Chewy.com sent us a package of Orijen Regional RED Freeze-Dried Dog Food in exchange for talking about the product. Free doesn’t equal good to us though so everything we say about the product is honest and really how we feel.
I had just thawed out 5 frozen beef patties – enough to feed Chester and Gretel for 5 days – and our fridge died. Well , it didn’t really die. Instead it has been secretly sucking the life out of us in the form of a lot of electricity this past month and we just found out.
When a fridge goes wonky, things start to freeze even when you have it on the lowest setting and the motor can run 24-hours a day. We noticed our water and juices getting ice in them but not the constant hum we have been painfully aware of since getting our ginormous power bill that arrived in the mail the other day.
We called our landlord to have the fridge checked out. Apparently, the first thing to check is to make sure that the vents aren’t clogged up with dust. This involves packing all the groceries we just bought into coolers and placing them haphazardly around our kitchen to trip on.
Anyway, now I am paranoid about those thawed beef patties sitting in our cooler, slowly warming, and becoming a party house for Salmonella. Chester and Gretel were VERY happy about the whole fridge incident. Rather than throwing the meat patties out, I doubled up on the servings to get through them faster.
We were left with no raw patties and no more backup kibble. To the rescue came the Orijen Freeze-dried Dog Food patties that have been sitting around staring at me and making me feel guilty for not having reviewed them sooner.
These patties are perfect for us right now. I can continue feeding Chester and Gretel raw food during our fridge debacle because these can sit in the pantry until I rehydrate them. All I have to do is break them up into the bowl and pour a little water on them.
Honestly, they don’t soak up much of the water even if I leave them for the full 5 minutes listed on the package. They end up more like dry chunks floating in water. I figure it is fine though as long and Chester and Gretel are getting the water with them. The chunks flavor the water enough that they gladly slurp it up.
I just hope this package doesn’t run out before the fridge gets here.
Sue at Talking Dogs says
November 5, 2013 at 4:02 AMWhat a hassle! Hope you get the frig issue sorted out pronto! We’ve tried these (different flavor) as topper for our (big) dogs. I think they’d be great for traveling, too. We’ve had the same issue – the little cakes don’t totally mix with the water, just get chunky. Our dogs don’t mind 🙂
Jessica Rhae says
November 5, 2013 at 11:31 AMOur landlord has to replace the fridge. We are just waiting for it to come so our cooler days are numbered, thankfully.
I am aware that these freeze-dried foods are not usually practical if you have a bigger dog. The cost can get excessive. They are convenient as travel means or, as you pointed out, food toppers to add variety and extra protein.
Roxy the traveling dog says
November 5, 2013 at 5:56 AMBummer. That would be my dilemma with feeding raw, a fridge that is kinda consistent with temperature. Although, our new house fridge is way bigger and much better. I was just sent some freeze dried raw patties from another company to try out. These I can do, and the dogs LOVE them.
Jessica Rhae says
November 5, 2013 at 11:52 AMI know! Freeze-dried food is like doggy crack 🙂 I can imagine the challenges you would face feeding raw living in an RV. Frozen raw food can take up a lot of space in your freezer, can’t get it everywhere and making it yourself would also create time and space issues. Freeze dried is the next best alternative I think if you don’t have a huge dog that makes it cost-prohibitive.
Kimberly Gauthier says
November 5, 2013 at 6:28 AMSuch a bummer. Great opportunity for a review! Thanks!
I’m going to buy the dogs a cube freeze for Christmas – they get enough raw to warrant their own space. I’m pretty surprised by the cost – not as much as I thought.
Jessica Rhae says
November 5, 2013 at 11:56 AMWe do have a small freezer in the basement but the problem is that the patties need to be thawed out. I need to thaw a few at a time and after they are thawed I wouldn’t feel comfortable storing them anywhere but the fridge…which is caput.
I see that you were able to get out for some walks with the dogs. I hope it hasn’t been too hard on you. At least nature and fresh air allows you time for personal reflection. Sounds like you have decided to wait on adopting. I think it is a good idea to give yourself some space before jumping right back in. My thoughts are with you.
Kimberly Gauthier says
November 5, 2013 at 1:03 PMAnd that is a quandry. Keeping things frozen is so much easier than keeping things thawed/cool.
Yes – I’m starting to get out. I went to see a movie. Going again this weekend. I have plans with friends all week. It’s getting better, I can look at pictures of Blue without falling apart, but I’m not ready to adopt again.
I feel guilty, because there are so many dogs in need, but I know that I need some more time if I’m going to be a good dog owner. Thanks, Jessica
Oz the Terrier says
November 5, 2013 at 11:05 AMWell, isn’t that just peachy?!? But I am sure Chester and Gretel didn’t mind the extra servings. I love my freeze-dried raw just as much as my frozen. Glad you still had that freeze-dried around or you would’ve had two mad weiners!
Happy Tuesday!
Oz
Jessica Rhae says
November 5, 2013 at 11:58 AMYeah. I have been super busy so glad I didn’t have to leave my house to find a solution. They like the freeze-dried just as much too.
Nailah Bone says
November 5, 2013 at 2:12 PMI always wonder about fridge disaster and raw foodies. Hope yours gets fixed soon!
Rebekah says
November 6, 2013 at 5:24 PMI feed raw, and we had a 23.5 hour power outage due to nasty storms last week. I was so nervous about all my fabulous raw meat. Thankfully, everything out lasted the outage.
