Viva Raw Cat Food Review 2024

Viva Raw is a reasonably new pet food company, focused on making USDA-approved human-grade raw pet food that dogs and cats will crave. Viva Raw cooks its recipes in small batches in human-grade kitchens using humanely raised meat.

Due to its use of the highest-quality ingredients and its commitment to producing raw pet foods that look like they came straight from your local meat market, we give Viva Raw a "purrfect" 5 out of 5 paws up!

Keep scrolling for our comprehensive Viva Raw cat food review, where we discuss everything from product lines to recalls to the brand's history.

Interested in feeding your feline a raw food diet? Check out these other top-rated raw cat food brands! 

• Open Farm
• Orijen
• Stella & Chewy’s
• Nulo

Viva Raw has only one product range of cat food, which consists of five recipes. Viva also offers Viva Raw Pure, a supplemental meat mixture that you can use in homemade cat food. 

All recipes in Viva Raw's main product line are "complete and balanced," meeting the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient profile guidelines for all life stages. Viva Raw Pure is not complete cat food and is for supplemental feeding only.

Viva Raw cat food

Viva Raw caters to your cat's carnivorous instincts, with recipes that consist of around 98% real meat. The first four ingredients in all recipes are a cut of quality organ or muscle meat mixed with edible ground bone. All Viva Raw's produce is non-GMO, and its meat contains no hormones or growth-promoting antibiotics.

Limited ingredients and a single protein source in each recipe make Viva Raw ideal for cats with food allergies or sensitive stomachs. If your cat is allergic to beef or chicken, three novel protein options (rabbit, turkey, and duck) are available.

Viva Raw is clearly high quality, judging by its unusual yet nutrient-rich secondary ingredients. Common supplemental ingredients include organic psyllium husk and Chilean mussels. Psyllium husk is a popular supplement that's rich in dietary fiber, while mussels are high in omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and manganese, supporting joint health and immunity.

Viva Raw cat foods contain 60.6% protein as dry matter on average, which is above average for raw cat food.

Viva Raw cat food flavors:

• Chicken
• Beef
• Turkey
• Duck
• Rabbit

Viva Raw Pure

Viva Raw Pure recipes are supplemental meat mixtures to add to your homemade cat food as a primary protein source. These recipes are overall the same as Viva Raw main food line, but without the supplements that make it "complete and balanced." Each Viva Raw Pure mixture is made only with 80% meat, 10% organ, and 10% bone and no preservatives. 

Viva Raw Pure flavors:

• Chicken
• Beef
• Turkey
• Duck
• Rabbit

Keep scrolling for a few of the main reasons we give Viva Raw a perfect rating of 5 out of 5 paws up!

Human-grade ingredients

Viva Raw uses human-grade ingredients, including USDA-inspected meat and non-GMO fruits and veggies. Viva Raw cooks its recipes in small batches in human-grade kitchens to ensure their of the highest quality.

Human-grade raw foods contain some of the highest nutrient levels of any cat food, as their nutrients aren’t affected by cooking or processing. Due to the quality of the ingredients, Viva Raw's food is highly digestible and great for cats with sensitivities or allergies.

No fillers or preservatives

Viva Raw's cat foods are grain-free, soy-free, and corn-free, with no filler ingredients — just nutritionally rich ingredients that'll keep your cat happy and healthy. Viva Raw freezes its food during shipping, so it doesn’t need to use any natural or artificial preservatives.

Premium secondary ingredients and supplements

Viva Raw adds premium supplements and secondary ingredients to its cat foods that other brands rarely use. Using such high-quality, whole ingredients suggests Viva Raw's recipes are the real deal.

As well as Chilean mussels and organic psyllium husk, Viva Raw adds taurine, fish oil, oyster meat, and Icelandic kelp to its recipes. Kelp is great for a cat's immunity and metabolism, while oysters are rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

Humanely-raised meat

In addition to being human-grade, Viva Raw sources its meat from farms that raise their animals humanely. Viav Raw states on its website that it uses the same farms that would stock your local Whole Foods.

Viva Raw certifies its meats are from humane sources using third-party auditors like Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and the American Humane Program. Plus, Viva Raw is transparent about its ingredient sourcing—on its website, you can take a virtual tour of the farms it uses!

Here are some things to consider before purchasing Viva Raw for your feline fur-baby.

High quality means higher prices

As it’s a human-grade raw food brand, Viva Raw is a little pricey. Viva Raw’s website says that its raw cat food can feed your average 10 lb cat for $2.50 a day. As a result, it'll cost at least $910 per year to feed your cat Viva Raw, which may not fit your budget.

It's worth mentioning that Viva Raw only offers free shipping on orders over $250 — you'll be charged $15 to $20 for shipping on orders under this threshold.

Deliveries come frozen

Viva Raw freezes its cat food for delivery, so it doesn’t have to use any preservatives. This means you’ll need to thaw out your feline friend’s meals in advance before feeding. And, as a minimum order is 10 lbs, you’ll need to make sure you have enough space in your freezer. 

Concerns about the safety of raw food

Viva Raw's food is raw and goes through no processing, including high-pressure processing (HPP), which is common among pet foods. 

As a result, there's an inherent risk of raw foods being contaminated with pathogens and bacteria like E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria. Due to the risk of pathogen contamination, many vets don't recommend feeding pets a raw diet.

"My Bengal cats insists of monthly orders. The only raw they like. Definitely impressed with quality of food. Feels good to know they are getting the best raw."

"My cats and I love, love, LOVE this product! I had been buying a different commercial brand at my local pet store and it just looks... well blah. Viva Raw looks fresh and like something I am proud and happy to serve my pets. I love that they have single proteins in varieties my cats can eat."

Read more reviews on Viva Raw.

North Carolina natives Jenn Wu, Zach Ao, and their pup, Karoo, founded Viva Raw in 2020. They were inspired to start their own pet food company after growing tired of poor-quality kibble.

Eventually settling on producing raw foods, Viva Raw quickly began shipping across the US. Built around the philosophy of serving up chunky human-grade meals made with almost 100% meat, Viva Raw was immediately successful, earning $3 million in revenue within two years.

Today, nearly five years after starting out, Viva Raw produces the same quality pet food as on day one. It sources most of its ingredients from small farms and prepares its foods in small batches. Viva Raw's headquarters is in Hillsborough, North Carolina.

On January 27th, 2024, Viva Raw issued a recall of one lot of its Duck recipes, which was shipped to over 1,500 customers. This recall was triggered by a customer sending a complaint letter to the FDA, who subsequently tested the customer's food for pathogens. Samples of this lot of food tested positive for Salmonella and Listeria. 

Viva Raw received only that initial complaint in relation to this recall. They have since done a root-cause analysis at their USDA facility, and recommended customers contact them if they received a delivery with this batch number.

Product images sourced from the Viva Raw website. Copyright Viva Raw.