# Dehydrated ground meat?



## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

Whenever Duke goes to shows he can't eat full raw so I was thinking I could maybe dehydrate some ground chicken so it's more of a powder or tiny bits that can be rehydrated with water. I was looking for ways to do it and I was thinking of rolling/patting it thin on parchment paper and dehydrating it (in a dehydrater) and then mashing it into a powder. I'm thinking if I do this right it will be like rehydrating the Honest Kitchen. 

Anyone ever try it with ground meat or have any ideas how to? Or does that sound like a good idea?

Thanks!


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

Just to satisfy my own curiousity, why can't he eat raw at shows?

If I were you I would buy some of the premade dehydrated dog foods. Vital Essentials is the one that my boss feeds and gives out samples of. Gunner loves it as a treat.


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

He goes with a handler and there's no room for that kind of thing in an RV, too much mess, etc. which I can understand. Plus, they don't see the point of raw. 

They won't feed raw period so I would have to do something that doesn't exactly look like raw. Vital kind of does so I don't know about that one...


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

SaharaNight Boxers said:


> He goes with a handler and there's no room for that kind of thing in an RV, too much mess, etc. which I can understand. Plus, they don't see the point of raw.
> 
> They won't feed raw period so I would have to do something that doesn't exactly look like raw. Vital kind of does so I don't know about that one...


Well my only advice then is to not sacrifice your dogs health to cater to others opinions. 

Vitals just looks like kibble IMO.


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

I won't go into the top part, but thanks I'll look into Vital too.

Oh and just to clarify he doesn't go away for weeks or months at a time. He goes for the weekend every so often and then comes back. Once we're far enough along they may just turn into fish days now that I think of it.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

I think it would take a lot of work and time, Vital Essentials nibblets or patties are just dried hunks, it doesn't really look like raw imo or Ziwipeak maybe would work. They won't even deal with frozen patties or the like? 

This is what the VE nibblets look like, that's a mix of beef and chicken. They are nice if I forget to take out food or they eat it too fast, the dogs love them as treats and even my cat will eat the chicken kind.


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

Well when you have 4 Boxers, a Frenchie, a litter of puppies, and two people in one RV with limited space you don't have room for much extra. It's a space thing too. Plus, Duke would be eating 1.5+ pounds a day. They don't have any problems with raw, some of the others are fed raw at home, not on the road. It's hectic there during shows I've seen it. 

And thanks for the pic, it definitely made it easier to understand.

And I've been looking at Only Natural Pet MaxMeat dog food. It like Ziwipeak (except in common flavors) and is practically Real Meat Pet dog food.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

You could dehydrate ground but it takes a while and he may not like it. I would buy it myself especially if it is only for two or three days here and there.


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## meggels (May 30, 2010)

I understand how feeding regular raw can be a bit of a pain in a traveling show situation. My friends and I would be in hotel rooms with their frenchies and they were raw fed lol. But when you have a handler, you can't always do exactly what *you* would do for the dogs. They were owner handled though in this case. 

I would suggest the raw patties or niblets by Vital Essentials.

Last year I took Murph away for a few days to PA to visit friends and wanted something that traveled a little easier than frozen raw, so I used the vital essentials dehydrated patties and it worked great for him. There's also Stella & Chewy's dehydrated raw, but I think Vital Essentials is a little higher quality. Ziwi Peak is another great option as mentioned. 

Just wanted to give my personal experience with the dehydrated VE


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Have you asked if they will feed the pre made patty stuff? 

When we are traveling, we have tried ZiwiPeak (MAJOR diarrhea) before, and it is easy, might be an option. 
What we do now, is just use canned fish for those days. No mess, no fuss. As simple as canned food really. 
Or, we fast. 

There are also several dehydrated diets that LOOK a lot like kibble, that you might consider. I understand how in that situation raw might be difficult.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

Corgipaws has a good idea, what about canned food? Even if it's not raw it's not kibble either, my dogs get Wysong canned venison once a week or so because they were giving away cases of it and it doesn't seem to bother them going from raw/cooked/raw. Would be less expensive then commercial raw as well.