Jessica Rhae says
November 6, 2013 at 9:33 PMYeah..I imagine if your freezer seal is good and you don’t open it that it would stay cold. Glad it worked out for you. A 24 hour power outage sucks. I once had my power out for 10 days!!
Tenacious Little Terrier says
November 6, 2013 at 11:49 PMGood thing you had those on hand to feed the dogs! I’ll have to try those sometime for Mr. N. He wants raw all the time and won’t eat kibble or dehydrated food which makes it difficult when we travel.
Jessica Rhae says
November 7, 2013 at 9:51 AMI can’t imagine having dogs that won’t eat anything and everything 🙂 There are a variety of styles of freeze-dried food out there – different textures. Like people, I think dog’s can not like a food because of texture. Some freeze-dried food is like a formed Styrofoam brick. While these are formed patties, they are more loosely formed. They crumble into jagged pieces ad crumbles instead of just smaller foam bricks.
GizmoGeodog says
November 7, 2013 at 3:28 AMDamn, sorry about the fridge…Last hurricane I had just stocked my freezer with meat and shrimp when we lost power for 8 days…Everything in there went on the gas grill and was shared with neighbors…better than having to toss it all out…I noticed that about the dehydrated raw product I tried…it never really soaked up the water the way I thought it would and looked more like floating crumbly bits…
Jessica Rhae says
November 7, 2013 at 9:54 AMLuckily we rent so we didn’t have to fork out thousands of our own money to replace it 🙂 Ack…I feel your pain about your power being out for 8 days. That sucks. My power was once out for 10 days. The worst part was that I was on this weird, old power grid pocket so people across the street had their power back after 4 days! It sounds like you and your neighbors made the best of it. I am sure it wasn’t at the time but it actually sounds kind of fun 🙂
Dolly the Doxie says
November 7, 2013 at 10:27 AMFirst the couch, then the refrigerator, just like our house! Sorry about the food though and sounds like you found a great solution (I do not eat raw). Hope your washer doesn’t go out next, ours did and we had to go with high efficiency. Now that was a learning curve! Love Dolly
Jessica Rhae says
November 10, 2013 at 10:17 AMYay…we would love a front-loading high efficiency washer. I doubt our Landlord would buy us something that fancy if our washer went out though. It’s so hard to wash our sleeping bags and down jackets when we have to go down to the local laundromat to do it….or pay a dry cleaner (who really just washes them in a non-agitator machine anyway).
Jodi Chick (+ Kolchak & Felix too) says
November 9, 2013 at 12:32 PMUGH, our fridge did that, only the freezer fan locked up and EVERYTHING was cold, but defrosted. EVERYTHING. SInce the only thing I had in there was dog food, it was a TOTAL CRAP SHOOT. **sigh** Luckily, my local pet food store is AMAZING and was able to connect me with a few rescues in my area that feed raw and I was able to donate the whole lot of it, so at least it got used.
We love Origen. May have to check these out as emergency back up…you know for when the irresponsible Mama totally forgets to take out dinner. :/
Jessica Rhae says
November 10, 2013 at 10:21 AMThat’s unfortunate that you lost all of that food but good that it didn’t have to go to waste. I love everything Orijen too. If they made frozen raw I would totally buy it!
By the way, I took Chester & Gretel to the vet Friday for their exams. I told my vet I was feeding them raw (although frozen prepared) food and she didn’t even bat and eye 🙂
Frank says
November 10, 2013 at 5:16 PMSo did you start them out on raw as a puppy? Whats the pros/cons of feeding raw? I have a 1 year old mini although he’s not very mini he’s 16lbs. His mom and dad are 8 and 9lbs he’s my little beast. He’s not fat at all he’s solid muscle
Jessica Rhae says
November 10, 2013 at 5:38 PMNo, I did not start them on raw food as puppies. I am still not a stickler for doing it. Sometimes they still eat kibble, canned food or freeze-dried food. I started feeding them some raw last year (they are 11 and 4) and now they eat primarily raw. However, I did not see any changes in hair, teeth or energy like raw proponents claim until I fed them Vital Essentials, which is based on the whole prey diet (meat, organs, bone and vitamins only). Now Chester seems to have a ton more energy than he used to.
The pros and cons are exhaustive and a tense debate exists around the issue. There is no way I could list all of the pros and cons here. One search on the internet will give you thousands of answers. I will say that, in simplistic terms, the pro for feeding raw food (especially only meat, organs and bone) is what wolves used to eat so it is what our dogs should be eating too. Raw proponents claim that it’s the only food your dog should eat and that dogs do not properly digest the commercial food that we now feed them. However, unless you feed prepared raw, it can be hard to get the proper nutrient mix. Prepared raw can be expensive. People who are against raw claim that there are health risks associated with it – primarily the risk of salmonella contamination. Those people, as well as those who are ambiguous on the issue like me, feel that raw is not THE ONLY food dogs should be eating – that they have adapted over the years to be able to digest processed dog foods. That being said, there are commercial dog foods that are completely junk like Purina Puppy Chow. If a person is going to feed kibble, they should feed a food with meat or meat byproduct as the first 2 or 3 ingredients and with little or no corn.
Hailey and Zaphod says
November 10, 2013 at 5:40 AMWhat a great product. Will have to check it out.
Jessica says
November 12, 2013 at 2:38 PMI always keep some freeze-dried food on hand for emergencies. Our emergencies are more likely to be Silas refusing to eat anything else, but there’s also the “Oops, I forgot to defrost the dinner!” emergency pretty often.