Apples are so naturally yummy that they’re often included as an ingredient in commercial dog treats. They’re healthy, too. Apples contain fiber, vitamins A and C, potassium and more nutrients.

How Much Apple Can My Dog Have?

Limit apples to a couple of pieces/slices so you don’t risk digestive upset (maybe a tad more for bigger dogs and a bit less for the littles).

You can give the dogs the apple skin but not the seeds as they contain tiny amounts of cyanide. (Don’t panic if your dog does consume a seed or two because the amount of toxin in an apple seed is small; it’s just best to avoid them.) Don’t feed the apple core either, which could be a choking hazard.

Dogs love red apples, but they can eat green apples, too, like Granny Smiths. Be aware, however, that because green apples are tart, they may not be as well received by your dog as a sweet Red Delicious, for example.

Dogs Can Eat Applesauce

Dogs can eat applesauce, too, but choose unsweetened varieties because dogs don’t need added sugar any more than we do. And, be especially careful to read the entire ingredients list on commercial applesauce to check to be sure the applesauce doesn’t contain xylitol, which is deadly to dogs.  Xylitol may also be listed as birch sugar, wood sugar, and birch-bark extract, according to the Food & Drug Administration.

Interestingly, apple cider vinegar is sometimes added to a dog’s water or food to help digestion and promote beneficial bacteria.

The post Can Dogs Have Apples? appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Obviously, we include dehydrated diets—which range from low-moisture, powdery or muesli-like products, to chewy, jerky-like products with moisture levels that are a bit higher (12% to 14%) than those seen in kibble (usually, 9% to 10%)—in the same review category as freeze-dried. After all, these products all have a high inclusion of raw meat and animal organs (such as heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, and tripe), and just a few other ingredients.

Today, though, we’re seeing a burgeoning number of diets that incorporate freeze-dried or dehydrated raw meats but that are made in truly innovative ways, resulting in some novel, niche-defying products. Some contain higher inclusions of carbohydrate sources than most freeze-dried diets; some even resemble kibble in appearance and texture! “Cold-pressing,” steaming, and air-drying processes have also become much more common methods for manufacturing foods that are as lightly processed as possible, leaving the vitamins and vital enzymes in the products minimally damaged or reduced.

Best “All Life Stages” Freeze-Dried/Dehydrated Dog Food

For this category, we chose only products that are complete and balanced for dogs of all life stages, including the growth of large-breed puppies

Stella & Chewy’s Meal Mixers Chicken Variety

First 10 ingredients: Chicken with ground bone, chicken liver, chicken gizzard, pumpkin seed, organic cranberries, organic spinach, organic broccoli, organic beets, organic carrots, organic squash.

Protein: Min 48%

Fat: 28%

Calories: 4,440 kcal/kg

Cost: $1.94/oz

Runners up:

Bixbi Pet’s Rawbble Freeze-Dried Chicken Recipe

Open Farm’s Homestead Turkey Freeze-Dried Raw Dog Food

Best “Adult Maintenance” Freeze-Dried/Dehydrated Dog Food

Primal Pet Foods Freeze-Dried Raw Pronto Beef Recipe

First 10 ingredients: Beef (with ground bone), beef livers, organic carrots, organic squash, organic kale, organic apples, organic parsley, organic pumpkin seeds, organic sunflower seeds, organic blueberries.

Protein: Min 41%

Fat: 18%

Calories: 3,905 kcal/kg

Cost: $2.40/oz

Runners up:

Instinct Raw Longevity 100% Freeze-Dried Raw Meals Cage-Free Chicken Recipe

Kiwi Kitchens Raw Freeze-Dried Chicken Dinner

Best Lower-Fat Freeze-Dried/Dehydrated Dog Food

As we stated in the main article, this category of foods tends to be very high in protein and fat, making it difficult (but not impossible) to find one of these products for dogs who require a low-fat diet.

Fresh Is Best Bulk Freeze-Dried Dog Food Mix, Chicken Variety

First 10 ingredients: Chicken, chicken hearts, chicken liver, chicken gizzards, yams, apples, kale, collards, fish bone meal, dried kelp.

Protein: Min 45%

Fat: Min 10%

Calories: 3,946 kcal/kg

Cost: $1.56/oz

Runners up:

Only Natural Pet EasyRaw Cage-Free Turkey & Sweet Potato Feast Dehydrated Dog Food (Min 8% fat)

Dr. Harvey’s Grain-Free Chicken & Garden Veggies (Min 7% fat)

Best “Budget” Freeze-Dried/Dehydrated Dog Food

Many of the least expensive products in this category are made by The Honest Kitchen, who makes our overall favorite product. How do they do it, while using only human-grade ingredients and manufacturing in human-food manufacturing plants? Perhaps it’s because they’ve been making these products for longer than just about any other company.

The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Gourmet Grains Chicken & Duck Variety

First 10 ingredients: Dehydrated chicken, organic barley, organic oats, flaxseed, dehydrated eggs, dehydrated carrots, dehydrated duck, dehydrated pumpkin, dried organic coconut, organic quinoa.

Protein: Min 30%

Fat: 16%

Calories: 3,908 kcal/kg

Cost: $0.59/oz

Runners up:

Grandma Lucy’s 3 Bears Freeze-Dried Dog Food, Chicken Variety ($0.50/oz)

Only Natural Pet MaxBlends Grain-Free Beef Dehydrated Dog Food ($0.76/oz)

Shared Traits of Dried, Dehydrated, and Freeze-Dried Dog Foods

First, all of these products are made with relatively low-temperature, slow processes that remove moisture from fresh ingredients while protecting and preserving their nutrients. The removal of moisture not only creates shelf-stable products, but foods that are light and inexpensive to ship.

Shipping might be the only thing that is inexpensive about them, however. The pet food makers who compete in this category tend to use very high-quality ingredients; many of them contain human-grade meats (the legal term is “edible”) and organic produce. And both freeze-drying and dehydration are energy-intensive processes; these foods are not cheap to make, so they are not cheap to buy, either.

