As pet parents, we want to give our furry friends the best, especially their food. Raw pet food is gaining popularity as a healthier alternative to dry and canned foods. Air-dried, freeze-dried, and dehydrated are the options becoming increasingly available.

However, as a pet parent, you may wonder what the differences are between these options and why you should switch.

What is Air-Dried Pet Food?

Air-dried raw pet food is a manufacturing process where ingredients are slowly dried using air. It removes moisture from the ingredients, eliminates harmful pathogens that may be present, and preserves vital nutrients, offering nutrition similar to a raw diet.

The air-drying process doesn't use heat. Not using heat helps preserve a high level of nutrients and minimize damage to proteins, vitamins, sensitive nutrients, and enzymes in raw pet food compared to other drying methods.

Air-dried pet food is a convenient way of providing pets with the nutritional benefits of a raw diet without the need to handle raw meat.

What is Freeze-Dried Pet Food?

Freeze-dried pet food is made by slowly removing moisture from the raw ingredients while still maintaining its state using a process known as lyophilization. During the freeze-drying process, raw food, in its frozen state, is put through a vacuum chamber where the ice crystals sublimate and moisture is extracted while avoiding heat damage to the nutrients, flavor, and texture.

Freeze-drying makes pet food shelf-stable, easy to store, and convenient to transport without using artificial preservatives. It also has a long shelf life and is ideal for pet owners who travel frequently with their pets or need to store pet food for emergencies.

What is Dehydrated Pet Food?

Dehydrated pet food is a type of pet food that has all the moisture removed from it to preserve the food for longer storage. The dehydration process usually involves heating the raw ingredients of the pet food at low temperatures for a given period to reduce the water content.

Since the dehydration process does not involve high temperatures, it helps to preserve more nutrients, vitamins, and minerals in comparison to traditional cooking methods.

One advantage of dehydrated pet food is that it is shelf-stable and does not require refrigeration because the dehydration process removes all the moisture content from the food, preventing mold growth, and bacterial contamination. Dehydrated pet food usually requires rehydration with water before feeding to the pets.

Choose the Healthiest Food for Your Pet

If you're planning to try dry pet food, try the freeze-dried pet food products from Paws Food Express. We are a pet store conveniently located in Houston, Texas, and we offer selections of freeze-dried dog food and freeze-dried cat food on our website.

Why don't you try our products?

We’ll deliver it to your doorstep, even if you reside up to 30 miles from our store – that’s for sure.