Cheap, easy to store, and full of different flavors and protein sources, dry cat food is typical when it comes to what to feed our lovely four-legged friends.

Even though dry food is not always served in larger portions and pet stores and grocery shelves always abound with a wide range of dry food, some of us still buy in bulk when it is on sale. But does dry cat food go bad? And how can we store it without decreasing its quality and ruining its taste?

Compared to wet cat food, dry cat food is much more slowly to perish out once it is open. But it does not mean that you do not need to pay attention to how to store it for the best preservation.

What Do You Need To Know About Dry Cat Food?

Dry food has long been the favorite choice among cat owners when it comes to available food for their furry family members. It not only wins the heart of all pet owners but most cats also seem to be addicted to it.

It is no secret that dry bags are convenient and easy to feed. Some are even advertised as “complete and balanced.” But it is not a healthy diet. Do you want your cat’s healthy and happy life? It’s high time to stop feeding dry food!

Does dry cat food go bad?

The “Best By” dates of any dry cat food is often 6 months after the production date. And preservatives and antioxidants are supposed to keep it fresh. Unfortunately, even though the original bag is tightly sealed, the preservatives themselves can degrade into a useless compound over time.

On each dry food bag, you can see a “Use By” date – about 6 months after its milling date. Dry food is ideally consumed within these 6 months. And you should not keep the food past this “Best By” date unless you keep these bags in a freezer before use.

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How to Safely Store Dry Cat Food?

Dry cat food not only offers your four-legged members a more diverse diet (when combined with wet cat food) but also is pretty easy to store. However, once you open your dry cat food, its quality and freshness depend on where you have it at home.

If we do not store dry cat food properly, chances are there will be the development of bacteria or parasitic infestations. And in the worst cases, these dry foods could spoil. Here comes the hardest part: “How can we keep our dry cat food for as long as possible without the decrease in its ideal nutritional profile?”

Below are our recommendations on how to best keep your cat fresh and wholesome.

Keep Dry Cat Food In A Dry Place At Cool Temperatures

How To Keep Dry Cat Food?

Food irradiation resulting in the vitamins’ destruction and oxidation of fatty acids leading to rancidity are common. But you can avoid it. How? So simple. Just store these bags of dry cat food in a dry place at cool temperatures.

The temperatures should not higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). Meanwhile, if we keep these dry foods in a dry place with pretty high temperatures, it could be a reason for the destruction of vitamins in the food. In some instances, food could go rancid.

If you keep the dry food in a dry place at the temperatures of up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius) for longer than 2 days, it can significantly increase the normal degradation or the food vitamin destructions.

Dry cat food’s original bag can make a huge difference

There must be a reason why dry pet food manufacturers put a lot of effort into making these high-quality food bags. Each food bag has a fat barrier that makes sure that the freshness is maintained.

These barriers are perfectly designed so that it keeps the strange elements out and lock the best flavors in for as long as possible. If you use a plastic bag to contain dry food, you cannot make sure that the taste is preserved.

There is one more benefit of keeping the original cat food bags. Keeping them is synonymous with keeping the pet food’s barcode, “Best By” dates, as well as batch code. They all are necessary product information, particularly when you want to check the date of manufacture or in case of your pet food recall.

Keep The Dry Food Bag In A Sealed Container

If you want to preserve the nutrition and taste of your dry cat food properly, there is no better solution than keeping the high-quality original bag into a sealed container.

Both humidity and airspeed up to the degrading rate of pet foods and increase dramatically the risk of the attack of bacterial contamination. That’s why you should seal the cat food bag after every feeding.

How about canned cat food? Unopened one should be kept in a dry place at cool temperatures. Keeping it in a pantry is not a bad idea. And, opened canned cat food must be thrown away after several days opening no matter how much food left.

Otherwise, you should keep it in a sealed container and put it in a refrigerator. Also, you can transfer these dry cat foods to a metal container or a tin bin with a lid. However, there is one thing to notice.

Whether you want to retain the bag or not, don’t discard the label and have it taped to the container outside! That way, you can keep your cat food fresh and wholesome as well as prevent it from the sudden attack of infestations.

Does dry cat food go bad? Yes, it does. Instead of wasting time and money taking care of your four-legged friend when he is ill, why not spend good money on his food?

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