# Rehydrating Freeze Dried Food



## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

Happy Saturday, everyone!!! It's been a long time since I've posted, but I have a question about rehydrating freeze dried dog food - specifically Stella and Chewey's.

I've been feeding frozen raw which I defrost in fridge over night so it's ready first thing in the morning, but they seem to have lost interest in it and it's a pain to make sure I have it on hand, plus don't have much room in the freezer. So....

I fed the S&C to my crew this morning for the first time and even my picky eater loved it. But, it took so long to rehydrate. I did crumble it up in small pieces to speed up the process and used warm water, but they were crazy wondering where their food was. And, I know on work days, it's going to cause an issue with my schedule.

Anyway, does anyone rehydrate it over night in the fridge? Do you think it would work? I've emailed S&C, but haven't received a reply. I even called their number on the website, but it tells me the call cannot be completed as dialed. 

Thanks!!!!

Linda


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## Dominic (Nov 4, 2012)

Which S&C are you using? Mine love duck duck and chicken, I just run hot water over the whole pattie then slice it up with the scissor, it feels like a sponge. Often I have to wait to cool off before serving.


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

I fed them the venison patties. If you're using water hot enough that you have to wait for it to cool off aren't you worried about actually cooking it and negating it being raw food? One of mine can't have any poultry so we usually stick with venison or rabbit as the protein no matter which food we feed. Wish they could have chicken - it's always cheaper!!!  Thanks for your reply!!
Forgot to add: is the consistency supposed to be paste like or is the inside still crunchy?


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## Dominic (Nov 4, 2012)

I feed my dogs the raw food since I got them. I gave up on the frozen for several reasons and have been doing the dehydrate S&C only. I don't use boiling water, it's hot-warm water and it has to cool off as as soon as I run the water over the pattie it is done and I don't give them warm food. They didn't like the venison and I don't feed them rabbit for personal reasons. They also like the surf and turf and that takes longer to hydrated. Chicken is their overall favorite food!

Forgot to answer - consistency is like, huh, like the sponge we use to wash the dishes when wet. Now how's that for a comparison? I'll talk a picture tonight.


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## SpringHasSprung (May 4, 2007)

We don't hydrate it at all. Both my girls are grazers, so we just break up the patties and put the pieces in the bowl. They can then eat them whenever they wish. We have done this for many years. They are healthy as can be!


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

Dominic said:


> I feed my dogs the raw food since I got them. I gave up on the frozen for several reasons and have been doing the dehydrate S&C only. I don't use boiling water, it's hot-warm water and it has to cool off as as soon as I run the water over the pattie it is done and I don't give them warm food. They didn't like the venison and I don't feed them rabbit for personal reasons. They also like the surf and turf and that takes longer to hydrated. Chicken is their overall favorite food!
> 
> Forgot to answer - consistency is like, huh, like the sponge we use to wash the dishes when wet. Now how's that for a comparison? I'll talk a picture tonight.


Thanks! I crumbled up their dinner in even smaller pieces and it didn't take as long. I feel kind of weird about the rabbit when I buy it - especially when they have rescues rabbits at the front of the store looking for forever homes.  Thanks for willing to take a picture.




SpringHasSprung said:


> We don't hydrate it at all. Both my girls are grazers, so we just break up the patties and put the pieces in the bowl. They can then eat them whenever they wish. We have done this for many years. They are healthy as can be!


I was reading that if you don't rehydrate then the protein or fat count is much higher. Not sure if that even made sense and if yours are healthy as can be that says a lot.  I don't think mine would like it dry though. 

So far they've had breakfast and dinner with the S&C - I've never had to slowly transition any of them when using high quality food. But, even with just these two meals their poop is so much different than when on the frozen raw. This might be TMI, but it's very dark - almost black - much larger and alot!!!! On the frozen raw they pooped after every meal, but it was very small and not a lot and a totally diferent consistency. Makes me wonder....

Wondering about poop! LOL Thanks again for your input, it means alot!!!!

Linda


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## Dominic (Nov 4, 2012)

This is how their food looks like after rehydrated. I like when it's soft enough but no liquid comes out of it when I'm slicing it. 

Right after slicing it (I grabbed a piece to see how hot it was and it wasn't hot at all, I can skip the waiting to serve step!) 










Ben is ready for dinner, Dom is already touching the bowl. I bet he was thinking, 'enough with pictures, hand us the food already'.










Edit to add - there is 4 patties in the bowl, that's for 3 dogs.


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

Beatriz, thanks for posting the picture!!! I think I may be putting too much water so it's taking longer to soak it all up. I'm using the amount of water the package recommends. 

I don't want to feed it to them if it's soupy - what a mustache/beard mess that would be. lol Either way they all love it!!! 

I only bought the 5 oz sample size and it's just about gone! I need to do the math on how many patties I'll need for a month. I hope my feed store is open today, which I kind of think it's not. So, they will probably have the sample Primal I bought for dinner! Uh-oh!

Your babies are adorable. Again, thanks for taking the time to share your experience and photos! Much appreciated!

Linda


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## edelweiss (Apr 23, 2010)

Beatriz, do you add anything to the reconstituted food?


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

Well, I figured out how much I'll need every month for my three and I'll need to take out a loan!!! However, I did place an order on Amazon for what I hope is going to be a month's worth. I have prime so that helped. We'll see how long it lasts! The two 5 pounders don't eat much (2 patties a day), but Sophie is a good 12 pounds so she needs twice as much a day!! But, they are so worth it! Also ordered through my Amazon Smile account so they'll make a donation to my charity of choice. So, it's all good!! 

