The Honest Kitchen - pet food with a passion

Hello,

If you’re anything like us, your Kitchen is probably the room in your home where most of the interesting stuff happens – the delicious culinary creations, of course – and hopefully some great kitchen-table conversations or even the occasional party. Our kitchen isn’t just part of our name – it’s where many of our great ideas occur – the hub of our communications, and it’s often filled with love, raucous laughter, the whiff of home cooking and of course, the dogs, all wanting to take part in the taste tests.

Last week, our kitchen was the location for our bi-monthly Peticures (for the office pups of course!) by our favorite pink-haired dog pedicures lady, Tess! This week, it was the site of some informal staff chats over cupcakes as well as some fun R&D brainstorming for a very exciting new treat. Next month, it’ll host a staff seminar on homeopathic remedies for pets. It’s just one of those rooms!

Kat, in our customer service department, had a great idea the other day – to send out a ‘State of the Kitchen’ memo to our customers, to make sure you’re in the loop on what else is going in our Kitchen these days. After all, you’re a pretty big part of our family and even though we can’t invite you all to our kitchen, we want you to know that you’re the focus of our decisions (and many of you do have a presence in our kitchen – just take a look at our fridge!).

Our Kitchen Fridge (Please excuse Charlie the Dalmatian, he's an Attention Seeker)

As you may know, we took on a very small amount of outside investment from two fabulous boutique firms last year. We remain a majority family owned company (I’m still the girl in charge) and we’re very much responsible for all our own day to day decisions.  The investment dollars we brought in are allowing us to create new jobs in several departments – we may add as many as twelve new employees this year, in the office and the field.

With investments in several other like-minded companies like Plum Organics, Public Bicycle, evol Burrito, HerbPharm, Wild Planet Foods and Big Tree Farms, it’s fantastic to be able to brainstorm with our new ‘family’ of companies who love their customers just as much as we do . Our investors are also enabling us to explore some rather cool new ingredients including new sustainable, fair-trade and organic options. We can’t tell you too much right now, but promise to share some details as soon as we can.

Speaking of ingredients, you may already know that The Honest Kitchen doesn’t use ANY food ingredients from China. We remain steadfast to this commitment, although it’s not without its challenges. To be completely honest, zucchini is in extremely short supply this year (due to farmers replacing zucchini crops with other produce and a generally poor harvest) and because we refuse to use Chinese options, we’ve decided to swap our zucchini out for Pumpkin, another squash-type veggie that’s packed with valuable phytonutrients and is very gentle even on sensitive tummies.

We’d already elected to begin using Pumpkin in place of green beans in Zeal due to popular demand from our customers who’ve been using the Zeal recipe for their sensitive pets. That change is happening on the upcoming Jan/Feb production run. If your next box of Zeal says Pumpkin, that’s what’ll be in the box. If it still lists green beans, then green beans are on the inside, too. You can always trust our labels.

By the way, thank you, if you took the time to share your opinion on pumpkin, via a survey or Facebook Poll. We appreciate it very much and had an overwhelming response from customers (88 to 1 in fact) who voted Yes on Pumpkin!

If you’re a Preference fan, you may have noticed a slight change in the order of ingredients on our Preference labels. This reflects a very slight amendment to the ratios of some ingredients to help make Preference a little less strong-tasting! A 1% or even 0.5% change to more or less of a couple ingredients in the mix can really shuffle up the order on the label. As always, the formula itself is reflected on the box.  We’ve had lots of great feedback on the consistency of the Preference recipe – thank you if you’ve shared yours. We don’t have any other changes planned and as always, promise to tell you if something does have a minor amendment of some kind.

Hopefully you’ve already seen our brand new kraft boxes, which are produced from a combination of recycled material and SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) certified paperboard. We’re making a few minor adjustments to the ink on the next production run, to help make sure our colors pop on the kraft. We hope you like the style of the new boxes and have found them easier to understand, with the front ‘motif’ and clearer directions on the back. Please let me know what you think!

Even though our boxes look a bit different, please be assured that the quality and integrity of the recipe on the inside, is unchanged, with the exception of the minor changes to pumpkin (now in Zeal and coming soon in Force, Preference and Prowl), and the ingredient percentage adjustments in Preference noted above, our foods and formulations are just the same as before. We have a new look on the outside, but it’s the same good stuff on the inside!

We’re also planning an upgrade, that will enable you to see our QC test results online soon, too. We’re all about transparency and are very excited to be able to share this info with you, so you’ll be able to look up the results of any batch of food you have, up to one year after production. We hope to have this live in the next month or so. Stay tuned!

