Questions about freeze-dried meat.

[maraozza]

I have a question about freeze-dried food. I am curious to know, if it's OK to feed FD meals every day? How much is too much?!
For example, can I feed one meal of re-hydrated Stella and Chewy’s Cat Food Dinner and also use it as a topper on a raw meat in crumbled dry form, and plus some( 4-5 pieces) FD treats during the day?
My concern is that all FD meats have very low moisture content (about 5%) and my cat doesn’t drink water lately at all. So, can he became dehydrated from this diet?
Also, I noticed, that last few days he had small light brownish-yellowish colored poop. Is it possible to be a sign of too much FD? Or, may it be from raw white meat consumption (like chicken, rabbit and turkey) in last days?

 

[ldg]

The light colored poop is from eating light meat. Feed him lamb, and he'll have a dark poop. My kitties have multicolored poop. If it becomes TOO light and is very crumbly, there's too much calcium.

But no, there's no "too much" freeze dried food. It's meant to be a complete diet. The issue is are you adding enough water to it when rehydrating? The moisture content ought to be about 75% - 1.5 ounces of dry food plus 4.5 ounces of water. Of course, you can always add a little more, especially if you're otherwise using it as a topper.

But yes, on raw they will have a MUCH lower volume of poop. Light proteins = light colored poop. Dark proteins = dark colored poop. My cats have a bowl movement every 2 - 3 days now, and they're not constipated. I only have one cat out of eight that poops every day - he just poops less at one time than the others (though even their poop every-other-day is still less in volume than when they were on canned or kibble).

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I had more water to all the raw food that I serve up, including duck hearts.  I'm kind of paranoid that mine don't eat enough water because mine will not eat the Stella and Chewy's in rehydrated form, and I do feed them some in dehydrated form everyday as treats.  So to make up for that, I just mix in a little water into whatever they are eating.  Two of them mainly eat ground raw anyway, so it's really easy to add just a bit of water.  The one who eats a few chunks prefers her food really moist (except the Stella and Chewys

), so I think she likes having a litlle water added. 

 

[maraozza]

  What do you think about Primal Freeze Dried formulas? Is it worth to try?  They have only 2 types of it and both of them contain Salmon. Does it smell too fishy or not?  Is it as good as Stella and Chewy's?

  Because I have to order it online (they don't have trial sizes, unfortunately), I want to know your opinions first.

 Do your kitties like Primal FD?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Mine do.  I did get a trial size for free at the natural health food store where I buy my Stella and Chewy's.  My sample was the chicken and salmon.  and since mine like the S & C chicken and salmon, it was pretty much a cinch that they would like the primal.  But it comes in the same size nugget that the frozen comes in, which is strange.  So I just broke it up into little pieces for them to chase down the hall

.  But I haven't bought any, because it's quite a bit more expensive than S & C, even via the internet.

 

[maraozza]

Mine do.  I did get a trial size for free at the natural health food store where I buy my Stella and Chewy's.  My sample was the chicken and salmon.  and since mine like the S & C chicken and salmon, it was pretty much a cinch that they would like the primal.  But it comes in the same size nugget that the frozen comes in, which is strange.  So I just broke it up into little pieces for them to chase down the hall :lol3: .  But I haven't bought any, because it's quite a bit more expensive than S & C, even via the internet.

Thanks for your response!



I'll try the S&C Salmon and Chicken trial bag to see how he likes it!

 

[maraozza]

Few days ago, I purchased “BEEFEATERS” FD Chicken breast cat treats from Petsmart. Today, I opened it and gave some to my cat and only then I noticed that it’s made in China. :jaw:

So, now I ‘am very hesitant about quality and safeness of these treats and thinking of getting rid of them. It looks and smells OK, but after hearing so many things about contaminated pet and human food produced in China, is it worth the risk? What is your opinion?

 

[ldg]

I wouldn't feed a food from China. Too risky, IMO.

That's why so many of us use Whole Life, Etta Says, Stewart's ProTreat, Pure Bites, and now the FD human quality meats sold through Shelf Reliance. :nod:

 

[vball91]

I too have heard so many problems with pet food from China that I would not feed my cat anything that was sourced there. It's just not worth the risk in my mind.

 

[ldg]

In fact... if I were you, I'd take it back to Petsmart. You may not be able to get a refund, but you can try. And at the same time, let them know you don't want food sourced from China. I'm sure you're not alone in this, and they need to know their consumers CARE.

 

[maraozza]

In fact... if I were you, I'd take it back to Petsmart. You may not be able to get a refund, but you can try. And at the same time, let them know you don't want food sourced from China. I'm sure you're not alone in this, and they need to know their consumers CARE.

Yes, I am going to call the local Petsmart and ask them if I can return it.

I am feeding Pure Bites, the only brand you can find locally from your list. Generally, not too many natural treats are available out here for cats. It's not fair! There are rows of shelves with different kinds of dog treats and somewhere in the corner - a few bags of treats for cats.


P.S. Once, I ordered the Whole life treats from the US. They are really good but a little bit expensive for us.