Dehydrated Cat and/or Dog Food Recipes, Anyone?

[Cybercat]

Has anybody ever tried to dehydrate homemade pet foods? Commercial dry food is sensible of course, (if not always the best food) but bulky. I prefer wet food for my cats and dog, but canned stuff would be too tough to fit in a go-bag, I'd say...so I wonder if there are light-weight, high nurtient and high protein dehyd recipes out there.

We have the great thread in this section on the home canned version of cat food...wonder if this would lend itself to drying?

I'd love to know thoughts on this...

Leanne

 

[patandchickens]

I think I need more sleep -- I read your title as soliciting recipes for (quotes added to clarify my thought process) 'Dehydrated Cat' dog food

I am not sure how easy it is to safely dehydrate/store meat without additives that are not so good for cats like salt and nitrates and such.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone has good recipes for this, though!

Pat

 

[Cybercat]

I know its a weird question, but I saw a product on the Internet for Dehydrated cat food...you have to add warm water to it before feeding to your critter. Since I'm not nuts about regular 'dry' food, I thought, well....let's see if there's something new to learn out in cyber space!

 

[Cybercat]

I think I need more sleep -- I read your title as soliciting recipes for (quotes added to clarify my thought process) 'Dehydrated Cat' dog food

HAH HAH HAH- I love it! It would take a LOT to dehydrate my fat kitties enough....

 

[breconbcs]

If your talking about the foods like at Honest Kitchen has, you'll see that it's a natural product, there are no chemicals or preservatives. If your talking about trying to dehydrate a can of food, I wouldn't do it.

I do make my own mixture and dehydrate it for my own dogs and clients. I use it for when we are at work, when we use to go camping, when visiting friends or other breeders, I even use it as treats for the younger dogs during training. The cat won't "lower" himself to eating it - he doesn't like crunchy, or really moist foods (if rehydrated).

 

[miss_thenorth]

I have dehydrated scrap pieces of deer from when we processed one--to use as dog treats. i didn't soak or treat it in anything--just dehydrated it. Dogs loved them!! Needless to say the bag didn't last long.

 

[sufficientforme]

I feed my dogs the dehydrated raw dog food from THE HONEST KITCHEN it is the "EMBARK" variety. My dogs go CRAZY for it! I always keep a few extra on hand for emergencies, etc because it is so compact and lightweight to store. It is pricey around 34.00 (I think) for a box that rehydrates to approx 17 lbs.
Finding a great home made recipe would be awesome, just thought I would keep the thread alive!!

 

[freemotion]

If your talking about the foods like at Honest Kitchen has, you'll see that it's a natural product, there are no chemicals or preservatives. If your talking about trying to dehydrate a can of food, I wouldn't do it.

I do make my own mixture and dehydrate it for my own dogs and clients. I use it for when we are at work, when we use to go camping, when visiting friends or other breeders, I even use it as treats for the younger dogs during training. The cat won't "lower" himself to eating it - he doesn't like crunchy, or really moist foods (if rehydrated).

OK, Kim, not fair to tease us....what are your recipe and instructions for the dehydrated dog food?

 

[breconbcs]

Pretty easy, I just mix a ground meat, kelp (sometimes dulse instead) and add some veggies. For every pound of meat I use 4 ounces of veggies. These are not the main staple of any of the diets I make them for, this is for ease away from home especially for my camping/backpacking clients. Mix it all together and then make 4 ounce (wet) patties out of it. Sometimes I add organs if I know the dog needs them or if I've been lax in giving or making and giving organ treats to my own. I also make them with ground meat with bone (chicken, rabbit, turkey), kelp and veggies. They can be rehydrated and when I do that I add in an egg and any supplements they would normally get.

It's really what I would feed on a ground muscle meal day, just dehydrated.

 

[freemotion]

A 4 oz patty can be dehydrated? How thin do you make it, how long do you dehydrate it (how do you know it is done) and at what temp? Do you store it out of the fridge? How long do they keep (or maybe I should ask how long do you keep them?)

And lastly, the ground meat with bone....do you use low temps to keep the bone from cooking? I looked up the Honest Kitchen site, and their "raw" dehydrated foods is just referring to the veggies, the meat is cooked, and there is no bone. So not really raw in my book.

I wanna make some for travel. How do you rehydrate them? Details, I've never heard of this!