So, what exactly does Freeze Dried mean?

Two things about the blog before I go further - I'm not here to preach or judge. We all do the best we can with the resources we have. And I'm also not looking to knock other brands, as there are several out there trying to improve animals lives. I just thought that I'd share the knowledge that I have gathered after a year-long journey to discover the best way to nourish our Fury Family Members. I am being guided by a qualified pet nutritionist and my own research using pet industry information. I'd love to hear your feedback, and please, let's be respectful when we communicate.

My freeze dry journey started about a year ago, when I glanced at the ingredients list of a popular pet treat that I gave to my Labradoodle Daisy and Cavoodle Charlie. Charlie has exactly zero recall at the park, so I'd head off with a pocket full of these "treats", and yes, they (usually) did the job. But I'm very conscious of how I feed my human family, and I try to cook most things from scratch when time and my energy allows, and I'm generally guided by the number of ingredients on a pack - the less the better. Given the dogs are very much a part of the family, I started to feel uneasy about how I was feeding them too. To be honest, I'm still feeding them some kibble, although I'm looking to eventually remove that from their diet entirely.

Having looked at different ways to produce treats, freeze drying became the obvious choice for a number of reasons. One myth about freeze drying is that it cooks the produce - it simply removes the water content, it does not cook it. Therefore our treats are raw. It retains the shape & smell of the produce, and most importantly, the nutritional value of the proteins we use. Our various proteins are delivered frozen from the farms, and gently freeze dried, packaged and despatched. That's it. Nothing added whatsoever. Removing the water content also removes the need for preservatives.

Our treats have a shelf life of a minimum of two years in our re-sealable foil packaging. They are super lightweight as, depending upon the protein, between 50% & 75% of the weight is removed with the water. As the result of the water weight loss, freeze dried treats can seem expensive, but for every 100kg of raw produce we dry we end up with a fraction of that in the packet. The good news is that it's dense with nutrients, so you only need to treat your BFF with a small amount and you're doing their health good at the same time!

We're currently in R&D with a number of other products. I'd love to hear from any pet parents who are looking for a particular product that they are finding hard to source, or they're not confident about the quality of the produce and would like to feed their pet 100% Aussie produce.

Thanks for coming along with us on this journey. We're on a mission to change the way our BFFs are fed. Their health is in our hands, so lets make the best choices we possibly. can.

From Jenny, Daisy, Charlie and The Paw Grocer Team 🐾❤

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