Freeze dried food question

Can anyone tell me if you are supposed to rehydrate the freeze dried food/treats?

Freeze dried food served as a meal should be rehydrated.  Given as treats, doesn't matter.  The stuff packaged as treats like Pure Bites and such are generally expected to be given as is.  Foods meant for meals like Stella & Chewy's or Primal or such is designed to have water added back to it, although using bits of those as treats without water should also be fine.  Something like Honest Kitchen, I don't think you could feed that dry. The consistency doesn't really lend itself to that from what I remember. 

I'm sure there are some people out there feeding freeze dried meals without added water.  It's not like that would be a major disaster, but it would mean missing out on an easy and practically free way to get your cat added hydration in a more natural way with their food.

Thank you 2 2cats4me that's what I assumed and I even rehydrate the Freeze dried chicken treats unless I crumble them as a topper on top of the wet food.

Originally Posted by 2bcat  .

Something like Honest Kitchen, I don't think you could feed that dry. The consistency doesn't really lend itself to that from what I remember. 

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No. The Honest Kitchen is dehydrated raw food, basically powder. So you have to rehydrate it with water before serving. Eating dry powder is difficult and messy and makes the body even more dehydrated because the digestive system has to draw water from within the body to make the powder somewhat digestible and to absorb the nutrients.

Thank you @2bcat I appreciate the detail and explanation regarding the freeze dried foods/treats. It is the pure bites chicken that I've been giving my cats and would rehydrate them. Glad to know the treats can be given as is also.
I have been thinking of adding in some freeze dried for meals so an extra thanks for the brand names given.

LTS3 that is exactly the reason I inquired about the freeze dried, didn't want to dehydrate the cats lol. Thank you for taking time to respond.

LotsofFur said:

I have been thinking of adding in some freeze dried for meals so an extra thanks for the brand names given.

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Our cats love both Primal and Stella & Chewy's. Freeze-dried is very convenient both because you don't need to keep it in the freezer and because it's easy to blend different flavors, for variety.