# Freeze Dried Dog Food??



## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

I absolutely love KiwiPeak Fish and Venison. If I could afford to feed it to my five, I would.


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

I have been feeding Grandma Lucy's for over 2 years and love it. I rotate between Artisen Pork, Pureformance Rabbit and now, Valor fish. Those are the proteins Tayla can have. I mix mine with their Orijen kibble. Its a very healthy choice. Moisture is very important in their diet and kibble just lacks that.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

I feed my guys Sojos freeze dried food. I rotate between turkey, beef and lamb. They are on a 50-50 kibble/raw diet. Kibble for breakfast and raw for supper. I would feed Sojos more often but it is costly so they only get it on Wednesdays.


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## JMME (Jun 18, 2012)

The ZiwiPeak food looks amazing! It's definitely pretty pricey though, so I can only imagine how much it would cost a month to feed five big, active dogs. What are you currently feeding them?

Grandma Lucy's Pure Performance and Artisan seem pretty reasonable price wise when fed in combination with kibble and a step closer to us feeding raw.

I've noticed a lot of people mention rotating foods. I've always been under the impression "if a food works, just keep them on it and don't do a lot of changes." Is it beneficial to switch it up more often? I have switched between the Fromm four star flavors before, but I usually stick with surf n turf. Do you guys switch foods every other day or meal? Does it help prevent intolerances? Just curious!


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

JMME said:


> The ZiwiPeak food looks amazing! It's definitely pretty pricey though, so I can only imagine how much it would cost a month to feed five big, active dogs. What are you currently feeding them?
> 
> Grandma Lucy's Pure Performance and Artisan seem pretty reasonable price wise when fed in combination with kibble and a step closer to us feeding raw.
> 
> I've noticed a lot of people mention rotating foods. I've always been under the impression "if a food works, just keep them on it and don't do a lot of changes." Is it beneficial to switch it up more often? I have switched between the Fromm four star flavors before, but I usually stick with surf n turf. Do you guys switch foods every other day or meal? Does it help prevent intolerances? Just curious!


 I keep the kibble the same for long periods especially if I find one I like and they do well on. I do keep my eye out for changes in that food, ie company was sold or there have been issues with manufacturing. Grandma Lucy's I rotate after every bag to a new flavor. I just think each protein sources brings something new to the table. If they like it there is no specific need to rotate.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

I feed Molly raw and there are days I forget to thaw the next day's meals. I feed Real Meat air dried food as backup.


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## JMME (Jun 18, 2012)

Thank you Tayla's Mom. I've really liked Fromm Four Star so far as it seems to really work well with both dogs. I like the idea of switching the Grandma Lucy's for more variety though. Vhuynh2, how time consuming is it to prepare Molly's meals?


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

JMME said:


> Thank you Tayla's Mom. I've really liked Fromm Four Star so far as it seems to really work well with both dogs. I like the idea of switching the Grandma Lucy's for more variety though. Vhuynh2, how time consuming is it to prepare Molly's meals?


100% homemade raw is pretty time consuming. I think the mess is the worst part. Cleanup is more than just washing knives, bowls, etc, it's counters and floors too. I used to think it wasn't so bad but when you've been doing it for over a year.. it gets old.

So I've actually started feeding The Honest Kitchen base mix and I add raw meat to complete the diet. I am not sure yet if I am going to stick with THK but it sure is a lot easier than preparing meals.


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## JMME (Jun 18, 2012)

That does sound like it would get old pretty quickly! Lol although I'm sure my dogs would enjoy me making a mess on the floor... More food for them . I feel like adding meat to a mix would be doable and definitely something to talk over with my husband. Thanks for getting back to me!


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## jrr (May 26, 2012)

Fromm Four Stars and Classic Mature with Sojo's Premix. Honest Kitchen is excellent but hard to get at reasonable prices. Sojo's has competitive pricing. Tried Grandma Lucy but I didn't like the oatmeal look, dogs loved it.Knock on wood all 3 dogs are healthy as all get out


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## sarara (Oct 28, 2018)

I am curious if anyone has used Stella and Chewy's Freeze dried food?? It doesn't have pea protein or potatoes and is supplemented with Taurine. I really want to feed raw, but currently we do not have the fridge and freezer space to do so, this perhaps could be the intermediate? I included the nutritional info for the chicken variety


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## sarara (Oct 28, 2018)

Oops realized I forgot to attach!


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

JMME said:


> The ZiwiPeak food looks amazing! It's definitely pretty pricey though, so I can only imagine how much it would cost a month to feed five big, active dogs. What are you currently feeding them?
> 
> Grandma Lucy's Pure Performance and Artisan seem pretty reasonable price wise when fed in combination with kibble and a step closer to us feeding raw.
> 
> I've noticed a lot of people mention rotating foods. I've always been under the impression "if a food works, just keep them on it and don't do a lot of changes." Is it beneficial to switch it up more often? I have switched between the Fromm four star flavors before, but I usually stick with surf n turf. Do you guys switch foods every other day or meal? Does it help prevent intolerances? Just curious!