However, the makers of these products would hasten to tell you that due to the superior digestibility and high energy density of these products, the cost of using them to meet your dog’s nutritional requirements is comparable to—or even less than—the cost of feeding a fresh refrigerated, canned, or frozen raw diet.

All of these products contain mostly meat and other animal ingredients (including organs, ground bone, and plasma or blood products). Many of the companies claim that their products consist of 80% or more animal protein sources; some claim to contain as much as 95%! The resulting diets are highly digestible and highly palatable.

Also, most of the products that we are lumping together in this category have a very low carbohydrate inclusion. Remember, dogs don’t require carbs; they can live on fat and protein alone, as long as they get the vitamins and minerals they need.

But also keep in mind that if you don’t include carbs in a diet, only protein and fat remain, and that fat contains more than twice the calories as protein or carbohydrates. (Carbohydrates and protein both contain 4 calories per gram; fat contains 9 calories per gram!) Many of these products may contain more fat than is healthy for dogs who are overweight and/or sedentary, or who are intolerant of fat (such as dogs who are prone to pancreatitis).

Selection Criteria for Dehydrated or Freeze-Dried Dog Foods

“Well,” you may be saying. “These foods sound like a nice addition to my dog’s diet—or a replacement for my dog’s current diet. How do I choose which ones might work best for me and my dog?” Here are some bullet points to consider when making your choices:

For most of us, price will be a consideration. The high cost of these foods might not matter if you have one or two very small dogs or one very precious larger dog, or if you’re wealthy. But I couldn’t afford to feed them all the time to my two large dogs!

That said, I love having some on hand to use as treats and food toppers (to boost nutrition and the palatability of their regular food). And when I’m fostering sickly shelter dogs, freeze-dried foods are my magic remedy; I’ve helped all sorts of sick puppies back from the brink with these high-quality diets. So, though I could not afford to feed them full time, I fit a certain amount of these products into my monthly dog-food budget. You have to do what works for you.

Ingredients that work for your dog. It should be obvious, but you have to check product labels to make sure that any prospective diet doesn’t contain ingredients that are problematic for your dog. Is he allergic to or intolerant of certain proteins? (Are you keeping a food calendar or journal of what you feed and how your dog looks and feels? That’s the best way to learn about and keep track of that.)

Fortunately, many of these diets are limited-ingredient, with single sources of animal proteins in each formula. It’s much easier to find foods with a small number of ingredients in this category than in kibbled products.

Appropriate protein and fat levels. Look at the guaranteed analysis of any product you are considering. These diets are high, high, high in protein and fat. They can be just the thing for thin, young, active dogs, sport dogs, working dogs, and pregnant or nursing dogs, but they are likely not a great idea for your couch potato Labrador or the Dachshund who gains weight from breathing.

Complete information about products on the company website; ease of contacting company. In our view, there is absolutely no excuse for a company to fail to inform consumers about the nutritional adequacy of its products. If you are in the nutrition business, provide basic nutrition information!

We actually cut a few companies who have been on our “Approved Foods” list in past years for lacking basic information about their products on their websites or labels such as “nutritional adequacy statements.” These statements tell consumers which criteria the food met in order to qualify as a “complete and balanced diet” for dogs, ­and, importantly, which dogs the food is intended for. Adult dogs only? Dogs of all life stages? What about large-breed puppies? This statement is the bare minimum—and companies that don’t display this information for each of their products shouldn’t even be considered, in our opinion.

We feel equally strongly about companies that make it difficult to reach them. A few don’t publish their phone numbers anywhere; we’re not fans of this (though we haven’t eliminated a company from our consideration for this alone—yet). Some do publish their numbers but don’t answer their phones or return calls left in voice mailboxes! One company we called recently had a full phone mailbox—for days!

Ease of purchasing. Some of these products can be found in chain pet supply stores and online retailers. Others are sold only in independent pet supply stores and some can be purchased by subscription and are direct-shipped. All of these methods have pros and cons.

Approved Freeze-Dried/Dehydrated Foods

If you’re ready to try some of these products, we’re giving you dozens of candidates to choose from. Whole Dog Journal’s 2024 List of Approved Freeze-Dried and Dehydrated Dog Foods includes companies that make diets that meet our selection criteria, which can be abbreviated thusly: No unnamed meats or fats; only whole, lightly processed, “real food” ingredients; and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.

You can access information about the companies on our list in two ways:

1. Subscribers can download a PDF that contains contact information for each company, as well as information about their offerings in this dog-food category: how many varieties they make for dogs of each “life stage” (adult maintenance or “all life stages”), and the range of protein and fat that their products contain. This information is important, because virtually all of the products in this category are high in protein and fat. It might be impossible to find an appropriate diet in this category for a dog who cannot tolerate high fat levels.

We’ve also given the first 10 ingredients of at least one variety that each company makes. In most cases, we chose a beef-based variety, so similar products could be compared side by side. If the company offers several lines of disparate products, we highlighted the ingredients of two or three products made by that company.

2. Subscribers can also use our searchable database to look at in-depth information about each product made by the companies on our “2024 List of Approved Freeze-Dried and Dehydrated Dog Foods.” This information gives the full ingredient list of each product made by each approved company, as well as each product’s protein and fat content; whether its nutritional adequacy was proven by AAFCO’s “nutrient levels” requirement or a feeding trial; what “life stage” it’s formulated for (adults only or dogs of all ages, including whether it’s appropriate for large-breed puppies or not); whether it is grain-free or grain-inclusive; and whether it was made by freeze-drying, dehydrating, or some combination of the two. The searchable database also provides a link to a location where each product can be purchased. Note: Whole Dog Journal is reader-supported. If you purchase food through links on our site we may earn a commission. Whole Dog Journal does not accept money for its food and product reviews.

The best part about the searchable database is that you can use various filters to find foods that do or do not contain certain ingredients or that contain more or less than a certain amount of protein and/or fat. You can sort the database by the names of the companies or by the price of the individual products, as you wish.

