What’s Up With Freeze-Dried Pet Food?

At RejuveCat, we are developing rejuvenation treatments for cats and other pets. Once these arrive upon the scene, they will help restore the health and vitality of your pet. Up until that point, some of the best things you can do are spend time with your cat, exercise with your cat, don't over-feed them, take them to the vet, and improve the nutrition of their diet.

On that last point, cat owners are lucky to live in a time when there are many more options. Up until a few years ago, extruded, heat-processed, and dried kibble along with heat-treated pate's in a can were the only options. If you weren't making fresh food at home for your cat, then you had to use mass-produced food.

Favre likes some of the newer healthy food

In today's world, there are all-natural and organic options, human-grade food prepared at lower temperatures, fresh food in packets, grain-free varieties, some packed with extra nutrients, and freeze-dried selections.

The RejuveCat family has tried several of the latest cat food options. They are much more expensive, but we don't mind spending a little more once in a while to see if our cats like them and if they seem to be more healthy while eating them.

One of the more interesting options is freeze-dried food. It is as close to raw food as you can probably get. It most likely retains a large percentage of the beneficial nutrients found in raw food. The processing method allows for it to be stored like other processed foods, but without destroying a lot of the nutrients and without adding preservatives.

How is it made?

Here is a good website that explains the process.

Here is a site that discusses the pros and cons of freeze-dried food.

Here is a site that tries to answer the question of whether or not freeze-dried food is truly raw. 

In my opinion, the answer to the last question is no. Freeze-dried food is not raw, but it is quite close. Our cat family has tried three different varieties of freeze-dried food. Cats are notoriously finicky, so no one should expect their cats to immediately eat everything, no matter how good the food is. Luckily, our cats did give each variety a try. A couple of them ate it up heartily. A couple of them just nibbled at it.

Our cats liked the primal nugget rabbit-based freeze-dried food

One potential issue with freeze-dried food is that cats tend to like it better if it is "re-constituted". You will find instructions on many varieties of freeze-dried food to soak it in water for a few minutes before feeding it to your cat. This will tend to release more of the flavor and aroma of the food. This might also make it more likely that your cat will eat the food if they are used to wet food. The problem is that many of us cat owners are very used to spending about 2 seconds feeding our cats. Taking out the food and then soaking it for 5 or 10 minutes does not seem like that much of a chore, but it does feel that way.

There are many varieties of freeze-dried pet food available. You won't find it in the mage-stores, but you will find in the pet store chains and small independent shops. So far, the RejuveCat family has tried three different varieties. They liked Dr. Marty's the best. The rabbit-based food came in second place. They ate the chicken-based freeze-dried food but did not like it as much as the other two. One thing to keep in mind is that each of these products contain different "beneficial" ingredients. There are a variety of vegetables and vegetable proteins that are added to pet food nowadays. If you know your cat does not like any food with pea protein (for example) then check the label and make sure to not waste your money buying that particular brand.

The RejuveCat family liked Dr. Marty’s freeze-dried food the best.

The next question is whether or not it is worth the cost. If you have a little extra money burning a hole in your pocket, then I would say yes. It is a very healthy option for your pet. Our cats seemed to benefit from the food. I can find no issue with this type of food and theoretically it should be better. If you are cost-conscious, then you will need to find other options. I will likely continue purchasing freeze-dried varieties from time to time to provide our cats with some better nutrition. Or I might try to freeze-dry some homemade cat food. There are a couple of methods to freeze-dry food that do not require any special equipment. Otherwise, if it is something you might like to do for your cats and maybe create some human food for long-term storage, then you could buy a small commercial freeze dryer.

Check out the cute video of our cats trying out Dr. Marty’s freeze-dried food.

Has anyone else tried the freeze-dried food? Which brand do you think is the best? Leave a comment.