The Not So Honest Kitchen

I'm not sure if I should blame SitStay.com, The Honest Kitchen, or myself.

We switched to The Honest Kitchen's Embark a couple of week ago. Herschel loves it and he is thriving on it--or so we thought.

We've noticed that after switching he scavenges around the kitchen more often and then today, I noticed that he was lethargic. He is amazingly active so I knew something wasn't right.

Then, we were in the park playing fetch and then walking and I noticed that he might be a little bit skinnier than usual. When we came home, I fed him a little bit extra just to make sure he's on track.

We've been feeding him a little bit less than 1/3 of a cup of the Honest Kitchen's Embark per meal. We decided on that amount because we were feeding 1/3 of a cup of Canidae.

We thought that Embark had 729 kcal/cup because that is the number listed on http://www.sitstay.com/store/edibles/foodHK.shtml

The Honest Kitchen's website says Embark only has 487 kcal/cup. Who do we believe? Have we been starving Herschel because someone messed up?

well when I got it here at my pet supplier I was told not to feed it alone but with the EVO. Weren't you ? We were also told that it did need a supplement. I have used it only as an extra not 100% of their meals. I knew it was not for 100% feeding. As an extra it is great but then my gang won't eat just that alone. It has to be mixed. I will never feed 100% of it. They do well enough on evo and homecook but this was a back up. I like mine to get a bit of everything. Anyway I would reconsider giving Herschel back some of his Kibble too.

How many calories per cup does the actual package/container say it has? That is the source I would believe...

The container says 4,290 kcal/kg, which is the number stated on The Honest Kitchen's website. That means that it is only 487 kcal/cup, not 729.

Way to go, SitStay. However, I wish The Honest Kitchen would print the number of kcal/cup on the container, too!

I noticed that they suggested adding something to the food so I was using their recipes and adding home cooked. From now on, I will either supplement home cooked or Canidae for every meal to get him back up to the appropriate number of calories.

By the way, I noticed that you are feeding Verve. I'm feeding Embark (29% protein) and that is why I was using it as a complete diet.

Yes I chose Verve because the nutritionist I was seeing suggested it to add to the EVO because it is meat. So it was a healthy mix.

I chose "preference" because I want to home cook and skip the raw . I got a sample of the prowl for my cats and they didn't even touch it I add lots of stuff to the preference and Caiza is thriving on it. I don't feed any kibble anymore. No lethargy here

I have never paid much attention to the number of calories per cup because it's not the whole picture. My dogs tend to be slimmer on low carb food. Evo is quite high calorie as kibble goes but my dogs both lots weight on it and needed to eat quite a bit more than what I thought they would. I keep weight on and gain weight easily with carbs too dangit
Whenever I change foods I keep a close eye on my dog, put my hands on them regularly and weigh them at least every week.