We’re excited about the possibilities of this searchable database, and hope you find it to be helpful for finding good foods for your dogs. Keeping your dog’s individual needs in mind, try some new products, switch frequently – and always watch your dog! Note the date that you start feeding any new food on a calendar and record your dog’s physical responses to the switch, good and bad. If you pay attention, he’ll let you know what works for him (and what doesn’t) with his appetite, energy, skin and coat, stool, and weight.

The post Best Air-Dried, Freeze-Dried, and Dehydrated Dog Food for 2024 appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

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The post Whole Dog Journal’s 2024 Approved Freeze-Dried/Dehydrated Dog Foods appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

You have likely seen dog foods and treats that include oatmeal as an ingredient. That’s because it is nutritious. Beneficial nutrients in oatmeal for dogs include:

• Fiber
• Vitamin B
• Omega-6 fatty acids
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• Antioxidants

These qualities can help to support heart and gastro-intestinal tract health for your dog. Oatmeal also can help promote healthy weight and stable blood glucose levels. Oatmeal is good for dogs with diarrhea or loose stools because it’s high in fiber.

How to Feed Oatmeal to Dogs

When cooking oatmeal for your dog, use water instead of milk. Most dogs are lactose intolerant, so water is the better choice. Follow the instructions for the plain oats of your choice. You can even use overnight oats that soak overnight.

As with any new food, introduce oatmeal gradually so that your dog doesn’t get an upset stomach. Start with about a spoonful of cooked oatmeal at a time. You can work up to about 6 ounces of oatmeal a day per 25 pounds of the dog’s bodyweight.

If you plan to home-cook your dog’s meals rather than just feeding oatmeal as a supplemental snack, consult with a veterinary nutritionist or use BalanceIt.com to formulate a complete and balanced diet. This will ensure that your dog gets all the nutrients that she needs to be happy and healthy long term.

And don’t forget to let the oatmeal cool before you serve it to your dog!

Can Dogs Eat Uncooked Oatmeal?

Dogs should not eat uncooked “raw” oatmeal. The cooking process makes it easier for dogs to digest. Eating dry uncooked oatmeal in large quantities may cause your dog to bloat, which is a medical emergency.

Can Dogs Eat Oatmeal Cookies?

Dogs can eat oatmeal cookies once in a great while depending on what else is in them. Remember that raisins and chocolate chips are both toxic to dogs, which rules out many oatmeal cookies. The high sugar content of many cookies is not ideal for our canine companions, however.

Unless you are certain all the ingredients in an oatmeal cookie are safe for dogs, keep that treat for yourself.

The post Can Dogs Eat Oatmeal? appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Fruit  Dogs Can Eat

Some fruits that dogs can eat safely are:

• Apples (remove seeds
• Bananas
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Cantaloupes
• Coconut
• Cucumbers
• Honeydew melon
• Mango (remove pit)
• Oranges
• Peaches (remove pit)
• Pears
• Pineapple (remove skin and core)
• Pumpkin (cooked)
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Watermelon

Offer your dog small pieces of fruit to find out what he likes. Some dogs enjoy many fruits, while others have more particular tastes. You can even use them to make yummy frozen treats.

Many fruits have a high sugar content, and coconut has high fat content. Stick to small amounts of these fruits, especially if your dog is prone to weight gain. Choose fresh fruits, not canned or frozen, which may have a lot of added sugar.

Can Dogs Have Grapes?

No, dogs cannot have grapes. The tartaric acid in grapes, raisins, and sultanas are toxic to dogs and can cause kidney failure.

The post What Fruit Can Dogs Eat? appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

While Dr. Billinghurst’s original goal was to empower dog owners to prepare their dogs’ food themselves, the immediate popularity of this type of diet created a market for commercial raw pet food, usually sold in frozen form. But these diets required constant freezing and reliable, fast, expensive shipping. When some manufacturers began freeze-drying their raw, frozen products in order to create shelf-stable products that were light and inexpensive to ship, a whole new industry was born.

Today, this category of food hangs loosely together by one main attribute: a high inclusion of raw meat. But the methods the pet food companies use to manufacture these foods vary quite a bit – with freeze-drying, air-drying, or dehydration processes – and the offerings grow more eclectic every year.

As disparate as they are, the products in this category share these attributes:

• A high meat inclusion. Many of the companies claim that their products consist of 80% or more of meat, organs, and (ground) bone. Some claim to contain as much as 95%! The inclusion of organ meats (such as heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, beef tripe, and chicken gizzards) is common, as is the use of fresh ground bone. The resulting diets are highly digestible.
• Low or zero carb content. Most (not all) of the products in this category have a very low carbohydrate inclusion. The outliers are products from Earth Animal and some of The Honest Kitchen’s foods. (Remember, dogs don’t require carbs; they can live on fat and protein alone, as long as they get the vitamins and minerals they need.)
• High protein and fat content. Keep in mind that if you don’t include carbs in a diet, only protein and fat remain. Some of these products may contain more fat than is healthy for dogs who are overweight and/or sedentary, or who are intolerant of fat (such as dogs who are prone to pancreatitis).
• These diets tend to be highly palatable to most dogs. Whether due to the high meat inclusion, the high fat content, the high-quality ingredients, the concentration of flavor in freeze-dried food ingredients, or the minimal processing, these foods are almost universally accepted by dogs.

Subscribers Only: Whole Dog Journal’s 2024 Approved Freeze Dried/Dehydrated Foods

How is Freeze-Dried Dog Food Made?

Freeze-dryers expose foods to low temperatures, freezing them relatively quickly. When the pressure inside the freeze-drying chamber is reduced, the trays that the food sits on are heated, causing the frozen water in the foods to transform into a gas (water vapor). Vacuum pumps pull the vapor out of the chamber until the desired moisture level is reached. Proper freeze-drying doesn’t affect the appearance or taste of foods much.

The makers of the dehydrated foods universally describe their products as “gently air dried,” making the process sound very benign. However, these foods are dried with temperatures of 140ºF to 180ºF, which changes the cellular structure (and thus the aroma, taste, and appearance) of meats, fruits, and vegetables. Note that these temperatures don’t qualify the food as “cooked.”

