The scores
Smalls Smooth Bird Fresh Chicken Recipe Pate Cat Food: A (90/100) — Chicken at one, chicken liver at two, human-grade production, 73% moisture, zero grains/peas/potatoes, formulation-based AAFCO substantiation.
Stella & Chewy’s Chick Chick Chicken Freeze-Dried Raw Dinner Morsels Cat Food: A (90/100) — Chicken with ground bone, liver, and gizzard at 98% animal content. Four-strain probiotic. SecureByNature HPP documented. Formulation-based AAFCO.
Both sit at the top of the Fresh Food Rubric v1.0 cat catalog. Stella & Chewy’s is the first HPP-documented freeze-dried raw cat entry; Smalls is the first cooked-fresh cat subscription entry.
How the ingredients compare
Smalls (Smooth Bird Chicken): Chicken, chicken liver, green beans, water sufficient for processing, dried yeast, tricalcium phosphate, kale, magnesium proteinate, potassium chloride, choline chloride, dandelion greens, dried kelp, taurine, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, cod liver oil, salt — plus a complete vitamin and B-complex tail.
Stella & Chewy’s (Chick Chick Chicken): Chicken with ground bone, chicken liver, chicken gizzard, pumpkin seed, potassium chloride, sodium phosphate, choline chloride, fenugreek seed, four probiotic fermentation products, taurine, mixed tocopherols, dandelion, dried kelp — plus proteinate-form trace minerals and full vitamin complex.
Both products open chicken-then-liver, with both adding supplemental taurine on top of the organ-meat baseline. The biggest measurable difference is animal-content density: Stella & Chewy’s is 98% chicken-plus-organs-plus-bone, while Smalls dilutes the animal content with water sufficient for processing (cooked-fresh format requires cooking water) and a vegetable component (green beans, kale). The rubric accommodates both; raw and cooked-fresh are scored on their respective pathways.
Where Smalls pulls ahead
Zero raw-format pathogen considerations. Cooked-fresh eliminates the raw-pathogen conversation entirely — no HPP question, no CDC/AVMA immunocompromised-household caveat, no test-and-hold documentation dependency. For households with infants, immunocompromised adults, pregnant adults, or adults over 65, CDC and AVMA guidance explicitly recommends avoiding raw pet food; Smalls is the A-tier option for these households.
Moisture content. Smalls is 73% moisture; Stella & Chewy’s is 5% moisture before rehydration. For cats with Feline Idiopathic Cystitis, urinary crystals, chronic kidney disease, or the default cat-of-all-trades "drinks nothing from the bowl" profile, Smalls delivers hydration directly. Stella & Chewy’s delivers hydration only if the owner consistently rehydrates with water or broth — many owners don’t.
No rehydration prep required. Pate texture out of the container, spoon into bowl, serve. Stella & Chewy’s requires 3-5 minutes of rehydration to hit serve-ready moisture. Shop on Amazon →
Where Stella & Chewy’s holds its own
Animal-ingredient concentration per calorie. 98% chicken-plus-organs-plus-bone in a freeze-dried matrix is the highest animal density in the cat catalog. For owners whose priority is maximum animal content and minimal plant inclusion, Stella & Chewy’s delivers in a way cooked-fresh products (which rely on water and small vegetable inclusions to achieve texture) structurally can’t.
Four-strain probiotic stack. Stella & Chewy’s guarantees 50M CFU/oz minimum across four distinct bacterial strains in a freeze-dried matrix that preserves viability. Smalls does not feature a probiotic layer.
Pantry-stable storage. Freeze-dried morsels live in the pantry until opened and need no freezer or fridge space. Smalls ships frozen and requires freezer storage plus thaw time before serving — a real practical cost for apartments or shared kitchens.
All-life-stages AAFCO. Stella & Chewy’s is AAFCO-formulated for all life stages (kittens, pregnant queens, seniors). Smalls is adult-maintenance only — if you have a kitten or plan to breed, Stella & Chewy’s is the appropriate option. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
Both cat foods earned an A (90/100) under the Fresh Food Rubric v1.0, which means the ingredient-quality-and-formulation measurable is a tie. The deciding factor is household context: medically vulnerable household members, urinary-history cat, kitten or breeding queen, or freezer-space constraints all tilt different directions. See the full reviews for Smalls and Stella & Chewy’s Chick Chick Chicken to pick the one that fits.
Compare Smalls & Stella & Chewy’s →