10 Best Freeze-Dried Cat Foods

Freeze-dried cat food is made through a process that involves freezing the food and removing moisture. The food is frozen at very low temperatures then put into a vacuum which removes the frozen ice crystals. The result is a low-moisture, shelf-stable cat food that is then sealed in air-tight packaging.

In most cases, freeze-dried cat food is made with raw ingredients. Because the ingredients aren’t cooked before being freeze-dried, the end product is still technically raw. That being said, you generally don’t need to refrigerate the product as long as you keep it in the original resealable packaging in a cool, dry location. It’s best to use freeze-dried cat food within 30 days of opening.

Freeze-dried cat food is a very nutritious option for cats. In fact, it is nutritionally equivalent to raw food. The only difference is that the moisture has been removed to make the product shelf-stable. As is true with any cat food, however, the quality depends on the ingredients and formulation.

Most freeze-dried cat foods offer higher nutritional quality than the average kibble, but it’s still important to review the ingredients list and guaranteed analysis. A freeze-dried cat food made primarily with animal ingredients like meat, organs, and ground bone will be much better for your cat than a freeze-dried food heavy in plant ingredients.

It’s also worth noting that while freeze-dried cat food can be protein-rich and species-appropriate in terms of nutritional composition, it doesn’t contain the moisture your cat needs for hydration. For this reason, it’s best to rehydrate freeze-dried cat food before feeding it to your cat.

Freeze-dried cat food has been processed to remove all the moisture, so it contains about as much moisture as kibble – around 10%, sometimes less. Moisture is an essential part of a healthy diet for cats, so it’s recommended that you rehydrate freeze-dried cat food before feeding. Rehydrating the food also improves the texture which may make it more appealing to picky cats.

You can rehydrate freeze-dried cat food with water or broth. Most commercial freeze-dried cat foods will provide instructions for rehydrating the food, but you generally just add your cat’s portion to his bowl and add liquid. In most cases, an equal proportion of food to water works well.

It usually takes 15 to 20 minutes for freeze-dried cat food to rehydrate, though the timing may vary by recipe. Again, refer to the feeding instructions on the package. Once the food has been rehydrated it should be treated like wet cat food and not left out for more than 4 hours.

Whether fresh or freeze-dried, there are inherent risks to feeding your cat a raw diet. Not only is there potential for foodborne pathogens affecting your cat, but you and others in your household could be exposed to them as well. Fortunately, basic safe food handling practices are generally enough to reduce the risk. Just be sure to wash your hands after handling raw food as well as any utensils you use.

The primary concern with freeze-dried raw cat food is bacterial contamination. E. coli, listeria, and salmonella are the most common culprits. The freeze-drying process helps decrease the number of pathogens in the raw ingredients, but some may survive freeze-drying. Commercial freeze-dried foods may have lower rates of contamination than unprocessed raw foods.

Freeze-dried cat food is generally a very nutritious choice for cats, especially when it is filled with animal-based ingredients like meat, organ, and raw bone. Aside from the potential for bacterial contamination, however, there are a few concerns. First and foremost, the lack of moisture.

The process of freeze drying removes the moisture from the raw ingredients in order to make the product shelf-stable. Cats require moisture in their diet for proper hydration and, because they don’t tend to drink a lot of water on their own, it’s important to include it in your cat’s diet. The best option is to rehydrate your cat’s freeze-dried food before feeding and provide plenty of fresh water.

Another concern with freeze-dried cat food is the potential for nutritional deficiencies. This is more common with homemade diets, however. As long as you’re feeding your cat a commercial freeze-dried food formulated by a veterinarian or veterinary nutritionist, you shouldn’t have to worry.