The freeze-drying process sounds extreme, but the process leaves most foods less damaged than dehydration, which toughens meats and other ingredients. To counter this, the moisture in air-dried diets is not as drastically low as it is in freeze-dried foods. Most freeze-dried dog diets contain as little as 5% moisture – about half the moisture content of kibble – but some of the air-dried products contain more moisture than most kibble. Ziwi Peak’s products contain a maximum moisture content of 14%, and Earth Animal’s Wisdom foods indicate they contain 18% moisture (maximum); most kibble diets contain 9% to 10% moisture.

Either process preserves the food with less damage to natural enzymes and vitamins than baking or extrusion. However, this means that the meats and other ingredients are, by definition, raw.

Subscribers Only: Whole Dog Journal’s 2024 Approved Freeze Dried/Dehydrated Foods

Raw Foods and Pasteurization

Federal law prohibits the presence of any pathogenic bacteria in pet foods. This presents raw-food manufacturers with quite a challenge, since, as you might be aware, raw meats – even the cuts sold in your favorite grocery stores – are frequently contaminated with pathogens, including Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, and e. Coli. Each of these species of bacteria is capable of causing serious illness in humans and dogs (although, of the four, Salmonella rarely causes illness in dogs).

The thing is, it’s presumed that raw meats will be cooked before they are consumed by humans, and proper cooking renders any bacteria present harmless. Raw pet food makers have a few different processes available that will kill any pathogens present without cooking the food, and most are using at least one of them.

The most popular “kill step” in use for raw meat diets today is known as high pressure processing (also known as high-pressure pasteurization, and in either case abbreviated as HPP). HPP is also used to pasteurize many raw human foods, including many packaged lunch meats, guacamole dips and salsas, and fruit and vegetable juices.

But some of the makers of the meaty canine diets we’re discussing are such strong proponents of raw food diets for dogs that they have resisted, and continue to resist, using any sort of bacterial kill step. Instead, these companies depend on incoming ingredient testing, good manufacturing processes, and the use of “test-and-hold” programs, whereby finished products are tested for pathogens and not released for sale until results indicate the products are uncontaminated.

A test-and-hold program may succeed in detecting products that contain pathogens, enabling the company to dispose of those products and preventing them from being shipped out. But testing can’t ensure the absolute absence of bacteria in the product; only a verified kill step can guarantee a lack of pathogens in diets that contain raw meat.

Most food-industry experts feel strongly that HPP is a very safe technology; we do, too. Our personal preference is to buy products that have been rendered free of pathogenic bacteria by HPP. But we respect the right of owners to feed raw foods that have not undergone a kill step – as long as they are informed about the risks to which they are subjecting themselves and their dogs.

Interestingly, some of the makers of these products are very up-front about their use of HPP or another bacterial kill step, and others are equally forthright about their choice to forgo the use of a kill step. Still others do not disclose on their product labels or websites whether or not they use a kill step. In each case where we could determine the tack taken regarding pathogenic bacteria by each of the companies on our “Approved Freeze-Dried Dog Foods” list, we have included this information.

Approved Freeze-Dried and Dehydrated Dog Foods

On the table linked below, we included companies that are making diets that meet our selection criteria, which can be abbreviated thusly: No unnamed meats or fats; only whole, lightly processed, “real food” ingredients; and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.

The table also includes the range of protein and fat levels found in the products offered by each manufacturer. We’ll repeat this, because it’s important: Virtually all of the products in this category are high in protein and fat. It might be impossible to find an appropriate diet for a dog who cannot tolerate high fat levels in this category.

We’ve listed prices for the largest size of the products that are available; the larger sizes are generally the most economical – if that can be said at all of this category. These foods are expensive! Because of this, we suspect that few people feed them as a sole diet unless they have just one or two small dogs. With three large dogs at home, we use products in this category intermittently, mostly as training treats or as a highly nutritious food “topper” that tempts the appetite of dogs or foster puppies who are feeling under the weather.

Subscribers Only: Whole Dog Journal’s 2024 Approved Freeze Dried/Dehydrated Foods

The post Air-Dried and Freeze-Dried Raw Diets for Dogs appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

This is just one of the reasons we’ve never before reviewed dog foods in this category – for short, we’ll call it “fresh cooked foods.” When you start drilling down into how fresh dog foods are made, there is so much variety that the category really should be considered as a group with several sub-categories. Some of the products are essentially pureed; others look more like a meatloaf before it’s cooked, complete with chunks of vegetables mixed in; still others present more like those non-refrigerated preserved foods that are sold in plastic tubes, something that looks like a cross between a roll of salami and a tube of liverwurst.

Another big reason for our hesitation: For some years after the first product of this type came on the market, it was the only product in the category, and we weren’t big fans of its ingredients.

Also, other products came into the group and didn’t last; we’re thinking here of several companies who sent us samples of foods they made and “canned” in the old-fashioned sense of the word – cooked in glass jars, like your grandmother “puts up” plum jam or stewed tomatoes. It just didn’t seem scalable, and apparently wasn’t (since they are no longer in business).

Cooked Dog Food, Fed Fresh

But let’s focus on the things that these products (mostly) do have in common:

1. All of them have a high meat content – and most of them claim to use meats and perhaps other ingredients that are graded for human consumption. To fully understand these claims, see “What’s Human Quality?” below.

2. All of them use “fresh” meats; this includes meat that has been frozen to preserve freshness. In other words, none of the meats used were previously cooked before mixing at the point of manufacture.

3. All of the products are cooked – at varying temperatures and with various methods, but they have all been heated to the point that any pathogenic bacteria that may have been present on any ingredient should have been rendered harmless.

4. Most of them don’t contain preservatives. If it is formulated with fresh ingredients, cooked, immediately chilled or frozen, and shipped in an appropriate cold-shipping container, kept in a refrigerator, and fed promptly after opening, the food shouldn’t need preservatives.

5. All (save one, Freshpet) are available on a subscription basis for direct delivery to your door. (Freshpet is the only product sold in supermarkets; it’s also sold in pet supply stores.)

What Is “Human Quality” Dog Food?

