Feline Natural Freeze-dried Raw Cat Food

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I had a question likely involving any freeze-dried raw cat food... if the freeze-dried raw food is not rehydrated enough before the cat eats it, is it just as dehydrating to the cat as eating a kibble/dry food?

Milly seems to really like FN Chicken & Lamb freeze-dried but I am only letting the pellets soak in water for a minute or two before draining most (not all) of the water and serving her the yummy pellets. I am not sure she'd eat this food if it were totally saturated during the rehydration, and turned into a sort of pate paste...

 

[lalagimp]

I would say it's definitely not as satisfying. The moisture gives it weight in their stomach and the hydration does what it needs to do against their thirst drive. I'm sure they would make up some kind of percentage of the water they were going to get, from a water fountain. It's pretty dense without.
Have you tried full hydration, and are you adding water to the food as 1:2?
Tommy gets a feeding of Stella and Chewy each day to bump his weight up. He gets 1/4 cup nuggets and 1/8 cup water. Everything I've seen with rehydrating food is 1:2 water to dry matter - even my birds' fruit and veg mix.
Maybe there is a chance that you're already leaving enough water in it before you drain it off.

 

[duckpond]

This makes me think of something i was reading about vitamins, minerals that type of thing in cat food. Specifically Taurine was what the article was about. Talking about it being water soluble, so the majority of it in cat food will be in the liquid parts, that it is very water soluble. The article was saying you should not drain or rinse cat food, or you are throwing out a lot of what they need.

Maybe you can just measure a bit water onto the food, let it soak, that way you dont need to drain it and maybe toss some of the good?

I tried feeding the freeze dried and dehydrated raw for a while, mine were not fond of it fully hydrated either. So i just didn't add so much water, the inside would still be a bit crunchy, i think non re hydrated raw would be much the same as kibble, as far as moisture goes. But then i dont have a problem with feeding dry foods.

 

[lisahe]

duckpond 's post addressed my main concern about adding water, then pouring some off. I, too, would be concerned about throwing away nutrients. I agree with lalagimp about satisfaction and satiation, too.

We feed two freeze-dried meals a day and crumble the food -- there's usually a blend of Primal and Northwest Naturals, often with a little Feline Natural -- then add the water and mush it all with a fork or spoon. The food still has chunks that way, though it probably doesn't crunch.

That said.... I found out by accident that one of our cats (the picky one!) seems to especially like these meals if I make the food very watery and then crumble more freeze dried food (especially Purr from Oma's Pride) over it. The net effect is the same amount of food and the same amount of water but it's presented a little differently (more crunchily!) and she seems to really enjoy that. I should also add that we consistently use more water than Primal seems to recommend for rehydration. I wouldn't want to feed too much of any freeze-dried food without at least the amount of water recommended on the label.

 

[duckpond]

duckpond 's post addressed my main concern about adding water, then pouring some off. I, too, would be concerned about throwing away nutrients. I agree with lalagimp about satisfaction and satiation, too.

We feed two freeze-dried meals a day and crumble the food -- there's usually a blend of Primal and Northwest Naturals, often with a little Feline Natural -- then add the water and mush it all with a fork or spoon. The food still has chunks that way, though it probably doesn't crunch.

That said.... I found out by accident that one of our cats (the picky one!) seems to especially like these meals if I make the food very watery and then crumble more freeze dried food (especially Purr from Oma's Pride) over it. The net effect is the same amount of food and the same amount of water but it's presented a little differently (more crunchily!) and she seems to really enjoy that. I should also add that we consistently use more water than Primal seems to recommend for rehydration. I wouldn't want to feed too much of any freeze-dried food without at least the amount of water recommended on the label.

Cats do seem to like crunch!

 

[lisahe]

Cats do seem to like crunch!

