This one will work a little differently than the canned food, because there aren’t a lot of dehydrated foods out there. So I’m just listing everything that I know of. Again, please let me know if you see a brand that isn’t represented. As with all food, you really want to watch the nutrition labels. I’ve seen some astronomical fat percentages out there. Some dogs need that, but others really don’t. All of these foods are certainly not created equally, and you should make sure any of them meet your standards.
Dried foods come in a couple of forms. The traditional two are an almost powder, like The Honest Kitchen, and a patty, like Stella and Chewys. You rehydrate the powdery ones into the consistency of a thin canned food. I personally have found the water recommendations too high in the ones we’ve used, so watch the “One pound yields…” claims from the box. Water is heavy. The patties usually say they can be served rehydrated or dry, although I wouldn’t personally feed them dry except as a food topping. Some of the newer foods are supposed to reconstitute like a chunky canned food–SoJos is an example. I’ve heard about some very uneven rehydrating on these, so you might want to be careful. Make sure that any chunks are soft enough for your dog to chew.
If you have a large dog and a normal budget, most of these will be too expensive to feed exclusively. Very roughly speaking, dehydrated food is somewhat cheaper than canned food, depending on brand. There is some variety, though, and you may be able to score a deal. The Honest Kitchen, I know, runs a box-top redemption program and mails out coupons. My local store includes most dehydrated foods in their buy ten/get one free program. Some of the online stores give discounts if you schedule shipments.
For me, the beauty of the dehydrated food isn’t in everyday feeding, though. I feel like everybody who feeds raw should have a box of dehydrated/freeze dried food around. Most boarding kennels or vets won’t feed raw. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s great to have around in case the electricity goes out, or if you need to travel. Or, you know, if you forget to defrost the dinner. The powdered dehydrated foods are also much less bulky than the same quantity of kibble or (especially) canned food. Some of them are fantastically delicious, great for tempting appetites.
I’m sorting these by brand, with the protein sources and grains listed. If nothing is listed, it’s because the food is a single protein included in the product name. That is, the “Chicken” variety contains only chicken. This list is a mix of both freeze dried and dehydrated foods. While there are differences, the division is too ambiguous to merit separate lists.
Addiction Dehydrated
Perfect Summer Brushtail. New Zealand Brushtail.
Outback Kangaroo Feast
New Zealand Forest Delicacies. Brushtail, venison, oats.
Steakhouse Beef and Zucchini
Homestyle Venison and Cranberry. Oats.
Fig’licious Venison Feast
Herbed Lamb and Potatoes
Country Chicken and Apricot
Nutri-Rx Allergy-HS. Soy
D.N.A. Dried-N-Alive
Chicken. Chicken, egg, salmon oil.
Lamb. Lamb, eggs.
Venison and Salmon. Venison, salmon, egg.
Beef. Beef, egg, salmon oil.
Grandma Lucy’s Freeze Dried. All grain free and single protein.
Artisan Chicken
Artisan Lamb
Artisan Venison
Artisan Pork
Artisan Bison
Artisan pre-mix. No meat; for supplementing a raw diet.
Pureformance Chicken
Pureformance Lamb
Pureformance Rabbit
The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated
Love. Beef
Zeal. Haddock, whiting, salmon, egg.
Embark. Turkey, eggs.
Force. Chicken.
Keen. Turkey, oats.
Thrive. Chicken, quinoa.
Verve. Beef, oats, rye, eggs.
Preference. Grain free, meat free supplement/diet base.
I and Love and You
In the Raw Beef Recipe. Beef, eggs.
In the Raw Turkey Recipe. Turkey, eggs.
In the Raw Chicken Recipe. Chicken, eggs, oats, rye, and barley.
Power Pucks Beef. Beef, herring oil.
Power Pucks Chicken. Chicken, herring oil.
K9 Naturals Freeze-Dried
Beef Feast. Beef, eggs, green lipped mussels.
Lamb Feast. Lamb, eggs, green lipped mussels.
Venison Feast. Venison, eggs, green lipped mussels.
Lamb Green Tripe. 100% tripe.
Nature’s Variety Instinct Freeze Dried Raw. Grain free.
Chicken. Chicken and turkey.
Beef
Lamb
NRG All Natural
Maxim Grain-less Beef. Beef, eggs, goat milk yogurt, salmon.
Maxim Grain-less Buffalo. Buffalo, eggs, goat milk yogurt, salmon.
Maxim Grain-less Chicken. Chicken, eggs, goat milk yogurt, salmon
Maxim Grain-less Salmon. Salmon, goat milk yogurt, cod liver oil.
Optimum Large/Active Dog Beef. Beef, oats, wheat germ, eggs, salmon, goat milk yogurt, cod liver oil.
Optimum Large/Active Dog Buffalo. Buffalo, oats, wheat germ, eggs, salmon, goat milk yogurt, cod liver oil.
Optimum Large/Active Dog Chicken. Chicken, oats, wheat germ, eggs, salmon, goat milk yogurt, cod liver oil.
Optimum Large/Active Dog Salmon. Salmon, oats, wheat germ, eggs, goat milk yogurt, cod liver oil.
