The best raw cat food is on the rise, with many cat owners including raw items in their pet’s diet. People are becoming more and more educated on pet food and its nutritional value for their pets meaning they are put off buying highly processed cat foods and therefore, raw seems to be the go-to healthy alternative.
An international study published by the BMJ revealed that over 53% of cat owners feed their cats raw food options as part of their diet, this was either completely on its own or alongside some of the best cat food. Let’s not assume that dry cat food is a no-go, in fact, there are various top quality options packed with healthy ingredients.
But for now, let’s focus on the addition of raw cat food to your kitty’s diet as there are many benefits of raw cat food. If you like to keep kitchen work to a minimum and don’t want to risk handling meat unsafely then you’ll want to get to know these excellent raw cat food brands listed in our guide below.
First things first, you should always check if a raw cat food meets the AAFCO suggested standards. The AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) generates and recommends guidelines for the definitions and suitability of ingredients that go into pet foods. It’s rare that you’ll find one that will match up perfectly to their guidelines but the closer a cat food is to these standards the healthier it is likely to be for your pet and there is less chance of it containing harmful bacteria like E.Coli and Salmonella. If you want to take a deeper look into the AAFCO guidelines you can see them in full on their website.
While you are likely to find fewer additives in raw food and higher levels of protein it can be pricier and often you can find similar nutritional value in premium options for the best dry cat food and best wet cat food. We’ve taken this into consideration and only included the best raw cat foods that are genuinely worth your money.
One of the overwhelming favorites when it comes to the best raw cat food is Stella and Chewy, as this company makes excellent freeze-dried raw food, in a wide variety of flavors. As with most raw cat food, Stella and Chewy is keen to point out that there are no added ingredients like hormones, filler, or preservatives – the meat they serve is processed, but not overly so. It’s rich in protein, which is perfect for cats, and seems to be widely loved if the wealth of positive user reviews are to be believed.
Stella and Chewy also prides itself on producing cat food from responsibly sourced meat and fish, and that its ingredients are gluten free, which can be an issue for cats with certain dietary problems. There are plenty of claims about the health benefits of Stella and Chewy’s food, and the credentials are good: the guaranteed list of ingredients and percentages meet AAFCO guidelines, and the preparation method is recognized by both the FDA and the USDA, so you’re less likely to get contaminants than any other brand.
If you’re looking for ethically sourced raw cat food that actually has the nutritional value to benefit you kitty, this is easily one of the best out there. The wide range of flavors means you should be able to find something your cat enjoys too. The only downside is the price – this is not cheap food, although it compares well to some of the premium, specialized diet food from other manufacturers.
The alternative to a pure, raw diet is toppers. These are freeze-dried raw ingredients that can be mixed in with (or placed on top of) regular food, to supplement your cat’s diet. So they’re getting the benefits of raw meat and fish with the added vitamins and minerals that dry food brings. At the top of the list of toppers is Instinct’s Raw Boost Mixers.
You can buy this in chicken and rabbit flavors, and there’s also a special formula for both digestive health, and skin and coat maintenance. The meat used here is minimally processed, and is boosted with vegetables that are produced to non-GMO standards. While it doesn’t quite have the same ethical standards as Stella and Chewy, Instinct is still at the top-end of responsible cat food.
If you want to go full raw diet, Instinct does do a bag of pure, raw, freeze-dried chicken pieces. It comes highly recommended by users, but we think Instinct’s range is far better for the toppers, which are a better way to introduce raw food into your cat’s diet, and retain the benefits of other food types. And, let’s not forget, toppers can be used as treats too!
If you just want to use raw food as a treat, and a way to lightly supplement your cat’s diet, then treats are a great option. Purebites makes some excellent treats, and they come in a wide range of flavors. If your cat likes seafood, then there are plenty of fish options, including shrimp and minnow (not something you see every day). As with most other raw food, these treats are free from grains, and good for cats with allergies, as they contain few ingredients that would inflame these kinds of issues.
At around $4 per bag, these cat treats are pretty expensive, but it’s an affordable way to get raw meat and fish into your cat’s diet, and prevent them from eating too much and getting sick. While Purebites says that these treats are hypoallergenic, implying that they are suitable for cats on restricted diets, we think it’s best to check with your veterinarian before feeding them to kitty, if they are on a severely restricted diet.
