Thoughts on freeze dried raw
 

I am looking at switching to freeze dried raw specifically K9 Natural. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thoughts? Is freeze dried raw a good way to go?


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Actually several years ago I was partnered with someone on a venture to create such a thing -- we had everything set to go . She had years of experience with freeze driers as she was a person who would create custom ordered , commissioned herbal concoctions for holistic vets and human naturapaths . My supplements was to be included as the "everything else" . We had the freeze drier , a unit sold by the company she rented freeze drier space from and we were going to rent floor space , a portion of the facility. Things never got off the ground except for expenses of course ! The unit was moved and installed in a location determined by one of the food inspectors. Then when we called the expert for the go-ahead they questioned why we were situated where we were -- too close to other food which was non-meat and we were definitely freeze drying meat , chicken meat . So we moved it to another location within the distance we had to be from other production . In the moving something jiggled and broke , and then after repair and setting up again discovered that the break caused pressure to be inadequate , so we called in for a top up --- except at this point , like a refrigeration , household included , we could not do this because FREON was now not used --- not in Canada .
So that was the final straw that broke the partner's interest , and that was that ......
However freeze drying is an excellent form for preservation -- same technology as all the food that is used on space stations , emergency supplies , back packing , mountaineering. No nutrition removed. No enzymes destroyed . No heat alteration of fats . Only the moisture content is removed and so there is no bacterial degradation.
The one thing we were worried about is you end up with this teeny bag , with seemingly large price tag because you can't envision how much that bag represents when rehydrated.

I am pretty sure that Orijen has it's freeze dried product out in many locations by now. Orijen
The processing is superior in that you don't need to add preservatives and all nutrients are in tact.

Thoughts on freeze dried raw
 

Thank you very much. I appreciate your input and respect your advice. I will look for that today.


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I have seen a couple of freeze-dried foods, one from New Zealand if I remember correctly. I really really liked the ingredients, but I couldn't figure out how much to feed and as Carmen said, it seemed like I would be spending an enormous amount of $$ every ten days-two weeks for it. Which is a bit out of budget. Here is the link: Air-Dried Dog Food | ZiwiPeak ?Daily Dog? Air-Dried Cuisine - dog food


For Rocket's weight and activity level, it says "6 scoops a day", or I think 11.9 oz?

Thoughts on freeze dried raw
 

I know it gives you a headache trying to sort it out. What I have come up with for our puppy who will be 6 months next week the cost would be approximately $10.00 a day which is a 1.1 pound bag of food every 2 days. I emailed Orijen because I can't find any place that carries the new freeze dried line. I'm not sure what the cost is for that. We plan on taking him backpacking and on road trips this summer and I wanted to have a good alternative to his raw diet that would be easy.


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I've only tried the Honest Kitchen brand. They are in CA and so am I, I order directly from them and it's shipped to me quickly. I get e-mail offers and pleased that the couple times I've called them they've answered promptly and were helpful.

As far as taste goes, it's just OK with my dog, but using this help her so much with some itching and GI issues. My daughter's husky/herder mix loves this stuff.

Thinking of giving the freeze-dried Orijen a try too. Has anyone seen it in stores? What is the price point?

I'm always torn about switching to raw/freeze-dried. She's on Orijen now and does fabulously - no health problems and bouncy poo. Why fix what isn't broken.

I've used a dehydrated but only as a topper because it is ridiculously expensive. One bag would maybe last me a day and was like $35 for that bag, yeah no. :)

I haven't seen Orijen's freeze dried in stores yet, I'm scared to see the price tag considering how much their kibble is.

There's a company here in Boulder that has natural dehydrated raw as well as air dried meat morsels that are great to use as training treats, I'm pretty sure that they are less expensive than most dehydrated raw products out there. The name of the company is
Only Natural Pet, here's a link:
Natural Dog Food at Only Natural Pet Store

I don't think Honest Kitchen comes close to Orijens new line . There is a difference between dehydrated and freeze dried. Often dehydrated is on the leathery side and requires a lot of liquid to reconstitute it . dehydrated still has exposure to heat .