The freeze dry cat food is essentially a raw food packaged in a convenient container. Although this sounds strange, because we generally don't want our cats to eat raw food, this freeze dry cat food fits the carnivorous nature of cats.
One very important point we must not forget is that cats are actually predatory animals. They belong to the most ferocious carnivorous group of living creatures in the world.
When a lion or leopard is hungry to catch a wildebeest, they will not break the grill or spit. They will directly eat the raw meat of this animal.
The freeze dry cat food also contains the same instinctual factors. The freeze dry cat food can be cut into smaller pieces, making it easier for cat to bite. This prevents the cats from struggling to eat large pieces of meat.
The freeze dry cat food can also be added with fruits, vegetables and other supplements in the process to ensure the supply of key minerals and vitamins, so that cats of all ages can maintain health and normal functions.
The key principle behind the concept of freeze dry food is not just to provide raw animal meat for your pet. The entire freeze-drying process itself locks in the freshness of all food ingredients.
In this way, food can be better preserved, thereby reducing the loss of enzymes and nutrients. When your cat wants to eat freeze dry cat food, just add water.
Specifically, a certain amount of warm water can be added to freeze-dry it for some time to make the food "breathe". Then mix it up, and finally it is edible.
When you are new to the concept of freeze dry cat food, you may feel that it is related to dehydrated cat food and feel that the two terms are interchangeable.
This idea is very common, especially because both terms refer to foods that contain ingredients that are moisture-free and not baked, extruded, or heated at high temperatures. In addition, people generally think that the two processes of freeze dry cat food and dehydrated cat food are almost the same.
However, in fact, these two terms are not interchangeable. They look similar, but there is one factor that determines their differences.
According to the definition of the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), dehydrated food is defined as a material that has "moisture removed by heat treatment". This wonderful statement refers to heating the ingredients until every drop of water is removed, leaving only dry matter.
The freeze dried raw pet food is not heated to remove moisture. This concept is based on a low-pressure and vacuum environment, so that the moisture in the raw materials becomes solid ice, and then the ice is directly converted into steam, thereby removing the moisture in the food.
This longer and gentler process can lock in the compositional properties and structure of each ingredient without changing its essence, so that the texture, size and shape of each nutrient ingredient remain intact. This is something that the dehydration process cannot do.