# Dehydrated Raw questions



## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Hoping some of you might be able to help me out.

As mentioned in another post my raw food provider is working on a dehydrated raw product, but it is just in the begining stages.

I am going on a course way up north and raw will be very inconvenient so they have offered to dehydrate some of their normal raw product for me. They have a walk in comercial dehydrator.

Right now they are just cutting the 1 lbs pucks into thin slices for dehydrating. I have tried some of it (well the dog has) and notice that it does not really absorb water the way I expected. I have no instructions to go with so I am making up how much water I should add.

Questions....

Is there some kind of danger of feeding this if it is not completely rehydrated as long as it has enough water added? I added a cup of warm water to what was once 1lbs of raw food. I fed after 45 min. Some parts did not get wet enough because of the container I chose. I fed it anyways. Not even half the water was absorbed. I wonder if it is for this reason that so many comercial dehydrated foods have potato or sweet potato as they absorb water well?

Secondly, I notice that with many raw dehydrated products the meat is actually rendered safe for human consumption, killing bacteria and so on by the dehydrating temps...I suppose that that means it is essentially no longer really raw, where as the veggies are dehydrated at a lower temp so not as cooked.

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/company/dehydration.shtml

So is there some kind of danger if these folks I am working with are dehydrating it for me at a low temp? I mean my dog already eats the product raw...bacteria and all, so should it be okay? I will only be keeping it for a week before using it.

I am thankfull they are doing me this favor as then I do not have to switch foods for a week and hope it works out. What do you guys think? I have to call tomorrow and tell her if I want her to make it for me for the course...


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2008)

Ya know, I just had a problem related to THK. It doesn't answer your direct question, but anyway...

Last month, we had a great stretch of weather where we had snow, followed by heavy rain followed by a large drop in temperature. Not a navigable stretch of ground to be found. So for over a week the dog got pretty much zero meaningful exercise. 

Following that, he had problems passing stool, and his anus became very irritated. Took him to the vet, and he fished out rock hard, very rough chunks of stool which presumable caused a partial log jam. Wierd consistency...almost like pumice. Hard, dry, and rough. I guess the nuggets couldn't pass past eachother.

Then this last week, we jammped a paw or something and had a limp. Combine that with me and the flu, and we're back to where we were...him getting zero exercise for about a week.

Same exact thing developed with the irritation on his ass. Again, the vet fished out THK-colored chunks of pumice.

Vet said the longer feces hangs out in the colon, the more the body re-absorbs its moisture. 

So, with noo exercise to jar the feces loose as normal, combined with a food which gets particularly rough and hard when it dehydrates in the colon resulted in some vet bills.

I woulda thought the vegetably THK woulda caused looser stool, that's why I fed a higher degree of it during our inactivity. I guess not.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Very interesting indeed Steven. Thanks for sharing...I think.

How much water to dry product is used for THK? Like a cup of dried food would get how much water?


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

I use 1 cup of THK with 1.5 cups of hot water and I let it sit for 15 minutes if I am in a hurry and most times I make it the night before for the next day.


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## Frank Smego (Feb 29, 2008)

I've been feeding BARF for about two years with great results. When I started I tried a few dehydrated products and I noticed they don't rehydrate well. I also found my dogs to be a bit sluggish after eating these foods which happered training or conditioning work.

Warm water seemed to work better. I even tried goat milk, it didn't work that good but the dogs loved it.\\/ 

For travel, I've had better sucess with freezing the BARF.


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## Julie Blanding (Mar 12, 2008)

Hmm that is interesting. I don't feed exclusively THK, I use it more to pour on top of the raw frozen I use, but have noticed how thick it gets. I only use approx 1/3 cup to 3 cups of water (for 3 dogs). I also add some olewo carrots to the mix too. I also stir it up very well... even with that amount, I let it sit for at least 10 minutes. I would think if you didn't rehydrate it enough, it could absorb whatever moisture was available. 

The majority of my dogs protein comes from primal, nature's variety, and abady's frozen formulas, but since I would add water anyways, I figure they can get more calories and other things from the 'soup'.

Julie


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