Dehydrated cat food?

[felineempathy]

There isn't a lot of thread history on this topic.

Anybody have any experience with dehydrated cat foods?  Any feedback?  I've been curious about this stuff after exploring food options.  Apparently (I read) it can serve as a direct alternative to frozen raw - and you can add canned to that as well.  And I assume it's nothing like dry since you add a bunch of water so they can get moisture out of it and the ingredients appear to be healthy.

The most intriguing brand I've found is The Honest Kitchen - Prowl.  There's also Addiction but I don't like how many fruits are in it.  It looks like a box of Prowl can go a long way compared to canned food.  Are there any other dehydrated brands that anybody knows of?

This seems like it would be a good alternative and easy on the wallet.  I'm thinking about getting a sample pouch first to see if Shanoah likes it.  If she does then I'm thinking about giving her dehydrated and canned as a rotation....of course feedback from the cat community and vets are highly valued for my decision as well 

Thanks everybody,

Aaron

 

[2cats4me]

 
There isn't a lot of thread history on this topic.

Anybody have any experience with dehydrated cat foods?  Any feedback?  I've been curious about this stuff after exploring food options.  Apparently (I read) it can serve as a direct alternative to frozen raw - and you can add canned to that as well.  And I assume it's nothing like dry since you add a bunch of water so they can get moisture out of it and the ingredients appear to be healthy.

The most intriguing brand I've found is The Honest Kitchen - Prowl.  There's also Addiction but I don't like how many fruits are in it.  It looks like a box of Prowl can go a long way compared to canned food.  Are there any other dehydrated brands that anybody knows of?

This seems like it would be a good alternative and easy on the wallet.  I'm thinking about getting a sample pouch first to see if Shanoah likes it.  If she does then I'm thinking about giving her dehydrated and canned as a rotation....of course feedback from the cat community and vets are highly valued for my decision as well 

Thanks everybody,

Aaron

I got some samples of Honest Kitchen Prowl & Grace  for my cats a few months ago .. I tried several times but they would not touch it .. But my cats are a pain . I think it is great food  though  .  I requested some samples of Addiction too but I am not sure if they will send any ..  I can't say how long  a box would last though since I never got past the sample packets but I will say just those little packets made a heap of food when rehydrated ..  I would definitely suggest getting the sample packet first .. 

 

[lisahe]

I've seen some threads about Honest Kitchen in the Raw Food part of the Nutrition forum -- here's a recent one. Sometimes it's hard to know where a thread will be... and sometimes the topic changes quickly in threads, too, so you never know where you'll find something good!

I've never fed Honest Kitchen (the carbs seem too high to me and it has potato, which seems to bother one of our cats) but I remember that some people have said their cats like it. The price seems reasonable, though.

Our cats eat a lot of Primal freeze-dried food, and we often mix in a little Stella & Chewy's, too. I love the convenience of freeze-dried foods.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I honestly have not heard of any cat that has liked The Honest Kitchen, and I know they have two different food...Prowl and one other.  I know that none of mine would touch it.

Mine DO eat and seem to love Stella and Chewys AND Feline Naturals dehydrated foods.  The issues with mine is, they really only like these foods in the dehydrated state

.  So....I give it do them as treats only.    Then I make sure I add extra water to their canned food to make sure they are well hydrated.  (Well, one of mine is a really picky little thing, so he pretty much makes a breakfast out of the  Feline Naturals, then I make sure that for lunch he eats "soup"

..I add about as much water as canned food to his bowl just to make sure he gets liquid in him

  He may not eat the food, but he will eventually drink up the liquid)  These two brands are not cheap, but I think they are well worth the price.  After all, if they don't eat it, what good is it? 

 

[felineempathy]

 
I got some samples of Honest Kitchen Prowl & Grace  for my cats a few months ago .. I tried several times but they would not touch it .. But my cats are a pain . I think it is great food  though  .  I requested some samples of Addiction too but I am not sure if they will send any ..  I can't say how long  a box would last though since I never got past the sample packets but I will say just those little packets made a heap of food when rehydrated ..  I would definitely suggest getting the sample packet first .. 

Yes, I'm going to try a sample packet first to see if she'll like it.  She's definitely not a picky eater...whether it's canned, dry, treats of any kind, she starts clawing on my legs when I prepare it.  According to Honest Kitchen, a 4 lb box lasts about 32-64 days (2 lb box would be half of that)  for an adult cat that weighs 6-10 lbs.  There's a whole chart on their site.

