K9 Natural dog food, boosters and treats
K9 Natural — sometimes written K9 Naturals — is a New Zealand brand built around freeze-dried raw feeding. The range here splits into three things people buy for quite different reasons: freeze-dried Feast diets, canned Feast wet food, and green tripe boosters alongside single-ingredient treats. Working out which of those is a complete diet and which is a topper is the one thing to get right before you order.
Freeze-dried Feast — a complete diet, fed rehydrated
The freeze-dried Feast range covers Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Hoki & Beef, Lamb & King Salmon and Lamb & Venison, in 100g, 500g, 1.8kg and 3.6kg (Lamb & Venison stops at 1.8kg). It is complete and balanced, and it is meant to be fed rehydrated — you stir in warm water and let it stand before serving. This is where first-time buyers most often go wrong. Freeze-drying takes the water out, so the bag looks small and the price per kilogram looks steep, but 500g rebuilds into roughly three times that weight of food. Follow the feeding guide on the pack by weight; carrying across the scoop you used for kibble will overfeed badly. Start with the 100g pack rather than the 3.6kg. Rehydrated raw is a texture some dogs take straight away and others need a week to accept, and a small bag is a cheap way to find out which one you have.
Bulk cartons
Chicken, Hoki & Beef and Lamb & King Salmon also come as sealed multi-bag cartons — 14.4kg (3.6kg x 4), and 7.2kg (1.8kg x 4) for Chicken. The Lamb Green Tripe booster comes as a 4.2kg (700g x 6) carton. These are the ordinary retail bags boxed together, so each bag stays sealed until you open it and the best-before date applies per bag rather than to the carton as a whole. Worth the sums if you feed a large dog or more than one — and worth checking the best-before date on the product page against how long a carton will realistically last you, because freeze-dried food is only shelf-stable while the bag is unopened.
Canned Feast, boosters and treats
The canned Feast line runs the same proteins in 170g and 370g cans, sold as singles or by the dozen. It suits households that do not want a soaking step, and it is the sensible fallback for a dog that refuses rehydrated food. Many owners run both — cans on weekdays, freeze-dried when there is time.
Green tripe boosters and the treat range are complementary foods, not complete diets. They go on top of a full meal, never in place of one, and a dog fed tripe alone is being underfed. Tripe is also strongly scented; that is exactly why it works on fussy eaters, and worth knowing before you open the tub in the kitchen. Healthy Bites, Protein Bites and Green Mussel Snacks come in 50g and 60g tubs for training.
For more information, see the official K9 Natural Australia site.
