only natural pet food?
Submitted by MINDY on October 17, 2010 - 3:29amDoes anyone feed only natural freeze dried pet food?
am I correct in thinking it is comparable to the raw diet?
Seriously considering the switch.
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Good Times
the biggest difference
is that the lack of moisture profoundly changes the protein content. 5% moisture freeze dried vs 75% moisture of raw chicken is a HUGE difference, that makes the protein go from around 20% to 42%. So you have to make sure you re-hydrate the freeze dried before you feed it.
I tried a different brand of freeze dried food for Audrey, mainly for training treats. It still made her face itchy and she vomited frequently. Plus she went thorugh a period of increased aggression, and a dog trainer told me there were studies done that showed a correlation to high protein food and dog aggression. So we stopped giving it to her.
Audrey has a VERY sensitive stomach, so she's probably not a good comparision as to how well a dog tolerates a certain food.
Cathy and Audrey
So will it
Be better for bunnie than regular dog food?
Sixty dollars for eight pounds of food sounds high at first but
The company says that eight pounds will feed a forty pound dog
For thirty two meals. Bunnie is forty pounds however is that based on one meal a day or two small ones? I feed her once a day but she gets snacks through the day so she dosent think she's starving.
And does anyone have a dog that is doing well with the food?
the claim is that the freeze dried food is just the raw diet prepackaged once it is reconstituted with water.
I would like to feed as close to raw as I can without worrying about
her getting what she needs to be healthy I'm not really into the idea of it being my failure if she becomes ill because I didn't mix
Her raw food correctly
Good Times
my personal opinion
is that yes it will be FAR better for her than regular dog food. And I don't think it matters how much you divide the daily amount.
Cathy and Audrey
i can weigh in (long)
I feed my dog pre-made raw. I use Nature's Variety - I am not familiar with the brand you mentioned.
Nature's Variety does come in freeze-dried in almost all of the same kinds as it does the fresh/frozen version. I can remember whether they said to reconstitute it, but it does say on their website.
I can tell you this: grain-free natural food is recommended by many people for a multitude of issues bulldogs can have. still more recommend raw. when i switched my dog to premade raw, after a short period of about a month Matilda has a beautiful coat, does not scratch herself, and eats everything from bison to venison to rabbit and sardines and loves every minute of it. She seems "happier". Sure, she still tries to eat grass now and again, but she looks and seems to feel so much better than she was.
Matilda was a dog who smelled terrible when I got her, had a dull coat, was severely overweight, and had runny eyes I was wiping three times a day.
I guess what I'm saying is I don't think you have anything to lose if you can afford to try it...