Vital II Small Breed Beef. Beef, oats, wheat germ, eggs, goat milk yogurt.
Vital II Small Breed Buffalo. Buffalo, oats, wheat germ, eggs, goat milk yogurt.
Vital II Small Breed Chicken. Chicken, oats, wheat germ, eggs, goat milk yogurt.
Vital II Small Breed Salmon. Salmon, oats, wheat germ, eggs, goat milk yogurt, cod liver oil.
Nutrisca Freeze Dried Dinner Bites
Salmon Dinner Bites.
Beef Dinner Bites
Chicken Dinner Bites
Only Natural Pet
Easy Raw Dehydrated Chicken and Oats. Chicken, eggs, oats, rye, barley.
Easy Raw Dehydrated Turkey and Sweet Potato. Turkey, eggs.
Easy Raw Dehydrated Beef and Sweet Potato. Beef, eggs.
Grain-Free Max Meat Air Dried Beef
Grain-Free Max Meat Air Dried Chicken
Grain-Free Max Meat Air Dried Lamb and Cod.
Freeze Dried Patties Beef and Veggies. Contains herring oil.
Freeze Dried Patties Chicken and Veggies. Contains herring oil.
Petsana
Turkey Feast. Turkey, eggs.
Beef Feast. Beef, eggs.
Primal Freeze-dried
Beef
Chicken
Lamb
Turkey and Sardine
Duck
The Real Meat Company
90% Meat Chicken
90% Meat Beef
90% Meat Lamb
85% Meat Lamb. Lamb, green lipped mussels.
85% Meat Beef. Beef, green lipped mussels.
SoJos Freeze Dried.
Turkey Complete
Beef Complete
Grain free mix. Vegetables/supplements only.
Original mix. Grains/vegetables/supplements.
Stella and Chewy’s Freeze-dried
Stella’s Super Beef
Chewy’s Chicken
Duck Duck Goose. Duck, turkey, and goose.
Dandy Lamb
Surf N Turf. Beef, salmon, and turkey.
Simply Venison
Absolutely Rabbit
Phenomenal Pheasant
Vital Essentials Freeze Dried. Single protein and grain free. Contain herring oil.
Freeze-Dried Nibblets Beef
Freeze-Dried Nibblets Chicken
Freeze-Dried Nibblets Turkey
Freeze-Dried Sprinkles Beef
Freeze-Dried Pet Patties Beef
Freeze-Dried Mini Pet Patties Beef
Freeze-Dried Mini Pet Patties Chicken
Wysong
Archetype. Chicken, fish oil.
Uncanny Beef and Egg. Beef, cheese, egg, chicken.
Uncanny Chicken and Yogurt. Chicken, cheese, egg, yogurt.
Uncanny Pheasant and Fruit. Pheasant, cheese, chicken.
Uncanny Seafood. Pollock, shrimp, catfish, cheese, chicken.
Archetype Buffet. Chicken, rice, oats, wheat, millet, fish oil.
Archetype Burgers. Beef and chicken.
ZiwiPeak Daily Dog Air Dried Cuisine
Lamb. Lamb and New Zealand Green-Lipped Mussel.
Venison. Venison and New Zealand Green-Lipped Mussel.
Venison and Fish. Venison, Hoki Fish, and New Zealand Green-Lipped Mussel.
My Imperfect Dog 
You are very thorough. The only one that comes to mind at the moment is Dried-N-Alive / DNA pet food:
http://www.dnapetfood.com/products/canine
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Only additional one I can think of, I mean.
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Oh, thanks! I’ll add them to the list, along with the “Real Meat!” that I spotted yesterday at our local store.
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You missed orijen dehydrated dog/cat food. Best stuff we have used. Comes in small patties. Rehydrates well (we break them up a bit to speed up the process).
We use these in a combination with the orijen dry kibble and our dog is very happy and healthy!
(I’m scared of using just the dehydrated stuff because it has a 90 10 0 protein/fat/carb ratio. I don’t feel that is enough fat for our dog because he is extremely high energy.
We also supplement him with 1200mg of omega3 oil a day as well as one jumbo greenies dental treat per day. And top it off with a few orijen dehydrated treats as well as some home baked peanut butter dog treats.
He is a husky GSD cross with GSD outer coat and husky undercoat so all the Omega3 is great for his fur!
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Oh, you’re right. When I first wrote this post, the Orijen hadn’t come onto the market yet. I think you might want to double check the nutrition information, though–the 90% meat (the bag claim) is not the same as 90% protein. The actual fat content is around 35%. In my experience, all of the freeze dried foods seem to have a good bit of fat. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; dogs metabolize fat much differently than we do.
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Petsana (some claim an offshoot of Sojos – but pricing seems way more affordable) I’d love to see a breakdown – I’ve asked dogfoodadvisor too
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It looks interesting, for sure. I’d say that the ingredients are on-par with the competition. I wouldn’t have a problem giving it to Silas.
A lot of the “magic” of dehydrated food comes from how well it rehydrates, though, which is hard to predict from an ingredient list. If, for instance, they left those sweet potatoes as larger chunks, they aren’t going to soak up the water very well.
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