Our pups deserve the absolute best - and as most pet parents know, it’s hard to resist wanting to give our dogs the tastiest and healthiest dog food. But when the market is so saturated with so many brands and types of food, from raw to freeze dried or even homecooked, it’s hard to decide what’s best for your pup.

When it comes to premium dog food - your first thought might be freeze dried or even a raw or homecooked diet, but air dried dog food is no doubt an underrated and excellent option for pet parents. Here are 5 reasons why natural air dried dog treats and dog food are one of the most versatile and nutritional food to feed your dog with.

#1 No Artificial Preservatives

Unlike dehydrated or freeze-dried dog food, human grade dog food like ZIWI Peak’s Air-Dried Dog Food is created by removing all moisture in meat via evaporation. While ZIWI Peak air dried dog food is made in a similar way to dehydration, the process of air drying food crucially does not use heat. 

Instead, it is a gentle and slow process where raw ingredients are placed in drying chambers. Air is continuously pumped into these chambers and circulate around the meat slowly, evaporating moisture until a maximum level of 14% of moisture is reached. This process helps to preserve meat in a natural way that requires zero preservatives! 

While many of the preservatives used in other types of food are crucial to their preservation process, these preservatives can also be carcinogenic and may affect your dog later in their life. Consuming air dried dog food might, therefore, be the best way to go, to ensure long-lasting health for your pup. 

For dogs with allergies and skin sensitivities, air dried dog food is the best dog food for itchy skin, especially since it is all natural, with no artificial preservatives and additives! Did we mention that ZIWI has a line of Good Dog Reward treats and Oral Health Chews too?

#2 Easy to Feed

For pet parents on the go, it’s hard to find time in your daily routine to make home-cooked food from scratch every single day. So with our busy lifestyles, it’s no surprise hassle-free dog food options are among dog-owning essentials.

Of course, while raw and home-cooked diets need care and preparation, and freeze-dried food need time to rehydrate in hot water, these diets are excellent and chock full of nutrients that benefit dogs in the long run. But this doesn’t mean busy pet parents have to forgo the health and happiness of their dog - that’s where air-dried dog food comes in! 

Most air dried options likeAbsolute Holistic Air Dried Dog Food are scoop-and-feed, meaning you don’t need to add anything else to the mix to feed your pet. Just scoop out a little food during feeding time and your dog will gobble it up without much mess. You don’t even have to put air dried dog food in your fridge!

#3 Versatility

For picky eating pets or pets who require a more finely tuned diet due to health or other reasons, a good mix of different types of food could be the right way to go to keep them happy and healthy. Air dried food is exactly that, coming in all types and flavours. In fact, while air-dried food can be your dog’s main food all on it’s own, it can also be a topper, served with other delectable dog foods.

Other than purely being consumed as dog food, air dried dog treats are also an excellent way to spice up your dog’s diet!BARE’s wide range of air dried dog goodies are great snacks for pups, especially for those with food sensitivities and allergies since their selection of treats are all single ingredient.

#4 More Nutritional

As mentioned earlier, air dried food isn’t preserved with heat - this means vital nutrients are kept locked into your dog’s food, waiting for consumption. 

In fact, air dried food takes the healthy minerals, vitamins and enzymes present in a raw diet and minimises processing damage to deliver the maximum amount of nutrients you can get, almost as though it’s an actual raw diet - except with a much longer shelf life and less risk of pathogens. 

ZIWI’s unique way of air-drying produce also introduce some excellent benefits. For one, air-dried dog food like ZIWI’s have a high nutrient density, with some of ZIWI’s options at 96%. This means a much greater percentage of meat and its nutrients are being crammed into one - ZIWI estimates that air-dried food can therefore cost around 40% less to feed than other non-air-dried options on the market.

Dog treats likeBARE Air Dried Dog Treats hence make for happier, healthier dogs with softer, shinier coats and improved long-lasting organ and bone health. 

#5 Dogs Transition Easily

Because of the slow process in which air dried food becomes air dried, this type of food also doesn’t crumble easily like most freeze dried dog food and treats do. 

For pet parents with picky pups or dogs that just take time to transition to different types of food, air dried food can be a blessing! They’re much more similar to kibble than other types of diets in terms of the ease of prepping a meal, but are softer and have a tastier smell that some dogs love. This is beneficial for dogs who are transitioning away from dog kibble to say, an air dried diet.

Plus, mess-free air dried dog food comes in a wide range of palatable flavours! Some amazing 5 star brands you can also consider areWellness’s CORE Tender Bites,ROAM, andCarna4. These tasty recipes are also adjusted for different types of dogs - such as dogs with protein-sensitivity. 

The first step to a happy and healthy pup is feeding them natural, nutritional and tasty food. Air dried dog food is the right choice for both dogs and dog owners, especially since it’s convenient and easy to feed like kibble yet provides the right nutrients your dog needs for long-lasting health like freeze-dried dog food.

TAMMI CHNG

Tammi writes articles about anything from data analytics to animal health, and loves doing the occasional craft. But most importantly, she loves hanging out and doing photo-shoots with her dog.