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volume 24 |
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March 2007 |
Welcome
We hope that this edition of The Honest Kitchen newsletter finds you and your furry friends happy and healthy. This month, we've included something special for all of the Cat lovers out there (including a very special recipe invented by
Harry), information on our new product, Thrive, and an informative article on niche diets. Is there something in here that you'd like to know more about? Chat back at the
blog! |
HK Happenings
Is Your Dog Thriving?
Feline Fantastic
Get Smart!
Store of the Month: Bones2Go! |
Monthly Special
Don't Delay! Our Site Launch Celebration Gift Coupon expires on Saturday, March 24th at Midnight! If you'd like to take advantage of this special discount and check out our
new site at the same time, please hurry!
On Special this month are our buckets of Preference Dehydrated Foundation Diet.
Preference is a meat-free, grain free diet, designed as a nutritionally balanced base, to create custom meals for any canine. This diet is also free of potatoes and flax! Use Preference as a base, mixed with your own choice of
meat, fish or other protein.
While Supplies Last – Preference 10 lbs storage buckets are $10 off the MSRP at $53 each! Please call our toll free order line 1-866 4379 RAW or email us at
support if you'd like to order before they're gone!
*This offer is not available online*
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What's Cookin' in the Kitchen
The Secret's Out!
You might already have heard – Thrive, our brand new chicken diet for all life stages will be coming soon! In 2 weeks' time, we'll be commencing our palatability trial and if all goes well, the product
will go to market a few weeks after that. While the trial is underway, we'll be offering a small quantity of travel size and 10 lbs bags of Thrive for sale on our web site.
Thrive has been formulated for all life stages including growth, pregnancy, lactation, adult maintenance and healthy seniors.
Thrive is made with chicken, vegetables and organic quinoa, a treasured ancient grain from Bolivia in South America.
Ingredients
Dehydrated USDA Chicken, Quinoa, Sweet Potatoes, Spinach, Parsley, Kelp, Rosemary, vitamins & minerals.
Guaranteed Analysis
Protein – min 26%
Fat – min 18%
Fiber – max 6.5%
Moisture – max 7.5%
Calcium – min 1.2%, max 1.4%
Phosphorus – min 0.9%, max 1%
Sodium min - 0.3%, max 0.39%
Magnesium – min 1.7%, max 1.8%
Our Quinoa is fair-trade, sustainably grown and 100% certified organic. Our supplier bridges the gap between small Andean farms and the booming organic food market.
Naturally gluten-free Quinoa is a valuable source of complete protein. It contains every single amino acid and is especially well-endowed with the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair. In addition to protein,
Quinoa features a host of other health-building nutrients.
Thrive is a simple, minimalist diet which is ideal for food sensitive animals, especially those with gluten intolerance (chronic GI upset, recurring ear infections). Thrive is 40% chicken. It contains no fruits, potatoes or flax.
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Kitty Corner...Meow Meow, Baby!
Where's the meat?!
With the recent recall of canned dog and cat food, some feline care-givers are scrambling to research what is best for their felines. There is a lot of confusion out there, and we'd like to offer some of our thoughts. A FRESH FOOD
diet is best for cats; a diet that is made with quality meats, and lots of them. We must remember, cats are obligate carnivores!
As far as dry-kibble cat foods go, this is not really a diet designed for cats. By nature, cats are desert creatures, meaning they do not need to drink much water. They will generally get their moisture intake from the food they eat.
Dry kibble foods are actually robbing the body of moisture. In turn, this requires the cat to drink excessive water just to help digest and break down the kibble food. Here are some additional issues with dry food kibbles:
Generally, they are loaded with too many grains for a meat-eating creature, and the kibble-fed cats tend to graze all day. When an animal is allowed to graze on food, their digestive tract is never given a proper chance to rest and empty.
This can create GI Tract issues and possibly increase the risk of FUS (Feline Urinary Syndrome).
