Raw feeding is the closest thing to a dog or cat’s natural, ancestral diet. Remember, today’s furry friends are 99% the same from a DNA perspective as wild wolves and cats that prowl for food outside. And now there are multiple brands and formats that can give your pet the wild flavors and nutrients they desire.

In lieu of hunting down some wild prey for your furry friend’s stainless steel bowl, try brands like Primal, ZiwiPeak and Stella & Chewy’s which have made it much simpler to get the raw food your furry friend craves. The raw foods we carry at Kriser’s are comprised primarily of protein (meat) and minimal vegetables, with some with fortification in the form of vitamins and minerals to help round out the meal.

The basic three formats for raw that you can find at Kriser’s are:

Air Dried – ZiwiPeak is the best example of this. The raw bits resemble jerky and are made up of fresh, natural, raw meat and organs, plus vitamins and minerals for added goodness. It’s a protein-rich diet that your pets will gobble up. Our only watchout: be cautious of overfeeding your pet on this. Because of the quality of the calories your pet is getting, you don’t need to feed as much quantity to get the same nutrition! A little goes a long way as this nutrient dense food packs a 3-to-1 ratio in comparison to its frozen raw counterpart.

Freeze-Dried – Freeze dried is among the most convenient. These little patties and niblets of food that are insanely light. But add water to rehydrate and they become delish meals for your furry friend. They are great for camping and hiking, or just to have in the house.

You can even crumble a small amount over food as a topper to a kibble diet, or break up little pieces as the occasional decadent treat. With cats in particular, make sure you’re rehydrating that freeze-dried food enough; because they don’t innately drink much water, cats need to get dietary moisture from their food to maintain their digestive and urinary tract health. While pets love the crunch over kibble or as a treat, if this is their primary food source, you need to be sure to rehydrate it to avoid constipation or dehydration.

Frozen Raw – This is what many of our team feeds their pets. It has all the natural moisture and nutrients of raw proteins, and pets gobble it up! Frozen raw requires a bit of planning, since you have to defrost the meal in advance. (Microwaving kind of defeats the purpose!) We recommend putting the next frozen meal in the fridge to defrost when you serve the already defrosted meal today. If you prefer you can safely defrost up to 3 days worth of food in advance…just stop short of the entire bag. You wouldn’t want to eat week old hamburger meat and neither would your furry friend! Keep it fresh and only defrost what you need.

With any food, even raw, we strongly recommend a probiotic and enzyme supplement to help break it down and make it more efficiently utilized by your pet’s body.

Let us know what you think! And if you have any questions, stop by a Kriser’s store and speak with a pack member.