What Food Do Dogs Prefer: Wet or Freeze-Dried?

In the age where viral challenges are taking over the internet by storm, we decided to try out the Vital Essentials “Better Wetter or Nicer Naked?” challenge (#TasteofVE). In short, this challenge allows your pet the option of choosing how they prefer their meals to be served: wet or naked.

Earlier this year Vital Essentials VP of Sales and Marketing, Kevin Malnor noted, “We know our pets have specific preferences, just like we do. Some cats and dogs like their meals, ‘Better Wetter’ – wholesome nutritious food that’s soft and juicy – and that’s how our Mini Patties were designed to be served. Other pets are more accustomed to crunchy, bite sized food, no added water or broth, ‘Nicer Naked’ and that’s just what you’ll find with our Mini Nibs.”

Disclaimer: Navy has been working with Vital Essentials® (VE™) as an influencer since February 2018. All opinions in this post are honest and our own. Navy has been eating Vital Essentials Raw for a little over 6 months now and absolutely loving it. We explained why we transitioned to feeding Navy raw on our YouTube.

Because VE has virtually the same limited ingredients in their freeze-dried and frozen raw options, we’ve been able to safely switch Navy between Vital Essentials freeze-dried and frozen raw options. While we predominately feed Navy frozen raw patties, the Vital Essentials freeze-dried options have been incredibly helpful during our busy vacation season.

Vital Essentials has two amazing freeze-dried mealtime options for pets – Mini Nibs and Mini Patties. Both the Mini Nibs and the Mini Patties are great healthy options for your pet and allow for raw feeding to continue on the go. Take a look at the breakdown of the two options:

After reviewing the benefits of both options, we were generally curious to see how Navy would prefer her food served. Navy is a fairly delicate and picky eater. Whenever she receives a new food or treat she will carefully take it in her mouth, carry it aside, and make eye contact with Mom or Dad as she sniffs her new treat. If she does not like the new snack, she will simply not eat it! We have yet to find a Vital Essentials treat that Navy does not love!

Navy definitely prefers her food and treats to be bite sized. She also has plenty of experience absolutely demolishing bags (yes bags plural) of Vital Essentials freeze-dried treats during her training sessions. Because of this, we figured she may enjoy her Mini Nibs naked.

On the other hand, when Navy was a puppy we used to have to wet her kibble with warm water in hopes to bring out the scent of the kibble and entice her to eat it. We also noticed that when crumbling the Mini Patties and adding water, the consistency of the meal looked most similar to what she normally receives during mealtime. With that, we thought she might actually choose the wetter Mini Patties over the naked Mini Nibs.

We decided to film a video of Navy choosing between the wetter Mini Patties and the naked Mini Nibs to see which she truly preferred. Before you watch the video linked, which option do you think Navy will prefer?

SPOILER ALERT! Navy prefers it better wetter. However to be fair, Navy did love both options. What we did not show in this video was Navy immediately eating the naked Mini Nibs after polishing off her wetter Mini Patties. I think it is safe to say that she chose the wetter Mini Patties because of the rich smell and consistency. Even Mom and Dad noticed a clear difference in smell between the two bowls of food.

We hope you enjoyed reading through this post and watching Navy try the #TasteofVE challenge! How does your pet prefer their food served? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below. You can take the challenge too! Be sure to tag @NavyCorgi on Instagram and @VitalEssentialsRaw.

Are you interested in trying Vital Essentials Raw? Check out their website to find a location closest to you. You can receive free treats too!  Head to vitalessentialsraw.com/subscribe  for special offers and discounts on gluten free, grain free food & treats! You’ll get an INSTANT $2.00 off coupon, PLUS access to the VE Birthday Club to receive a FREE Vital Essentials Treat on your pet’s birthday or gotcha day! BONUS! If you use code NAVY by 8/15, you’ll automatically receive a $5.00 off coupon!