Tasty Tuesday: Orijen Freeze Dried Food

Chewy.com contacted me about reviewing a new food by Orijen. It is Orijen Adult Freeze-Dried Dog Food, a complete food for adult dogs. Of course we said yes.

The dogs both went wild for the food. It was pretty strong smelling, which they liked, but was not very pleasant smelling for the human. The smell kind of clung to my hands afterwards too.

The patties were pretty large, about the size of the palm of my hand. If I were to feed this food to my dogs exclusively, it would take over 7 patties per day, or possibly more given how active my dogs are. The instructions say to rehydrate the patties in warm water. Unfortunately, this was pretty impossible. The patties simply did not rehydrate at all, even when crumbled into small pieces and left to sit for a while. They just ended up being crumbs and chunks floating in the water.

I did end up also using the dry patties as is for treats (mainly for this photoshoot!). The dogs were crazy about them and the cats begged like mad. The cats both enjoyed the pieces that I gave them to taste test, though Martha seemed a little confused by the texture and kept spitting her piece out over and over.

Overall, it seems like a pretty decent product. I would like it if the food would actually rehydrate like the directions say it will. Pallo ended up puking after eating a supper with three of the patties "reconstituted" (that is to say, floating in pieces in a bowl of water). I don't know if it was from the texture of the food or from the food itself, though Pallo generally has a very iron stomach. He did not have the same issue with small pieces of the dry patties used as treats.

I probably would never use this as my dog's main all the time food due to the sheer amount I would have to feed them being rather expensive, and Pallo's iffy reaction to it. However, it does seem like a good food to keep around in case of emergencies (like in your emergency kit in the car) or to use as treats, since they don't have to be stuck in the fridge.