Purebites get excellent user reviews across the whole range of treats, which means they are loved by cats across the country. The most popular flavor does seem to be chicken, but this is often the case for cat food. At $4 per bag, it’s worth trying with your cat.
If you’re looking for a raw cat food that covers a variety of bases, then Orijen’s grain free mix is a great choice. Orijen uses what it calls the ‘whole prey’ approach, which means it mixes in a variety of raw meats, and guarantees that the first five ingredients into every batch of its cat food are animals or fish, before adding fruits and vegetables for other nutritional benefits. Orijen claims that the recipe is 90% meat, 10% other.
This means that the flavor stays consistent, which is important for many cats, but it does limit choice – your kitty will either eat this, or it won’t. Of course it isn’t filled out with grain, or that would defeat the point of it being natural, raw cat food. What it does have, as an added bonus, is a coating of freeze-dried liver to retain the kibble shape, and appeal to your cat’s sense of taste.
This is one of the highest rated cat foods across a number of pet food retailers, and has an impressive score of 4.6 stars on Chewy – making it seem pretty close to one of the best raw cat foods. It does seem that the range of meat and fish ingredients (which, amusingly, one reader review described as disgusting) appeal to a wide range of cats, as many people recommend it for picky eaters.
For anyone who wants to get as close to possible with their raw cat food, then Vital Essentials does an excellent range of treats which are – essentially – exactly what they say. The minnow treats are actual freeze-dried minnows. The chicken hearts are actual freeze-dried hearts. While the rabbit bites aren’t recognizable… you get the general idea. If ever you were uncertain about the ingredients in your cat’s raw food, these treats from Vital should set your mind at ease.
As these are pretty much all protein and natural ingredients, they’re suitable for gluten-free and grain-free diets. While they won’t give your cat all the nutrients it needs, they are a great accompaniment to some of the best dried cat food out there, which will happily give your kitty all it needs to stay healthy.
At over $5 per bag, these treats are very premium, but you’re getting raw cat food in its purest form. We’d recommend them for already healthy cats, looking for a better class of treat, but can’t say they’re the ideal basis for a balanced diet.
If you’re looking for the best raw cat food that is also wet, then we recommend seeking out Almo Nature’s range of raw food pouches. These contain around 75% of human grade raw ingredients, and come in a variety of flavors to suit most cats’ tastes. What’s more, they aren’t all that expensive either, especially compared to some of the premium dry food you can buy. A pack of 24 sachets costs just over £20/$23, so you’re paying about £1/$1 per serving.
While the process of making these pouches is less well documented (although all natural ingredients are used, and the food is both gluten and grain-free), it’s nice to know that all profits from sales of this good gets put back into biodiversity work. While this is of no tangible benefit to you or your cat, it does make Almo well worth trying.
The downside is that cats are undecided about whether or not they actually like it. Most negative user reviews cite the fact that their cat simply wasn’t interested in trying the flavors they purchased, which means it probably isn’t suitable for picky eaters…. Meaning it might be the best raw cat food.
How to introduce the best raw cat food into your cat's diet
If you decide to switch your cat over to raw food, you absolutely shouldn’t just make a straight swap, even if it is the best raw cat food. Cats’ digestive systems are surprisingly delicate, and any change in their food should be introduced over the course of a couple of weeks, as you phase out the old cat food and introduce the new. We suggest starting with a very small amount of raw food – perhaps 10-15% of the cat’s daily food intake – before slowly building up the quantity. If your cat is sick, or refuses to eat the raw food after a couple of days, it’s a good idea to stop, or speak to your veterinarian about whether or not a raw diet is a good idea for your kitty.
We’ve seen numerous user reviews online claiming that their cats were sick after trying raw food. This could be because the regular food was substituted immediately, instead of being slowly removed and replaced with the raw. Equally, some cats simply don’t like raw, or their stomachs’ won’t tolerate it, despite the natural ingredients present. As with anything cat related, it usually comes down to the specific cat, and what one mog loves… another simply won’t enjoy at all, even if it's the best raw cat food you can find.
