw diets -- at least those that I am familiar with. I would feed HK, in rotation, to my raw fed dogs but would add small amounts of protein rich foods to up the overall protein -- eggs, green tripe, sardines packed in water etc.

Wow! And they say to always read your labels. If only it was that simple! What a confusing mess...at least for me. So if I understand this correctly, deciding to get away from dry foods completely and going with something that can be healthier than dry when rehydrated, now I've lowered the protein level to where I have to add to it! I thought I had come up with the perfect thing next best to raw all the time. :( I had emailed HK recently about what the protein levels were and if they anticipated increasing their protein/meat levels in their foods and they said something about they got something new they're working on concerning this coming out this year. So I guess we'll see. All I know is my previous pets in my life weren't fed near as well, ate nothing but store bought kibble, and they lived way past their life expectancy so my little guys I have now should live forever!

Thanks so much for sharing the info about HK's possible plans.. I do hope it is a protein increase!!! Although the protein in HK is a bit low it is still, imo, a better option then kibble. You made the right choice. Here's why I say that - When foods are heated nutrients are lost (I'm sure you know this). Some amino acids are lost to heat too. Since amino acids are used in groups by the body it is possible that a kibbled food with a 36% protein may not supply as many usable nutrients as a raw food with a 30% protein. When you factor in the fact that kibbled foods are often carcinogenic, well, HK just makes more and more sense. Eggs are the most utilizable whole food protein source of all. They are a good inclusion in any diet -- I add them to the high protein raw diet I feed. Eggs and sardines (esp sardines as you I'm sure read in Dr. Becker's book) are sources of animal based omega 3 fats. Anyhoo, sorry I confused the issue -- keep doin what you're doin.. It IS better then kibble (even a higher protein kibble)..

These two responses is what I got from Lucy at Honest Kitchen in my question on higher meat/protein dehydrated. I can't wait to see what they come up with. Hi, Protein and meat aren’t actually exactly the same thing. A food could be 100% meat but only 17% protein, because you have to account for the moisture, fat, vitamins and minerals present as well as the protein itself. That said, we will have an exciting new product coming out later this year that will offer the option of higher meat content and this, increased protein. Stay tuned for more info! Best regards, Lucy It should be this summer! It will be launched to vets first and then the public and yes – will be announced on our facebook page and in the newsletter J Best regards, Lucy The Honest Kitchen, Inc. Also, do you add the eggs raw or cooked? I have to watch calorie intake on one of my dachshunds or he has a tendency to put on weight easily. An egg is 70 more calories!

Well sorry about how the above post came through. I had Lucy's copied email separated so you would know what she wrote, but it appears all run together with my question!

Hi Swinn, Please explain your statement: "When you factor in the fact that kibbled foods are often carcinogenic". Are you speaking about certain ingredients that are causing cancer or just the process itself? As far as feeding raw, I think grass-fed beef without antibiotics would be a healthier choice than factory raised beef. There are no guarantees feeding kibble or raw will prevent cancer. I only feed holistic kibble vs commercial. My Vet's dog is 18 eating Purina - go figure!!! Sandi www.whosyourvet.com

That is wonderful news!! I am very excited about that!! I add the eggs raw. Some dogs don't do well with raw eggs but most (every one I've fed them to (including foster dogs) do nicely on raw). If you want to cook them cook the whites only on LOW temperatures just til the white becomes opaque. Any longer then that or on higher heat and you run the risk of damaging amino acids. The yolk should be fed raw as any amount of heat will damage the fragile omega 3 fatty acids. You can grind the shells of eggs (after washing and drying) and feed them as well. They are a source of calcium and balance the phosphorus in the egg. Its not necessary (when feeding eggs infrequently as editions to a balanced diet) to include the shell but you can.

Hi Run :) I know this is a hot topic with you!! The below quotes are from vet Dr. Demian Dressler (who owns The Dog Cancer Blog -- link attached) "Dog Food: Is There A Cancer Risk?" "First, high temperature cooking of meat or fish, or the creation of their extracts can produce nasties called heterocyclic amines. You can read a little more about this here and here. These little guys have been shown to promote tumors in lab animals. Do dogs eat food that has been exposed to high temperatures? The truth is: yes." "Another carcinogen is polyacrylamide, again from high temperature cooking, this time of sugars in starch." "The take home message is that the folks pushing for less cooking may have a point. I am not advocating an entirely raw diet for dogs by the way, and especially not for cancer patients. Raw from the grocery store is not raw out on the plains of Africa." http://www.dogcancerblog.com/dog-food-is-there-a-cancer-risk/

HAA's have been a hot topic as of late in human nutrition and cancer. Dr Oz had a whole segment on the topic about 6 months ago or so. Typically in human food they caution against barbequeing but any high temperature cooking (especially for longer periods of time) can form HAAs. Will every person who eats barbequed food or every dog that eats kibble get cancer --- NOPE of course not. But, it does increase the risk factor.

Aerorider ~~ I wanted to leave a quick post regarding calories too. There is ample evidence (including science reports in respected journals) that prove protein will help a dog lose weight faster while retaining lean body mass then the same amount of calories from carbs. I can link to one science article if you are interested (just have to go find the one I'm thinking of :). Fat has over twice as many calories as carbs and protein but is used better by the canine for energy (better then carbs). The HK diets that I have looked at are relatively low fat -- I think you will find your pups can get calories from other sources without weight gain then when you were feeding kibble. However, it is important to watch the fat content of the foods you feed (especially the raw foods --- many have way too much fat). Fat makes the pup feel full and they may quit eating before meeting their protein needs. If you are still concerned about calories consider feeding just the white every other time you feed eggs. BUT when feeding just the white DO lightly cook it as avidin in the white can bind with the b vitamin biotin and over time cause a deficiency. Note -- there is enough biotin in the egg yolk to compensate for avidin in the raw white when feeding the whole egg. No need to cook when feeding the whole egg.