When discussing their ingredients, many pet food companies use the phrase “human grade.” You have to understand that this is not a legal term, and its misuse probably causes more confusion – some of it intentional – than any other phrase used in the pet food industry.

The legal term for what an ordinary person would think of as “human food” is “edible” – but usually, only food-industry people are familiar with this term. So, in an effort to communicate the quality of their ingredients to consumers, manufacturers of products who use truly edible ingredients will often use some variation of “human grade,” such as “human quality” or “fit for humans.”

Understand this, though: If the company makes its product in a manufacturing plant that is not USDA-inspected and -approved for the manufacture of edible products, or that manufacturing facility contains even one ingredient that is not edible, then legally, it cannot claim that its products contain either “human grade” or edible ingredients. By law, an edible ingredient is one that has never departed from the custody of USDA-inspected and -approved food growers and processors.

Only those companies whose products were made at a USDA-inspected and -approved kitchen (which are not permitted to contain even one “feed grade” ingredient) can claim that they use edible or human-grade ingredients.

There are pet food companies who really do buy edible ingredients but don’t make their products in USDA kitchens – and believe me when I say they can be very creative when trying to find phrases that convey the quality of their ingredients without running afoul of state feed control officials (this is who is responsible for surveillance and enforcement of feed labeling laws). The problem for consumers is that there are also pet food companies who likewise use creative language to suggest that their products are made with edible ingredients, when in fact they don’t. Like, not at all.

Moral of the story? If you want to be as certain as one can be that your dog’s food is made with edible ingredients, look for a product made in a USDA-inspected and -approved kitchen. The only other option is to personally know the company’s owners and/or operators, visit the manufacturing site frequently, and inspect the ingredients yourself. There may be a few of you who are able to do all that!

Fresh Dog Food: WDJ’s Usual Food Selection Criteria Apply

There are certain things we always look for in a wholesome and superior diet for our dogs, no matter what type. Virtually all of the manufacturers offering products in this category use ingredients that meet our usual selection criteria, such as whole, named sources of animal protein (i.e., chicken, beef, and lamb, rather than “meat” or “poultry”); whole food ingredients (such as rice rather than rice flour, and tomatoes rather than tomato pomace); and of course, no artificial colors or flavors.

All of the companies on the following pages offer products that meet all of our selection criteria – but some of the products are higher in quality than others. Some are quite expensive. We wouldn’t necessarily say that cost is a perfect indicator of quality, but it’s a pretty good one. If some of the products are beyond your budget, don’t despair: We would consider every one of these products to be healthier and of a higher quality than any kibble or canned product.

How We Ranked These Fresh Cooked Dog Foods

We are often asked to rank the products that we include in our reviews, and, as always, we have to decline. Only you can decide what you can afford to spend, and only your dog can determine if a particular food will work for him. The product’s performance in your dog is everything – and what works for your dog might be a disaster for mine.

That said . . .

In addition to our normal selection criteria, when shopping for products we feed to our dogs, we also consider some “soft” criteria regarding the companies – factors that have more to do with the feel or personality of the company than the ingredients or protein levels of the foods.

You should be aware that there are pet food company owners who are full of passion and knowledge, but who lack the resources to really pull off top-quality ingredient sourcing or quality control. On the far other end of the spectrum, there are companies who are helmed by folks with amazing business acumen and connections who don’t necessarily live and breathe for dogs. Large and/or well-funded companies have the resources to invest in the best manufacturing equipment and facilities for consistent, safe products – but do the principals care about ingredient quality as much as some of the smaller companies?

We like to buy from the companies that are of a sufficient size to sign manufacturing contracts with reputable manufacturers and invest in employee training and quality control testing and equipment – but not so big that they don’t know exactly where on a map every single ingredient in their products is sourced from.

We appreciate that it can be challenging to identify companies that are occupying that sweet spot, somewhere between enough success and not too much. For what it’s worth, in the following pages, we will try to give you enough information about each company for you to judge where your own zone of comfort might lie: with the giant companies who should have their own plants and control every aspect of manufacturing, but whose formulas are a tad corporate? Or with the smaller outfits who oversee contract manufacturers on just a few production runs each month, but whose ingredients are locally sourced from sustainable farms where the humanely raised food animals live their entire lives on grass?

It’s tough to have to choose, but it seems that when it comes to food, you can’t have it both ways.

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Most of the other ingredients in freeze-dried dog food diets are raw and/or very lightly processed. All the freeze-dried raw diets we reviewed are grain-free – not because we think grains are inappropriate in these foods; it’s the food manufacturers who seem to have decided that raw feeders won’t buy a product that contains any grain.

Many people who feed home-prepared or commercial raw diets to their dogs when they are home replace this diet with a freeze-dried raw food when they travel, or when the dog is left with a sitter who doesn’t want to deal with a fresh or frozen raw diet.

Benefits of Freeze-Dried Dog Food

In addition to being raw and lightly processed, freeze-dried dog diets offer other benefits:

1. Freeze-dried food stores longer than kibble.

Very low-moisture foods such as these products can be stored at room temperature (in unopened packages) without spoilage or rancidity – much longer than kibble. That’s because most freeze-dried diets contain about three to five percent moisture; conventional kibble generally contains about 10 percent moisture. The less moisture there is in a food, the less biological activity can occur.

2. Dogs love the taste of freeze-dried raw food.

When rehydrated, these foods are highly palatable to most dogs. It may be due to the concentration of flavor in freeze-dried food ingredients or their minimal processing. Dogs with poor appetites (like very senior or chronically ill dogs) may accept these foods when nothing else appeals.

3. Really good ingredients in freeze-dried dog food.

As a generalization, the makers of these freeze-dried dog food products are targeting the top end of the market and have an extraordinary commitment to sourcing top-quality ingredients.

Raw Freeze-Dried Dog Food is Still Raw Dog Food

Though it should be obvious, it bears repeating that all of the products included in this review are made with freeze-dried raw meats. Raw diets aren’t for every dog or owner. Cooked foods may be safer for immune-compromised individuals. Some dogs digest cooked foods better.