We love to chat to our customers. If you have something you’d like to share, please do let us know. If it’s something you’re not happy about, we’ll take it to heart, and see if we can make it right or even implement a change (as long as it’s something others want, too) and if it’s something we’ve done that made you smile – or better yet, made a positive difference in your pet’s life, please tell us that too. You never know, we might even do a little dance on our kitchen table, to celebrate.

Team Dexter's

This store was started nearly 17 years ago, and believed to be the first pet supply store to offer raw food for pets in all of San Diego. Dexter’s philosophy ascribes to a continuum of care – that the quality of food a pet consumes, along with proper supplementation and an environment of love and care, all contribute collectively to the well being of that animal. The aim of Dexter’s Deli, and a responsibility they take seriously, is to educate their two-footed customers on proper nutrition for their pets. The Honest Kitchen recently had the opportunity to do a product training with their team.

Katie-dog enjoying some freshly hydrated Embark! Josh, a team member at Dexter's also tried out a sample of this (human-grade) food, as a pesto of sorts on his pizza...ok, he didn't go that far!

It’s always been my goal with Dexter’s Deli to provide the very best in what is new & natural for our dogs and cats, & that doesn’t always mean carrying products because they are “popular” or “best sellers.” We take the time to do the research behind the products & the information we offer.

We’ve been specializing in raw, holistic, natural foods for dogs and cats since 1996.  Serving North San Diego County with stores in Del Mar & Carlsbad, it’s always gratifying to hear from our customers that we’re doing a great job providing the best in natural foods, supplements, and other awesome products for their pets.
Our customers can take comfort in knowing that when they shop at Dexter’s Deli they’re getting the very best and we’ve already done the homework for them.

Originally from Orange County, California, Tori moved to Del Mar from St. Louis, Missouri in 1996 to open a natural pet store. “I immediately fell in love with this dog-friendly town where there were dogs on every corner,” she says. Dexter’s Deli was the very first store in San Diego to sell natural foods for pets and has since helped pioneer the health food movement for pets in San Diego. She has been feeding her own pets a fresh raw food diet for 16 years and has a background in nutrition. Along with owning Dexter’s Deli, Tori has a second full-time job at home with 2 young children. Tori’s follows a natural holistic lifestyle for herself, her family, and business.

Read more at the site below, with links to press pieces.

http://dextersdeli.com/our-stores

Slow change
Cats seem more aversive to change than dogs, so we recommend hydrating very small amounts (half teaspoon portions) of The Honest Kitchen Grace™ or Prowl™ initially, and adding this to their current food. Then, gradually increase THK food each day over a period of weeks (if needed). Cats have their preferences, and because they are such tactile creatures, one should play around with the water content – adding more if they enjoy soupy meals or using less water if the preference is a tacky consistency.

Enticements
Including some savory foods like cottage cheese, yogurt, raw or cooked egg can help during the transition. Variety is the spice of life, so mix it up! Consuming amino acids from multiple protein sources, and different vitamins and minerals from varying vegetables and fruits, will positively contribute to the pet’s overall health.

Trickery
Only in the name of good nutrition, sometimes a bit of coaxing is necessary. We’ve heard much success with this one!
Hydrate the Grace or Prowl food and then dip the cats paw into it. Naturally, since cats want to be clean, will lick their paw – and in the process they become more accustomed to the taste and tastiness of The Honest Kitchen food!  Watch this cat attest to the Paw Licking Good food!

Free feeding to twice daily
If the cat is used to grazing at will with a bowl of dry food, start by feeding only two times per day, leaving the food out for about 30 minutes each time. Next, add a small amount of rehydrated Honest Kitchen (or canned food initially*). You may need to try multiple flavors or brands to find one to their liking. Contrary to what many pet food conglomerates will say, as cats become more accustomed to eating wet foods they usually become less finicky.

Encouraging water consumption
Until the cat is on a more fresh diet, increase the cat’s hydration by attempting multiple options:

-          Use different sizes and shapes of bowls

-          See if they prefer running water by turning on the tap with water coming out as a drip

-          Place the water dish in different locations (some cats don’t prefer to drink next to their food)

-          Try unsalted broth or clam juice, dilute each day until the cat is used to drinking more fluids

*If a cat is eating solely dry food, a change to wet food (of good quality) may then make the change to a food like Honest Kitchen much easier. Also, adding Perfect Form during the transition can help to sooth the mucous membranes of the digestive tract, and reduce issues associated with diet changes.

