November 11th, 2023 | No Comments

Dehydrated raw foods are not a new concept in the pet industry, however within recent years, the demand for these products has exploded. What began as a small, niche subcategory of pet food, is now a booming marketplace with many brands big and small vying to be the king of the dehydrated raw pet food castle.

Currently, the dehydrated pet food market is valued at $8.9-Billion USD and is projected to reach $14.2-Billion USD in ten years.

Dehydrated raw dog foods are ideal for pet owners seeking the highest quality diets for their dogs. Frozen raw diets have consistently been a very popular choice, however considering the hassles that come with storing, thawing, and handling frozen raw ingredients, dehydrated raw foods became a highly sought after alternative for their convenience among other things like variety, palatability, and product safety. 

Due to the fact that dehydrated raw foods often come at a higher price point compared to other popular pet food types (like dry/kibble and canned/wet foods) they’re not always an affordable long term option – especially for large dogs. DRF’s are highly versatile products with many possible uses. Resultantly, pet owners on a budget often choose to feed DRF’s as a food topper or a treat, as a complement to a complete and balanced commercial kibble or canned food. DRF’s are also a popular mouth-watering option as training treats as most dehydrated foods are either the ideal portion size for quick rewards or can be easily broken into smaller pieces.

What’s the Difference Between Air Dried and Freeze Dried Raw Dog Food?

These ultra-premium diets are primarily produced using two methods: air drying, and freeze drying. Air drying involves circulating warm, dry air around the food to slowly remove moisture. The temperature is typically kept low (often below the boiling point of water) to retain optimal nutrient content. Freeze-drying, on the other hand, involves rapidly freezing the food and then placing it in a vacuum chamber to remove moisture via a process called sublimation (where ice transitions directly to vapour without going through the liquid phase). Freeze-drying has a very high degree of nutritional retention as it preserves virtually all the nutrients, enzymes, and proteins present in raw ingredients.

Both of these dehydration methods result in an exceptionally high quality, shelf-stable product that is not only highly digestible, but extremely palatable! 

The Top Five Air Dried Raw Dog Food Brands in Canada:

Smack

Coming in as the #1-rated dog food in our Top 23 Canadian Made Dog Foods 2023 Rankings three years in a row, Smack makes one of the most impressive dog foods we’ve ever seen. In fact, all Smack recipes are so nutrient dense they don’t need to add any synthetic vitamins or minerals; all of the nutrients come from the carefully selected combination of superfood ingredients. 

Backed by expertise in food engineering, biochemistry, holistic medicine, and a passion for animals, Smack has all the tools needed to produce industry-leading products that have maximum nutrient retention.

Made in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Smack’s formulas exclusively contain wholefood ingredients, most of which are organic. Choose from Rockin Rockfish, Chunky Chicken, Very Berry Chicken, Caribbean Salmon, or Prairie Harvest Pork. 

Read our complete review of Smack here.

Ziwi Peak

Dating back to 2002, Ziwi Peak was way ahead of their time when they introduced their unique line of air-dried products to a new generation of increasingly health conscious pet owners.

As New Zealand’s largest pet food exporter, Ziwi Peak is one of the most recognizable dehydrated pet food brands in the world. New Zealand is well known for producing some of the highest quality red meats like beef, venison, and lamb. This is largely due to a number of factors, including vast expanses of natural grassland pastures, high quality assurance standards, sustainable farming practices, and more.

All Ziwi Peak recipes are loaded with the highest quality whole meats, organs, green lipped mussels, and even ground bone. A small amount of vitamins are added to every bite to ensure they have everything your pooch needs to thrive, too. 

Every Ziwi Peak recipe follows their PeakPrey® philosophy, which means their diets include everything your dog would naturally eat in the wild; meat, organs, seafood, and bone. 

Zeal

This Canadian made brand is no stranger to the dehydrated raw market. Based out of British Columbia, Zeal is part of a family of well-respected brands that includes Great Jacks, Buddy Jacks, and Lazy Kitty, too. All of these brands feature the highest quality dehydrated, locally sourced meats. 