That said, freeze-dried dog foods don’t seem as “raw” as raw-frozen or fresh raw foods, but it’s important to understand that they are, in fact, uncooked. Freeze-drying removes so much moisture from the ingredients that it stops the biological action (decay) in the food, with less damage to the meat’s natural enzymes or vitamins than cooking temperatures cause. When the foods are rehydrated, the biological activity of any pathogenic bacteria that might be present in the food can resume.

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) of 2011 contains zero-tolerance policies for products that test positive for pathogenic bacteria. For this reason, some of the manufacturers of freeze-dried raw foods subject their products to a “kill step” known as high-pressure processing (also known as high-pressure pasteurization, and in any case abbreviated as HPP); they don’t want to risk increased surveillance or recalls from food control officials.

The owners of some companies, however, believe so strongly in the benefits of raw foods, that they refuse to use a kill step. Instead, they rely on the quality of their ingredients and their own food “hazard analysis and critical control points”(HACCP) plans to prevent selling contaminated products. They understand that the FSMA policies are present to protect dogs and their owners, and that today’s human food supply does sometimes contain pathogens – but they also have observed that most healthy dogs can thrive on raw foods that may contain some pathogens (few healthy dogs have trouble with Salmonella, for example, though Listeria and e. Coli are another story). And, importantly, they engage and educate their consumers about these facts.

There are food-industry experts who feel strongly that HPP is a very safe technology, and others who worry that it may alter foods on a molecular level. We feel fine about HPP; we’ve been to HPP plants and observed the raw dog food before, during, and after treatment and have confidence that it is not harmed or made unsafe to feed. On the other hand, we respect the right of owners to feed raw foods that have not undergone a kill step – as long as they are informed about the risks to which they are subjecting themselves and their dogs.

Some of the companies utilize a “test and hold” program whereby finished products are tested for pathogens and not released for sale until results indicate the products are uncontaminated.

Varieties of Freeze-Dried Dog Food

The freeze-dried foods on the market are diverse in content, appearance, and form. Some are very high in protein and fat – there are even products that contain more fat than protein! – while others compare in these respects to high-end kibble. Always check the guaranteed analysis when switching to a product in this category, particularly when feeding a dog who needs to be on a lower-fat diet.

Most of these freeze-dried dog food products are meant to be rehydrated with water before serving, though the products that come in small cubes can be fed as treats without rehydrating. In general, though, adding water will bulk up the food, making it more filling for your dog, as well as easier to digest.

Some of the freeze-dried dog food products are very powdery, which makes them turn into a sort of mush (or gruel, depending on how much water you add) when rehydrated. Some are powdery with large chunks of identifiable dehydrated meats, fruit, and/or vegetables – either an advantage (if your dog enjoys the contrast in taste and mouth-feel) or a disadvantage (if your dog seeks out only the chunks or mush and eschews the other).

Typical Freeze-Dried Dog Food Ingredients

On the table that starts on the next page, we have listed the ingredients for one variety of each company’s food. When a chicken variety was available, we used the ingredients of that variety, so you could compare relatively similar product offerings.

The Price of Freeze-Dried Dog Food

We’ve listed prices for the largest size of the products that are available; the larger sizes are generally the most economical (if that can be said at all of this category).

Because the cost of these products is so high, we imagine that few people feed them full-time, especially if their dogs are large or many. We would most likely use them only for a small dog, on a short-term basis while traveling, as training treats, to jump-start the recovery of a sick dog, or to extend the life of a chronically ill dog.

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Click here to see Whole Dog Journal’s list of approved freeze-dried and dehydrated dog foods.

The post Freeze-Dried Raw Dog Foods: What You Need To Know appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

On what do we base that ranking? While it’s difficult to get nutritionists to agree on just about anything, it’s likely that most would agree on the following general idea: that a diet that was formulated to be “complete and balanced” and comprised of fresh, lightly processed or unprocessed species-appropriate ingredients is healthier than a “complete and balanced” diet containing highly processed ingredients that are uncommonly consumed by a given species in nature. That general theory explains our high esteem for the dehydrated and freeze-dried diets that we’ve listed in the attached 2014 Dehydrated Dog Food Review

ATTENTION: In the April 2018 issue, Whole Dog Journal published a new, updated list of approved freeze-dried raw dog food.

We’ve lumped a lot of disparate diets into this category. Even though they vary widely in terms of ingredients, “rawness,” manufacturing process, finished form, and protein and fat levels, what all of these diets share is their high inclusion of high-quality animal protein and fats, and a method of preservation that only lightly alters or damages the nutrients in the food: drying. The idea is to remove moisture from the food; the less moisture that is contained in a food, the longer its nutrients will remain unspoiled and available to the consumer (your dog).

Drying can be accomplished at low temperatures, but it takes longer and leaves meats and fats vulnerable to oxidation (spoilage); most dried foods are prepared with temperatures of 140ºF to 180ºF. (Food can rot when kept in temperatures between 140ºF to 32ºF; If it’s held in temperatures colder than 30ºF, it freezes; if it’s exposed to temperatures higher than 180ºF, it will start to cook.) Dehydrators actually lightly cook the food as it dries, altering the cellular structure of meats, fruits, and vegetables. In contrast, proper freeze-drying doesn’t affect the appearance or taste of foods as much.
Freeze-dryers expose foods to low temperatures, freezing them relatively quickly, and then to high air pressure (freeze-drying machines resemble large pressurized gas tanks). When the pressure inside the chamber is high enough, small heating units are turned on, heating the trays that the food sits on, and causing the frozen water (a solid at that point) in the foods to transform into a gas (water vapor). Pumps pull the vapor out of the chamber while keeping the internal air pressure high. The term for freeze-drying is sublimation: the act of a solid shifting directly into a gas.

It sounds radical, but the process actually leaves most foods less damaged than dehydration. Freeze-drying doesn’t shrink or toughen most food ingredients, and it leaves most aromas and flavors in the food intact. There are some food compounds that don’t freeze-dry well; those that contain vinegar or alcohol don’t sublimate nicely, but these are not common ingredients in canine diets!

