I have two dogs that have been on kibble forever; one's a pup and the other is 3. I got my shipment from Leerburg this weekend with my Honest Kitchen in it. I fixed it according to directions from the box for my pup and it was very soupy after letting it stand like 30 minutes. However, she still really liked it but didn't eat it all. I took her out for potty and exercise and my older dog (that's unfortunately allowed to roam) found the pup's food on the floor and ate some herself.

I had refrigerated the soupy left-overs and later that night I got it out to feed the pup again. I added more of the Honest Kitchen dry to the soup to thicken it up. Put the older dog in her kennel while I was feeding the pup. Since the soup was cold, I microwaved it for just a few seconds to warm it back up. The smell when I pulled it out of the microwave was pretty stinky to me; but both dogs got very excited about it! The pup ate a full meal of it (though I had put down too much for her). I then fixed the older dog the amount recommended for her size and she very happily ate it up!

My wife complained about the smell and how gross it looked, but admitted her dog (the adult Shi Tzu) at it very excitedly and it was probably her best meal in a long time.

I'm going to do some shopping to try and find some cheap RMB to add to the Honest Kitchen. Hopefully I'll get that done in the next day or two. However, I'm very pleased how well the dogs responded. The hydrated food was pretty goopy looking, but I could clearly see it was full of good stuff.

I guess my long term plan is to give the dogs about 1/2 their food from Honest Kitchen and 1/2 from my own raw meet "stuff".

Doug, that's fantastic.
The smell never bothered me... but then I was feeding raw before THK, so perhaps I was immune by that time.

It is a pretty great stuff, isn't it!

This may be normal, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Both my dogs (3 yro Shi Tzu, 11 week Australian Shepherd) have been on THK almost 4 days. I switched them cold turkey.

My older dog is still very excited by the smell, but she's not gobbling it up like she first did. Maybe I'm feeding too much. When she was on kibble, we just left it down for her to eat as she pleased. It seemed like she always ate at night, so I was just going to feed her THK at night too. However, with the pup in the house I'm fixing THK 3x per day. The Shi Tzu is still sleeping in bed (!!) when I feed breakfast to the pup, but the other two meals the Shi Tzu is really worked up over the smell. So I thought I'd go ahead and feed her twice a day. However, she's not wanting to finish it all. I'm feeding at most half of what the box recommends for her size at each feeding. She's very excited about the smell and eats some but then leaves some. Maybe just cut back?

Also, last night my puppy woke up with diarrhea in the middle of the night and then again this morning when I got up with her. I went to feed as normal, but she wasn't interested so I picked it back up.

My two questions are:

1. I know the suggestions on the box are just that; suggestions. But is it ok for a 10 pound Shi Tzu (who mainly just lays around) to only eat about half the recommendation?

2. Is it normal for a puppy to get an upset stomach after a few days on THK? Her stool has been pretty normal to this point.

Doug, which THK are you feeding?

Sometimes diarrhea can indicate that you are feeding too much...

I'm feeding embark to the pup, and force to the adult. I'm not exactly measuring it when I feed; but I'm giving about 1/2 - 3/4 cup dry force three times a day. Suzzie, my Aussie, was weighed at 14 pounds last Tuesday. I don't really know, but I'm guessing she'll be about 40 pounds as an adult.

 Quote: Doug Alcorn

I'm feeding embark to the pup, and force to the adult. I'm not exactly measuring it when I feed; but I'm giving about 1/2 - 3/4 cup dry force three times a day. Suzzie, my Aussie, was weighed at 14 pounds last Tuesday. I don't really know, but I'm guessing she'll be about 40 pounds as an adult.

I'm a little confused; you aren't feeding the Yorkie 1/2-3/4 cup Force 3x, right? That's the puppy ration, but it's Embark, right?

For the pup, that seems like a lot. I would reduce to 1/3 cup dry weight, 3 times per day, until the diarrhea clears up. If she seems ravenous, you could increase one or two of the meals to 1/2 cup. Increase slowly...

Adult should get 1/4 cup dry weight, 2 x per day.
Feeding guidelines

I'm feeding my 11/12 week Aussie puppy 1/2 - 3/4 cup Force 3x daily.

I'm feeding my 3 yro Shi Tzu 1/4 - 1/2 cup Embark 2x.

Seems like I'm over feeding and I'll back it down as you suggested.