They sure do! And, for Ireland, anyway, there's something about that dry powdered stuff on top of her food. I don't know if it has a more distinctive smell for her if those little particles land on the water and aren't mixed in but she sure does seem to like it better that way!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

One of mine absolutely will NOT eat freeze dried raw if it's rehydrated, no matter what I put on top . So..... I feed it to him in the dehydrated manner, then follow up with some canned food with LOTS of water added to make sure he gets enough moisture in his diet. One "mini meal" of dehydrated and the rest canned. I guess it's better than nothing. Maybe one day he'll come around. He keeps sniffing his brother's bowl with the rehydrated raw in it, so there's always a chance

 

[lisahe]

One of mine absolutely will NOT eat freeze dried raw if it's rehydrated, no matter what I put on top . So..... I feed it to him in the dehydrated manner, then follow up with some canned food with LOTS of water added to make sure he gets enough moisture in his diet. One "mini meal" of dehydrated and the rest canned. I guess it's better than nothing. Maybe one day he'll come around. He keeps sniffing his brother's bowl with the rehydrated raw in it, so there's always a chance

That sounds like a good compromise solution, mrsgreenjeens! And yes, maybe one day he'll realize it's even better with water added... we can always hope, given how fickle cats can be!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Thank you for all your input, everyone!

My cat is not a huge drinker. I had been giving her just a pinch of kibble each day as a treat for when she does her aerokat/flovent combo, and a recent vet visit w/ blood work and UA results gave me some signs that she was on the dehydrated side. She also takes a small dose of pred as her coughing/asthma is one of those that, in the pollen-filled summertime, is not fully tamped down by flovent. Her blood work looks pretty good despite that, but dehydration is an issue.


So (always the hooman's perogative)>> I'm making Milly go into withdrawal from all kibble, even though her intake was not large by any means, and I want to add more H20 to her food rotation. ('No more kibble as treats, Milly, and I mean it!')

She likes that FN freeze-dried raw but I worried that if I don't add a lot of water and really soak the pellets into a formless mass, she would essentially be getting a meal with very little hydration. She's eaten frozen commercial raw in the past as well, but not for about a year or so. Her main diet is about 4-6 rotating brands/flavors of high protein, low carb, etc., canned food. With steroids in her life, I want to do all I can to make those steroids have as minimal a longterm impact as possible.

Another Q: Does Feline Natural have a medium-to-medium-high phosphorus content? Anyone know the numbers?

Thank you!

 

[lalagimp]

Is it the 110 Flovent or the 44?
I guess we were fortunate that the 110 worked well for Stewart when he had increased inflammation.
I hadn't heard of combining them.

"
What is the phosphorus level in your freeze dried chicken and lamb please
The typical analysis of Phosphorus levels in this recipe is 1.5%.

By Chewy on Jan 9, 2018"

 

[MargoLane]

I use freeze dried raw, and re-hydrate with Goats Milk. I use more than the recommended liquid, but I don't let it soak in for long. She licks up all the extra milk, so I think it evens out and she gets enough moisture to digest it easily.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Is it the 110 Flovent or the 44?
I guess we were fortunate that the 110 worked well for Stewart when he had increased inflammation.
I hadn't heard of combining them.

"
What is the phosphorus level in your freeze dried chicken and lamb please
The typical analysis of Phosphorus levels in this recipe is 1.5%.

By Chewy on Jan 9, 2018"

The 110mcg. The vet and I worked out a good 'program' with that flovent dose using pretty much one actuation/6-10 inhales/once a day... and also 2.5mg Pred once a day or every other day. Tried many times to wean her off pred totally but something with her particular bronchial pattern makes her do best with at least some pred (and by not increasing flovent dose). Go figure...


Thanks for your input, lalagimp

 

[Azazel]

Is it the 110 Flovent or the 44?
I guess we were fortunate that the 110 worked well for Stewart when he had increased inflammation.
I hadn't heard of combining them.

"
What is the phosphorus level in your freeze dried chicken and lamb please
The typical analysis of Phosphorus levels in this recipe is 1.5%.

By Chewy on Jan 9, 2018"

That phosphorus level is quite high. I believe it is on a wet matter basis.