Sandi, I noticed you asked Beatriz if she added anything to the food...I always give mine green beans with breakfast and dinner. Sophie had gained a lot of weight because of the cushings disease and filling her up with green beans helped to get that extra weight off. I feel like the green bean lady when I go to the grocery - I wipe the shelf out (I feed them the canned no salt variety). They will not eat the fresh or the frozen no matter how much time I take to steam them just right. Only the no salt canned.

Also wanted to add that they've been on frozen raw for years - just now switching to freeze dried.

Linda


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## Dominic (Nov 4, 2012)

edelweiss said:


> Beatriz, do you add anything to the reconstituted food?



Sandi, 

I give them S&C with nothing added for either breakfast or dinner. They get dr Harvey's Veg to Bowl or Sojos mix with added protein (pork or turkey) as their other meal. Often I do S&C in the mornings as they eat less than at dinner time.


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## Dominic (Nov 4, 2012)

Linda, you are very welcome. I think I add something like one tablespoon of water instead of two as it says on the package. When I make the veg to bowl I also add less water then it calls for, the veggies are soft and not soupy at all.


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

Well, they had Primal freeze dried for dinner tonight and it wasn't as big a hit as the Stella and Chewey's. 

Beatriz, when I first switched them off of dried kibble I fed them Dr. Harvey's veg to bowl and ground my own raw protein. I would fix that in batches and freeze it. Was that a chore! lol I even bought a meat grinder. And, I even called and talked to Dr. Harvey, who while quite eccentric, was a gem. He spent so much time with me discussing just the right food for my girls - at the time I just had Annie and Sophie. I can't remember why I stopped feeding Dr. Harvey's, but I think it was about the time that Sophie was diagnosed with Cushings. 

I thought about going with the Sojo's that has the turkey already mixed in, but at the time the holistic vet didn't think it was a good fit for my girls - not that it wasn't a good food, just not good for mine. She even sold it.

So glad I stopped back into SM to have someone to talk to about this. My regular friends think I'm a nut!!!! lol

Linda


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## edelweiss (Apr 23, 2010)

You ARE a nut! We all are!


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## littlefluffbabies (Apr 17, 2013)

You can definitely rehydrate the food over night in the fridge. If you are not going to rehydrate the food then please make sure that your fluffs drink an adequate amount of water or crumble over some steamed veggies with a little of the water from steaming left in.


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## shellbeme (Mar 1, 2011)

sophie said:


> Well, they had Primal freeze dried for dinner tonight and it wasn't as big a hit as the Stella and Chewey's.
> 
> Beatriz, when I first switched them off of dried kibble I fed them Dr. Harvey's veg to bowl and ground my own raw protein. I would fix that in batches and freeze it. Was that a chore! lol I even bought a meat grinder. And, I even called and talked to Dr. Harvey, who while quite eccentric, was a gem. He spent so much time with me discussing just the right food for my girls - at the time I just had Annie and Sophie. I can't remember why I stopped feeding Dr. Harvey's, but I think it was about the time that Sophie was diagnosed with Cushings.
> 
> ...


I haven't tried any of Dr. Harvey's products yet but I plan to add it in to our variety. He is so accessible to his customers and always seems like such a kind person, I am a big fan of his company.


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

This is the reply I received from Stella and Chewey's about rehydrating the night before feeding: 

Good morning Linda,

Thank you for your interest in Stella & Chewy's. I’m so happy to hear how well your dogs enjoy our products!

If you would like, you can rehydrate the food the night before and store it in a covered container in the refrigerator until morning. Please note, however, that if you refrigerate the product, it will then need to be fed cold. Our products cannot be cooked, heated, or microwaved. Even when rehydrating, we suggest cool or warm (never hot) water. Basically, the temperature should never be more than approximately baby-bottle temperature—this means you should be able to comfortably test it on the inside of your wrist.

It may be easier to just rehydrate the day of, with the knowledge that the water doesn’t need to fully absorb into the patty. When I rehydrate the freeze-dried food, I simply break it up some, add the cool or warm water, mix and serve. It’s just fine that some is partially dry, as long as the water is with the product.

I hope this helps to answer your questions—feel free to let me know if you have any others.

Have a great day,


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## sophie (Jul 9, 2006)

Thanks, Amanda. I'm definitely rehydrating and I think I finally have the rehydration timing down! I'm just a little OCD about this stuff. lol

Sandi, you are right - we are all nuts! lol

Shelly, you are right about Dr. Harvey - very accessible - something you just don't find these days. 

I ordered the S&C's and it should be here tomorrow! The girls will be so happy! 

Linda


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## Kathleen (Aug 4, 2011)

Linda, my Henry loves the freeze dried S&C, but isn't so excited about the frozen.
I would rather have him eat the frozen because it is much less expensive and also because I would like him to get the moisture.
I have been giving him half frozen and half freeze dried. I sprinkle the freeze dried on top of the frozen and trick him into eating some frozen.
Might be worth a try!


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## Rocky's Mom (Apr 10, 2010)

I started my Rocky on S&C and gave it to him with a little kibble and water. I only gave him 2 1/2 nuggets and some kibble and he scoffed it down asking for more. Am I not feeding him enough? I have the toppers instead of the patties. I thought the patties were more expensive so I'm giving it to him with Nature's Logic which is very tiny kibble. I gave him about 1/8 cup of kibble with the 2 1/2 nuggets of Stella and Chewy chicken. I will feed him this twice a day. Do you think this is enough? He still looked hungry after dinner, but I distracted him by taking him outside. I gave him a treat when we came in. Now this was the first day of doing this. He was not eating hardly at all. He hated his kibble and I wanted to change his diet anyway.


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