 
I've seen some threads about Honest Kitchen in the Raw Food part of the Nutrition forum -- here's a recent one. Sometimes it's hard to know where a thread will be... and sometimes the topic changes quickly in threads, too, so you never know where you'll find something good!

I've never fed Honest Kitchen (the carbs seem too high to me and it has potato, which seems to bother one of our cats) but I remember that some people have said their cats like it. The price seems reasonable, though.

Our cats eat a lot of Primal freeze-dried food, and we often mix in a little Stella & Chewy's, too. I love the convenience of freeze-dried foods.

Thanks Lisa.  I'm going to be honest, I didn't put a lot of effort into finding other threads with this topic.  But yeah, when it comes to Prowl, I'm a little concerned about the potatoes but I hear that potatoes aren't really a big issue when it comes to cats digesting it compared to grains, fruits, and veggies.  I think it depends more if your cat has a sensitive stomach or not.  And with Addiction, there's a lot wrong with the ingredients in that.

I'll have to crunch the numbers a little bit to figure out the cost differences between Prowl and whatever canned food I buy and how long each will last.  I'm pretty sure a box will last longer (32-64 days for an adult 6-10 lb cat, also depending on food measurements) and cost less then whatever canned food I buy.  Either way, if she likes it and I decide to go with it, I'll probably do half canned and half dehydrated as a rotation.

 

[chromium blues]

I used Feline Natural dehydrated raw for awhile with a very picky cat. It was easy to make up and she really thrived on it...Until miss fuss decided it was passé...That's cats for you! Its from New Zealand. If you try it, I will say, smash it up with a fork before you serve it.

 

[lisahe]

Originally Posted by FelineEmpathy  

Thanks Lisa.  I'm going to be honest, I didn't put a lot of effort into finding other threads with this topic.  But yeah, when it comes to Prowl, I'm a little concerned about the potatoes but I hear that potatoes aren't really a big issue when it comes to cats digesting it compared to grains, fruits, and veggies.  I think it depends more if your cat has a sensitive stomach or not.  And with Addiction, there's a lot wrong with the ingredients in that.

I'll have to crunch the numbers a little bit to figure out the cost differences between Prowl and whatever canned food I buy and how long each will last.  I'm pretty sure a box will last longer (32-64 days for an adult 6-10 lb cat, also depending on food measurements) and cost less then whatever canned food I buy.  Either way, if she likes it and I decide to go with it, I'll probably do half canned and half dehydrated as a rotation.

I think problems with potato are relatively uncommon, particularly compared to grains or even fish. Our cats definitely have delicate stomachs, which is a big reason they're on such a high-protein, low-carb diet. Half canned and half raw foods work really well for our cats, both for convenience and balancing things (be they nutrients or cost!) out. I hope it works well for you, too. Good luck with the food!

 

[felineempathy]

 
I honestly have not heard of any cat that has liked The Honest Kitchen, and I know they have two different food...Prowl and one other.  I know that none of mine would touch it.

Mine DO eat and seem to love Stella and Chewys AND Feline Naturals dehydrated foods.  The issues with mine is, they really only like these foods in the dehydrated state

.  So....I give it do them as treats only.    Then I make sure I add extra water to their canned food to make sure they are well hydrated.  (Well, one of mine is a really picky little thing, so he pretty much makes a breakfast out of the  Feline Naturals, then I make sure that for lunch he eats "soup"

..I add about as much water as canned food to his bowl just to make sure he gets liquid in him

  He may not eat the food, but he will eventually drink up the liquid)  These two brands are not cheap, but I think they are well worth the price.  After all, if they don't eat it, what good is it? 

 
I used Feline Natural dehydrated raw for awhile with a very picky cat. It was easy to make up and she really thrived on it...Until miss fuss decided it was passé...That's cats for you! Its from New Zealand. If you try it, I will say, smash it up with a fork before you serve it.

Thanks for the feedback and new brands names I can check out from both of you.  My cat isn't a picky eater so it shouldn't be a problem but I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't touch it though.  I saw the mixing of the Honest Kitchen dog food and it looked like a thick soup, so some cats may not like that.  

Speaking of picky cats, my brothers cat, Watson (big orange fluffy ragamuffin), is picky and only likes dry food.  One time my brother tried canned food with him, he'd sit there and stare at the food and then turn his head and stare at my brother.  It's a funny moment if you imagine it.

 
I think problems with potato are relatively uncommon, particularly compared to grains or even fish. Our cats definitely have delicate stomachs, which is a big reason they're on such a high-protein, low-carb diet. Half canned and half raw foods work really well for our cats, both for convenience and balancing things (be they nutrients or cost!) out. I hope it works well for you, too. Good luck with the food!

