Thanks to freeze-drying’s gentle process, freeze-dried raw dog food is nearly nutritionally equivalent to raw food, the difference being that freeze-drying removes the water from the food. This makes it a convenient fridge-free option with a lengthy shelf-life.
Raw feeding is the gold standard, of course, and if you’ve got the knowledge to balance a raw diet, means of sourcing (access to healthy organs and quality bones), and time to prepare, you go, glen coco!
But when that’s not the case, there are options that are as close to eating whole fresh food as possible.
Gentle processes like freeze-drying allow ingredients to keep their best features (whole food vitamins & minerals) in a shelf-stable, fridge-free form that’s convenient for you.
When looking for freeze-dried raw pet foods, check with the manufacturer to ask whether they use raw ingredients. Some freeze-dried pet foods cook or HPP their ingredients before freeze-drying, so it’s really not comparable to the benefits of freeze-dried raw.
At the Simple Food Project, Dr. Bessent formulated recipes using only 13-16 real, raw whole food ingredients. The diets are nutritionally balanced using whole foods alone (no synthetic vitamins here).