“When you hydrate our whole food mixes, you activate the foods naturally occurring enzymes so the food will begin to break down if left out at room temperature for long periods. Once hydrated, we recommend leaving it out for only 30-40 minutes at a time. Whatever is not eaten may be covered and refrigerated for up to 48 hours. It can be fed again but we do not recommend feeding cold, directly out of the fridge. Adding a bit of warm water to take the chill off is preferable.

For cats, many holistic vets recommend eliminating free feeding, as this is not natural for a cat’s body. Periods of emptiness are actually ideal for a cat and there health often suffers if allowed to free feed, especially a dry kibble. Cats MUST take in moisture with their food in order for their digestion to work optimally. The ideal for most of our domestic cats is 2-3 regular scheduled feedings each day, of a moist food. J

How much you feed each cat will depend on their individual weight, body condition, metabolism, etc. The feeding guidelines for our cat foods are found on our website on the following page. Scroll down to find the chart for cats.

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/learn/how-to-feed/

You may also find the following very helpful and informative. If there’s anything else we may help you with, please let us know.

http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FEEDING%20YOUR%20CAT%208-10%20Short%202-12-10.pdf

Kibble is not the best thing you can feed a dog or cat because it lacks moisture content. Making a little gravy with some of the dehydrated raw can help make the kibble you feed a more biologically appropriate food for your pets. Dry pet food only has about 12% moisture, compared to 70-80% moisture in raw, canned, or dehydrated raw food. Dogs and cats that have eaten nothing but dry food all their lives usually suffer some sort of organ stress (usually in the kidneys/urinary tract system) due to the lack of moisture in their diets.

“If you can’t or don’t want to feed whole raw or canned food, a good middle-of-the-road choice is dehydrated raw food. Dehydrated means it’s dry, but only until you add warm water. Then it becomes a biologically appropriate food with about 70 percent water (or more, if you want to add more).

Dehydrated raw means the food hasn’t been processed at high temperatures and in many cases the nutrient value has been retained. Dehydrated raw isn’t true raw. Truly raw food will decompose if you leave it out on a counter at room temperature. Dehydrated raw won’t.

Dehydrated raw is a good go-between diet for pets that are being transitioned from dry food to raw, or for pet owners who don’t want to feed true raw or canned diets.

I also like this type of food for its digestibility and also for the different protein sources available, for example, turkey, beef, chicken and fish. When you add water to the powder, it turns into the consistency of gruel. It’s a great choice for animals with gastrointestinal sensitivities or that are recovering from GI surgery.

I recommend it for pet owners who want to feed a grain free diet but aren’t comfortable with raw. I also recommend it as a transitional food for pets that are coming off a bland diet for a GI problem or pancreatitis, for example.

As regular readers of my newsletter know, I’m a firm believer in feeding a wide variety of foods to pets. I love the idea of mixing things up by serving a combination of different varieties of raw, canned and dehydrated raw.

Make sure the brand you select is AAFCO approved for all life stages to insure it’s a nutritionally complete diet for your dog or cat.”