Dehydrated Cat and/or Dog Food Recipes, Anyone?

[breconbcs]

A 4 oz patty can be dehydrated? How thin do you make it, how long do you dehydrate it (how do you know it is done) and at what temp? Do you store it out of the fridge? How long do they keep (or maybe I should ask how long do you keep them?) And lastly, the ground meat with bone....do you use low temps to keep the bone from cooking?

Keep in mind I use the large Excalibur dehydrator and I've found that times and temps vary depending on the dehydrator. I had a round one but was never happy with the way the treats came out.
I use one of those hand patty press things to make hamburgers, I just weight the mix and then put it in to be pressed. But the 4 ounce patty takes between 24 and 48 hours to fully dehydrate depending on how moist the meat and especially the veggies are. I do flip them over around the 12 hour mark or 24 hour mark depending on how firm they are, it's just me, I have been told I don't have to do that but it's a habit from the round one. When I make the patties, I try to squeeze out some of the excess moisture. I have found that juicing the veggies works best rather than using a food processor (which I do when I make veggies for meals) as it removes probably 99% of the fluid right from the start. I usually have the dehyrator set for 135 - 145 depending on how much bone I have added. I do recommend storing in the fridge as there are no preservatives added but I do vacuum pack everything that goes out the door. I usually freeze them afterwards and pullout what I need and pack that way in the cooler when we are going out. I have kept them for up to 2 weeks in the fridge but clients have told me they have them for over a month in the fridge, some have said they don't even worry about it and they put them in the cupboard without problems. A friend keeps my treats (made from ground meat) on her counter (I wish she wouldn't as the treats still have some moisture in them to make them just a little chewy) in a really tight sealed container and the last package has been for about 6 months in there. She use to just leave them on the counter but her cats would get hold of them and eat the entire bag on the dog. lol

I looked up the Honest Kitchen site, and their "raw" dehydrated foods is just referring to the veggies, the meat is cooked, and there is no bone. So not really raw in my book.

No, that doesn't constitute raw in my book either but I have noticed it's as close as most can get when going with commerical foods.

I wanna make some for travel. How do you rehydrate them? Details, I've never heard of this!

I keep the juice from the veggies in the freezer and I reheat it. I just bag it up and then throw the bag in hot water to melt, then pour it into a bowl and add the "chips", cover and let it sit. Sometimes it can take a few hours to rehydrate completely. What I like to do is break it up when dry, add an egg, some garlic oil (if there is no garlic in the mix) or safflower or sunflower oil, a little water/veggie juice/or broth I've made for soup, wait about a half hour and feed it that way. It's easier for me that way with 5 dogs, 4 of them eating 1-2 lbs of food a day.

The one thing I started last year was taking that same ground mix and making it into sausages. These are for my own personal use as there is a bit more work to them and the cost to sell people won't pay. Natural casings are hard to come by unless you are classified as a butcher not to mention they are expensive so I do use the "fake" (as dh calls them) casings. I make them in all different sizes, from 2 ounce, 4 oz and 8 ounces. The 2 ounce are great for training and the larger ones are great for meals. I don't dehyrate these, but they are great for traveling to competitions and when we visit others- who are "grossed out" by me feeding raw. I vacuum pack them, freeze them and throw them in a cooler and even frozen they make great "treats" on hot days. Some people hate me for reminding them that "chicken" comes from a real animal. Course they are also the same people who, when I raised rabbits, had the nack of coming to visit, unannouced, when it was rabbit processing day. One day a month and that was the day they just had to come for a visit.

 

[freemotion]

Thanks!!! Very helpful!!! I like the sausage idea, too. I think it would be great for when we have housesitters, if they are squeamish about the wings. Or for feeding on the road if I have them in a good cooler.