So, you’re wondering what’s the best dehydrated dog food? There are many manufacturers of dehydrated foods in the world, and we have selected some foods that we think are a great choice for your dog.
What are the Benefits of Dehydrated Dog Food?
- Better digestion
- More energy
- Healthier dog skin and hair
- Better appetite
- Well-balanced intake of protein, fat, carbohydrates, enriched with all the necessary vitamins and minerals
Taking dehydrate causes mechanical friction of the food and the teeth and cleansing the teeth (partially) from deposits. Also, food residues are not retained in the oral cavity and the presence of bacteria is less, which prevents the formation of bad breath.
When preparing a cooked meal, it’s very difficult to balance the optimal nutrient intake. It’s also an inadequate composition of minerals, especially vitamins that are destroyed by cooking, so it’s necessary to add vitamin-mineral preparations to the diet.
Because quality dehydrated food is divided into age groups (puppy food, adult dogs and old dogs), flavors (chicken, lamb, duck, fish, etc.), dog size (small dogs, medium dogs, large dogs, and especially large dogs), and according to the special requirements of dogs, and there is also medical food for sick dogs (gastritis, heart disease, diabetics, dogs with kidney disease, dogs suffering from liver disease, etc.), dehydrated food is intended for the entire life span of your dog.
With the advancement of technology, new ways have been developed that preserve the quality of food and keep it fresh for an extended period of time. How? By the dehydration and freeze-drying process.
Many pet food brands that sell dehydrated food use the term “air-dried” instead. Air-drying is actually a separate process that is somewhere between dehydrating and freeze-drying – it still involves removing moisture from the raw ingredients via evaporation.
Though these two products are very similar, there is one key difference between them – air-dried dog foods doesn’t need to be rehydrated with water prior to feeding like dehydrated foods do. For nutritional purposes, however, these products are extremely similar and the terms “air-dried” and “dehydrated” are often used interchangeably.
Both procedures are much better than classic frying where carcinogenic substances are released. Let’s look at a brief description of the difference in these procedures.
Difference Between Dehydration and Freeze Drying
Both procedures were developed to obtain a healthy dog diet. Still, there is a difference. What’s the difference between dehydration and freeze-drying?
1. Dehydration
Method of preserving food by removing all moisture. Dehydrated dog and cat food is processed at very low heat for a very long time to draw any moisture out of the food. Because of the small amount of heat used, the food is not considered completely raw but still falls under the category of raw food because it contains very similar nutrients, enzymes, amino acids, and vitamins to that of raw frozen food.
2. Freeze-Dried
Method that ensures that all liquid is removed without moving the food from a raw state. In order to achieve this, the raw food is first frozen and then through a process of low temperature and pressure, the liquid is phased from a solid to a gas. This takes out all moisture without actually allowing the liquid phase to take place. By bypassing the liquid state, you can be assured that your pet’s food was never exposed to temperatures above freezing. Thus making freeze-dried food nutritionally equal to its frozen counterpart, except for the lack of moisture.
So, if you look at the real situation, the freeze-dried method is a better option than dehydration because it minimizes damage to proteins, vitamins, and sensitive nutrients and enzymes contained in the natural ingredients. Now let’s look at what’s the best dehydrated dog food.
The Best Dehydrated Dog Food?
Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw Dog Food
Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw is one of the most popular dog food brands in terms of composition and production techniques.
Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw was produced by:
- On the principle of a complete and balanced diet
- Minimal processed raw food
- With added probiotics for better digestion
- No dangerous preservatives
- Gluten-free
- Grain-free
The company that makes Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried dog food brands is called Stella & Chewy’s, LLC, and is located in America.
Ownat Dog Food
Ownat dog food is a member of high quality and cheaper dehydrated dog food. Ownat dog food is produced according to the BARF (biologically acceptable raw food) principle and stands out for the high proportion of meat (about 71%) in its brands. Ownat products have Spain as their country of origin.
Interestingly, unlike other brands, these foods are produced on the advice of the European Federation of Dog Food Producers (FEDIAF).
Also Ownat dog food is produced by:
- Minimal processed raw food
- No dangerous preservatives
- Fresh meat
- No cereals
Although there are 4 types of products (classic, ultra, grain-free, wetline) we prefer the grain-free option. Why? Because dogs struggle to digest grains.
The composition shows that the Ownat Salamon & Seafood Grain-Free brand doesn’t even have one dangerous ingredient, and only contains less quality pea ingredient.
Ownat brand differs from the others in the very high proportion of meat (71%) in dog food itself.
So even though Ownat dehydrated dog food contains fruits and vegetables like peas in the composition, fresh meat predominantly prevails and peas have no effect on quality. Fresh meat is processed by the dehydration technique and retains all nutritional values.
The great advantage of this brand is the price.
The price is significantly lower than other competitors. So it’s certainly an extremely high quality, healthy and affordable dog food brand.