Now that we know some of the troubles dry food can create for our sensitive felines, let's move on to how you work a cat off these foods. For some cats, kibble is an addiction. They will absolutely refuse to eat anything but those crunchy
bites (some even have shape preferences), but these are the really tough ones. Our recommendation is to slowly start adding water to the dry food, or a low sodium broth. Prowl is another option as a great topper to the kibble, in the
weaning-off kibble process. Cutting feeding time down is another suggestion, by removing uneaten portions after 15- 20 minutes. This will encourage your feline to eat at a set meal time.
With cats you do have go slowly with change, and also have lots of patience. We encourage you to transition your felines to fresh food. Our diet Prowl is designed with cats in mind. Prowl offers a way to feed fresh food, without the
hassle and mess of home preparing. This diet is 60% Hormone-free chicken, eggs, potatoes, yams, flaxseed, zucchini, spinach, honey, cranberries, rosemary, vitamins and minerals. As with all of our diets, we actively encourage you to add
in some additional fresh meats to your pet's meal. Along with adding daily variety, you have control to tailor the Prowl to your cat's texture-liking and nutritional needs.
Special Note: You would never want to fast a cat longer than 12 hours, especially in overweight cats. This could create a condition known as Fatty Liver Syndrome, which is deadly.
Prowlmelet
Ok, so we know that felines are texture-oriented creatures. Amend this recipe to suit your cat's texture preference.
˝ cup Prowl, (Dry measure)
˝ cup warm water
1 Egg (Organic when available)
1-2 Chicken hearts, chopped, or whole if you feline prefers to gnaw a bit.
1- Organic Chicken liver, (If you are going to feed liver, please feed only organic liver)
Re-hydrate Prowl with the water, add in egg and whip. Lightly sauté organ meats, (Harry prefers them raw). Sauté egg mixture, folding in organ meat. Cook to your felines' texture preference, cool and serve. Recipe makes 4 servings
DID YOU KNOW ?
Oriental lilies (including Easter Lilies) can be fatally toxic to cats!
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Niche and Special Needs Diets – Great Food or Gimmick?
Perusing your pet food store can be a daunting venture if you enter unsure of what you want to leave with. The shelves seem overloaded lately, with niche and specialty diets for various ailments, specific breeds, activity levels and more.
There seems to be something for everyone with diets tailored to the finest detail. A juvenile Chihuahua with diabetes and an exceptionally small mouth can now find something just for her, it seems!
Are these niche diets all they're cracked up to be? Probably not. When you take a closer look at the ingredients in each, there really aren't even too many differences between each of them within a given manufacturer's line. Oftentimes,
it's all in a name.
Some breeds certainly are prone to specific health concerns and some illnesses to respond well to dietary adjustments – but for the most part, a few basic food-buying guidelines can set the majority of animals on the path to good
health.
Here's our quick checklist for things to consider when choosing a sound canine diet:
• Quality not quantity (don't be too penned in by numbers) Just because your vet suggests a certain percentage of protein, doesn't mean that a food 1% outside the recommendation is unworthy of consideration. A diet with 18% protein might
contain by-products and fillers. Broaden your range and you might find something with a meat-based protein source that will maintain healthy kidney function, just as well!
• Expense doesn't always equal quality. Don't just assume that buying the costliest food will assure you of its suitability.
• Look for more than just a pretty label - As with lots of things in life, marketing tactics abound in pet food products. Beautiful illustrations and clever names might lead you to think a food is better than it really is!
• Choose to buy from a company who offers sound, thoughtful customer service and product recommendations specific to your pet.
Next month, we'll be publishing a handy clip-and-carry watch list of red flag ingredients to avoid.
The dangers of relying on a diet that's marketed just for your breed can lead to a false sense of security, too. The food you feed must be selected according to your individual animal's unique requirements, not the breed that's pictured on
the label. No two bulldogs are exactly alike and one single diet shouldn't be expected to meet the needs of every bulldog under the sun.
That said, there are many great quality, broad-reaching diets that the vast majority of dogs will thrive on. Avoiding by-products, fillers, chemicals, colors, and flavor enhancers, is a must for everyone. Grains should often be avoided in
those prone to chronic GI upset, ear infections and skin irritation, all of which are frequently caused by a dietary gluten overload. But some dogs actually need grain in their food to maintain a healthy bodyweight.