How dogs get allergies because they are fed the same thing and never switch. Allergies are developed in dogs, they aren't just allergic for no reason. A food that isn't designed to rotate often should be rotated every 8 months to a year as switching the food changes the skin and coat and if you're always changing every 3 or 4 bags, their system is always in flux. It takes 2-3 months to change the skin and for long hair dogs up to 5 months to change the coat (coat only corrects/changes growing out of corrected skin).


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

Maggie'sVoice said:


> How dogs get allergies because they are fed the same thing and never switch. Allergies are developed in dogs, they aren't just allergic for no reason. A food that isn't designed to rotate often should be rotated every 8 months to a year as switching the food changes the skin and coat and if you're always changing every 3 or 4 bags, their system is always in flux. It takes 2-3 months to change the skin and for long hair dogs up to 5 months to change the coat (coat only corrects/changes growing out of corrected skin).



That may be the case for some dogs, and I haven't seen the science, so I don't know for sure, but it isn't the case for the vast majority who eat the same food their entire lives and never develop allergies. I would venture to guess that most people do not switch up their dog's food every 3 to 4 bags. You find a food that works, and (with any luck) that's what the dog eats for 10-15 years.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

Sweet Girl said:


> That may be the case for some dogs, and I haven't seen the science, so I don't know for sure, but it isn't the case for the vast majority who eat the same food their entire lives and never develop allergies. I would venture to guess that most people do not switch up their dog's food every 3 to 4 bags. You find a food that works, and (with any luck) that's what the dog eats for 10-15 years.



You missed the point. It's not automatic that not changing the food means you will develop allergies, it's that how allergies develop is over time on what you're exposed to the most consistently and in the highest concentrations. Also, dogs will only be allergic to amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins. This means dogs can't be allergic to fats or oils. That means the dog can have issues with chicken but can have chicken fat. But that is also based on the quality of chicken fat/ food company to make sure it's clean fat and no meat in it.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

Anyway on the freeze dried foods, they are fine and great to use but the absolute most expensive way to make a dog. The freeze dried process is what makes the foods much more expensive. I use Stella's and Nature's Variety Instinct freeze dried as treats mostly but is great to take with you for trips and not have to worry about keeping raw food frozen. Not as bug of a fan as fed as the entire diet. The freeze drying breaks down the fatty acids some (Omega 6 and 3s). I know a few dogs that have gotten a drier skin on some of the freeze dried diets so I don't trust them as much as a stand alone diet long term.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

Maggie'sVoice said:


> You missed the point. It's not automatic that not changing the food means you will develop allergies, it's that how allergies develop is over time on what you're exposed to the most consistently and in the highest concentrations. Also, dogs will only be allergic to amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins. This means dogs can't be allergic to fats or oils. That means the dog can have issues with chicken but can have chicken fat. But that is also based on the quality of chicken fat/ food company to make sure it's clean fat and no meat in it.



No, don't think I missed the point. You're saying that dogs develop allergies from being on the same food, with no rotation of protein, for years and years. I'm simply pointing out that that is not what happens to the vast majority of dogs who eat the same food their entire lives. So the very few who do develop allergies, maybe it is because of this build-up of one protein (and I haven't seen the science on that - but would love to, and that is not sarcasm at all). But maybe it's not. And I just want it to be clear that there is no absolute that just because your dog eats one protein its entire life that it will develop allergies.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

Sweet Girl said:


> No, don't think I missed the point. You're saying that dogs develop allergies from being on the same food, with no rotation of protein, for years and years. I'm simply pointing out that that is not what happens to the vast majority of dogs who eat the same food their entire lives. So the very few who do develop allergies, maybe it is because of this build-up of one protein (and I haven't seen the science on that - but would love to, and that is not sarcasm at all). But maybe it's not. And I just want it to be clear that there is no absolute that just because your dog eats one protein its entire life that it will develop allergies.



Allergies are developed over time and that is how they develop 90% of the time. Other ways is issues from things like vaccine issues like Lepto that can cause auto immune issues, but are far less the reason. I never said it was absolute, and if you feed the same thing your dog WILL develop allergies, just that you can usually bet if your dog develops an allergy, and you never changed your dogs food for a very long time, years even, that is more then likely the reason. That if you fed the same thing for years, that is the first thing you should look at and that's probably your cause.



Ever hear of people who eat shrimp their whole life and the last time they do, end up in the hospital? That is a true true anaphylactic reaction, not a sensitivity like 90% what a dogs allergy or reaction is.


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