Some owners seek out these diets specifically for their rawness; they believe feeding raw meat is natural and beneficial to their dogs. If a raw diet is your chief motivation for considering these diets, avoid the products that contain dehydrated ingredients in favor of the ones that contain freeze-dried ingredients.

See a list of the best freeze-dried raw dog foods here.

Other Benefits of Dehydrated Dog Food

In addition to being (mostly) raw and lightly processed, dehydrated diets offer a number of other benefits to dogs – and their owners.

Very low-moisture foods can be stored longer at room temperature (in unopened packages) without spoiling or rancidity than conventional kibble. Most dehydrated diets contain less moisture than conventional kibble, which generally contains about 10 percent moisture. The less moisture there is in a food, the less biological activity can occur.

Dehydrated foods weigh less and are more compact than foods containing more moisture. This makes them especially well suited for travel. It also means they cost less to ship.

When rehydrated, these foods are highly palatable to most dogs. It may be due to the concentration of flavor in dehydrated food ingredients or their light processing.
As a generalization, the makers of these products are targeting the top end of the market, and have an extraordinary commitment to sourcing top-quality ingredients. In many cases, “human-quality” (“edible”) ingredients are used, though only one company can legally make this claim (The Honest Kitchen, because every single ingredient in the product is human-quality (the legal term is “edible”) and the products are made at a human food manufacturing plant.

The Different Kinds of Dehydrated Dog Food

As we mentioned earlier, the dried foods discussed here are diverse in content, appearance, and form. Some contain grains and some don’t. Some include lots of vegetables, fruits, and herbs, and some are almost all meat. Some utilize organic ingredients, and some don’t. And some manufacturers utilize pasteurization of some kind, and some don’t. (For more on this, see “Safety Issues,” below.)

Most of these products are meant to be rehydrated with water, though most can be fed without rehydration.

Some of these products are presented in a dried “patty” or “medallion” form; others have been dried into nuggets or dried and then sliced into cubes. Others are very powdery, which makes them turn into a sort of mush or gruel, depending on how much water you add. Still others have relatively large chunks of identifiable dehydrated meats, fruit, and/or vegetables mixed into a powdery meat base. This can be either an advantage (if your dog enjoys the contrast in taste and mouth-feel) or a disadvantage (if your dog seeks out only the chunks or mush and eschews the other).

The most significant difference between these foods and more conventional commercial products, though, is the high fat and, to a slightly lesser extent, high protein levels that most contain. Some are very high in fat and protein; others compare in these respects to conventional kibble. Always check the guaranteed analysis when switching to a product in this category; they are so nutrient-dense that you may have to significantly reduce the volume of food that you feed your dog in order to prevent him from gaining too much weight.

The Cost of Dehydrated Dog Food

The cost of feeding this sort of diet may be prohibitive for many dog owners. These products are pricey. In general, the freeze-dried products cost the most, because freeze-drying is an energy-intensive process. (For what it’s worth, however, shipping costs of these light-weight foods are minimal!) My guess is that they are fed mostly under the following conditions:

– Cost is not a factor (wealthy owner).
– Owner has one dog, or very small dogs (and so won’t need to buy large amounts).
Products are used as “complete and balanced” training treats, rather than sole diet.
Owner usually feeds a raw diet (home-prepared or otherwise) but is traveling, so one of these diets is used short-term replacement.
– Dog is extremely picky (and thin), but will eat these foods with relish. (We frequently hear about this with the freeze-dried foods, which seem to retain their palatability very well.)
– Dog’s health is generally precipitous, but currently well-managed thanks to one of these diets, so it makes the most sense to “pay for the food, rather than the vet.”
– Dog’s health is poor, and these highly palatable products are being used as a short-term tactic to keep him eating.

Safety Issues with Raw Dog Food

Raw diets aren’t for every dog or owner. These foods will be especially attractive to owners who already feed a raw diet to their dogs, or who have researched raw diets and who are ready to take responsibility for feeding their dog a raw diet (and perhaps, have the support already of a veterinarian who is comfortable with and knowledgeable about raw diets).

If you are fearful about the potential for exposing your dog to pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella or Listeria, or you have an immune-compromised dog, you may want to either skip these diets, or seek out the ones who pasteurize their products and utilize a vigorous “test before releasing” program, such as Stella & Chewys.

Understand that experienced raw feeders, as they are known, are not afraid of these bacteria. They frequently point out that there have been far more recalls of conventional kibble that is “contaminated” with Salmonella than raw food products, and very few dogs have gotten ill as a result of eating these foods. Dogs have much sturdier digestive tracts than humans, and only very rarely have a problem eating food that is contaminated with these bacteria. (Dogs with compromised immune systems, like humans with similar conditions, would be most at risk.)

Some companies use high pressure processing (HPP, also known as high pressure pasteurization or Pascalization) to kill any pathogenic bacteria that might be present in the food; others use HPP only on products that contain poultry (the most likely meat to be contaminated with bacteria); and still others rely entirely on buying the best possible meats, handling them with care, and using superior sanitation throughout the manufacturing process. Ask the maker of the food you are considering what they do (or don’t do) to pasteurize their products.

Our List of Approved Dog Foods

ATTENTION: In March 2018, Whole Dog Journal published a new, updated list of approved freeze-dried raw dog food.

The companies we’ve highlighted on the following pages make extremely good dog foods, but as always, only you can determine which ones are right for your dog and your budget. As a comparison tool, we selected one variety from each manufacturer and listed its ingredients and guaranteed analysis. To help directly compare the unique formulation approaches taken by each company, we selected the “beef” formula whenever that variety was available.

The post Dehydrated Dog Food Review 2014 appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

On what do we base that ranking? While it’s difficult to get nutritionists to agree on just about anything, it’s likely that most would agree on the following general idea: that a diet that was formulated to be “complete and balanced” and comprised of fresh, lightly processed or unprocessed species-appropriate ingredients is healthier than a “complete and balanced” diet containing highly processed ingredients that are uncommonly consumed by a given species in nature. That general theory explains our high esteem for the dehydrated and freeze-dried diets that we’ve listed and described in our WDJ 2014 Dehydrated Dog Food Review 

We’ve lumped a lot of disparate diets into this category. Even though they vary widely in terms of ingredients, “rawness,” manufacturing process, finished form, and protein and fat levels, what all of these diets share is their high inclusion of high-quality animal protein and fats, and a method of preservation that only lightly alters or damages the nutrients in the food: drying. The idea is to remove moisture from the food; the less moisture that is contained in a food, the longer its nutrients will remain unspoiled and available to the consumer (your dog).

