I am fasting my dog today and will be feeding her the very first raw meal starting tomarrow! Very excited!! My questions are about dehydrating raw meat for treats and for making my own dehydrated meals.

My idea for the meals would be to grind the meal up and mix all the contents, then dehydrate for trips, etc. Does anyone have any tips on dehydration? Also, I want to know if the food will lose significant value nutritionally. I notice there are a few raw dehydrated foods out there (Honest Kitchen) but I have a dehydrater and I would like to use it. I could do my own for less $.

How about treats? I would like to use meat for treats, but it would be better if the meat was dry. Can I dehydrate it for use in training?

Thanks all!!

In my own experience, the result is a jerky product ... not what you would want to use as a rehydrating thing.

I mean -- you get a chewy thing, as opposed to something you can convert back to un-dried food.

I have a feeling that the kind of thing you could re-hydrate would be more of a shaved meat .... as opposed to ground.

But that's only my experience. This was what I found from experimenting with making FST treats.

Interesting. I wonder if anyone here has tried that.

BTW:
http://www.ugacfs.org/hottopics/deer.html

(Scroll down half a page to Dehydrators.)

Thanks Connie!

I wonder how do the companies make their product? I have never used one of these products, so I don't know what they are like rehydrated.

If I were to dehydrate, I would probably grind all the ingredients into a much, and then dry. Are you saying it wouldn't work as well? If I cannot grind, how will I include the bone?

I really don't care what the stuff looks like when reconstituted, as much as that it is still good for her. And that she will still eat it. Any comments?

THK is like fine green oatmeal when rehydrated.

 Quote: rick miller

Thanks Connie!

I wonder how do the companies make their product? I have never used one of these products, so I don't know what they are like rehydrated.

If I were to dehydrate, I would probably grind all the ingredients into a much, and then dry. Are you saying it wouldn't work as well? If I cannot grind, how will I include the bone?

I really don't care what the stuff looks like when reconstituted, as much as that it is still good for her. And that she will still eat it. Any comments?

I pretty much don't think it will work, either with home grinders or with home dehydrators. JMO, though.

I think that the bone will be unsafe (too cooked) if heated to the temp that the meat needs to be so that it isn't loaded with pathogens (which I think would make it un-shelf-stable, and freezing it kinda defeats the whole purpose).

You know THK, etc., have no bone, right? I think that most of us who use it as backup or for travel (or as a primary food) use it with RMBs added.

So say you wanted to try it with no bone. I think you'd then be in the more complicated area of homemade food that cooked-food preparers get into. (I'm not at all saying that home-cooked can't be done, and done well, but I am saying that supplementing with calcium instead of the bones that "come with" raw meat is nowhere near as simple as handing out the RMBs themselves.) And then, according to that link above, you'd be worrying about pathogens anyway because of the limitations of home equipment.

THK is very obviously blade-processed far finer than a meat grinder would do, IMO, gazing into the bucket.

And it's not firm, which even VERY thinly-sliced jerky is; it's soft and almost like that baby laundry detergent.

If you look at the link I posted, you'll see this:

QUOTEoyle said the only safe way to prepare jerky is to precook it to 160 degrees. END

but you get "case hardening, which is "when the outside of the meat forms a crust. When that happens, the moisture inside can't get out, and the jerky will spoil."

To me, that mean that rehydrating moisture can't get in, either.

I also suspect, although I could be wrong, that the size limitation of the home dehydrator will mean that a whole unit-full of dehydrated meat and whatever will be about a day's worth of food.

Wow. Could I BE less encouraging?

But it's an interesting subject, and when I get a chance later I'll look around in the government pubs, which are *loaded* with home-processing info (canning, drying, freezing, salting).

Thanks Connie!

I now understand that the bone content would not be good, as it would be "cooked" after dehydration. I did not know that the THK had no bone. Don't feel like you are discouraging, I did a search on this subject in the forums, and could not find it, so you are helping make a contribution!

One thing I think of with this regard is Backpacking meals. They have these dehydrated meals, most of which are poor, some good, few tasty, and all give moose like gas! But they are mighty convienient for saving weight as water weighs 8 lbs. a gallon! With this in mind, I would like to go hiking with my dog, and dehydrating meals would be very handy for this purpose...

So, what is in the THK? Why can I not simulate their preperation at home?

THK contains regular food, readily available to you.

I just don't know how to "flake" it the way a huge commercial processor can, or how to simulate a commercial dehydrator with its exact temperature controls, which no home dehydrator I've ever seen has.

I'd probably buy a bucket of THK and keep it on hand. Which I do.

A baggie of that and a water supply would be a great backpacking meal.

 Quote: Rick Miller

But they are mighty convienient for saving weight as water weighs 8 lbs. a gallon!

So then you backpack where there is a water supply for rehydrating them?

 Quote: connie sutherland

THK contains regular food, readily available to you.

I just don't know how to "flake" it the way a huge commercial processor can, or how to simulate a commercial dehydrator with its exact temperature controls, which no home dehydrator I've ever seen has.

Okay. I am still unconvinced that I cannot do this myself, so I will probably give it a whirl, as an experiment. If I do, I will post the results for you, Connie!

I don't see what it could hurt. I could save a lot of $, too! I do want to point out that this would be a bit of a chore, and it would be obviously more convenient to buy the food.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Rick Miller

But they are mighty convienient for saving weight as water weighs 8 lbs. a gallon!

So then you backpack where there is a water supply for rehydrating them?

I would usually start near water and end near water, but would only carry a little to get by as we walk. Good question!