For the most part, a diet with a moderate nutritional profile and a good quality spectrum of ingredients will serve the task well. Don't automatically shy away from higher protein foods just because your pup is over age six. Healthy
Seniors can actually benefit from a substantial protein percentage – it helps maintain collagen, which provides amino acids that are essential for tissue growth and repair. Celebrating his seventh birthday shouldn't automatically warrant
a change in food!
Try to encompass variety wherever possible. Good quality, whole food ‘people ingredients' are not bad for dogs when offered in moderation, as an accompaniment to a good quality basic diet. Don't be duped by the big guys, into thinking that
all you should feed is the product they make. They are thinking about their bottom line – if you don't share your food with your pup, the more you'll need to buy of their product.
If your dog has special requirements, try keeping a notebook with comments about which foods seem to trigger reactions. Was it high carbohydrates or increased fat that leads to a gain of those few extra pounds? Does more protein really set
off her urinary tract problems? Do all grains make his ears flare up or just the high gluten ones?
Sure, a large breed puppy does have somewhat different nutritional requirements than a senior small breed – but they are both Canis Major with the same basic organ systems and their needs might not be quite as diverse as some companies
would have you believe.
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Store of the Month and Aspiring Stores of the Month
Bones 2 Go, a quaint store in Houston, TX selling strictly raw pet foods opened its doors in 2003. Since then, the owner Tracey Rentcome has dedicated herself and her store to providing fresh, natural food for
her customers' fur-friends. Her humble beginnings include slaving away to prepare Dr. Pitcairn's recipes for her own two Great Danes (whom devoured in upwards of 5 pounds of food a day!), to a home based business branching from rescue
work.
The focus here is raw food! Bones 2 Go offers almost every alternative to kibble out there, namely frozen raw foods like Primal, and dehydrated raw food The Honest Kitchen. This small store abounds with freezers everywhere. The space holds
only 10-15 customers, but instead of being perturbed at a wait to purchase the food, many pet owners walk around the store with each other pointing to foods they feed or have tried; a show-and-tell time! Tracey's store has gained in
popularity simply from word-of-mouth. She now jokes about having two options, moving to a larger space or going underground and not accepting any new customers! We say NO to the latter ‘Underground Railroad.' She has a great thing going,
and we are honored for our increased exposure in and around Houston. Recently, after bringing on The Honest Kitchen supplement line, she was "very impressed" with the fact that Slippery Elm is in the digestive health supplement, stating
that "was genius, my friend."
Thank you, Tracey, for your dedication in improving the food, lives and well-being of your four-pawed customers. Bones 2 Go - You will receive 20% off your next order!
Bones 2 Go!
7025 West Tidwell, Suite h-109
Houston, TX 77092
www.bones2go.com
Recent additions to the Honest Kitchen Family
Dr. Audra MacCorkle Sun Valley, CA 91352 (818) 395-6314
Animal Healing Center San Diego, CA 92110 (619) 276-5900
Natural Pet San Diego, CA 92116 (619) 947-1252
Canine Design Pawcatuck, CT 06379 (860) 599-4707
Pet Stop Marion, IA 52302 (319) 377-7890
Polka Dog Bakery Boston, MA 02117 (617) 338-5155
Feather Foot All Natural Pet Detroit, MI 48228 (313) 273-5565
Urbane Animal Winona, MN 55987 (507) 494-0325
Best Bites for Pets Hendersonville, NC 28739 (828) 698-2291
Paws at the Beach / Paws in the City Denville, NJ (201) 506-0667
Seventh Avenue Pet Food Brooklyn, NY 11215 (718) 499-7822
Lucky Dog Barkery Dallas TX, 75225 (214) 368-6000
Nature's Origins Sun Prairie WI, 53590 (608) 225-0594
The Pampered Pup Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418
Donna's Natural Pet Newton, NJ 07860
Canada:
Petacular Food & Supply, Ltd. (2 Locations)
London, ON (519) 439-8333
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