The Honest Kitchen: Keen Taste Test

I mentioned yesterday that I'd gotten a couple free samples of The Honest Kitchen food to try.  I wrote about the Preference already so today is about Keen.

Keen has blue packaging

Lets get right to the point on this one.

Ingredients: 
Cage-free turkey, organic oats, potatoes, organic flax, carrots, cabbage, alfalfa, organic kelp, apples, honey, garlic, rosemary, tricalcium phosphate, choline chloride, zinc amino acid chelate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, potassium iodide, potassium chloride, iron amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Protein, 21% min
Fat, 14.5% min
Fiber, 4.5% max
Moisture, 8.5% max
Calcium, 1.8% min 1.90% max
Phosphorus, 0.8% min 1.00% max
Sodium, 0.18% min 0.2% max
Magnesium, 0.15%min 0.17% max
Calories per cup, 470
Calories per kg, 4140

Already the ingredients look better than Preference.
Turkey, oats, potatoes, flax, carrots and cabbage as the top five.  I kinda question the use of so much flax but the others look okay.  Again that odd alfalfa is in this food but some of the other varieties don't have it.

This and the other varieties (other than Preference) are formulated to AAFCO numbers so it's okay to feed as the sole diet, I guess.
What appealed most to me about Keen was the price.  It's the least expensive of the varieties and while it does contains potatoes, which I am still on the fence about, it looked okay enough for a taste test.  I'm glad I was given two bags of this since I used the first one as lunch on our backpacking trip.

Keen is very powdery with small chunks.

That taste test went awesome. Conker got really exited when I opened the bag and poured the powder into his bowl, added some water then let it hydrate.  He kept wanting to eat it right away and when I finally allowed him, the bowl was completely spotless when he was done.

Keen looks like tan mush when hydrated

The second reaction to the Keen being prepared was similar, but he was more excited than before.  He whined quite loudly, savaged the Girls' faces when they got too close and patrolled the walkway before the kitchen as the food sat hydrating on the counter.
When I finally let him have the food he performed a perfect sit without being asked and waited, quite impatiently but still nicely, for me to give him the food.

This was the real test for Mister suddenly-so-picky, and this is how it went.

I did let him try a few spoonfuls first, all of which he slurped up in no time at all.  I then added an egg since I knew he liked the food and wanted to round it out a bit.

I like the Keen much more than the Preference.  I hope to be able to get some soon to give it a real try, but the closest store that carries it is 60 miles (as the crow flies) away from me.  The Honest kitchen does sell stuff on their site but I'm not a fan of online purchasing, or shipping costs.