Zeal’s recipes feature a 96% pure meat and organ inclusion, with the remaining 4% consisting of nutrient-dense ingredients like kelp, parsley, and enhanced with added vitamins and minerals. All Zeal products include whole organs, like heart, lung, liver, and spleen, providing a diverse range of animal ingredients to provide the nutrition and palatability to keep even the fussiest dogs coming back for more. 

The Honest Kitchen

Made in San Diego, California, Honest Kitchen’s recipes are quite unique. Rather than the traditional jerky-style texture, their foods come in a dehydrated powder that is akin to a soup base. In fact, that’s how many pet owners like to serve it, by simply adding water and turning it into a savoury stew-style meal. The Honest Kitchen products can be fed as a whole meal, or added to your pet’s favourite food to add that blast of flavour and increase nutrient density.

The Honest Kitchen were proudly the first to ma  ke certified human-grade pet foods. This means that the entire manufacturing process, from ingredient sourcing, to ingredient transportation, to how the final product is produced, is strictly regulated as though it were to be consumed by humans. Considering the pet industry is largely self-governing and subsequently has very few regulations, this is a highly desirable feature among educated pet owners.

The Honest Kitchen’s recipes are rich in wholefoods, and include a plethora of organic ingredients, too. Every formula is fortified with vitamins and minerals, to ensure their products are nutritionally complete and balanced. Featuring the highest quality beef, chicken, turkey, fish, or duck, dogs everywhere lick their chops to get more Honest Kitchen at mealtime.

CaniSource

Based out of Quebec since 2005, the Canisource brand’s premium “Grand Cru” line features six incredible dehydrated raw dog food recipes: Surf and Turf, Fish, Turkey, Pork and Lamb, Chicken and Duck, and Red Meat. Their meats are carefully chosen, and processed in an HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) certified plant. HACCP is unique because it proactively identifies and controls potential hazards in the production process, ensuring food safety through systematic prevention rather than end-product inspection.

All Grand Cru recipes are purposely designed by industry-leading nutritionists and prepared by hand with their team of professionals. Careful attention to quality is given to all of Grand Cru’s ingredients as they are all approved for human consumption. Meats, fresh fruits and vegetables are chopped down to a fine texture, then mixed with spices and wholegrain cereals to create the final mixture. From there, each batch is cut into small sections to form the final kibble-like shape before being air dried.

Every batch of Grand Cru is dehydrated over several hours at ultra low temperatures, which destroys bad bacteria while also preserving the naturally occurring nutrients contained in their raw ingredients.

The Top Five Freeze Dried Dog Food Brands in Canada:

Primal

Primal has been proudly making one of the world’s best dog foods for over two decades from their USA-based facilities in California and Texas. Primal is careful to choose ethically raised meats and certified organic produce to provide dogs with the highest degree of nutrition possible. Additionally, all meats used in Primal recipes are raised without the use of antibiotics, steroids, or added hormones.

Primal’s formulas are made entirely with wholefoods, with no synthetic vitamins or minerals added thanks to the nutrient density of the ingredients selected; no fortification is necessary. However, to take things a step further, all Primal recipes are fortified with taurine, which supports cardiac health, aids in fat digestion, nutrient absorption, and more. Wholefood ingredients like meats, fish oils, cranberries, kelp, and probiotics make this an ultra premium diet worthy of being mentioned among the top dehydrated raw pet foods in the pet marketplace. Primal’s freeze dried foods come in a small brick-like shape.

Stella & Chewy’s

Designed to mirror your dog’s ancestral diet, Stella & Chewy’s makes meat-centric diets that include the highest quality ground meat and bone, organic fruits and vegetables, and more. All Stelly & Chewy’s dehydrated raw diets are grain-free, thus are free from less desirable grains like corn, wheat, and soy. Furthermore, Stella & Chewy’s dehydrated raw diets are enriched with probiotics and antioxidants, and are fortified with essential vitamins and nutrients. This ensures that every bite is packed with the right nutrition, every time. There are no artificial preservatives or colourings added, either. All of the meats in these formulas are human-grade, responsibly sourced, primarily from North America. 

