OK so the other day on Facebook they put up a post saying the first 10 people to shoot them an email would get a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for a 10lb box of Zeal. Obviously I got it or I wouldn't care lol

So I was reading the feeding instructions... 2-4 cups/day? That seems like an awful lot... How much do you guys feed (or would you feed if you just fed THK.) When Mickey was on TOTW, he got 3 cups/day and Odin got 2 cups/day. From reading the box it almost seems like i'd feed the same amounts as if I were feeding kibble. We're going to try it out but i'm truly shocked how for $100 I get food for barely a week. Very expensive, IMO.

WHAT?! I missed that coupon!??! Doggonnitt!!!

Ginger LOVES Zeal, and Storm is doing half Zeal and half Verve mixed with his kibble.

Anyway...
Ginger is 53-54 lbs. She gets 1/4 c Zeal (mixed with 1/3 c water), then topped with 1/8 c Orijen for breakfast and lunch. She gets 4-5 oz of raw chicken at dinner. So if she was to only get THK, she'd probably be getting about 1 to 1.5 cups a day (dry measure).

I go by weight for Ginger - 1/4 c mixed with 1/3 c water = 3.5 oz. So for lunch and dinner, she'll get 7 oz plus some Orijen which makes it about 9-10 oz. Then dinner is 4 to 5 oz of raw chicken, so in total, her food intake is about 12 to 13 oz - just under 1 lb.

Kristina, when I feed THK exclusively I feed 1 cup of THK a day on less/moderately active days and 1 and 1/4 cup of THK on more active days. Dakota's 52 lbs and he gets mix in's all the time, it is very rare that he gets THK exclusively but I think that 1.5 cups of Zeal for a 50-55 lb sibe with no add-ins is plenty. If you're going to mix other things in I'd drop it down to 1 or 1.25 cups plus add ins.

The guidelines on the box are way too much, especially for a sibe. I aim for a pound to a pound and a quarter of food for Dakota a day. 1 cup of THK mixed with 1 cup of water makes 1 lb of food.

My chi girls do well on Zeal but my sibe, strangely enough, does not tolerate ANY fish based food. I tried Zeal with Dakota and it was a no go...but at the price it's selling for it's probably a good thing he doesn't do well on Zeal or he'd send me to the poorhouse in no time!

When I first started Kody full on THK and I tried giving him the amount that box suggests I was like WOAHHH no way! I put some of it the fridge and gave it to him the next day. It's a lot! I never give them THK alone though so Kody usually get's 1/2 of it mixed with other stuff.

On Keen my two get the following 2x a day:

1/2 cup dry THK, sprinkle of TOTW Pacific Stream (trying to knock Koda down a few pounds, so he gets the same as Hailey.

This seems to be maintaining Hailey well (she's 45 lbs, Koda is 63lbs-- he should be closer to 60).

If they were not getting the kibble, I would up the THK by like an 1/8 cup.

Thought I'd add this. I've been experimenting with adding Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck kibble to Dakota's THK on his non-raw days. What I've found is that 1/2 cup of THK Keen plus 1/2 a cup of Wilderness Duck is causing him to gain weight. I'm scaling back to 1/2 cup Keen plus 1/4 cup of Wilderness Duck to see how he does on that.

I weigh out 3 oz of dry Keen (I think that's about 3/4 cup), then add water. Then I mix in about 1 1/2 cups of kibble, or 5-7 oz raw chicken.

Hmm then that's a whole different ball game! I thought the recommended servings were a little crazy...

Odin, Mishka, and Cheyenne (IF she'll even eat it...) are around 50lbs each. Mickey is about 60 or so. I guess i'll start them off around a cup a day, Mickey probably a cup and a 1/2. See where that gets us... Seamus even less, he's just around 40lbs these days lol

Sound Right?

Sounds right to me! Zeal has a higher calorie count than Keen, so that's the same amount I'm giving Hailey in Keen without the kibble and she's about the same size

Zeal and Verve are the formulas that has the least amount of calories:

Zeal has 437 calories per cup
Verve has 441 calories per cup
Keen has 470 calories per cup

Oh - and Embark has the highest at 488 cal/cup.

Ha! Then ignore me... I feel like Zeal is a "better" formula though... or is that just a misconception? I guess naturally I assume that you'd want to feed LESS of Zeal, but what would the reasoning behind that be?

(I am still learning too )

I agree Tori, i've never had much of a serious interest in THK but I really like the Zeal forumula. While I don't like the price... I think it's the best option for us when we go camping

Koda wrote:

Ha! Then ignore me... I feel like Zeal is a "better" formula though... or is that just a misconception? I guess naturally I assume that you'd want to feed LESS of Zeal, but what would the reasoning behind that be?

(I am still learning too )

I think they're all good - just what you're looking for: grain free, low cal, protein base...

For me, I look for fish protein based formulas and grain free for Ginger. For Storm, low calorie, but at the same time, I'd like to also go grain free. I started him on Verve (which has oats) and it's their beef protein formula since he didn't do so hot when I tried just 2 tbsp of Zeal. Now that I have him 2tbsp each of Verve and Zeal and I'll probably finish up the Verve, and start him on Force which is their grain free chicken formula, to keep cost down. 2 of them on Zeal is gonna be $$$$$$!

What I do like about THK is that it appears to be filling, especially for Storm. Each meal being 1/4 c (dry) THK + scant 1/2 c kibble + Nupro (which you need to add a little more water to make a thick gravy), he seems to be satisfied. On the occasion, I'll add some green beans to give him an extra filler.....and he's STILL losing weight!

Okay, maybe I just like Zeal better cause it's fish based and I like fish better... LOL. My head is all over the place lately, I think we need to ignore me today I wish I could afford Zeal! But like you said Claudia, it gets expensive!

I also do like it because it's fish based, but for Ginger, my other alternative is Orijen 6-fish which is also expensive! Or raw, and inexpensive raw leaves me chicken quarters!

Dang, when I fed Koda THK before he started having a bad reaction on it, I had to do 2 cups a day for him in order to keep his weight stable! But he was crazy active..

Holy cow, two cups DRY?! That is a LOT of food.

He was at daycare with me 8 hours a day M-F, plus a total of 4 miles ran daily.. haha.

So... Fed the Zeal tonight. It was a freaking HIT! Even picky princess Cheyenne inhaled it. I'm totally amazed. Smelled so gross though, ew. lol

It's a hit with my 2 for sure! I think I'll always have it as their 'base' food since I can feed kibble or raw with it.