The benefits of wet dog food
Wet dog food is often more appetizing to dogs than dry, which can encourage picky eaters to get a full serving with nutrients. If you make your own dog food, this option can open up your dog to a well-balanced, nutritious diet.
Wet foods come in a large variety of flavors and ingredients, which can help you choose foods your dog loves or foods that don’t aggravate your dog’s allergies. You can also provide meals that can pivot with your dog’s needs, including changing nutritional density for pregnancy or seasonal changes like hunting or sporting season.
Wet foods are harder to store and harder to portion out. Few dogs eat one single can of wet food, which means you’ll probably be storing foods in your fridge or freezer to make up the different portion sizes.
Wet food doesn’t stay good as long as dried food does once the package is opened. You’re on a ticking clock the moment you pop the seal, so you’ll need a realistic plan for preserving your dog’s food.
The short answer is yes. Wet food does well in the freezer for a far longer period of time than it would at room temperature. This could be a good solution for ensuring you get the most out of your wet food cans or pouches.
You’ll need to figure out how to store and why you’re storing your wet food, however. A good plan can make sure you don’t waste food and that you can store your dog’s food conveniently while removing some of the hassles of serving wet food in the first place.
You can’t just freeze the cans. Wet food has high moisture content, and when that freezes the food expands. It could explode out of the can as a worst-case scenario or leak out as the best-case scenario, leaving you to clean up a huge mess.
Instead, open the can and portion out based on your dog’s serving sizes. Use freezer-safe bags or plasticware to ensure your food is safe and airtight. It helps to use things that will stack easily and thaw quickly to keep your food situation convenient.
Freezing a hunk of food is going to cause problems later as you desperately try to thaw it out. Instead, consider how you’ll serve it and freeze it to facilitate that method.
Follow all the right precautions to ensure your dog’s food stays good and develop a system so that you always have food ready for your dog to eat.
Remove the food from the freezer and thaw meal portions in either warm water or in the microwave. If you pop them into the microwave, heat them so that theyre lukewarm at most. Stick your finger in the food at a few different spots to make sure its barely warm throughout. If you plan on tossing bite-sized treats into your pups mouth, or giving him a food-stuffed bone, dont worry about thawing anything. Hell enjoy the snack frozen.
Slide the food into the freezer. If youre sticking bags of portioned food in there, be gentle and place the bags in an area where they wont get bumped or tossed around, at least for the first few hours. You dont want the portions to bind together as one giant chunk of food, although your pup might enjoy that.
Cut the food into meal-sized portions if you plan on freezing it for your pups future meals. The portion size depends on your little guys feeding requirements. Slide the portions into a plastic bag. You can separate each portion into separate bags or stuff as many as you can into as few bags as possible. If you take the latter route, leave enough space between each portion so they dont fuse together and make your life miserable later on when youre separating them for you pups mealtime.
Open the can and remove the food. Sticking the can in the freezer is one of the worst things you can do. Think of keeping a soda bottle in the freezer overnight. Youd have quite the sticky situation on your hands, because the liquid would have expanded and made for an exit out of the bottle. The same thing happens with canned dog food. Although its not all liquid, the moisture content typically hovers around 75 percent. Plus, keeping the food in only the can, even with plastic wrap over top, will likely lead to a quick case of freezer burn.
Located in Pittsburgh, Chris Miksen has been writing instructional articles on a wide range of topics for online publications since 2007. He currently owns and operates a vending business. Miksen has written a variety of technical and business articles throughout his writing career. He studied journalism at the Community College of Allegheny County.
Is it okay to freeze wet dog food?
Can You Freeze Dry or Wet Dog Food? Unfortunately, freezing dry dog food and then thawing can cause mold to develop. DON’T freeze wet dog food because it changes the taste and texture of the food and can reduce its nutritional value.
Storing Dog Food Kibble and Wet Food
Palatable and nutritious, canned dog foods have gradually become favorites for both pets and their parents. And although wet dog food has tons of benefits, most pet parents often wonder how best to preserve the products before and after opening. For instance, do you need to refrigerate canned dog food?
You don’t need to refrigerate canned dog food that’s unopened as the cans are usually airtight, which helps keep contaminants out, making them safe when stored at room temperature. However, once opened, it is advisable to refrigerate all types of canned dog food, regardless of brand.
So the dog food lasts the longest, I recommend silicone covers like these, found on Amazon. We use them for all our canned foods and soft drinks and they work great.
In this article, I’ll explore how to refrigerate canned dog food safely. I’ll also elaborate on some information I learned from Julee Avery DVM, when discussing the best way to preserve canned dog food. Keep reading to learn more.