The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Dog Food
What makes this brand extremely popular is the way they select ingredients and produce them. Specifically, only the highest quality ingredients are added to the food, but again, the best mix is sought to meet the nutritional needs of your dog. The Honest Kitchen dog food brands are made in America.
The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Dog Food is produced by:
- On the principle of a complete and balanced diet
- By human nutrition standards (100% human-grade)
- Gluten-free
- Grain-free
- No preservatives
This dog diet is a little more expensive, but the health benefits to your dog are many. Let’s look at what’s most important, which is composition.
The composition shows that Honest Kitchen Dehydrated dog food contains proteins, fats, fibers, moisture, vitamins, minerals, and omega-3s that meet your dog’s nutritional needs.
With minimal processing, this diet provides a healthy and complete meal for your canine friend.
Primal Freeze-Dried Dog Food
Primal Freeze-Dried Dog Food is a very popular dog food that is produced on the principle of BARF nutrition (biologically acceptable raw food).
As with the brands listed above, selected foods are used in production to meet certain AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) requirements.
So Primal Freeze-Dried Dog Food is manufactured by:
- A complete and balanced diet
- Minimal processed raw food
- No dangerous preservatives
- Gluten-free
- Grain-free
The Primal Freeze dog diet is adapted for all ages of dogs so you don’t have to worry about the age of your dog. It’s enough that you follow the instructions on the bag about the amount that meets the needs of your dog depending on its weight.
The composition of this dog food is quite large. It’s important to note that care is taken in the selection of quality organic ingredients, which makes these foods known and of high quality.
Orijen Freeze-Dried Dog Food
Orijen Freeze-Dried Dog Food is not so well known in the world, but it’s also one representative of biologically acceptable raw food (BARF) for dogs.
It’s manufactured in Alberta, Canada. The company that makes the Orijen dog food brand is Champion Petfoods.
Orijen Freeze-Dried Dog Food is produced by:
- A complete and balanced diet
- Minimal processed raw food
- No dangerous preservatives
- Gluten-free
- Grain-free
This diet meets AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) requirements.
So Orijen Freeze Dried food is definitely a better choice than any other dry food and is a good substitute for your dog food brands listed above.
Acana Dog Food
Acana dog food is a member of dehydrated dog food, but the processing technique is frying at low temperatures where dehydration is achieved.
Acana brands are also high-quality dog food based on fresh and raw high-quality ingredients. It’s produced on the principle of biologically acceptable raw food (BARF) for dogs.
Acana Dog Food is produced by:
- A complete and balanced diet
- No dangerous preservatives
- Gluten-free
- Grain-free
Acana food brands meet the requirements of the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials).
Acana brands are mostly different from Orien’s in terms of the amount of protein derived from meat and vegetables.
Orijen brands contain more protein derived from meat 70% – 80% which is much better. Acana brands, on the other hand, contain only 40% – 60% of protein derived from meat.
However, Acana dog food is much more acceptable than other dry foods found on the market.
This food brand is not as good as it’s competitors, but it can serve as a cheaper replacement.
Comparison of Top 5 Dehydrated Dog Foods
Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw Dog Food:
- Uses the best manufacturing technique
- Contains probiotics for better digestion of your dog
- Contains high-quality foods
- It has the ideal ratio of food composition
- It has an acceptable price
So by all categories, this food brand is the best. We recommend this brand to anyone who wants to keep their dog in tip-top health and allow them a long and happy life.
And what about others?
The Honest Kitchen brand has two drawbacks, namely dehydration as a production technique and a smaller proportion of protein in the composition. However, this food brand is one of the most famous and the best in the world and is for sure. An extremely healthy brand of dog food.
Ownat is a less well-known but also extremely high-quality brand that significantly outperforms its competitors. The disadvantages are dehydration as a production technique and the presence of peas as a lower quality food. On the other hand, the advantage is an extremely high percentage of meat in dog food.
Primal brand is another very well-known, and above all quality brand, which is a little more expensive, so it’s necessary to allocate more money.
Orijen and Acana are brands from the same manufacturer, but they differ in quality and price. Oriental is the most expensive brand and contains peas. Peas are foods that are not best for your dog’s diet. However Orijen contains this food in small quantities, and the rest of the composition is very good quality.
Acana contains lesser quality ingredients and only 40% to 60% of the composition is meat products. So a lot of protein is obtained from a lower quality plant source.
It might take a little while to get your dog used to eat dehydrated pet food
In order to get your dog accustomed to dehydrated food, we recommend that you add a little bit of water to the dehydrated food to make it mushy. Then gradually reduce the amount of water, while at the same time reducing the proportion of soft foods, until you completely switch to dehydrated foods.
Dogs generally need a minimum of ten days to get used to their new diet. With dehydrated foods, make sure your dog always has fresh water available.
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