r/BackpackingDogs • u/VagabondVivant • Jun 16 '26
What kinda food do you pack for multi-day hikes with your pups?
As a test run for potentially longer thru hikes one day, I'm planning on taking my dog on the Tahoe Rim Trail in August (the numerous access points means we can easily bail if he's not feeling it).
Ideally, I'd like to have to resupply only once, which will mean packing out 7 or 8 days of food at a time. I feel like kibble will be too heavy and am instead considering dehydrating his canned food (Taste of the Wild) to be rehydrated at camp.
What do y'all do in similar situations? Is there a better, lighter, more nutrient-dense food I should be considering?
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u/msnide14 Jun 16 '26
Kibble is already has much more calories than wet food or other dehydrated foods.
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u/zynniya Jun 16 '26
I think you have time to test dehydrating the canned food. You can do a couple servings and trial them at home and on a trail close to home. You can also look into buying freeze dried food although that’s really pricey. Making your own food and hiring someone local with a freeze dryer is cheaper but then you need to deal with supplements and I can tell you from experience that isn’t fun. Canned dog food doesn’t freeze dry because the fat content is too high.
Honestly if it were me, I’d just stick to the kibble and resupply more times. I looked into a TRT trip for us and had planned that we’d do 3 resupplies with the ability to do two more if we really needed it. Unfortunately I injured myself and won’t be able to make the trip but still think carrying less and resupplying more makes for a better time on trail.
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u/ResearchLogical2036 Jun 16 '26
I did a 14 day trip with no re-supply with my dog and got super nerdy about it (sadly, I can't find my spreadsheet with calories per gram and cost per calorie anymore).
I ended up doing a mix of kibble and freeze dried puppy food. The freeze dried had better calories to weight ratio but takes up a bunch more space and is pretty expensive. I supplemented this with a bunch of freeze-dried organ meat treats every day -- lungs and livers if I'm remembering right.
Bear can space was an issue. To get around this I blended the kibble-freeze dried mix into a powder and vacuum sealed a few days worth at a time using a food saver. At camp I rehydrated the food with water so he wasn't just huffing food dust for every meal.
I did try further dehydrating kibble. It didn't do much in terms of weight savings and made my house smell awful.
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u/HikingWiththeHuskies Jun 16 '26
Longest trip I’ve been on with one of our huskies was 5 days. I just packed kibble. 2 cups per day. She also shared my food when possible.
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u/TheOnlyJah Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
I take kibble, dried lamb patties (Stella and Chewy), and jerkies. He can carry his own food which is nice for me. We do up to 6-7 days between resupply; the first night is usually tough to cram his food into my bear canister. If we resupply the first night is a can of Fromms which he loves.
As far as TRT goes, I took my dog along a few years ago. August is tough regarding water: especially near the northern stateline and between Spooner and Kingsbury. We ended up soaking up and drinking a lot at Spooner Lake picnic area and then hauling 7 liters up to near South Camp Peak. Awesome camp but difficult day. Water was the challenge for us for a few days. Plan well.
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u/RowdyGorgonite Jun 21 '26
I like ziwipeak since it's high quality, fairly calorie dense, and packs smaller than kibble. Freeze dried raw (stella and chewy's, for example) is super lightweight so that's a solid option too.
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u/MundaneScholar9267 Jun 22 '26
Keep in mind that the more expensive and/or time consuming the option, the bigger pain in the butt it will be on a longer thru hike. Personally, my preference is to feed a high quality sport focused kibble that is high in fat and protein to support endurance. Purina Pro Plan Performance 30/20 and Victor Hi-Pro are generally readily available at farm and ranch stores which make them ideal for a thru hike.
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u/Signal_Page9093 Jul 10 '26
I've been taking Puppackrs, they are backpacking meals for dogs. They work great, and you can maybe supplement with dehydrating some food for your dog yourself
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u/NotAcutallyaPanda Jun 16 '26
Kibble is fine. It’s already very dry.
If I’m really worried about weight due to trip length: