Freshpet is a US pet food brand that specializes in fresh, refrigerated cat and dog food. It offers a small selection of steam cooked cat food that is widely available across the US, providing complete and balanced nutrition for your feline friend.

But is Freshpet the best option for your cat? To help you decide, we’ve put together this in-depth Freshpet cat food review which examines product ranges and flavors, pros and cons, recall history, and more.

Freshpet offers a limited selection of product ranges for cats. Let’s take a closer look at each product line and what they have to offer for your feline friend.

Freshpet Tender Bites are available in two grain-free recipes featuring ingredients such as US farm-raised chicken and beef, and they’re steam-cooked to lock in important nutrients. These recipes also don’t feature any gluten, soy, or fillers, and they provide complete and balanced nutrition for cats at all life stages. 

Made with only unprocessed cuts of meat and no meat meals, Tender Bites are high quality dry cat foods. Freshpet adds carrots, spinach, and eggs to its Tender Bites to provide a natural nutrient boost for your cat. 

Freshpet Tender Bites also has excellent macros—Tender Bites Chicken Recipe with Garden Vegetables recipe contains above average protein (48.5% as dry matter) and above-average fat (28.5% as dry matter) compared to standard cat kibbles. 

There are also two Freshpet Select Gourmet Pate recipes to choose from. These grain-free rolls are also steam-cooked, feature high-quality animal protein sources, and they provide complete and balanced nutrition for cats at all life stages.

Freshpet Gourmet Paté are made without filler ingredients—no soy or corn to be found here! The top four ingredients in each recipe is either a cut of meat or broth. One potentially controversial ingredient in these recipes is carrageenan, a natural thickener which anecdotal evidence suggests can upset some cat's stomachs. 

Another downside of these recipes is their fat-to-protein ratios. Freshpet Chicken & Beef Grain Free Gourmet Paté consists of 40.9% protein as dry matter and 31.8% fat as dry matter. 

Freshpet Vital provides fresh food made with high-quality ingredients for your fur-baby. First in the range is a paté-style roll made with natural chicken, beef, and egg, which boasts a high moisture content to help your cat stay hydrated. 

Vital Paté has similar ingredients to Freshpet 's standard patés, but is higher in protein. Vital Grain Free Chicken & Beef Recipe Paté contains 45.4% protein as dry matter and 31.8% fat as dry matter.

The second option offers Tender Bites made with chicken and egg, and it features antioxidant-rich spinach and carrots to support your cat’s overall wellbeing. Both Freshpet Vital recipes are made with verified non-GMO ingredients. 

It's worth noting that Freshpet Vital Tender Bites Grain Free Chicken Recipe and the standard Tender Bites Grain Free Chicken Recipe have identical ingredient lists. Vital's main difference is its commitment to using non-GMO produce. 

Freshpet Vital also have the exact same protein (48.5% as dry matter) and fat (28.5% as dry matter) percentages as standard Freshpet Tender Bites.

There’s one Freshpet Nature’s Fresh recipe for cats: Grain Free Chicken Recipe with Vegetables. This steam-cooked recipe is made with sustainability in mind and features sustainably raised chicken. 

It’s Animal Welfare Certified to Global Animal Partnership standards, and 87% of this recipe is chicken and egg. It also features spinach and carrots to provide an added nutrient boost for your furry friend.

Nature’s Fresh’s ingredients are very similar to Freshpet's other dry cat foods, with carrots, spinach, and eggs are secondary ingredients. That said, its macros are slightly different, with more protein (51.4% as dry matter) and more fat (30% as dry matter) than regular Tender Bites. 

Freshpet is one of the brands that Dr. Georgia Jeremiah, pet nutrition expert and one of Wag!’s veterinary consultants, recommends to her clients.

“Freshpet cat food offers fresh, whole-food recipes that are conveniently available in most grocery stores. These recipes feature real meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, and grains while avoiding gluten, soy, and fillers. With no by-product meals and protein as the first ingredient, they are gently steam-cooked to retain essential nutrients, providing balanced nutrition and improved palatability for finicky eaters. However, these diets do contain an added sodium source which may be inappropriate for cats suffering from certain health conditions; therefore, it would be worth consulting your veterinarian before switching to this brand.”

Freshpet offers wholesome nutrition for your cat, with recipes formulated by veterinary nutritionists. Each recipe starts with a high-quality animal protein source as the first ingredient, while farm-fresh fruit and veggies are also included to help your cat stay healthy and happy. Freshpet recipes are also steam-cooked to ensure that the nutritional benefits of each ingredient are passed on to your cat.

Fresh food is highly palatable to many cats. So if your feline is a fussy eater, dishing up Freshpet food at mealtime will have them licking their lips with excitement.

Freshpet has an impressive commitment to the environment when producing its pet food. Recipes are prepared in landfill-free kitchens, while the manufacturer also runs several sustainability initiatives to help support the planet. Its kitchens also use electricity generated from renewable wind or solar energy.

Freshpet fresh cat food is made in the USA, while 96% of its ingredients come from North America. So, if you like to keep a close eye on exactly what goes into your cat’s dinner bowl, you can enjoy extra peace of mind when giving Freshpet recipes to your cat.

Freshpet offers a limited cat food product range compared to some other brands on the market. If you’re the type of pet parent who likes to rotate what they feed to give their pet variety, you may want to consider other brands.

Freshpet cat food recipes commonly include “natural flavors”, which typically consists of low-quality ingredients used to improve the flavor of a food. A lack of information about exactly what flavors are used may concern some pet parents.

Freshpet is on the pricey side due to its quality. At the time of writing, 6 x 1-lb bags of Freshpet Vital Chicken Grain-Free Fresh Cat Food costs $47.94 on Chewy, which works out at $7.99 per lb. 

Check out our round-up of the best budget-friendly cat foods if you're searching for a more affordable cat food. 

As it offers fresh food that needs to be kept refrigerated, Freshpet has a much shorter shelf life than other cat foods. This makes it a less convenient option compared to kibble. 

“I started trying this a few years ago as my cat is picky with food and has been losing weight due to some health issues. She consistently eats this every day and has for months! Easy to keep in the fridge.”

“All 4 of our cats had digestive issues with the traditional dry foods that are loaded with carbs and hard for their digestive systems to break down. We transitioned them all over to Freshpet and the results are unREAL. Firm consistent stool, shiny coats, energetic demeanors. They LOVE breakfast and dinner and are always chowing down. I love the flexibility of how you can switch from one type to another within this brand and have no "transition issues." I seriously cannot say enough about this brand and highly recommend it for anyone who has an animal with digestive issues. It's the next best thing to feeding raw (which they would be eating in their natural habitats). We even switched our 12-year-old Yorkie over to it and had the same results. Try it. You won't be disappointed!”

“I have a picky cat who refuses to eat anything other than dog food. She’ll push my 70lb Pit [Bull] out of the way to get to it. She’s finally eating cat food now that I bought her this and the dog is thrilled that she’s leaving his bowl alone!”

Read more reviews on Petco.

Freshpet was founded in 2006 in Secaucus, New Jersey. Today, the company has 30,000 Freshpet fridges in North America and is publicly listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Freshpet has issued 2 recalls in recent years.

The most recent was in June 2022, when one lot of Freshpet Select Fresh From the Kitchen Home Cooked Chicken Recipe was recalled due to potential Salmonella contamination.

In June 2021, Freshpet recalled its Freshpet Select Small Dog Bite Size Beef & Egg Recipe Dog Food, also due to potential Salmonella contamination.

Product images sourced from the Freshpet website. Copyright Freshpet.