Is your pet’s treat safe?

Freeze-dried treats are increasingly popular among pet owners in Malaysia who care about feeding their cats and dogs real, nutritious food.

However, with the flood of brands in the market, not all freeze-dried treats are created equal. Some could even be harmful to your pet if poorly processed, handled unhygienically, or made with low-quality ingredients.

In other words, you might be unknowingly spending money on treats that could harm your pet’s health.

Want your cat to live the longest, healthiest, and happiest life?

It starts with what’s in their bowl.
Every meal is a chance to give your cat more energy, fewer vet visits, a shinier coat, and a longer, happier life by your side.

Choose food that truly understands your cat’s needs.
Choose Grace Cat. 🐾

Malaysia’s First Freeze-Dried Complete Meal With Krill Oil & Postbiotic

How to Identify High-Quality Freeze-Dried Pet Treats

Here’s how to identify high-quality freeze-dried treats that are truly safe and beneficial for your furry friend:

1. Packaging For Pet Treats Matters More Than You Think

Packaging can make or break your pet’s treats.

It’s one of the simplest ways to spot lower-quality pet treats — and to tell if the seller or brand genuinely cares about the quality of their freeze-dried products.

A high-quality freeze-dried treat must be well protected from light, moisture, and oxygen. The best packaging is:

Full aluminium foil bags (not just aluminium-lining) that block light and air completely.

Avoid:

Transparent or semi-transparent plastic packaging.
Plastic containers and tubs.
Repacked treats in zip-lock bags.

These options may look attractive to human eyes — and some pet shop owners have told us their customers prefer the “nicer looking” clear packaging. However, those same shop owners also admit that freeze-dried treats in transparent packaging often spoil faster or develop mould even before their expiry date.

That’s because light and oxygen can easily pass through clear or semi-clear materials, degrading nutrients and encouraging bacteria growth. Looks aren’t everything — what protects your pet’s health is what counts.

2. If the Price is Too Good to Be True…

Freeze-drying is a costly process involving expensive machinery and time. If you see freeze-dried meat being sold at an unusually low price, be cautious. It could mean:

Poor-quality or unsafe meat used.
The product is not truly freeze-dried but oven-dried or mixed with fillers.
Low hygiene standards in production.

Did you know it takes 500g of fresh meat to produce just 100g of real freeze-dried treat? On top of that, there are other costs involved — a 24-hour freeze-drying process, electricity, machine maintenance, labour, and additional safety steps like irradiation.

Yet, I’ve come across freeze-dried treats that are even cheaper than the equivalent amount of fresh meat.

To be honest, I genuinely worry about what might happen to pets if they’re fed these kinds of low-cost, questionable-quality treats over the long term.

3. Beware of Unhygienic Handling

Some online sellers or pet shops re-pack freeze-dried treats in uncontrolled environments — which can pose serious health risks to your pet.

Red flags to watch out for:

Sellers handling treats in open-air environments or high humidity.
Lack of gloves, masks, or hairnets during handling.
People talking near unpackaged products (eg: pack while live-streaming) — saliva particles can increase bacterial contamination.

Freeze-dried treats are extremely sensitive to moisture and microbial contamination. Once exposed to air or packed in non-sterile conditions, their shelf life and safety are compromised.

We’ve spoken to pet owners who believed their cats couldn’t handle freeze-dried treats because they would get diarrhoea. But after trying properly processed and hygienically packed freeze-dried treats like ours, their cats experienced no issues at all. The truth is: it’s not that their pets can’t eat freeze-dried food — it’s that the previous products were contaminated or handled poorly, resulting in high bacteria levels that upset the digestive system.

This often happens because some sellers either don’t understand how sensitive freeze-dried products are, or they simply don’t care about what goes into your pet’s stomach. That’s why it’s so important to buy from trusted sources with proper hygiene practices and sealed-at-source packaging.

4. Do a Hydration Test at Home

*Left: Brand X (purchased from a pet shop). Right: Grace Cat*

A simple way to verify the quality of freeze-dried treats:

Put a piece of freeze-dried chicken in warm water.
Within minutes, it should return to raw meat texture and colour (soft and pale pink).

If it remains white and hard like cooked chicken, it’s either:

Not 100% freeze-dried,
Cooked before drying,
Or mixed with fillers and starch.

Unfortunately, many freeze-dried products on the Malaysian market are made using low-quality ingredients and questionable methods. Some factories cut corners by using cheap meat, combining freeze-drying with hot-air drying to speed up production and reduce costs, or even adding chemical additives to mask unpleasant smells and fool pets into eating them.

These practices are not only dishonest — they’re dangerous. They prioritise profits over pet health, deceiving well-meaning pet owners and potentially causing long-term harm to pets. It’s heartbreaking, but in a commercial world where margins matter more than morals, these shortcuts are far too common.

As pet parents, we need to stay informed, ask the right questions, and choose brands that uphold safety and integrity in everything they make.

Your Pet Deserves Real, Safe, High-Quality Nutrition

Treats aren’t just snacks—they can affect your pet’s long-term health. Choosing wisely means:

More natural nutrients preserved
Better digestion
Less risk of contamination or spoilage

Grace Cat only uses premium quality, human-grade meat, and real freeze-drying technology with lab-tested results. Because your pets deserve nothing less than love, care, and science-backed nutrition.

Final Tip:

Don’t be fooled by attractive packaging or cheap prices. What matters most is your pet’s safety, health, and happiness.

Choose smart. Choose safe. Choose love.