Kidney diseases and urinary tract issues in cats are rampant in this country. Cats, being desert animals by nature, are designed to get water from their food. A cat’s normal prey is at least 70% water. Dry food only contains 5-10% moisture, while canned and dehydrated foods (as well as fresh and frozen raw) have over 70% moisture on an as-fed basis.

The Importance of Moisture in Pet Food
Domestic cats may not be inclined to drink as much water from a bowl as they would from a moving water source, even more so than dogs. This lack of moisture in the diet of our pets can lead to dehydration and kidney issues. Feeding a high moisture food puts that much needed water back into their diet – and ultimately into the digestive tract.

The old adage ‘you are what you eat’ should be taken one step further to ‘you are what you absorb.’ This applies to our own diets, but also to that of our paw-ed friends. For adequate absorption and assimilation of ingredients, at least a portion of a pet’s meal should consist of two things:

• Contain at least 70% moisture (as-fed)
• More fresh ingredients (foods that have not been heavily cooked, not exceeding 165 degrees, or extruded)

In addition, when feeding a dehydrated pet food like The Honest Kitchen (hydrated with water to feed), this meal contains more fresh ingredients, and the potency and integrity of these ingredients are maintained closer to as nature intended. This can lead to better digestion and more moisture flowing through the urinary tract, aiding in an optimum pH environment.

Intracellular moisture is extremely important for the digestive tract, for the proper digestion and breakdown of food nutrients. A diet for a dog or cat in the wild contains high amounts of moisture (prey). Without this moisture, in the example of dry food kibble diets, the cat or dog is in a constant state of dehydration. Drinking water from a bowl is not sufficient. A dog eating 4 cups per day would need to consume at least a gallon of water to digest that food. For cats, they would need to drink over one cup for every 10 pounds of body weight, to adequately digest a dry food diet.

When moisture is not provided for our pets, the organ systems are limited in their ability to carry out their role in digestion, immunity and all other bodily functions. As in the case of Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (FLUTD, formerly FUS), the treatment is: addressing the diet and hydration.

As our own mother’s would encourage us to eat more vegetables and salads (fresh foods), even if we only consume one salad a week, this is better than never eating a salad. Similarly, we have the opportunity with our customers, to plant seeds regarding moisture in their cats (or dogs) food. Promote fresh food feeding with your customers, asking them to consider just one meal a week of more fresh, whole foods – a diet like Prowl or Grace, hydrated with water to feed, is closer to the Biologically Appropriate diet cats deserve.

The Store of the Month is VINNY’S PET SHOP, located in Brooklyn NY since 1978

“The thing I love most about this business is the people. We’re really blessed to have a loyal customer base that trusts us to not just sell them something, but to show them the right products and offer different options based on their pets need. I know how much I love my own two dogs, both rescues, and  its obvious that the pet industry is very challenging, always evolving and never boring. I love finding new products and learning more about products we already have. That’s why I jumped on the chance to take the webinar and get certified. I’m most proud of the reputation we’ve built through educating ourselves and being ahead of the curve on new trends-by attending trade shows, listening to sales reps and taking advantage of resources available.”   -Mike Santomarco

The History of VINNY’S
The shop was started by Vinny Santomarco in 1978. The original store was in a pre-1900 building that had previously been a “notoriously loud & raunchy biker bar called the Snake Pit, complete with the stripper pole.” The original plan was to be a hangout where Vinny could surround himself and his brother Harry with their favorite pastime, racing homing pigeons….MAYBE make a few bucks to support that hobby. The pet shop became a place where local pigeon fanciers came to buy feed and have a cup of coffee. Pet Shop Loft flew racing pigeons from 1978-2005. During the 1980′s the shop sold little more than pigeon supplies.

When Vinny passed away in 1990, Harry and his wife Carmela (Mike’s grandparents), took over operation of the business. The store began to expand beyond pigeons and bird supplies. By annually increasing dog and cat products the store began to flourish. Mike spent his weekends hanging out at the store since he was 10 years old, began working part time during high school, and full time after college. It was during college when Mike discovered he had a passion for the business, and “I literally used to skip out on class and go to work!”

In 2005, the shop moved a couple blocks away to the current location. With the new building emerged a new approach, new products and new help. Mike’s dad, Frank, began working at the shop in 2006. “That is when we really began to focus on the natural segment.  Then the Menu-foods recall in 2007 sparked a local interest in healthier foods and exposed us as a go-to place for expertise and advice.”

http://www.vinnyspetshop.com

Thanks Mike, Frank and the rest of the staff at Vinny’s! As a token of our appreciation for your support in THK, the Store of the Month rewards you with 20% off your next order.