Freeze dried food without water

[daniellee7]

Sooo my cat has been on a wet food mixed with dry food diet but just recently stopped feeding kibble with the dry food. I bought freeze dried food from Stella & Chewy & I saw that you have to rehydrate it but my cat refuses to eat it with water. I gave her a piece and she ate it so I crunched it up & put it on top of her wet food & she ate it like that. Is this fine?

 

[daniellee7]

I meant I stopped feeding kibble with the wet food sorry.

 

[Jabzilla]

Hey Danielle,
I fed my cats Stella & Chewies years ago when transitioning them to raw. Only one of them would eat it rehydrated, the other flat out refused and would only eat it dry. Since you’re just crumbling it and putting it on top of canned food, I’d say that’s okay. If you were only feeding the freeze dried, then I’d recommend finding a brand that they will accept rehydrated. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be getting nearly enough moisture in their diet. But since it’s basically being used as a food topper for canned food, it’s fine to not rehydrate it.

Oh, you could also try adding a small amount of water to the canned food when you mix in the freeze dried. If your cat accepts that, it will help her get used to the freeze dried being some degree of wet. You could then slowly/gradually increase the amount of water until the freeze dried is completely rehydrated.

 

[Tobermory]

I agree with J Jabzilla . I’ll also add that mine likes S&C, too, but I have to keep an eye on her. There’s a fairly high bone content in S&C which might cause some constipation.

 

[KelWhit]

I also feed S&C dehydrated dry but I only give it as a supplement (5-6 cubes per day) along with their raw homemade. I would just ensure she has clean water and or add more water to the wet food to aid in water intake.

 

[Alldara]

Definitely okay as long as you are keeping an eye on hydration. Just like dry food, the freeze dried food will absorb water in the tummy when eaten dry. Not usually an issue but each cat is an individual.