Are freeze dried treats good?

[xlynnbbyx]

Hopefully this is the right place for this I mean not doing freeze dried or raw feeding this is just about treats.

Monday I go to Petco to stock up on my boys wet food. I already got their dry food but they need more wet food. They are also out of cat treats so of course I need to pick up Churus. If I don’t I swear I will have a cat riot on my hands. Anyway every time I go in there when I look at treats I always see freeze dried cat treats. They look interesting I mean always 1 ingredient so I know it won’t interfere with my boys urinary food. I have been looking for things to use as a topper for my boys food to give them a good meal. Something to add to their food that they will love and won’t interfere with their urinary food. I have been considering freeze dried treats but not too sure on it. So my question is are they any good?

Also if anyone has any suggestions for toppers for their food I’m up for it. I feed them both wet & dry urinary food so it can’t interfere with that. Also no fish flavors I’m still cautious on that at the moment. Until I can get Scooter to the vet to get his urinary checked to make sure it is indeed healthy I don’t want to give them anything fish flavored for now. But any suggestions are appreciated!

By the way this is the freeze dried treats I see a lot and am considering getting: Pure Bites Freeze Dried Treats

 

[Jabzilla]

Hey there,
I’m a fan of those single ingredient freeze dried treats. My cats like the Pure Bites shrimp from that brand. The other treats I’d recommend and use as toppers are from a local raw food store here in Canada though. But as a whole, freeze dried single ingredient treats are great. Oh and specifically freeze dried too, not dehydrated. Only one of my two cats will eat dehydrated sardines and smelt. I’ve seen things like dehydrated duck, chicken, and rabbit feet as well and don’t recommend them as they’re too close to being cooked bones, which are unsafe.

 

[amethyst]

My cats (and dogs) seem to love the Pure Bites treats, they work well as topper and as treats. I often buy the bigger bag of freeze dried chicken in the dog treat section, the pieces are larger but easily break apart, and it ends up being cheaper per ounce. Other flavors I go with smaller bags.
If you are worried about safety being "raw" they are as safe as any other treats, possibly safer since they are dried (so no bacteria growth like with fresh raw) and single ingredient.

 

[lisahe]

We use lots of freeze-dried chicken treats! Like amethyst , I buy bags labeled for dogs because they're almost always much cheaper y the ounce.

Regarding the treats being raw, I'll add that it's easy to pop the treats in the oven (at 180F) for a little toasting. I find they're easier to crumble that way. (Sometimes there are little fatty, too, and the heating seems to help with that as well.)

 

[Cat McCannon]

I give Belle freeze dried raw for treats and she loves them.

 

[Alldara]

Freeze dried food/treats I think is great! But unfortunately, my cats won't eat them.

 

[xlynnbbyx]

So I don’t have to make multiple posts saying the same thing in one post. J Jabzilla amethyst lisahe Cat McCannon & A Alldara thank you all for your input. I don’t want to do full raw or freeze dried feeding cause for me to do raw correctly I would want to contact a board certified nutritionist and plus to do raw feeding correctly it is expensive. Either way to do it is expensive at least for me anyway. But I figured freeze dried treats would be ok as it’s just treats. Plus with it being 1 ingredient I know it won’t interfere with their urinary food and will give them a special treat at dinner time.

Unfortunately when I went to Petco they were out of the freeze dried treats and they had not restocked yet. I mean when I got their food they only had turkey & giblets in 5.5oz in stock. So I had to buy 10 3oz cans of the chicken in gravy cause my boys love the chicken. I bought 10 cause with 2 cats a 3oz can gets them half a can each so it will stretch til I need to restock again. I also got 5 of the turkey & giblets in 5.5oz cans. They were also out of Churus! So I got the whole hearted lickable treats til I can get to Walmart for Churus on Friday. Whole Hearted lickable treats seem to be like Churu and my boys had no objections to it so I’m grateful for that. Hopefully next time Petco is stocked on everything. But thank you all for the response!

 

[Cat McCannon]

xlynnbbyx , I knew you were asking about treats, not meals. I use freeze dried as treats because I think they're better for cats than some other types of treats. When I break them out, I'm Belle's bestest friend ever.

 

[xlynnbbyx]

xlynnbbyx , I knew you were asking about treats, not meals. I use freeze dried as treats because I think they're better for cats than some other types of treats. When I break them out, I'm Belle's bestest friend ever.

I know that you knew I was asking about treats. I’m just saying in general I don’t want to do full raw or freeze dried feeding but, I wouldn’t mind giving freeze dried treats. Hopefully when I go back to Petco to restock again in 2 weeks I will see if they have any then.

 

[KittyCat_chitchat]

I'm all in favour of freeze-dried treats as I've read in several places that they're healthier for the cats than your standard supermarket faire (less fatty and fewer additives). I swore by them when I was getting Cleo settled in and integrating her and Ozzie. Both of them loved a particular brand of freeze-dried chicken treats and would do anything for them, but I don't seem able to find that brand anywhere anymore, which is a shame. I can pick up a different brand at my vet's, but the cats sort of go "Meh" at them. As for freeze-dried fish, Ozzie finds it acceptable, Cleo will lick it up and then spit it out and leave soggy bits of fish lying around. That's fun.