The Honest Kitchen's Keen is the newest in their line of natural, dehydrated human-grade foods for dogs.  It has been developed as a penny-conscious recipe for sensitive hounds who deserve good food.

Lower in cost without compromising our values, Keen is made with a "down to earth" ingredients list that provides great low-gluten nutrition at an affordable price. Like all of Honest Kitchen's recipes, Keen is guaranteed human grade, wholesome, balanced and free of artificial additives, by-products or fillers of any kind. It is suitable for adult maintenance and for gluten-sensitive pets.

New Green Packaging!  Honest Kitchen now has eco-friendly packaging! It reduces materials usage and waste with a fine, recyclable 'minimalist' and unprinted barrier bag that efficiently protects the food inside. The bag is enclosed in a 100% recycled box made from unbleached kraft paperboard. The box is printed with soy-based inks and the finished product is 100% biodegradable or recyclable again after use, too.

Ingredients:
100% Human-Grade Hormone-free Turkey, Organic Oats, Potatoes, Organic Flax, Carrots, Cabbage, Alfalfa, Organic Kelp, Apples, Honey and Garlic.

PLEASE NOTE: the Keen recipe does contain apples although this is not noted on some boxes because of a printing error.

Each Honest Kitchen food contains the following, 100% human food grade, vitamin-mineral premix: tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, potassium chloride, potassium iodide, iron amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate.

Keen Nutritional Analysis: (Dry Matter Basis)
Protein: 20.0% (min), Fat Fiber: 14.5% (min.), Moisture: 4.5% (max.), CalciumL 8.2% (max.) 1.8% (min.), Phosphorus: 1.9% (max) 1.8% (min.), Magnesium: 1.0% (max.) 0.16% (min.), Sodium Folic Acid: 0.18% (max.) 1.53% (max.)

Preparation:
Each cup of Keen should be rehydrated with 1.25 to 1.5 cups of pure, warm, filtered or tap water, or boiled water that has been allowed to cool.

Add the water to the food and stir well. The product will initially resemble soup. Let stand for 10 minutes for the ingredients to rehydrate sufficiently. Add your own ingredients if you wish.

Feeding Guidelines:
The following suggested dry-measured amounts should be adjusted to suit your own dog's unique nutritional requirements, which will vary according to age, breed, level of activity and what other ingredients are added. Force may be fed ad-libitum during growth, gestation or lactation.

The Honest Kitchen makes wholesome, natural food for dogs using gentle dehydration, a unique new approach to canine nutrition. These foods help you create delicious and nutritious meals made with real, recognizable, and human-grade ingredients that are ready to prepare and serve at home. Simply add warm water to rehydrate, and you have a complete meal with USDA meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, organic flaxseed, herbs, vitamins, minerals, and organic grains (in the Verve formula).

The Honest Kitchen's dehydrated food offers many of the benefits of a biologically appropriate raw pet food diet, combined with the convenience and peace of mind of a nutritionally balanced, ready-blended product. Dehydration simply removes the moisture, which prevents decomposition. As an ancient form of preserving food, virtually all of the nutrients are left intact. This is a much fresher, and therefore healthier, approach than the extrusion process that dry kibble undergoes.

All of Honest Kitchen's dog food and dehydrated raw dog food products are formulated to meet the AAFCO nutrient profiles for dogs and you don't have to add anything to make them "complete." However, the original idea behind these diets was as a base for a raw or other fresh homemade diet and to facilitate that, they are somewhat 'lite' in terms of fat and protein, so that your own choice of raw, or cooked, meat can be added, if desired.

It is entirely a matter of personal choice (and your dog's taste!) whether you add in extra meat and other ingredients, or not. Most people with younger and more active dogs like to mix in the additional meat, and those with senior or overweight animals usually prefer to feed the organic dog food alone. The Honest Kitchen supplies pet owners with the best in fresh dehydrated raw dog food and other organic dog food products.

About Dehydration:

Dehydration or drying, is one of the oldest and gentlest methods of food preservation. Food dehydration works by removing only the water content from the ingredients. All other nutrients remain, and become highly concentrated. Dried foods are extremely nutritious, easy to prepare and store, and light weight to ship.

Because dehydration takes place at moderate temperatures, the ingredients are still considered raw. The only exceptions are the meat and egg ingredients, which are dehydrated at high enough temperatures to kill any bacteria present and are therefore essentially considered "cooked." This is because they must be human-edible grade to enter Honest Kitchen's manufacturing facility.

The removal of moisture prevents enzymatic activity, which can lead to browning and decomposition of foods, and also prevents the growth of bacteria, yeast and molds. Dehydration does not actually destroy or kill the food enzymes, as occurs in baking and freezing or high pressure processing such as extrusion. Enzyme activity in dehydrated foods is simply suspended, until the food is rehydrated.

A remarkable example of the way dehydration preserves without destroying is in Africa, where scientists have discovered live fish being hatched from fish eggs, that have been dehydrated in the sun, during droughts that sometimes last for years. When the rains fall, the lakes and rivers refill with water to rehydrate the eggs - and live fish emerge. The eggs are actually preserved and remain viable throughout the natural dehydration that takes place.