Drying can be accomplished at low temperatures, but it takes longer and leaves meats and fats vulnerable to oxidation (spoilage); most dried foods are prepared with temperatures of 140ºF to 180ºF. (Food can rot when kept in temperatures between 140ºF to 32ºF; If it’s held in temperatures colder than 30ºF, it freezes; if it’s exposed to temperatures higher than 180ºF, it will start to cook.) Dehydrators actually lightly cook the food as it dries, altering the cellular structure of meats, fruits, and vegetables. In contrast, proper freeze-drying doesn’t affect the appearance or taste of foods as much.

Freeze-dryers expose foods to low temperatures, freezing them relatively quickly, and then to high air pressure (freeze-drying machines resemble large pressurized gas tanks). When the pressure inside the chamber is high enough, small heating units are turned on, heating the trays that the food sits on, and causing the frozen water (a solid at that point) in the foods to transform into a gas (water vapor). Pumps pull the vapor out of the chamber while keeping the internal air pressure high. The term for freeze-drying is sublimation: the act of a solid shifting directly into a gas.

It sounds radical, but the process actually leaves most foods less damaged than dehydration. Freeze-drying doesn’t shrink or toughen most food ingredients, and it leaves most aromas and flavors in the food intact. There are some food compounds that don’t freeze-dry well; those that contain vinegar or alcohol don’t sublimate nicely, but these are not common ingredients in canine diets!

Some owners seek out these diets specifically for their rawness; they believe feeding raw meat is natural and beneficial to their dogs. If a raw diet is your chief motivation for considering these diets, avoid the products that contain dehydrated ingredients in favor of the ones that contain freeze-dried ingredients.

Check out our complete review of the top Dehydrated & Freezer-Dried Dog Foods by clicking here or following the link at the top of the page.

The post Consider Dehydrated Dog Foods for Your Dog! appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

I said in last month’s article on dehydrated dog food diets that I hadn’t discussed dehydrated diets for quite some time in WDJ, and that I was surprised by the increase in the number of companies that now offer these products. What I didn’t realize at the time was that many of the companies that I am familiar with as makers of frozen raw diets now offer those products in a freeze-dried form. I learned this when, after I finished that last issue, I took a trip and toured a number of manufacturing facilities where raw frozen diets are produced. Turns out, every frozen raw dog food manufacturer I visited also makes freeze-dried diets.

And why not? In almost every case, the formulas that the companies freeze-dry are exactly the same as their raw frozen foods; they just freeze-dry the food instead of freezing it.

Freeze-drying is a simple, but energy-intensive process; it’s costly. But freeze-dried foods have a longer shelf life than their frozen counterparts, are light and compact (making shipping much more affordable than shipping frozen foods). And, oddly, some dogs who don’t like raw diets snap up freeze-dried foods like they are treats.

In fact, that’s exactly how some pet owners utilize these “complete and balanced” diets – as treats, rather than as a sole diet, due to their relatively high price. I have to say, though, after seeing these products made in a variety of facilities, that the manufacturing process of these diets is very close to the process used in making a home-prepared raw diet, with fresh, wholesome, and very lightly processed ingredients – well worth the cost.

The companies and products described in the table (PDF link below) are ones I should have included in last month’s article. I toured the production facilities for three Wisconsin-based companies, and discuss this at greater length.

Correction
Due to an editing error, there was one nonsensical sentence in last month’s article. It should have read, “Dehydration alters the cellular structure of meats, fruits, and vegetables much more than freeze-drying.” The appearance and taste of foods are less affected by freeze-drying than by dehydration, largely because higher temperatures are used to dehydrate foods; they are actually lightly cooked by the heat of drying.

Nancy Kerns is Editor of WDJ.

The post Complete and Balanced Freeze-Dried Dog Foods appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

It has been a while since we reviewed dehydrated diets – long enough that there have been quite a few additions to the pool of companies who make and sell this type of dog food. It’s increasingly popular, for a lot of reasons.

For one thing, “raw diets” are increasingly popular, too, and most of the products in this category incorporate raw animal proteins in their formulations. People who believe in the superiority of canine diets that include raw meat (often referred to as biologically appropriate or evolutionary diets) can use a dehydrated or freeze-dried food as a convenient replacement for their dogs’ fresh, home-prepared or commercial frozen raw diet.

Whether it’s dehydrated or freeze-dried, raw meat doesn’t seem so, well, raw. Most of us don’t think of beef jerky as raw meat, either, but it actually is. The drying process (and, in jerky, the use of salt and nitrates) “cures” the meat, altering its appearance and texture and concentrating its flavor – and, significantly, halting the biological action (decay) in the food – with less damage to the meat’s natural enzymes or vitamins than cooking temperatures would cause.

If you read the descriptions of each product listed in our Dehydrated and Freeze-Dried Dog Food Review, you will note that some contain “air-dried” or “dehydrated” (same thing) or freeze-dried ingredients. The difference in nutritional content of foods processed in either manner is negligible. However, dehydration alters the cellular structure of meats, fruits, and vegetables much more than dehydrating, more radically altering their appearance and taste than freeze-drying. Rehydrated, freeze-dried ingredients taste remarkably similar to their fresh, moist counterparts. Does this matter to your dog? You’d have to try different products to find out.

To learn more about Dehydrated and Free-Dried Dog food, and every other kind of dog food, subscribe to Whole Dog Journal today. This will give you access to premium subscriber-only content and the full version of this article.

Already a subscriber? Check out our Dehydrated and Freeze-Dried Dog Food Review, along with a comprehensive list of dehydrated/freeze-dried food products we recommend.

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