Not hydrating freeze dried food?

Ladyrosee

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Hi! I was wondering if anyone feeds their pet whether it's primal or stella and chewys freeze dried food. My kitty drinks water and isn't ever dehydrated unless he's going through his autoimmune flare where he gets fevers and stuff. But he wont eat wet food and I've just accepted that and I offer him some every morning along with my other cat who willingly eats it. My kitty will eat a bit but not enough. I also give him 2 churu meat tubes which is great for hydration and a fancy feast broth pouch that he loves and I hope, on top of water that that's okay.
I'm asking this because he seems to prefer freeze dried food over dry food. And he doesnt Iike it hydrated because he just picks at his food a little here and a little there. I'm not sure if freeze dried has the same amount of moisture (which is like none) as commercial dry foods. I give him freeze dried salmon, cod and chicken at night but that's just a treat but I do hydrate that and he will eat it but he knows the freeze dried meal is different than the single protein treat I give him

I just hope with the 2 meat tubes, fancy feast broth, and rehydrated snack at night is enough moisture (along with him drinking). I also give him 6 to 7 pills a day each pill followed by 1mil of water. I'm hoping that's enough liquid to balance out freeze dried meal that he doesnt like hydrated
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I have one cat who also will not eat freeze dried raw if it's hydrated. It's so weird, but hey...cats! So with my cat, I give him a fairly large snack of the freeze dried, then about an hour later I give him a meal of canned with quite a bit of filtered water mixed in to make me feel better :wink:

I would say as long as he's getting plenty of fluids, you should be ok. Whatever freeze dried you are giving him should say how much water to mix in, so just make sure he is getting at least that amount. And if you're actually replacing his kibble with the freeze dried, then IMHO, even in it's original state (dry), it's much better than kibble.
 
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Ladyrosee

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Drinking water is the first sign that a cat is dehydrated.

I wouldn't feed dehydrated food without hydrating.

Here are some helpful tips for transitioning dry food addicts to wet food:
https://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf
I'm just quoting what my doctor says. He goes in every month for a check up since hes chronically ill hes thriving now but I take him in anyway since it's all free for me and they want to be extra careful with him and just do a general check up every month and his nose is always moist and they say hes not dehydrated. I know the signs of dehydration and hive him sub q fluids when he is. When a cat is suffering from dehydration their appetite gets poor too. His appetite is fine for him.. hes just always been severely picky and nibbles here and there all day. Never really sits and eats a meal in one sitting. and if hes eating the freeze dried over anything else then that's what he gets. I've had him since a 4 week kitten and is almost 2 years and I've almost finally figured him out
 

Azazel

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I'm just quoting what my doctor says. He goes in every month for a check up since hes chronically ill hes thriving now but I take him in anyway since it's all free for me and they want to be extra careful with him and just do a general check up every month and his nose is always moist and they say hes not dehydrated. I know the signs of dehydration and hive him sub q fluids when he is. When a cat is suffering from dehydration their appetite gets poor too. His appetite is fine for him.. hes just always been severely picky and nibbles here and there all day. Never really sits and eats a meal in one sitting. and if hes eating the freeze dried over anything else then that's what he gets. I've had him since a 4 week kitten and is almost 2 years and I've almost finally figured him out
Unfortunately most vets don’t know very much about feline nutrition. Cats have low thirst drive by nature. They are not meant to go to a water hole to drink. A properly hydrated cat rarely if ever drinks water. This is why people who feed all wet food often have cats that don’t drink water.

Dehydration and poor appetite do not necessarily go hand in hand. A cat can be well-fed but if the food they’re eating is lacking moisture they will be dehydrated. A cat’s natural diet consists of over 70% moisture obtained from food.

This is all just to say that I don’t think you should give up on feeding wet food. The link I posted above has some great tips.
 

lisahe

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Personally, I'd be very hesitant to feed a cat meals of freeze-dried food that's not rehydrated. (A few small nuggets of freeze-dried are fine but a meal is a lot.) In addition to the question of dehydration that A Azazel raised, there's the risk of constipation, which increases if food is dry, since water helps keep things moving through the digestive tract. Most freeze-dried raw foods contain bone, which can cause or contribute to constipation. Even rehydrated, one of our cats gets mild constipation if she eats too much food with bone in it. We had to cut back on freeze-dried because of it. (She wasn't straining or not pooping, she just seemed picky about not finishing her food despite seeming like she was hungry. She now eats everything up when she's fed. It's a huge difference after a small change.)

Our cats love rehydrated Primal but if they didn't, I'd probably try feeding them chunks of it in a dish with some sort of liquid in the bottom. I seem to recall someone feeding freeze-dried with Primal goat's milk I might try feeding chunks in, say, the Fancy Feast broths or some sort of homemade broth that's totally plain, no salt, vegetables, etc. There are lots of options.

FWIW, Primal pork is lower in bone (6%) than some of their other proteins (I remember that turkey is 10%). Stella & Chewy's doesn't give out that information but their food has always seemed very bony, with small shards of bone, so I've stopped feeding it because of the uncertainty.
 
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