Thanks! I'm going to do a little research on potatoes in cat food.  I've also been doing a little on gums in canned cat food.

 

[lisahe]

 
Thanks! I'm going to do a little research on potatoes in cat food.  I've also been doing a little on gums in canned cat food.

Potatoes and gums have gotten so ubiquitous! Our cats seem to tolerate the gums okay, at least so far -- they're in some of their Weruva canned foods -- but I know some Cat Site members try to avoid them. I haven't done much research on them. I hope you'll post something about your research findings!

 

[lisamarie12]

LisaHE & FelineEmpathy:

There is some interesting info re: both guar gum and xanthan gum:

http://catcentric.org/2014/04/14/pet-food-ingredients-to-avoid-guar-gum/

http://catcentric.org/2014/03/30/pet-food-ingredients-to-avoid-xanthan-gum/

I don't care for the potatoes in HK either - too starchy.

 

[Freedom]

Funny this thread is up today; yesterday I stopped in a pet store I tend to avoid, to pick up last minute supplies for the pending snow storm.  They had samples of Honest Kitchen so I grabbed a bunch.

Last evening I opened one packet of chicken and one of turkey.  Grace and Prowl (don't ask me which is which flavor, I'd have to go check).  I put one in one room, one in another.  Within half an hour, all gone.  My cats tend to have kibble available and canned once a day; so they are always looking for the wet stuff. 

 

[lisahe]

 
LisaHE & FelineEmpathy:

There is some interesting info re: both guar gum and xanthan gum:

http://catcentric.org/2014/04/14/pet-food-ingredients-to-avoid-guar-gum/

http://catcentric.org/2014/03/30/pet-food-ingredients-to-avoid-xanthan-gum/

I don't care for the potatoes in HK either - too starchy.

Thank you for these links, LisaMarie12! I read Catcentric and think I did read these way back... and then I wondered where I'd seen them! Oh, gums, how I be rid of ye? (Our cats like Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen...)

 

[lisamarie12]

LisaHE:

Great - glad to pass along the info!

Re: the gums, it's very frustrating. My local pet food retailer recently brought in Mauri cat food (recommended by someone else on this site, not only grain-free, but very little fruits and vegetables). While it doesn't have carrageenan, it does have three different gums: locust bean, guar and xanthan. The cats have been "gum free" for over a year, I decided to sample Mauri's brushtail and kangaroo - wow, they really liked them both but especially kangaroo, licked their bowls clean and wanted more. The gums, however, are on the second line of the ingredients and when you open up a can, you can see that jelly-gummy stuff - ick. It's a pity b/c otherwise the ingredients are fine, mostly meat. I may email the company with those same links I posted, see if they respond back to me.

 

[felineempathy]

I thought I'd post an update regarding my venture into the Honest Kitchen.

I did finally buy the sample packets last week, I got two chicken and two turkey.  I gave Shanoah each flavor every other day for four days in place of her dinner canned food.  Well just like any food I give her, she rubs against my legs meowing and stands on her rear legs leaning against the counter while I'm preparing the food.  She gobbled it all up and licked her bowl clean.  I was worried that she wouldn't like the soupy/gravy texture but that's not the case.

So today I bought a 4 lb Prowl (chicken) box from Mud Bay.  I still want to create a system and keep canned in her diet though.  If she was on a full Honest Kitchen meal plan, she'd get about a 1/2 cup dehydrated a day (plus 1/2 cup water).  But I want to do something like 3/8 dehydrated (plus 3/8 water) per day and 1 3oz can of other variety of meats that aren't chicken.  Or I could start getting and splitting 5.5oz cans if 3oz is to much.  But I need to figure out how many oz's she needs per day.  I guess there's nothing wrong with exclusively feeding Honest Kitchen chicken either.

I also crunched the numbers: a 4 lb box of Honest Kitchen is about $44 here and it lasts about 1-2 months if Shanoah was on it all the time.  Even the cheapest 3oz canned food that I buy per month is $1.25 - so that's $1.25 x 31 days = $38.75 x 2 (give her 2 per day) = $77.50 per month.  Honest Kitchen is definitely easier on the wallet.  I even have room to give her some canned food still.       

 

[anne with cats]

WOW! Great links to additives and various raw feeding applications. I really need to get the Tasin grinder out of the box(that I bought 2 years ago!) and start preparing Lisa Pierson DVM and Anne Jablonski's rawbrecipes.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

So glad Shanoah liked it!