(UPDATED 11/29/18) Healthy Hounds Kitchen, offering fresh-cooked premium dog food, recently opened on McKinley Boulevard in East Sacramento.
When my dog Mickey and I stopped by around noon on opening day the place was packed with pet parents and dogs of all breeds and sizes. Given the four-footed foot traffic in and around McKinley Park, the choice of location for this new business seems like a no-brainer.
The grand opening featured treats for the four-legged clients, and mimosa’s and mini-burgers for the pet parents. The mini-burgers were made of the same beef as is used in the Healthy Hounds Kitchen dog food.
Canine food offerings use human-grade ingredients geared toward the nutrition requirements of dogs. One of the four partners in the venture is Bill Ngo, owner/chef of Kru and Fish Face Poke Bar who helped develop recipes for the business.
A few days after the grand opening my dog Mickey and I went to the Healthy Hounds Kitchen to make a purchase. As we were walking down the street I told Mickey that we were going to “the place that had treats”. Once he put two and two together he practically had me running as he pulled me the last half block in his excitement. Inside the door he immediately started scouring the floor looking for any treats that may have fallen. He did not find any, but on the counter there are treat samples for canine visitors so he was not disappointed.
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Currently there are five different dog food recipes to choose from. I settled on two bags from the frozen food case – beef and sweet potato & chicken and russet potato. All three sizes in the freezer case are sealed in plastic bags and frozen flat to take up the least amount of freezer space.
Tim Tseng, a co-owner of the business, came over to talk to me as I was looking over the frozen food case. Tom discussed their commitment to quality ingredients and explained the cost savings to be had by purchasing the product in larger quantities. As this was our first purchase I opted for the medium size – 17.64 ounce.
Healthy Hounds Kitchen makes one of the five recipes each day Monday thru Friday. If you call and order the day before you can pick up the recipe of the day product fresh. The advantage – you do not have to defrost the product in the refrigerator before dividing it into meal size portions.
After defrosting both bags overnight, I repackaged most of the food into plastic snack bags, flattened them out, and put them in the freezer. I had asked Tim about how long I could expect the food to stay fresh once it thawed and he indicated a week i.e. five days.
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As all dog parents know, when changing dog food it is important to do it gradually to prevent tummy upset. So, I mixed the Healthy Hounds Kitchen food with the canned food Mickey had been eating for the next several meals.
I now have no problem getting Mickey to eat his breakfast and dinner – he loves it.
Healthy Hounds Kitchen also makes three types of treats – chicken breast, sweet potato and beef steak. We stopped by again recently and picked up a bag of the chicken treats.
Tip: There are no preservatives used – so keep the opened treat package in the refrigerator. Depending on the size of your dog you may want to freeze part of the bag for later use. That’s what I do.
When I stopped by the shop the next time I again chatted with Tim who is very interested in receiving customer feedback. I mentioned to him that Mickey does not eat the cranberries contained in one of the formulas – but instead pushes them off of this plate. Tim was appreciative of the feedback, and I noticed afterwards that the cranberries in that particular formula are no longer whole but chopped into small pieces. Problem solved.
Comments on Healthy Hounds Kitchen?
Have you tried the Healthy Hounds Kitchen dog food and/or treats? Comments?
(UPDATED 11/29/18) Healthy Hounds has recently opened a second location in the Ice Blocks complex on R Street!
Healthy Hounds Kitchen Snapshot:
- 3608 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95816
- (916) 346-4416
- 1715 R Street, Suite 110, Sacramento, CA 95811
- (916) 346-4466
- Hours for both locations: Monday – Friday (10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.); Saturday & Sunday (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)
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[…] Japanese Cuisine, Fish Face Poke Bar and Heathy Hounds Kitchen in Sacramento. See related post: Healthy Hounds Kitchen. Ngo is known as a “chef’s chef” as it is not unusual to find chefs from other […]