The Great Weight Update

After increasing Barry's calories he gained a few pounds back within a week. I will be sure to continue to give him two full cups of The Honest Kitchen and add a smaller ratio of water compared to the food from now on. I was trying to stretch out the use of the food since it is quite pricey. Unfortunately I can't stretch it out. So pound for pound, this food, while superior in quality to Blue Buffalo, has less calories and will be used  about 15 - 20 days faster. So, the hunt is still on for the perfect food! I know, I know... Why keep switching? It's true that Barry is doing excellent on this food but here are the cons that go with this.

• EXPENSIVE - We don't mind spending $100 per month on Barry's main source of food. This stuff will come out to about $150 per month (I did the math so I'm not taking a wild guess). That doesn't even include all the other things we get for him (treats, beef tripe, bones, etc.).
• HIGH MAINTENANCE - We were already used to the high maintenance aspect of giving Barry food (adding in pumpkin, kefir, etc.) but it was still quite low maintenance compared to this stuff. I'm still not really sure how much he's supposed to get. There is a guide on the back for one day's worth of food so then I'd split that in half. However, I like to make a few days worth at a time because it is so time consuming to make and let soak. If you don't let it soak for at least 3 hours it's like soup. 
• TASTE? - Barry likes it enough. He doesn't love it. Even though that is not what would make us NOT buy it (we'll make Barry eat whatever we give him or he won't eat) it's something to consider. Perhaps he doesn't like the mushy texture? We still want him to enjoy his food.
• USAGE - This stuff goes fast. In order to give Barry enough calories we have to go through it quickly. 

This boy's gotta eat!

The biggest one is the expense. If you have a small to smallish dog and can afford this stuff do it. Obviously we're willing to pay quite a good amount in order to keep Barry happy and healthy. I can't see spending $150/month (on average over the course of a year) for his food. We really, really want to continue using The Honest Kitchen but there are a couple of other brands out there that have just as good quality, whole ingredients, are ranked just as high, have a great reputation, and are more cost effective. That doesn't mean it will be better for Barry and if not we'll switch again. We will, of course, do the slow-slow switch so as not to upset his delicate tummy. The switch will happen just like when we switched him from Blue Buffalo to The Honest Kitchen. No tummy troubles whatsoever because we did it the right way.

Anyhow, we'll be ordering a new food soon so we can start the process. In fact we ran out of The Honest Kitchen Tuesday! We ordered more on Friday evening thinking we'd still have enough by the time the food got delivered (we thought it would be delivered on Tuesday evening). Well, the food didn't get delivered on Tuesday, but instead on Wednesday. We just didn't foresee this food going so fast and though we had time. Again, to my point, this stuff goes shockingly fast. We weren't prepared when it was suddenly low so we ordered quickly but it wasn't fast enough. I feel bad that we ran out of Barry's food but we just aren't used to the way this food works. I'm sure anyone that uses this would need to get used to it. 

Oh the things we do for Barry!

That's right. He's allowed on the couch.