Stella & Chewy’s does an incredible job of making their recipes unique and highly palatable, too. For example, their Duck Duck Goose formula includes human-grade duck, turkey, and goose proteins, a unique combination not found elsewhere. 

Stella & Chewy’s dehydrated raw diets are very user-friendly as they come in a convenient puck-like shape. These pucks crumble easily as a food topper; mix them in with any dog food and watch your fussy pooch devour his meals again!

Open Farm

Open Farm is a North American favourite brand, largely due to their forward-thinking practices of sourcing the highest quality ingredients from smaller, sustainable-minded local farms, and ensuring every ingredient in their recipes can be openly traced. All Open Farm ingredients are human grade, and are all sourced from Canada and the USA, except for coconut oil and certain vitamins and minerals that are not available in North America.

Open Farm is a Toronto-based company that manufactures their products from their Minnesota-based production facility. To ensure the highest product quality, every Open Farm batch is tested by an independent third-party laboratory before it leaves the facility.

Open Farm’s dehydrated raw recipes include nothing but human-grade ground bone, organ meats, and a mix of organic produce. All meats used in Open Farm’s formulas are free from antibiotics and added growth hormones.

This is a truly wholesome brand that puts good farming practices and supporting local business first.

Open Farm’s freeze dried recipes come in a small, kibble-like shape that makes them easy to scoop and serve. They can also double as a highly-palatable training treat, too!

Acana/ Orijen

Acana and Orijen, made by Champion Pet Foods, have been exceptionally popular in Canada (and in many other countries) since 2005. Originally, Champion Pet Foods focused solely on ultra-premium kibbles, followed by an impressive line of human-grade canned(wet) foods. More recently, Champion Pet Foods introduced freeze dried options to bolster their already outstanding line of premium diets. 

Champion Pet Foods has a world-class team of food scientists and nutritionists leading the research and development of their products. They have a tremendous reputation for innovative manufacturing practices from their Alberta-based Northstar Kitchen. The vast majority of ingredients used in Acana and Orijen are sourced from sustainable, human-grade farms located within 100 km of their facility.

Orijen and Acana dehydrated raw dog formulas are available in either a morsel or a patty, making it easy to get the right size and shape for your dog’s individual needs. There are plenty of flavours to pick from including beef, chicken, duck, and turkey. Each Orijen and Acana dehydrated raw dog recipe features at least 90% premium animal ingredients, including the finest meats, ground bone, and organs. Orijen and Acana are also well known for their diverse inclusion of organic produce, such as butternut squash, kelp, pear, collard greens, apples, carrots, and much more. To ensure every bite is nutritionally complete and balanced, every Orijen and Acana dehydrated raw recipe is fortified with essential nutrients and vitamins.

Instinct

Located in Lincoln, Nebraska, Nebraska and founded in 2002, Instinct’s freeze-dried raw formulas are exceptionally impressive. They’re designed by leading nutritionists and researchers, and are backed by over 10 years of research in partnership with the University of Helsinki, which has included over 16,000 canines. What Instinct has discovered through this study is the quantifiable positive impact that complete and balanced raw diets have on a dog’s overall health and wellness.

Resultantly, Instinct’s freeze-dried formulas are among the industry’s elite. They start with responsibly-sourced meats, non-GMO fruits and veggies, and include select wholesome superfood ingredients. Instinct’s Longevity line uses data received from the ongoing University of Helsinki study to create unique and specialized diets for puppies, adult dogs, and dogs over the age of 7, that provide optimized total nutrition throughout each of these three life stages.

Instinct’s recipes include human-grade fish, chicken, lamb, and rabbit, and come in an easy-to-feed morsel. The options for Instinct’s dehydrated raw diets are endless; use them as a standalone food, training treat, food topper, and more!

There is no denying the fact that dehydrated raw dog foods are among the highest quality in the industry. Whether you’re looking to completely replace your dog’s meals with a dehydrated raw food, or simply want to add a drool-worthy boost of raw nutrition to their existing diet, both air-dried and freeze-dried raw foods offer exceptional quality options. Your dog will thank you!

https://www.canadianpetconnection.ca/the-best-dehydrated-raw-dog-foods-of-2023/