Are Kibble and Freeze-Dried Diets The Same?

Some pet food brands are using a marketing gimmick in the dog food world that suggests the combination of freeze-dried raw food nuggets with kibble.

I have been educating for over 40 years that combining a raw diet with kibble is a hard combination for pets to digest. This is because the digestive time of raw and kibble is different. There is a strain on the pancreas when generating the right combination of digestive enzymes to digest 2 different diets. This often results in gastrointestinal upset (mainly diarrhea and vomiting) and in some cases, long-term depression of the digestive and/or immune system.

What is the real benefit?

It cannot be to offer a better digestive advantage because of the aforementioned variance in the digestion cycle. So, what exactly is the benefit?

Perhaps it offers consumers a product that can be used while traveling. After all, a frozen, raw diet isn’t always as easy to store and manage while traveling long distances without proper refrigeration. Then again, pet owners that are true believers in the amazing benefits of a raw meat diet would prefer to opt for a freeze-dried raw diet product during travel, forsaking kibble entirely.

Is it more cost effective?

Then there is the customer that chooses to use kibble in combination with a natural, raw food diet in order to reduce the cost of feeding large/giant breed dogs or multi-dog households. What I often tell these people is to split the raw and kibble feedings – feed the raw diet in the morning and the kibble at night. Under no circumstances should raw and kibble be combined into one meal. This usually eliminates any digestive issues and at least introduces an improvement in nutrition for the animal by feeding half raw.

I always question when a company promotes themselves as raw food enthusiasts and at the same time promotes kibble. It seems as if the desire for profit supersedes the desire to do what is best for the health of the animal? 

As you all know, I am not a believer in feeding our pets a kibble diet. As the Pioneers in the raw food industry, we have always stayed true to our philosophy of doing everything to benefit the animal. They are not naturally designed to ingest cooked diets, especially those that contain filler ingredients like corn and grains. But this new concept of combining raw and kibble is even worse because these two diets just don’t mix well. Mixing kibble and raw is like feeding a dog chocolate.

BARF® PRO TIP:

BARF Freeze-Dried Nuggets make great high value training treats.

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