I saw The Honest Kitchen’s (THK) Proper Toppers, their new superfood, being introduced at the Global Pet Expo in Orlando, FL earlier this year and was excited when I received an email from THK once back home, asking if we’d like to try them. THK has been fed on and off in our pack for 3 years, so YES, we did want to try their newest product!
Disclaimer: The Honest Kitchen (THK) provided K9sOverCoffee with 1 free bag of Chicken Proper Toppers & 1 free bag of Turkey Proper Toppers in return for an honest review. Here on K9sOverCoffee, I only share information I feel is relevant to my readers & always provide 100% honest reviews. THK is not responsible for the content of this blog post.
Minimally Processed Food – That’s Why We Love THK!
THK only uses 100% human grade ingredients and pledges never to use anything from China. Their food doesn’t contain any preservatives, artificial additives, and the meat used is hormone-and antibiotic free.
If you want to know where exactly each ingredient comes from, hop on over to THK’s website and roll over the world map they provide – it’s a pretty cool feature and provides peace of mind!
Just FYI – No preservatives are needed because the food is dehydrated, which is one of the oldest methods of food processing.
I first came across THK in 2013 when looking for a new grain-free dog food. Back then I used to feed kibble and would rotate brands and proteins on a 4 to 5 month basis. I did this in order to keep mealtime interesting and avoid potential allergies that can surface if one particular protein is fed day in and day out.
The pups tried their dehydrated Embark (Turkey), Love (Beef), & Zeal (Fish) lines and did very well on all of them. Sometimes I’d feed them THK by itself, and at other times I’d mix a little in with their kibble.
We’ve also used THK grain-free Base Mix to keep our raw diet balanced. It consists of dehydrated veggies, fruits, vitamins, and minerals and is made specifically to be added to your own protein.
Only 5 Ingredients – Available in 3 Protein Choices
But back to their latest product! It is available as Chicken, Turkey, and Beef, and consists of only 5 ingredients *Dehydrated chicken/turkey/beef, dried apples, dehydrated pumpkin, dehydrated chard, dried blueberries* besides their added minerals & vitamins.
3 Uses Make This Food Super!
The Proper Toppers are primarily meant to be used as a nutritional topper on any type of diet (raw, homemade, or kibble), but can also be fed as a complete meal, and/or as a healthy, high-value treat! Sounds super to me!
Topper
I introduced the new food by adding 2 tbsp to Missy’s raw dinner. The pups appreciate diversity at mealtime and enjoy tasting different proteins.
Meal
The Proper Toppers can be fed as a complete meal – perfect for raw feeders like us when we’re on the road and don’t want to schlep along coolers with fresh raw food (just splash with a little water).
Treat
I treated Missy with the Proper Toppers for holding her Down-Stay & Leave-It. She was very willing to work for them – see the drool spots?!
Is This Food Affordable?
As mentioned above, this food is primarily meant to be a TOPPER, and used as such, Missy would be getting 5 tbsp per day (THK recommends 2 tbsp/20 lb). Since the bags contain 14 oz, or 40 tbsp, each (I measured it out), one bag would last 8 days for Missy, translating into $80 per month.
The 40 tbsp I measured out equal a little over 4 cups. When used as a complete meal, one bag would last exactly 2 days for Missy (her recommended daily amount of food is 2 cups).
At $20 per bag, I’d be looking at $140 per week, adding up to $560 per month. With Buzz weighing 20 lb more than Missy, I would need to have a monthly dog food budget of well over $1000, which I do not have (I currently spend around $250-300/month on both dogs).
For my pack, adding the food as a meal topper & treats is a lot more realistic budget-wise than feeding it as a complete meal.
When ordering a bag of the Toppers, I found that I could save on shipping by purchasing on Amazon since I have a Prime account ($100 a year for free 2 day shipping – I love it!). THK offers free shipping on orders of $49+.
Bottom Line
The Proper Toppers are a dehydrated, limited ingredient, nutritious dog food made right here in the USA with hormone-and antibiotic-free meat.
I applaud THK’s transparency regarding their ingredient sourcing – if you haven’t checked out their ingredient world map, I recommend you do so right now!
My combined 120 lb of dogs (Buzz 70 lb, Missy 50 lb) will be seeing the Proper Toppers on their raw meals, at treating time, and whenever Mommy (that’s me) forgets to thaw enough raw food or finds herself on a road trip (we have one coming up!) without means of feeding fresh raw.
Have you fed The Honest Kitchen products? As always, we’d love to hear from you in our comment section!
2 comments
We tried samples of THK food a couple of years back. The dogs liked it, but it was much too pricey to feed regularly. I could see using the toppers as a supplement.] to their kibble. It would have been helpful in their younger days when we were trying to keep weight on them.
Yes, that’s the one downside of pre-made food other than kibble – it adds up quickly when you have larger dogs. That’s why we didn’t solely feed THK back in our kibble feeding days, but mixing the two together was a good compromise.