What’s actually in Nulo FreeStyle Freeze-Dried Raw Chicken & Salmon?
The ingredient panel reads: chicken, salmon, chicken necks, chicken liver, chicken hearts, ground flaxseed, spinach, salmon oil, cranberries, coconut oil, inulin, dried kelp, potassium chloride, salt, dried Bacillus coagulans fermentation product (BC30 probiotic), taurine, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin A supplement, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, mixed tocopherols (as preservative), and vitamin D3 supplement.
Nulo markets this recipe as 98% chicken, salmon, organs, and bone — a density that places it among the most animal-forward commercial freeze-dried raw cat foods available. Format is freeze-dried raw, which preserves nutrient profile through sublimation (water removed under vacuum at low temperature) rather than cooking. Recommended feeding is rehydration with water before serving, though some owners feed dry. AAFCO substantiation is formulation-based for all life stages (kittens and adult cats). Guaranteed analysis: 42% crude protein minimum / 25% crude fat minimum / 4% crude fiber maximum / 5% moisture maximum — on a dry-matter basis roughly 44% protein and 26% fat, appropriate for obligate-carnivore feeding. Shop on Amazon →
The good stuff
98% animal content is genuinely rare. Chicken at one, salmon at two, and three organ cuts (necks, liver, hearts) in positions three through five is the kind of nose-to-tail profile that maps directly onto feline evolutionary nutrition. Cats are obligate carnivores whose taurine, vitamin A, B12, iron, and copper requirements are best met from organ meats and whole-prey analogues. This panel delivers those nutrients from food rather than from supplementation — the added taurine in position fifteen is a safety margin, not the primary source. Salmon supplies natural EPA/DHA on top of the added salmon oil.
BC30 (Bacillus coagulans) probiotic in a freeze-dried matrix preserves viability well. Unlike probiotic strains that require refrigeration or die during heat processing, BC30 spores survive the freeze-dry process and the dry-matrix shelf life. For cats with a history of IBD, diarrhea, or antibiotic-course recovery, probiotic viability in a shelf-stable format is a practical upside.
All-life-stages AAFCO substantiation. This recipe is formulated to meet the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for all life stages — appropriate for kittens, adults, and pregnant/lactating queens (with veterinary guidance for the latter). That’s a broader AAFCO pathway than many premium fresh-format competitors (Smalls, Tiki Cat After Dark, Weruva Paw Lickin' Chicken are all adult-maintenance only).
Pantry-stable storage. Freeze-dried raw at 5% moisture lives in the pantry until opened and rehydrates at serve time. No freezer, no fridge, no thawing. For owners without dedicated freezer space — apartments, shared kitchens, travelers — this is a real practical advantage over cooked-fresh subscriptions.
The not-so-good stuff
Pathogen control is not publicly documented. Nulo’s consumer-facing materials on nulo.com do not explicitly name HPP (high-pressure processing), test-and-hold batch screening, or equivalent pathogen-control protocols for the FreeStyle Freeze-Dried Raw line. This is the primary driver of the B grade rather than A. Under Fresh Food Rubric v1.0 §4.5, raw-format products without disclosed pathogen control carry a −3 default deduction because the rubric cannot credit controls it cannot verify. Documented-control raw brands like Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw Cat (A/90) (SecureByNature HPP) and Primal Freeze-Dried Cat (A/90) (test-and-hold with probiotic competitive exclusion) score 12 points higher on an otherwise-equivalent ingredient panel.
The CDC, AVMA, and AAFP have issued guidance that raw pet food is not appropriate for households with infants, immunocompromised adults, adults over 65, or pregnant adults — even when HPP-treated. Without documented HPP or test-and-hold, Nulo Freeze-Dried Raw sits on the more cautious side of this guidance. Households with medically vulnerable members should consider cooked-fresh (Smalls A/90) or documented-control raw (Stella & Chewy’s A/90) instead.
AAFCO substantiation is formulation-only, not feeding-trial. This is a category-level limitation — feeding-trial substantiation is rare across the cat industry — but worth noting for owners prioritizing documented longitudinal feeding outcomes.
Per-day cost is high. Freeze-dried raw typically runs $5-12 per day for an average 10-lb cat fed exclusively on the formula — on the order of 5-8x the per-day cost of A-tier dry kibble like Orijen (A/91). Many owners use freeze-dried raw as a meal-complement or topper rather than a full diet.
How it compares
In the freeze-dried raw tier, Stella & Chewy’s Chick Chick Chicken Freeze-Dried Raw Cat (A/90) and Primal Freeze-Dried Nuggets Chicken & Salmon Cat (A/90) both outscore Nulo by 12 points on pathogen-control documentation. Stella & Chewy’s explicitly names SecureByNature HPP; Primal uses test-and-hold pathogen screening combined with competitive-exclusion probiotic. Against the brand-level Nulo (B/88) dry-kibble entry, the freeze-dried raw version scores 10 points lower because the Nulo dry line doesn’t carry the raw-format pathogen-control question.
See the head-to-head: Nulo Freeze-Dried vs Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried.
Buying guide featuring Nulo Freeze-Dried Raw: Best Fresh Cat Food.
The bottom line
Nulo FreeStyle Freeze-Dried Raw Chicken & Salmon Recipe earns a B grade (78/100) under the Fresh Food Rubric v1.0. The ingredient panel is strong enough to support an A grade on a formulation basis; the pathogen-control documentation gap is what holds the score at B. If Nulo publicly documents HPP or test-and-hold protocols in the future, this score would re-evaluate upward. For now, owners prioritizing documented raw-format pathogen control should consider Stella & Chewy’s Freeze-Dried Raw Cat (A/90) or Primal Freeze-Dried Cat (A/90). For owners comfortable with the raw-format tradeoff and prioritizing 98% animal density plus all-life-stages AAFCO substantiation, Nulo Freeze-Dried Raw is a solid B-tier freeze-dried raw choice and a reasonable topper option on a premium dry base like Wellness CORE (A/90). Shop on Amazon →