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

That's an idea too. I was actually going to have to use canned this weekend because we can't order fast enough. If it works maybe I'll stick with it. I was just worried since its cooked and processed it might digest differently so thanks for saying that. I'm less worried now.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

I feed pre made raw not pmr but canned was the first thing to come to mind. I also feed The Honest Kitchen but i have a feeling this breeder won't want to bother rehydrating. Has he been to shows before? What has he been eating?


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## KittyKat (Feb 11, 2011)

Yeah i'd think a mix of canned fish/honest kitchen or the like might work


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

The rehydrating is no problem, at least I've heard it doesn't take that long. And he's just been eating kibble. 

For this time we're going to use the 95% meat canned Wellness foods.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

SaharaNight Boxers said:


> The rehydrating is no problem, at least I've heard it doesn't take that long. And he's just been eating kibble.
> 
> For this time we're going to use the 95% meat canned Wellness foods.


canned would be easier for them than the Honest Kitchen but I'm partial to THK, so...!


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

I might try them at some point. I'm trying to stick with all meat.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

I'd go for an all meat canned over HK anyday, that stuff seems really carb heavy from what I've seen and looks revolting. Canned usually smells horrendous too though.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

We tried the THK before raw obviously but after the initial excitement over a new food the dogs wouldn't eat it - even my piggy of a sheltie. I think the texture turned them off. I was also learning and it was to carb heavy for my liking.


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

GoingPostal said:


> I'd go for an all meat canned over HK anyday, that stuff seems really carb heavy from what I've seen and looks revolting. Canned usually smells horrendous too though.


Oh yeah that was the other thing too. It's like 45% carbs! Way too much for my liking.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

GoingPostal said:


> I'd go for an all meat canned over HK anyday, that stuff seems really carb heavy from what I've seen and looks revolting. Canned usually smells horrendous too though.


Revolting? Have you fed it? It looks different, I'll give you that but I can tell you from experience, if it does look revolting, dogs sure don't think so. I have fed this to 7 dogs and every one of them scarfed it right down. Now, if you think it's revolting, your dog can sense that and may not eat it because of your actions. Carb heavy? Some are, some aren't. Carb heavy comared to prey model raw, yes but not compared to some. Their carb levels are from 35% for Embark to 63.5% for their Preference which is the one you add meat to.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

SaharaNight Boxers said:


> Oh yeah that was the other thing too. It's like 45% carbs! Way too much for my liking.


Again, depending on the formula and compared to prey model, yes.


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## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

InkedMarie said:


> Revolting? Have you fed it? It looks different, I'll give you that but I can tell you from experience, if it does look revolting, dogs sure don't think so. I have fed this to 7 dogs and every one of them scarfed it right down. Now, if you think it's revolting, your dog can sense that and may not eat it because of your actions. Carb heavy? Some are, some aren't. Carb heavy comared to prey model raw, yes but not compared to some. Their carb levels are from 35% for Embark to 63.5% for their Preference which is the one you add meat to.


Yes I have fed it and it does look disgusting, are we not allowed to have an opinion here? My dogs eat it fine, they are dogs, they eat anything I throw in front of them. I guess it's no more carb heavy than some kibbles, but for a food that touts itself as "raw" and that expensive I don't see what's so great about it, it's still not designed for a carnivore.


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## InkedMarie (Sep 9, 2011)

GoingPostal said:


> Yes I have fed it and it does look disgusting, are we not allowed to have an opinion here? My dogs eat it fine, they are dogs, they eat anything I throw in front of them. I guess it's no more carb heavy than some kibbles, but for a food that touts itself as "raw" and that expensive I don't see what's so great about it, it's still not designed for a carnivore.


It doesn't tout itself as raw, not sure where you saw that.


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