Dog food review – ‘Verve’ The Honest Kitchen

I mentioned earlier in our interview with The Honest Kitchen that I was going to try out their dehydrated dog food for Lilly and Red. We ordered our first box of 10 lbs. of ‘Verve’ on March 31st. We ordered online from the  shop of the producers and food makers, The Honest Kitchen, located in San Diego, CA. With our discount coupon code we paid  $68.19 (including $10 for shipping). The ordering process was easy and the food arrived exactly 5 days later.

First of all, I have to say that the box Lucy and her team created is very nicely designed and appealing. The marketing department did a great job putting every valuable piece of information on the package to make it  very easy to understand. You get an overview of the ingredients, how to prepare the food and information on ‘how much to use”. I opened the robust box right away and found the food was packed in a bag with a zipper. It looked like my mom sent me some homemade cookies. You have the option to leave the food in the box (bag) or use your own container. I left it in the box and placed it on my kitchen counter to show everyone the beauty of the box, haha.

I opened the bag and the first thing I realized was the incredible good smell of the dog food. It smells and looks like instant soup to me. You can literally see the chopped little pieces of veggies, fruits and herbs. It’s the same experience you have after opening a bag of coffee (ahhhh, I love coffee!). Verve is made with USDA hormone-free beef and organic rye. Like all of The Honest Kitchen’s diets, it’s 100% human-grade, made in the USA, and does not contain corn, soy, rice, beet pulp or wheat. Here is the list of ingredients: dehydrated beef, organic oats, organic rye, organic flaxseed, potatoes, carrots, organic alfalfa, eggs, apples, parsley, cranberries, spinach, chicory, rosemary, tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, potassium iodide, potassium chloride, iron amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate.

Next step was to introduce the food to our dogs. I wanted make the transition slowly and added 1/4 of the indicated amount of the food as a topping on the regular food I’m feeding to Lilly and Red. Both were watching me very closely in the kitchen, thinking: “Hmmmm, what is she adding today? Looks like new food”. I also added my beloved and highly recommended fish oil and warm water to the food. I had some cooked potatoes left from dinner and through them in. The good smell of the dehydrated food turned into a neutral smell. I stirred a few times and waited 10 minutes (5 minutes are recommended), the dogs waited tense without hovering over me. After 10 minutes the food looked like a brown greenish mash for vegans :). My husband said: “We could sell this at Whole Foods as lentil purée”. 🙂

It was time to get the critical opinions of my dogs. Our French Bulldog is a little more picky than the American Staffordshire Mix but after I placed the bowls down  and I could hear them gobbling the food. It didn’t take long for them to finnish and I noticed them eating up to the last bites of each other’s bowls. The following week, I added a little more of the dehydrated food  every day and  finally replaced the dry kibbles after 2 weeks. The dogs love it!

I still have a quarter left of the all natural dehydrated food and will definitely order my next batch of “Verve” food in a few days. Try it out, it’s worth it  and here’s the coupon code: PCK12THK.  If you don’t want to buy a big box get a trial size first. If you want to learn more about the food, please read our interview with Lucy from, The Honest Kitchen. Also, have a look at what Lucy’s customers have to say about the food. They offer four completely gluten-free, grain-free diets and all their products are guaranteed 100% wheat free. Thumbs up for Lucy and her team!