Kibble And Freeze Dried Raw Question

[ScarlettGatsby]

I saw an advertisement for a dry food that had pieces of freeze dried raw mixed in with kivble, I think it was by Instinct? It made me wonder if anyone mixes a freeze dry raw food into their regular dry food? Are freeze dry raw complete nutrition?

I'm wondering if this is a good way to up the protein in my cats diet. I've tried a lot of high protein wet foods like Tiki and Weruva and she hates them all, but she devours her Fromm Kibble. She does also eat some mid price wet food (Merrick and Fromm mostly)

I'm not overly concerned because I do think her diet right now is okay, but seeing this ad did make me wonder.

 

[orange&white]

There are freeze-dried treats and freeze-dried complete foods available. You still need to check the protein content on the nutrition label.

You could do up to 10% of your cat's diet in freeze-dried treats that are "just meat". That would probably be your highest protein content.

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

Awesome! Do you have a recommendation on a just meat one that would be easy to add? I've tried vital essentials treats and they were way to hard.

I think I might try mixing a tablespoon of freeze dried in with her normal 1/4 cup of dry Fromm.

 

[LTS3]

Yes, it is Nature's Variety Instinct Instinct Raw Boost | Instinct Pet Food

Since it's just the regular NV Instinct Originals dry food with the NV Raw Market freeze dried raw mixed in (probably in smaller pieces), you can just feed any dry food with any freeze dried raw mixed in. Many brands of freeze dried raw are complete diets. You don't want freeze dried treats. You want freeze dried raw food. Besides NV's Raw Market, other brands of freeze dried raw foods that are complete diets are Stella and Chewy's, Vital Essentials (they have a complete freeze dried food in addition to the treats), and Feline Natural.

Which Vital Essentials treats were too hard? The Ahi Tuna and Rabbit ones are pretty crunchy but the others are pretty soft. PureBites is a good choice if your cat likes softer treats. You can even soak freeze dried treats in water to rehydrate. It won't work for treats that are crunchy, though.

 

[orange&white]

Awesome! Do you have a recommendation on a just meat one that would be easy to add? I've tried vital essentials treats and they were way to hard.

I think I might try mixing a tablespoon of freeze dried in with her normal 1/4 cup of dry Fromm.

Orijen makes 100% meat cat treats, but they are mostly liver. We have a regional brand here called Grandma Lucy's which does cat treats that are 100% chicken muscle meat. You can search national brands, and you may also have regional "mom & pop" brands that are of high-quality. Too much liver is bad, and too much muscle meat is bad, thus my suggestion that "all-meat" treats should not be more than 10% of the diet. One tablespoon of freeze-dried to 1/4 cup of kibble puts you considerably over 10% and would throw the nutritional balance out of alignment.

If you are wanting to add more than 10% of your cat's food as freeze-dried, then I would opt for a nutritionally complete freeze-dried cat food. Then you can add as much or as little as you'd like. You may have a slightly lower protein profile, but you can offer a larger portion of the diet.

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

Which Vital Essentials treats were too hard? The Ahi Tuna and Rabbit ones are pretty crunchy but the others are pretty soft. PureBites is a good choice if your cat likes softer treats. You can even soak freeze dried treats in water to rehydrate. It won't work for treats that are crunchy, though.

We tried the chicken and the rabbit and they were both the same hardness. I tried dehydrating the rabbit after seeing it mentioned here and it didn't work well lol.

We also had a sample of the 'VE chicken that was a powder to use as a food topper. My cat hated it though and wouldn't eat anything I put it on. She's so picky and it's really frustrating.

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

Orijen makes 100% meat cat treats, but they are mostly liver. We have a regional brand here called Grandma Lucy's which does cat treats that are 100% chicken muscle meat. You can search national brands, and you may also have regional "mom & pop" brands that are of high-quality. Too much liver is bad, and too much muscle meat is bad, thus my suggestion that "all-meat" treats should not be more than 10% of the diet. One tablespoon of freeze-dried to 1/4 cup of kibble puts you considerably over 10% and would throw the nutritional balance out of alignment.

If you are wanting to add more than 10% of your cat's food as freeze-dried, then I would opt for a nutritionally complete freeze-dried cat food. Then you can add as much or as little as you'd like. You may have a slightly lower protein profile, but you can offer a larger portion of the diet.

Thanks! The kibble isn't her entire diet, so I was thinking a tablespoon would be close to 10% if I'm including her wet food, but I would need to do the math to be sure.
It would be 10% calorie wise that it need to be under?

I'll just find a complete balanced one to be safe. I'll look around at my local stores and see what I can find.

 

[orange&white]

Thanks! The kibble isn't her entire diet, so I was thinking a tablespoon would be close to 10% if I'm including her wet food, but I would need to do the math to be sure.
It would be 10% calorie wise that it need to be under?

I'll just find a complete balanced one to be safe. I'll look around at my local stores and see what I can find.

Oh, yes. If she is eating mostly wet food, then that makes a difference. 10% treats should be measured as calories and that is "total treats", something to consider if you're offering her other treats.

It's sort of a trade-off as with most things. Skinless chicken or turkey is going to pack the highest grams of protein per ounce, so anything added to make it nutritionally complete slightly lowers the protein. On the other hand, a super-high protein food limited to 10% of calories may not have a huge overall impact.

I think you should just shop around a bit and read labels, as you said.

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

I started browsing around online getting ideas on options. I think I might start with the Pure Bites chicken, it says each treat is about 3 calories so if I count out 5 treats and mix it into her food in the morning I think that would be a good amount.

She doesn't get many treats, cause she won't eat them. The only treats I've gotten her to eat are the temptations catnip ones, and I rarely give them to her cause I know they're garbage.